The Three Parts of Man—Spirit, Soul, and Body

Human beings are complicated. Each one of us is unique; we come from various backgrounds and have different personalities.

But with respect to how God created us, we’re actually all the same. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that we were all created with three parts—a spirit, a soul, and a body:

“And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In this post, we’ll read an extremely helpful note on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version to help us understand these three parts.

The three parts of man

So let’s take a look at note 5 on 1 Thessalonians 5:23 in the Recovery Version. Since it’s a lengthy note, we’ll read it in sections.

The first part says:

“This word strongly indicates that man is of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. The spirit as our inmost part is the inner organ, possessing God-consciousness, that we may contact God (John 4:24; Rom. 1:9).”

The human spirit is the deepest part of a person. By means of our spirit, we can contact God in the spiritual realm. This is how God can be realized by us. God didn’t create any other creature with a spirit; this makes human beings unique from every other living thing.  

Now let’s read the next section of the note, which explains our soul:

“The soul is our very self (cf. Matt. 16:26; Luke 9:25), a medium between our spirit and our body, possessing self-consciousness, that we may have our personality.”

Our soul perceives things in the psychological realm. In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the word for soul is psuche, which is the root word of psychology.  

Our soul is our personality, who we are. With our soul we think, reason, consider, remember, and wonder. We experience emotions like happiness, love, sorrow, anger, relief, and compassion. And we’re able to resolve, choose, and make decisions. All of this takes place in our soul.

Now let’s read the next section about our body and how our three parts are related:

“The body as our external part is the outer organ, possessing world-consciousness, that we may contact the material world. The body contains the soul, and the soul is the vessel that contains the spirit.”

Our body exists in and contacts the tangible things of the material world by exercising its five senses. It’s the visible, external part of our being. Our soul is contained in our body, and our spirit is contained in our soul.

Below is a simple diagram of three concentric circles illustrating these three parts, with the spirit as the innermost, hidden part:

God’s intention for the three parts of man

Now let’s read the last section of the note, which explains God’s intention for all three parts of our being:

“In the spirit, God as the Spirit dwells; in the soul, our self dwells; and in the body, the physical senses dwell. God sanctifies us, first, by taking possession of our spirit through regeneration (John 3:5-6); second, by spreading Himself as the life-giving Spirit from our spirit into our soul to saturate and transform our soul (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18); and last, by enlivening our mortal body through our soul (Rom. 8:11, 13) and transfiguring our body by His life power (Phil. 3:21).”

God’s intention concerning us is that we would contain and express Him. But to express God, we need to be filled with Him. When we believed in Jesus Christ, we received Him and were regenerated, or born again, in our spirit. Now He as the Spirit is dwelling in our spirit. But the Spirit dwelling in our spirit is just the beginning.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 tells us, “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly.” He sanctifies us by spreading into and saturating our whole being. This process of sanctification starts from our spirit, continues into our soul, and eventually will include our body. Then we’ll be wholly filled with God in every part of our being. 

How we can cooperate

So how can we cooperate with God’s intention to saturate our whole being with Himself? 

Exercising our spirit to contact God is the key. Not only does our spirit have the ability to contact and fellowship with God, it’s also where He dwells. This means we can turn to Him in our spirit to fellowship with Him at any moment as we’re going about our daily lives. We can pray simple prayers, ask Him how He feels about certain things, or simply call on His name and tell Him we love Him. We can also read and even pray with God’s Word to be spiritually nourished.

As we exercise our spirit to fellowship with Him, more of God’s divine life is added into us, and He spreads from our spirit into our soul. Our thoughts, feelings, and decisions will become one with His, and we’ll express God to everyone around us. This is how He sanctifies us, and how His eternal purpose will be fulfilled. 

The New Testament Recovery Version has a number of other enlightening notes on 1 Thessalonians 5:23, including an important one on how God preserves our spirit, soul, and body complete. If you live in the US, you can order your free copy here. We encourage you to read these notes and the verses they reference to gain a fuller understanding of what we’ve discussed in this post. 

The book The Economy of God is another invaluable resource on the subject of the parts of man and the role they play in God’s plan, which is discussed in detail in chapters 6 and 7. You can download this e-book for free here from anywhere in the world.