“The Spirit, The Soul, & The Body” series: (post #1)

You’ve probably heard that God is a triune being. He is one God, but He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But have you heard that man is also (at least in a sense) a triune being? He is body, soul, and spirit. In 2 Thessalonians 5:23, the apostle Paul says to the Christians of Thessalonica:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (N.K.J.V.)

Of course, there is a major difference between God’s triunity and man’s. Whereas the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each a distinct Person, the same cannot be said of the spirit, the soul, and the body. Nevertheless, each part of our makeup does make for an interesting subject. And with this post I’d like to say a few things about the spirit of man.

First, it is the spirit that gives life to the human body. James 2:26 says:

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (N.K.J.V.)

I would also mention Luke 23:46 here, where Christ’s releasing of His bodily spirit leads to His immediate death:

And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed his last. (N.K.J.V.)

Similarly, when Jesus resurrected the daughter of Jairus, Luke 8:55 says:

Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. (N.K.J.V.)

When you understand that it is the spirit that brings life to the body, you can understand why the Bible teaches that even animals have spirits. Ecclesiastes 3:21 describes the difference between a person’s spirit and an animal’s spirit as follows:

Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth? (N.K.J.V.)

Second, it is only through an individual’s spirit that he or she can worship God. When Jesus was witnessing to the Samaritan woman, He told her:

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, N.K.J.V.)

Whatever else might be involved with worshiping God “in spirit,” it certainly means much more than just going through the bodily motions of performing outward rites or rituals. True worship is inner worship that begins inside a person, within the person’s spirit. Even though this worship might result in the outward actions of praising, singing, praying, giving, serving, etc., these are the visible results rather than the invisible prompting.

Third, in regards to salvation, the New Testament’s use of the words “regeneration” and “renewing” in the phrase “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 2:5) applies to the spirit part of a person’s makeup. Since our souls are eternal, they never need to be regenerated or renewed, and obviously our bodies don’t get regenerated or renewed at the moment of salvation, either. That only leaves the spirit as a candidate for receiving the Holy Spirit’s regenerating and renewing.

As for why we need the Holy Spirit to regenerate and renew our inner spirits, Ephesians 2:1 says that Christians have been have been “made alive” after having previously been “dead in trespasses and sins.” You see, the Holy Spirit regenerating our spirits and renewing our spirits equates to the same thing as making us “alive.” But wait a minute, haven’t we already noted that the spirit part of us is the part that gives life to our bodies? Yes, we have. Why, then, do we need the Holy Spirit to make us alive? Aren’t we already alive? The answer is: Even as we are alive physically, we are dead spiritually.

Each individual is born “dead in trespasses and sins because of what took place in the Garden of Eden. In warning Adam about eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God said to him, “In the day you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 3:16-17). Interestingly, even though the aging process was begun in Adam and Eve the moment they ate that fruit, their bodies didn’t immediately die. Therefore, the instant death God warned about must have been a spiritual death, the death of the spirit part of each of them. Adam then passed this state of being dead in spirit down to all of his descendants as from then on each human being would be born “dead (dead in spirit) in trespasses and sins.” This was a part of Adam causing not only sin to enter the world but also death (spiritual death as well as physical death) to be spread to his entire race (Romans 5:12).

When you understand this, you can understand why Jesus described the salvation experience as being “born again” (John 3:3,7) and “born of the Spirit” (John 3:5,8). He then went on to say, “…that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:8). So, according to Jesus the part of a person that gets reborn is the spirit. And why does the spirit need to be reborn? It’s because each baby’s spirit is dead in trespasses and sins as the child enters into this world.

You see, on the one side of the coin the Bible teaches that it is each individual’s spirit that gives life to that individual (James 2:26; Luke 23:46; Luke 8:55), but on the other side of the coin the same Bible teaches that the spirit itself inside each individual needs to be regenerated (renewed, born again) in order to allow the individual to truly worship God. Furthermore, the only way this regeneration can take place is by way of the Holy Spirit as He comes to indwell the person the moment the person places saving belief in Jesus (Romans 8:8-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 4:30).

By putting all these teachings together, we are left with the conclusion that even though the spirit inside each individual works well enough to keep the person bodily alive, it is “damaged goods” because of Adam’s sin and, consequently, it is “dead” in regards to the power required for the person to properly worship God. Only when the person places saving belief in Jesus does God the Holy Spirit enter into the person’s body, thus regenerating (renewing) the person’s spirit and restoring its ability to enable genuine worship of God.

Fourth, a person’s spirit goes back to God the Father as soon as it leaves the body. Look again at Ecclesiastes 3:21. It says the spirit of man goes upward (to God) at death, while the spirit of an animal simply goes down to the earth, nothing more. Another relevant passage here is Ecclesiastes 12:1-8, which is the Bible’s best passage on the subject of growing old and dying. Verse 7 of the passage says:

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. (N.K.J.V.)

Along these same lines, in Numbers 16:22 God is called “the God of the spirits of all flesh.” Likewise, in Hebrews 12:9 He is called “the Father of spirits.” These verses simply mean that God is the one who gives life to each person and each creature, and He gives this life by way of giving each individual and each creature a spirit.

Fifth, man’s spirit is also a center of various traits, emotions, and activities. Isaiah 29:24 speaks of those who have “erred in the spirit.” Psalm 77:6 associates the spirit with both remembering and making diligent search. In Matthew 5:3, Jesus speaks of being “poor in spirit.” John 13:21 says that Jesus was “troubled in spirit.” Numbers 5:14 links the emotion of jealousy with the spirit. Proverbs 16:18 warns that a “haughty spirit” goes before a fall. In Psalm 34:18, David sings the praises of having a “contrite spirit.” In Psalm 51:10, he asks God to renew a “steadfast spirit” within him. Finally, in 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul encourages us to cleanse ourselves from all “filthiness of the flesh and spirit.”

In the end, perhaps the best way to think of an individual’s spirit is to think of it as that person’s “life force.” I know, I know, that’s a little too new-agey, but it’s about the best I can do. The spirit is that part of you that separates you from the deceased. If you are alive, you can thank your spirit. Also, how you feel, how you worship, and how you carry yourself relates back to your spirit. Summing things up, when you hear someone say, “I feel more alive than I ever have,” you know that person’s spirit is functioning in high order.