Is My Soul and Spirit the Same Thing

Title:  IS MY SOUL AND SPIRIT THE SAME THING?

Text:  1 Thess. 5:23

Introduction:

            The entire being of what we call “God” is a triune personality, made up of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), in that we bear His likeness.  In that likeness, we too have a triune personality:  spirit, soul, and body.  The scriptures do not divide man into two parts of soul and body.  It treats man, rather, in three parts.  Read Text!

            In discovering the answer to our title question, let’s start with the revelation that our soul and spirit are not the same; they are divided.  Heb. 4:12  (Psuchay;  breath, the soul, heart, life.)  (Pneuma;  wind, spirit, breath.)  The breath of life is the spirit of man, and that which is the principle of life within man.  Jn. 6:63  This breath of life comes from the Lord of creation.  Gen. 2:7

            God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is not the same as man’s spirit.  When we take Christ as our Savior and experience the new birth (born again), God’s Spirit is then given to us.  Jn. 3:5-7; Acts 2:38

            Yet it is the soul of man that expresses his individuality.  The body is the part of us that is world-conscious; the soul is self-conscious; and the spirit is God-conscious. 

            By our spirit we communicate with the spiritual world and with the Spirit of God; both receiving and expressing the power and life of the spiritual realm.  Through our body we are in contact with the outside sensuous world, affecting it and being affected by it.  The soul stands between these two worlds, yet belongs to both.  The spirit cannot act directly upon the body; it needs the medium of the soul that touches the spirit and the body.

1.      According to the grouping of the following passages, the spirit has a three-fold function.  What are they?
Ps. 51:10; Jn. 13:21; 2 Cor. 2:13  Function #1: _________________________________
Mark 2:8; Jn. 11:33; Acts 20:22  Function #2: _________________________________
Lk. 1:47; Jn. 4:23; Rom. 8:16      Function #3: _________________________________

2.      The soul also has a three-fold function.  According to the following passages, what are they?
Prov. 19:2; 2:10; 3:21-22; Ps. 139:14  Function #1: _____________________________
Job 7:14-15; 6:7-8; 1 Chr. 22:19          Function #2: _____________________________
Function #3: ______________________
      a.  1 Sam. 18:1; Song of Sol. 1:7; Lk. 1:46  Of  _____________________________
      b.  Deut. 14:26; Ps. 84:2; 42:1-2                   Of _____________________________
      c.  Ps. 86:3-4; 42:5; Matt. 26:38                   Of _____________________________

Conclusion:

            The soul and life are inseparable.  If one does not have his soul, he dies.  Lk. 12:16-21  Life is the phenomenon of the soul.  Therefore, the life of man (his soulical realm) is the composite of his mental, emotional and volitional energies.