Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 NET
This is the only place in the New Testament that references body, soul, and spirit in a single place. There are also a handful of passages that reference spirit and soul (Heb. 4:12), spirit and body (1 Cor. 7:34; 2 Cor. 7:1; Col. 2:5; Jam. 2:26; 1 Pet. 4:6), and soul and body (Matt. 10:28).
What are these three things—spirit, soul, and body—and how are they related in humans? There are a variety of ways that theologians have understood these. What I describe here is just one of those ways. But it’s the one that makes the most sense to me.
Body
Body is probably the easiest of these to define. It comes from the Greek word sōma and is almost always translated as body. It is the material part of a person, the part we can see and touch.
Soul
The word translated here as soul is the Greek word psychē. In the NIV, this word is translated as life or lives (38 times), soul or souls (25), heart (3), and minds (2). The equivalent Hebrew word is nepeš, and, in addition to humans, it is used for creatures in the sea (Gen. 1:20) and on the land (Gen. 1:24).
The soul is the animating force that gives life to the body. While not a perfect analogy, the soul is like the software (life force, mind, will, emotions) that runs on the body’s hardware. But it is more than that. Soul is often used to describe the whole person, not just the immaterial part of us. I do not just have a soul. I am a soul.
Spirit
The word translated here as spirit is the Greek word pneuma. The word means breath or wind, something with no material substance. It is most often translated as Spirit (the Holy Spirit) or spirit(s) (human spirit or demons).
So, what is the human spirit, and how does it differ from the soul? Jesus’ words to Nicodemus can help us (John 3:3-7). Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again. That “flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6 NIV). I am initially born as a soulish creature (body and soul). But when I come to faith in Christ, I am born again, this time as a spirit. My body and soul remain, but now I have a spirit that connects me to the life of God.
