Soul and Spirit

“And 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)

God is the Source and Giver of true peace. This peace is not mere calm or tranquility. It is the fruit of reconciliation with God through the shed blood of Christ, Romans 5:1.

Sanctification is wholly the work of God through the LORD Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul prays that they might continue to enjoy the Peace of God, by which all of God’s elect have been sanctified (set apart) from the world. We would certainly be drawn aside in the world and by the world were it not for Christ’s keeping those that are His in the world, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” (John 17:15) We would certainly fall away were it not for God keeping us spirit, soul and body, assuring that each of His elect, redeemed, justified and called out ones be preserved and presented faultless before His throne, not only in this life but throughout eternity.

The words "soul" and "spirit" are found throughout the Bible, each occurring hundreds of times in the Old and New Testaments. The Hebrew word translated "soul" means a breathing creature, one in which life is present, whether physical life or mental life. The Greek word in the New Testament is similar. In its most basic sense, the word "soul" means “breath” or "life," whether physical or eternal. The LORD Jesus said, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) The loss of the soul, can be physical death or eternal death. The soul is the essence of our being and differs from the body and is not dissolved by death but lives on either in eternal glory with Christ, for His redeemed ones, or in eternal condemnation for all others.

Both Old and New Testaments declare that we are to love God completely, with the whole 'soul’ which refers to everything that is in us that makes us alive Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Mark 12:30. Whenever the word "soul" is used, it can refer to the whole person, whether physically alive or in the afterlife.

The word "spirit" is used to denote something distinct from the soul in Scripture. Both the Hebrew and Greek words translated "spirit" also have the root meaning of breath or wind. However, unlike the soul, which is alive both physically and eternally, the spirit can be either alive, as in the case of regenerated sinners, 1 Peter 3:18, or dead as unregenerated sinners are Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 2:4-5. It is the part of the sinner that is drawn to Christ when given life by the Spirit of God, or it remains dead, until or unless the Spirit of God gives it life. It is that which refers to Spirit-given understanding or discernment pertaining to the person and work of Christ in regenerated sinners or the lack thereof in the unregenerate. The spiritually dead perceive the things of the Spirit to be ‘foolishness’ because, in his spiritually dead condition, he does not have the ability to discern the things of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:12-14. The spirit is that part of us that is enabled by God to know and worship Him, Who Himself is Spirit, John 4:24.