Weird Stuff in the Bible

The Difference in the Soul and the Spirit
I Thessalonians 5

Introduction
We all know we have a soul. That our bodies may die, but we all have an eternal soul that will live on forever and ever.
All human beings have a soul. This is something that sets us apart from plants, animals and people who skip the theme song when they’re watching The Office. (Or: people who can watch the first 10 minutes of Up without crying.)
And then the Bible also speaks sometimes of each of us having a spirit, and we think of that similarly to the soul. It’s that ghostly, non-physical part of us that only exists in the spiritual realm. We use the terms “soul” and “spirit” pretty interchangeably, as if they’re synonyms.
But then when you’re reading
I Thessalonians 5:23, Paul says
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wait a minute: spirit and soul and body? You mean I’m not just a body and soul; I’m a body, soul and spirit? I always thought the spirit and the soul were the same thing, so why is I Thessalonians 5:23 talking about them as two different things?
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to Romans 8, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

Definition of The Spirit
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about the difference in the soul and the spirit.
Just as God is a Triune being- the Trinity, made of Father, Son and Holy Spirit- and we are made in God’s image- we are also triune beings. We are body, soul and spirit.
So let’s talk exactly about what that means today. This will be kind of a shorter lesson, but by the end of it, I think you’ll read your Bible with such a clearer understanding when these terms “soul” and “spirit”- which is A LOT. And I’ll start with an explanation of spirit, soul and body- and if some of it sounds questionable or strange, just bear with me, because I’m going to bring a lot of scripture behind it in a few minutes.
And I’ll start by saying this: you are probably more accurate in your understanding of your spirit. Our misunderstanding is more around this term “the soul.” What you probably assume your soul is is actually probably more like your spirit, and your soul is something else.
Let’s start with your body. We all know what our bodies are. But your soul is your mind. Your soul is your emotions. Your soul is your conscience. If I sit directly across from you and have a conversation with you about the show The Office and how I really like the Office, but I actually prefer the show Parks and Rec a little more, as I’m saying those words and as you’re hearing them, we are speaking body-to-body, because my body is in the room with your body. But we’re also speaking soul-to-soul, because my inner self is speaking to your inner self. We’re speaking soul-to-soul.
And I believe that Parks and Rec is better than The Office deep down in my soul.
So when you and I are talking, we’re communicating at two levels: body to body, and soul to soul. And as I say that, you probably recognizing that the soul level is even deeper than the body level. Sure, you can read my body language, but even that is only revealing what I feel down in my soul.
Now, what is my spirit, then? My spirit is a level deeper. Your spirit is the central core of who you are. It’s down even deeper than the soul.
I am not in tune with my spirit as much as I’m in tune with my body or soul. If someone steps on my toe, I usually know it right away, because then my toe hurts. I am in touch with my body at a very basic level to where I know it immediately when a part of it is in pain.
When someone hurts my feelings- also, ironically, known as stepping on someone’s toes- I usually know that pretty quickly as well. I’m not always super in-tune with my feelings; that’s why God gave us wives. So they could help us guys understand the feelings that we are feeling because we don’t always understand what we’re feeling.
So we may not always have the self-awareness to understand our own emotions, but we can usually figure it out pretty quickly with some inward reflection.
But then our spirit is a level deeper. You need a lot of self-awareness to know what’s going on in your spirit. Not everyone knows what’s going on in their spirit; in fact, I’m not even sure you CAN know what’s going on in your spirit without being saved.
Romans 8 is an incredible chapter to read to understand how our spirits work. I encourage you, as soon as this episode is over, to go read Romans 8. It will make sense to you on a deeper level than ever before after you listen to this episode.
Romans 8:5 says
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh
Verse 7 says
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
Jude 19 in the NIV says
These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
If you’re unsaved, you have A spirit but you don’t have THE Spirit with a capital S, which is the Holy Spirit.
So I’m not sure if someone who hasn’t been saved yet is even capable of knowing what’s in their spirit because they have nothing to contrast it to. It’s like trying to ask a fish what being wet feels like. It’s not that they don’t know what water is; it’s that they’ve never known anything BUT water. They don’t know what something dry feels like to compare it to. We Christians are like the fish who found out what it’s like to step out of the pond.
An unsaved person only has their instincts and a fleshly mind and thoughts. But when you get saved, you are a new creation (accordion to II Corinthians 5) and you have God’s Holy Spirit placed within you. What that literally means is that your spirit, your innermost being, is reborn and replaced by the Holy Spirit. The spirit that is within you is now the Spirit of God.
Not a better spirit. THE Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit. Living inside of you.
So when you got saved, your spirit was changed to be made exactly like the Holy Spirit. Exactly like the Holy Spirit. That’s what it means to have the Holy Spirit within you. Your spirit was totally changed and purified.
You are spirit, soul and body. Right now, your body and soul have not yet been made perfect. Your body is falling apart and wearing down. Your soul is still quite sinful most days. Your mind, will, emotions and conscience are not perfected yet.
When you die, your soul goes to heaven and your soul will be made perfect. Your conscienceless will go up to heaven. You will not sin in heaven. You’ll be changed when you go into heaven.
Someday our bodies will be resurrected (which I believe is at the rapture) and our physical bodies will be changed and made perfect. But that day has not yet come. So our bodies and our souls are still imperfect.
But our spirit IS perfect. Our spirit was sanctified and made pure and the Holy Spirit was deposited into us and renewed our spirit. So we are already 1/3 completely saved. Purified. Your spirit is as saved right now as it will ever be throughout all eternity. Your body and soul still need some work. But your spirit is good to go.
So now I hope you understand what you’re working with. You’ve got to get your soul- and, I suppose- your body in line with the spirit that lives within you. That perfect spirit who only leads you toward God and toward righteousness and toward purity and toward truth.
You say, “Luke, I still feel kinda yucky on the inside, especially after I sin; are you sure you aren’t exaggerating a little bit when you say my spirit is already 100% saved?” Well, was Paul exaggerating when he said in
Romans 8:11
…the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you…(?)
Was that a true fact, or was Paul exaggerating? If Paul was just getting carried away, then never mind, you can shut this podcast off and do something else with your time. But I believe Paul was being serious right there.
You see, that’s why you feel yucky sometimes when you’ve done something wrong. Because your pure spirit on the inside is reacting to that. It’s that tension you and I feel, either before we sin or right after. The Holy Spirit doesn’t like it when you sin. Let me just read
Romans 8:9-11 in context
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Again, read the whole chapter of Romans 8 when I’m all done today and it’ll make more sense than ever before.

