Spirit, Soul and Body - the Tripartite nature of Man

"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."
(1 Thessalonians 5:23)

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [nephesh – soul]."
(Genesis 2:7)

Man is a tri-partite being – spirit, soul and body. It is with his spirit that a man worships, and may contact God. The soul includes the conscious and subconscious minds, the realm of emotions and the will. Soul gives a man personality, self-awareness, rationality and natural feeling. The body is a complex physical creation by which a person relates to this world and to other people in the world. We now know that every person's body is in large measure a product of their DNA code which exists in every cell of the body to program its amazing development. As marvellous as the body may be, man has a non-physical aspect which consists of a different kind of materiality – spirit. It is this part of man that is eternal.

Man is described as a living soul (Genesis 2:7 KJV), which came into being at first by the breath of God (spirit) being breathed into a creation of the dust of the earth. Man is an intricate unity as well as being a three part being. For this reason, whatever happens in one part of a man's being has repercussions in other areas as well. For example, it is well known that a healthy, fit body is conducive to an upbeat attitude in the soul. The Book of Proverbs states that "a man's spirit will sustain him in sickness". "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine". Psalm 32 describes how unconfessed sin caused David's "bones to grow old", his "vitality to be turned into the drought of summer".

There are plenty of other examples that can be given of how all these aspects of man effect one another. It is a scientific fact. Obviously much valuable research could be done into the relationship between spirit, soul and body. Such research has its perils, of course, since when we start probing such deep mysteries without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we may obtain knowledge and power that would bring forth the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and not of God's life. The whole study of psychology, however is something which needs to be brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of God's Word. If Christians simply retreat totally from this area and allow the ungodly to set the pace then much will be lost. On the other hand, to unquestioningly accept the precepts of much modern psychology is to invite the shipwreck of our faith. Furthermore, the use of psychological principles divorced from a true submission to the Holy Spirit could result in powerful deception and the rejection of the Lord who bought us.

God is interested in all three portions of our being – spirit, soul and body. The Bible says concerning our Savior, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature , and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:52). This reveals the importance of our mental and emotional development , our physical prowess, our spiritual life with God of worship and communion, and our social interractions with others. God is interested in all of these, and the Bible gives us keys for our development in these areas.

The verse quoted above from 1 Thessalonians supports the view that God is interested in our sanctification – spirit, soul and body. To become like Jesus, to be children of God by nature as well as by adoption, we need to allow God to do this work of sanctification.

Sanctification begins when the spirit of man is recreated through the new birth (John 3:3). The majority of people in this world have their spirits "dead" to God (Ephesians 2:2). That is not to deny that a few may have developed various psychic powers by the operation of soul force or demonic spirits. Yet even such people cannot truly relate to Almighty God – that is, the transcendant creator God for whom, by whom and to whom are all things. Never allow philosophers to confuse you by suggesting that God is the same as "the Universe". No, God stands outside of the Universe as well as inside it. He is the Creator of all things. He is not "one with all things" and neither are you, nor will you ever be. These "New Age" philosophies are just what the devil would want men to believe. In believing them, a person not only denies the existence of the personal devil which has deceived thm, but also renounces his or her need for Jesus Christ as Savior and rejects Him as Lord. In doing so, they reject the true Kingdom of God and become a candidate for subjection in one of Satan's worldly kingdoms.

God is not only Transcendant. He is Immanent. That is to say, He is here. It is true that God is personally and actually within a true Christian believer. "Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Corinthians 13:5; see also Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 6:19). This a marvellous truth and there is much unexplored and wonderful territory that God may lead us into along these lines. But again, do not be confused by those who say that God is within "us all". He is not. If He is, then the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible is a hideous lie. The Bible reveals a need for man to be reconciled to God in one way only – and that is through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, where Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice to bring us to God. To deny this is to call the Bible and the Jesus Christ of the Bible a lie, in favor of the shifting and double-talking philosophies which trade in the souls of men to their eternal destruction. Yes, this is serious. And if you would object that I am being "narrow minded" you are simply indicating your anti-biblical conditioning and the fact that truly the prince of this world, in whose power lies the world, already has your mind in large measure in his grasp already – though you neither know it nor recognise it. Only the Word of God, coming to you in the true power of the Holy Spirit, will ever be able to set you free from this fatal delusion.

Let us return to the theme of sanctification. One thing is the desire of the Holy Spirit for us, and the other is the way our own souls would seek to go about fulfilling our needs, wants and desires. Paul the apostle referred to the latter way as "the flesh". Paul said, "the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these things are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish" (Galatians 5:17). The key to successful Christian living is actually to learn to progressively renounce our own soulish devices and allow our minds to be retrained by the Holy Spirit. This can be very painful at times, and leads to an actual and ongoing "death" – to use biblical language. Yet the fruit of it is the very peace we are craving as a foundation for our emotional existence. We also find the revelation of the love of God to us and through us as we learn to submit to the Holy Spirit. Many other fruits come, they are listed in Galatians 5:22,23. The Holy Spirit will also empower us to reveal a portion of the attributes of God through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is a definite part of the plan of God for every true child of God. The denial of this has robbed the Body of Christ of more than it will ever be possible to calculate. We claim that God lives in us. Why is so little happening then? If God unwilling to reveal through us what He declares to be the case in His Holy Word, the Bible?

Our spirit, souls and bodies need to be offered to God. This does not take away our responsibility before God, neither our will. Every day is an opportunity to embrace the cross and to experience the resurrection, and "faith" and "love" will lead us to do so every time.

God's Will for Our Bodies

I want to mention three things that are clearly God's will for our bodies. Getting these right will make a tremendous difference to our spiritual as well as our emotional life.

1. Sexual Purity

"This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain friom sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God ... For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has given us His Holy Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5,7,8).

If sexual purity was not so important, Satan would not work so hard to destroy it wherever he can find people who will sell out

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