Spirit, Soul, and Body: What the Bible Says About the Three Parts of You
The Bible describes you in three parts, and Paul prays that your “whole spirit and soul and body” be preserved blameless. In this book’s teaching, your spirit is the part that connects with God, your soul is your mind, will, and emotions, and your body is how you live in the physical world. Only your spirit was born again, while your soul is being renewed and your body awaits redemption.
What does the Bible say about the soul, spirit, and body?
"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 (KJV)
Somewhere along the way, believers started using the words spirit, soul, and heart as though they all meant the same thing, and I think that confusion has cost the Church more peace than almost any other misunderstanding I know of. If you cannot tell your spirit from your soul, you will read your emotions as a verdict on your nature, and every anxious morning will feel like proof that you were never really changed.
Paul did not say “your whole soul-and-spirit,” as though they were one thing. He named three parts, and he named them in the same order God created them. In this book I teach that you are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body.
How did God put you together in three parts?
"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 soul."Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
God always creates spirit first, and Genesis 2:7 shows how He put man together. God breathed the breath of life, which is spirit, into the dust of the ground, which is body, and the result was a living soul. Spirit plus the dust of the earth equals soul, and now you have a three-part being.
There is a reason God built you this way, and it has to do with the different worlds you were created to live in at the same time. Each part has its own job, and none of them is meant to do the job of another. Your soul was never designed to connect you with God by itself, and your body was never designed to make your decisions.
What is the difference between the soul and the spirit?
"For 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 (KJV)
Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God can divide soul and spirit, and if they can be divided, then they are not the same thing. Your body is how you physically interact with the world, with hands to work, feet to walk, eyes to see, and a voice to speak. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions, which is how you comprehend, feel, and know what is happening around you.
Your spirit is how you connect with God. Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Your body cannot touch God, and your soul cannot reach Him on its own, but your spirit was made to commune with Him directly.
In the design God intended, the soul sits in the middle as a go-between. The spirit receives from God and teaches the soul, and the soul understands the world and teaches the flesh how to do what needs to be done.
Which part of you was born again?
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."Romans 12:2 (KJV)
When Adam’s spirit died, the part of him that connected with God went dark, and from then on his soul had nowhere to learn from except the dead spirit and the world around it. That means the problem was never primarily my body or my soul, because my spirit was the problem. It was dead and separated from God, and everything downstream of it learned the wrong things.
That is why the new birth happened exactly where it did. When you were born again, God did not give you a new body, and He did not hand you a brand-new soul, but He gave you a new spirit, because the spirit was the part that was dead. Your spirit is complete, righteous, and alive, your soul is being renewed, and your body is waiting for “the redemption of our body,” as Paul says in Romans 8:23.
This is why the renewing of the mind matters so much, and I take it up on the page about renewing your mind. If you want to see what it means to be made new in this way, read about the new creation in Christ.
Why do my emotions still act like the old me?
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."Colossians 3:3 (KJV)
Our souls learned how to feel from our old spirits. Before you were born again, your soul learned to react the way a dead spirit reacts, in fear, in self-protection, in self-seeking, and in pride, and it learned what to want, what to dread, and what to reach for. The old man is gone now, but the training is still there, which is why you can have a righteous spirit and still feel fear rise up in your soul when something threatens you.
So your soul is doing what it was trained to do, and it has not yet fully learned from its new teacher. A strong reaction is not proof that you were never changed, and it is not a verdict on your spirit. I also do not mean that your feelings do not matter, because the soul can carry real wounds, and Jesus heals those as well.
I like to picture a cup filled with water and sealed with a lid. The water is your born-again spirit, the cup is Christ, and the lid is His covering, so the enemy can pressure your soul with anxiety, fear, and doubt, but he cannot touch the part of you that is hidden in Christ. If you want to see how the flesh fits into this picture, read about putting off the old man.
Is the soul eternal?
I want to answer this one only as far as the book speaks. In this book I teach what Scripture plainly says about how you are made, that man became a living soul when God breathed life into the dust, that Paul prays your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord, and that your body is waiting for its redemption.
I do not take up in this book what happens to the soul after death, and I would rather tell you that plainly than guess. If you are asking this question out of fear, the place the book would send you first is to the truth of who you are now, a new creation whose spirit has been made alive in God.
From the book
This page is drawn from New Creation, Old Habits by Benjamin Riggins. Read more in:
- Chapter 4: Spirit, Soul, and Body
- Chapter 2: Two Adams
- Chapter 5: The Habits Outlived the Man
- Chapter 12: Soften and Renew
Questions people ask
What does the Bible say about the soul, spirit, and body?
The Bible names all three, and Paul prays in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. In this book, the body is how you live in the physical world, the soul is your mind, will, and emotions, and the spirit is how you connect with God.
Is the soul eternal?
This book does not take up what happens to the soul after death, so I will not speculate. What it teaches from Scripture is that God breathed life into man and he became a living soul, and that Paul prays your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless until the coming of the Lord.
What is the difference between the soul and the spirit?
The soul is your mind, will, and emotions, while the spirit is the part of you that connects with God. Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God divides soul and spirit, which shows they are not the same.
Is my spirit the same as the Holy Spirit?
They are different, because in this book the Holy Spirit is God Himself, who lives in the believer as Teacher and Helper, and your born-again spirit is the part of you He teaches.
Which part of me was born again?
Your spirit was born again, because it was the part that was dead. You did not receive a new body or a new soul, so your soul is still being renewed and your body is still waiting for redemption.