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Transcript 552A
The Difference Between Spirit and Soul
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: In I Thessalonians 5:23 it says, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God that your whole Spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ." Could you possibly explain the difference between the human spirit and the human soul?
HC: The question is, how are we to understand I Thessalonians 5:23, where it talks about your whole spirit and soul and body, being preserved blameless unto the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ?
Actually, only in this verse and one other in the Bible do we find that it talks about the soul and Spirit and body all in one sentence. Normally the soul is a synonym for the spirit of man, or the spirit is a synonym for the soul of man. We know that the body is what goes in the grave. That's easy to understand. We know that in our soul we go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ when we die, that is, if we are saved. And that is sometimes called the spirit. But why would God use the term soul and Spirit together here?
The word spirit also can be translated breath, and breath is the evidence of life. Now both unsaved man as well as saved man has the breath of life, and that returns to God at the time that we die. However, our breath does not have uniqueness. There isn't the breath of one man as opposed to the breath of another man. Breath is simply the fact that we live, that we have life. And it is the word spirit.
And so the only thing I can think of is that God here has in view the breath, the soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, our life is preserved and we will continue to live eternally.
CALLER: There is no real distinction.
HC: There's no Biblical distinction that I'm aware of between soul and spirit as being a substantive, unique part of human existence. Soul and spirit are used interchangeably about the spirit essence of man. The body of course is the physical or the flesh part of man. And that is all that the personality of man consists of.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.