The Spirit’s Work Inside of Us
I want to briefly talk about a few things that the Holy Spirit does by being within us and changing our Spirits to be like Him, and I already touched on one back there: the Spirit empowers us. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is inside you, because Christ was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit, and your spirit has been made like the Holy Spirit.
Also, the Spirit seals you.
Ephesians 1:13-14 say
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
A seal in those days, which was during the Roman Empire, was like a mark or a brand. Think of how people used to brand their cattle in the old days. You did that so if your cattle got mixed in with someone else’s cattle, you could mark whose are yours and which are mine.
We obviously can’t see a seal in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm, we have been marked as God’s chosen people. You say, what does that mean to me right now? Paul is saying that this mark has set you apart from everyone else spiritually, and that this is a guarantee of our inheritance for the future. This is the downpayment for everything else that is to come.
Think of it like this relating to what I said before: your spirit has been redeemed. As I said, if you are saved, then your spirit is already as saved right now as it will be throughout all eternity. Your body and soul are yet to be perfected. And so the sealing of the Holy Spirit on you is like saying, “your body and soul have been purchased, but not yet redeemed.”
By the way, this did not happen prior to Jesus dying on the cross and the Church being instituted. And we’ll talk more about the Church being instituted and what it means to be “the Church” in next week’s episode. So the Holy Spirit didn’t reside in us in the Old Testament like He does now. That’s what the prophecy of
Ezekiel 36:26-27 means where it says
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
So we have an advantage as New Testament believers that the Old Testament believers did have: the Holy Spirit inside us, empowering us, sealing us, and guiding us.
That’s the third thing I want you to know today about having the Holy Spirit inside you: the Spirit guides you.
Galatians 5:16 and 17
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
What is our flesh? It would be easy to assume that’s just our body, because our bodies have all kinds of urges and impulses and temptations and instincts that they want to go after. Our bodies are corrupted by the fall of man, and that’s why someday we’ll need glorified bodies in eternity.
But our souls are corrupted as well. Completely separate from our bodies, our souls have wrong impulses and desires as well. Because remember: the soul is the mind, your emotions, thoughts, conscience. And those things are corrupted by the flesh as well.
So we have to choose whether we will walk by the Spirit or walk by the flesh, because these are at war with each other.
And if you have any confusion about whether the urges you’re feeling are from the Spirit or the flesh, read Galatians 5, it lays it out pretty distinctly. Listen to the Spirit. The Spirit will guide you. And if you have your Spirit redeemed, He is always trying to influence you and guide you.
John 3:8 says
 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
If you’re greatly struggling to do what you feel you’re supposed to do, perhaps you’re working against the wind of the Spirit. Perhaps you’re going in an opposite direction to where He’s blowing you.
Ezekiel 36:27 (again)
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The Spirit is a Point of Connection Between You and God
And that brings me to my final point today: The Spirit is a Point of Connection Between You and God.
So, I have explained theologically what happened to your spirit inside you when you were saved. Your spirit was made pure and holy, just as the Holy Spirit is. You are 1/3 perfected. You are spirit, soul and body, and your spirit has already been made perfect. So if you want to hear from God, you need to align your body and soul with your spirit- especially your soul, because it’s that bridge between what is natural in the physical body and what is supernatural in the spirit.
I Corinthians 2:10-14 say
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
So if you have the Spirit, you are no longer just ‘the natural person.’ Now, if we pursue sin and the flesh harden our hearts, we can move toward being merely natural and deaden ourselves to God’s voice.
Think of your spirit like an antenna, or a receiver, and when you get saved, your antenna is attuned to God’s Spirit. You have a direct connection to God, because you connect spirit-to-Spirit. Your spirit is like God’s spirit. So you can hear from God through your Spirit.
And that’s why the regular practices of prayer and Bible study are so important. Reading your Bible allows the Spirit to renew your mind. Prayer also aligns you with the Holy Spirit. Even when you don’t feel like anything’s happening, God is working while you pray.
So as we move away from being the natural person and toward the supernatural, we get in touch with that Holy Spirit inside of us. Our inner spirit is that point of connection between us and God.

