In the last post in this series I wrote about the sure reality of an immaterial, supernatural part of man that continues on after the death of the body. Those who argue that soul is merely life-force that dies with the flesh do so against the Scriptures. However, I really haven’t touched on the differences (if any) between soul and spirit, except to give definitions of the words. Hopefully you will remember that “soul” has lower and higher meanings, but that “spirit” only has the higher meaning (see Part 2 in this series, below). In its lower meanings, soul is an individual, life, heart/mind, dreams, etc. In its higher meaning it is identical in meaning to spirit, i.e. the invisible part of man that “lives” on after death. So, in one sense the words refer to different things, but in another they are interchangeable. But, what does that mean? Does man have a twofold or threefold nature?

Think about this: if we were to consider every aspect of a man and his mind spoken of in Scripture, we might conclude that man has a sevenfold nature! Off the top of my head I can think of seven words used to describe different parts of human nature: heart, soul, mind, strength, spirit, will, and bowels (See KJV or GNT, Philippians 2:1; Colossians 3:12, etc.) (not to mention body). The truth is each of these words is a way to describe one of the many ways we experience our nature. Each can, in various instances, be said to reflect either the fleshly or spiritual nature. I don’t think any of them are intended to be perceived as indicating a third distinct part of us, or fourth, or fifth, and so on. Not, at least, in the sense of being able to be broken down into “stand-alone” parts. I think the better way to understand our human nature has been given us in the incarnation of Christ. He is fully God and fully Man. He has the two natures intertwined permanently and inseparably into one. As I understand it, we also have two aspects of our nature, the flesh and the spirit. In this age, the two are often at odds with each other (Mark 14:38; Galatians 5:16-17).

This being so, why do some passages clearly use the terms: “body, soul, and spirit, together?” Well, I don’t think it’s Biblical redundancy. Having already made a pretty clear case about the body, let’s look at a couple of passages that speak of both soul and spirit and come to a conclusion about this.

The first passage we’ll consider is 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV).

Paul prays that God will completely sanctify (make holy) the Thessalonian Christians when Jesus reappears. According to Paul, complete sanctification, and blamelessness is holistic. The passage is about the salvation of “whole” people, and the focus shouldn’t be upon the parts, but on the fact that they make up a whole person who isn’t complete without all of them. Ok, well there’s definitely a distinction made between soul and spirit here. As such, spirit refers to the invisible part of man that continues on after the death of the body. But, soul, what is soul here? It isn’t another kind of spirit. It is the dreams, desires, feelings and hopes of man. In this sense, soul is an expression of both body and spirit, and isn’t truly a separate entity from either one. It refers to the mind of, sense of, and hunger for life that taps into the natures of both body and spirit. Paul wants the brethren to be sanctified in their bodies, spirits, and the soul or life that exists when both are joined together. That makes sense to me. I won’t be dogmatic, but I think that’s right.

The second passage we’ll consider is Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (ESV).

Joints and marrow are parts of a whole. They are nothing and have no use or purpose apart from the rest of a bone. That is precisely the point (no pun intended) of the passage. Just as fine and detailed a distinction as one must make to separate the parts of a bone (which was even more difficult in the First Century than it is now) is the division the word of God is able to make between one’s soul and spirit. Obviously these are two different things here. That doesn’t mean that soul refers to a different kind of spirit, as if there were body, and then two types of supernatural nature. On the contrary, soul here has one of its lesser meanings, perhaps all of them combined, and I think the idea is that the word (which might well ought to be Word –John 1:1) is able to separate the spirit from the rest of a person.

In conclusion, one might say that there are many parts to a person. We have a body (which is itself made up of many parts); a spirit in God’s image (and returns to him when the body dies –Ecclesiastes 12:7); a soul, which is a way to describe the whole functioning of the inner man (or even the whole man), a mind (which could also be called heart, bowels, soul, will, etc.). However, the bottom line is that there are really only two parts of a man that may be separated from one another: flesh and spirit. We are dual-natured beings. We have a body and a spirit, and the breath of life, or soul, breathed into us to make us alive.