“I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).
Man is a tripartite being (three parts)—spirit, soul and body. This is revealed to us in God’s Word, the Bible. When God created animals, birds, fish and creeping things, He said, on the fifth day of creation, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven” (Gen. 1:20). Then on the sixth day, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind” (Gen. 1:24).
When it came to the creation of man, we read in Genesis 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing.” We then read in Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man become a living soul.”
We can say then that all the lower creation have a body and a life given of God, but with mankind there was a special act of God when He breathed into man’s nostrils the breath (or “spirit”) of life, placing him in a relationship with his Creator (“for we are . . . His offspring”; Acts 17:28) and giving a command from Him as to man’s position and responsibility. This is what distinguishes mankind from the lower creation. In a word, we may say that the lower creation has a body and a life given of God, but mankind has spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the intelligent, God-conscious part of his being, the soul is the seat of his appetites and desires, and the body is physical. Mankind is placed in headship over the creation and is responsible to his Creator. An animal is guided by God-given instincts, while man was to be guided by instructions from his Creator. This is why we speak of man as a tripartite being and responsible to his Creator as such.
When an animal, bird, fish or insect dies, that is the end of its existence. It is not responsible to God for its conduct; it dies and that is the end. But the Bible makes it very clear that man must answer to God. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). Death is not the end for man or woman. They must meet God as living souls, either as their Saviour or as their Judge. If one has received Christ as Saviour, he or she is forgiven and justified before God through the finished work of Christ on the cross. If not, it is a solemn thing to die in one’s sins and meet God as a Judge. Every human being has a soul that will live on forever, either in eternal joy or in eternal punishment, as we read in Matthew 25:46, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
If the one who reads these lines is a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus, you have the privilege of living to please Him, your Saviour and Lord. The Bible says, “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
The Apostle’s prayer, as quoted at the beginning of this article, was his desire for those who were children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and he desired that every part of their being—spirit, soul and body—would be devoted to the Lord and that they would live to please Him.
I would like to say a little about the order given here—“spirit and soul and body”—and that all our decisions in life should be made in that order. Too often, even as believers, we put our bodies first and go places and use our bodies as we wish, without considering whether our decision is pleasing to the Lord. Would it not be better—and pleasing to the Lord—to ask first, Is this the Lord’s will that I make this plan to do this or that? It is putting our spirit first, when we intelligently seek the Lord’s mind in accordance with His Word, saying as Paul did when he was saved, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10).
Next comes the soul—the appetites and desires. Having prayed and sought the Lord’s will for our path, our souls are thankful, peaceful and happy in choosing what is pleasing to Him. “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee” (Psa. 143:8).
Then comes the body. When we have sought the Lord’s mind and will in light of His Word (a reasonable or intelligent service; Rom. 12:1) and our souls are willing and happy in the path of obedience, pleasing the Lord, we present our bodies a living sacrifice to do His will.
This was the prayer of the Apostle in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 for the Thessalonian believers, and though we are living over 1900 years later, it should be the desire of every believer, even today, in all our decisions in life. In choosing our friends, the kind of employment we take up for our livelihood, the company of Christians with whom we gather in Christian fellowship, the life partner we choose as wife or husband—indeed, in everything in life may we say, first of all, Is this the Lord’s will for me and in accordance with His Word (the spirit)? I will enjoy that because it is pleasing to Him (the soul), and that is the path my body takes because I want to glorify Him in my body (1 Cor. 6:20). “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Prov. 3:6).
In closing I would like to quote again the verse with which we began: “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).
Do Thou, the very God of peace,
Us wholly sanctify,
And grant us such a rich increase
Of power from on high,
That spirit, soul and body may,
Preserved free from stain,
Be blameless until that great day;
Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!
(Little Flock Hymnbook, #288)
G. H. Hayhoe