Housekeeping/Mailbag
Now, I hope you have learned something from today’s episode. I think this understanding of what your soul and spirit are will enhance your Bible reading. And I also want to use today’s lesson as a building block and go deeper on this soon. But next time on this podcast, I have another building block I’d like to throw out there. It may sound a little random, maybe a little more of a theological issue than weird, but I would like to explain what Jesus was talking about when He said He would build the church on Peter.
Or DID Jesus actually say He was building the church on Peter? That’s how Catholics understand it, and that’s certainly an understandable interpretation of Jesus’ words’ in Matthew 16. But I’m not sure it’s the best interpretation, so we’ll dig into that next time on this podcast.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it! And if you are enjoying this podcast, I’d really appreciate if you could take 5 seconds and leave a positive 5-star review down below, if you’re on a platform that takes those. Even if you don’t want to type anything, you can simply tap “5 stars” and that helps more people find the podcast and doesn’t cost you anything except a few seconds, but I’d be immensely grateful.
Thank you for the messages this week that were sent in, shout-out to Nyssa, Joe, Daniel and Adam. I won’t take time to read them because I’m not trying to sound braggadocios when I read complimentary messages from people, but I do want to give them a shout-out for taking the time to send in some feedback.

Closing Thoughts
In closing, on the subject of hearing from the Spirit: Remember Elijah’s moment on that mountain when there was the wind and the earthquake and the fire, and anyone would assume: God is like that, God’s gotta be in the earthquake. And no, God was in the whisper. There are tornadoes and earthquakes going on around us all the time, but God is oftentimes in the whisper, and it’s hard to hear a whisper. If someone is whispering, in order to hear them, you’ve got to tune out everything else, and you yourself need to get still and get quiet and listen.
And that’s what prayer does in our lives. And when we do that, we can discern the things that are only discerned spiritually. And the Holy Spirit’s presence inside us is how we do that.
Maybe you’ve been waiting for God to shake your world with some earthquake of revelation. But often, He’s whispering—and the question isn’t whether God is speaking, because His Spirit is in communion with your spirit. The question is whether you’re listening.
So if you think getting quiet and listening to the voice of the Spirit inside you sounds weird, then I hope you’ll be a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.