Questions and Answers: Body, Soul, and Spirit?

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
QUESTION: What about body, soul and spirit? Please distinguish.
ANSWER: The divine order in Scripture is "spirit and soul and body" (1 Thess. 5:2323And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)). These comprise man's whole being. Soul is used often for man as a whole, both in the Old Testament and the New. "The sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten" (Gen. 46:2727And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten. (Genesis 46:27)). In the ship with Paul there were "two hundred threescore and sixteen souls" (Acts 27:3737And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. (Acts 27:37)).
Man's soul and spirit are from God's in-breathing, as distinct from the body which He formed from the dust of the ground, and he is therefore immortal—he exists forever. "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 soul" (Gen. 2:77And 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 soul. (Genesis 2:7)). We never read of a mortal soul, but we do of a "mortal body." Scripture clearly distinguishes between soul and spirit; the Word, as the sharp sword of the Spirit, only can separate them. "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)).
Spirit and soul in man are alike undying. "The spirit shall return unto God who gave it," and "fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Beasts have life, or souls of an inferior order but they are part of their organization. (See Genesis 1:30,30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. (Genesis 1:30) margin, and chapter 7:22.)
The soul is generally spoken of as the seat of the affections, but this faculty is possessed by brutes in measure, in an inferior character. "The spirit," as another has said, "is that which is most excellent in our moral being, that by which we are placed in relationship with God, and distinguished from the brutes.”
“What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" (1 Car. 2:11). "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Rom. 8:1616The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:16)).