This topic may be unfamiliar to many, but it is based on the clear word of the Bible, and our experience also confirms it. If we want to experience the spiritual life, understand the operation of God’s life within us, and live an overcoming life free from sin, we must realize that there are three kinds of life and four laws that affect our living. This is a very important truth in the Bible, but we can only cover it briefly in this chapter.
1. “Sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete” (1 Thes. 5:23).
The Bible clearly states that man has three parts—spirit, soul, and body. This verse does not say “spirit-soul” but rather “spirit and soul.” This shows that our spirit and soul are distinct from each other. In God’s eyes a complete man has a spirit and soul and body. All three parts—our spirit, soul, and body—need to be preserved so that our whole being can be sanctified.
2. “The dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow” (Heb. 4:12).
The soul and spirit are distinct because the Bible clearly says that they can be divided. A footnote in Darby’s translation says that dividing refers to “the sense of dividing between each pair of objects and not of dividing each of the things by itself.” In addition to speaking of the soul and spirit in Hebrews 4:12, Paul also refers to joints and marrow. Joints and marrow are related to the body. Therefore, this verse confirms that man has three parts—spirit and soul and body.
3. “Jehovah God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7).
In the beginning, when God formed man, He made man with three parts—spirit, soul, and body. God formed a physical body for man out of the dust of the ground. Then He breathed the breath of life into man’s nostrils. When the breath of life entered into man’s body, the spirit of man was formed within him (Zech. 12:1). As a result of this breathing, man became a living soul. Therefore, in the beginning God created a tripartite being with a spirit, soul, and body.
4. “You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5).
This verse speaks of loving God with our whole being. If man loves God wholly, he needs to love God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might. Heart is related to the spirit, soul is related to the soul, and might is related to the body. Loving God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might means to love God with our spirit, soul, and body. Loving God with our spirit, soul, and body is the way to love God with our whole being, because our spirit, soul, and body represent the totality of our being. Thus, this verse shows that our whole being consists of spirit, soul, and body.
5. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has exulted in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47).
Our soul magnifies the Lord, and our spirit exults in God. Our soul magnifies the Lord because our spirit exults in God. This verse also shows that our soul and spirit are distinct. According to the Bible, our spirit is our most inward part. It is the means by which we contact God and touch the spiritual realm. Our spirit involves the functions of conscience, intuition, and fellowship. Conscience is related to knowing what is right and wrong according to God. It reveals the things that God approves and disapproves of; it supports what God justifies, and it exposes what He condemns. Intuition is related to a direct sense of God’s will. We do not have to rely upon outward circumstances in order to know God’s will because of the function of the intuition. Fellowship is related to contacting God. The body, our outermost part, is related to outward actions and to contacting things in the physical realm. The soul, the inward part between our spirit and our body, is the place of our personality, or self. It is the organ for us to contact the psychological realm. It includes the mind, emotion, and will. The mind is related to thinking and reasoning; the emotion is related to feelings, such as happiness, anger, sadness, and joy; and the will is related to planning and deciding. The mind, emotion, and will are functions of our soul. According to human psychology, the soul is the metaphysical aspect of man, the invisible, essential part of man, and the body is the physical aspect of man, the visible, material part of man. Consequently, psychology divides man into only two parts, a metaphysical part, which is the soul, and a physical part, which is the body. However, the Bible reveals that there is another part of man in addition to the soul and the body. This part is our spirit. Although the soul is an inward part of man, there is another part, an innermost part, which is the spirit. The spirit is man’s innermost part, the body is man’s outermost part, and the soul is situated between the body and the spirit. Man is a being with a spirit, soul, and body.