What are you? What is the real you? Are you directing your attention to the proper part of you? These are important questions because if we are misdirecting ourselves in this life, there will be an effect on our eternal life. Let’s look to see what the Scripture says about exactly what you are.
To do that 1 Thessalonians 5: 23 will be of great help. It says that we have the spirit, soul, and the body all of which should be submitted in worship to God for his service, for his glory.
The part of you that is called spirit refers to the basic activating or animating force that makes you a living personal being. The Hebrew noun is ruah that occurs 377 times in the Old Testament and is translated breath or wind. Remember when God made Adam, he breathed into him the breath of life. It is that which makes us alive. Sometimes this word refers to vitality, animation, or vigor. It is even used for having a temper or anger. In the New Testament Greek, the word is pneuma that has a similar usage. When we accept Christ as our Savior, our spirit is made alive to God and sensitive to his Holy Spirit. As a result, a person’s renewed spirit makes him sensitive to think along spiritual lines with the mind and attitude of Christ as the believer.
There is another part of us that is called the soul which is translated from the Hebrew word nephesh. So, what is the difference between the spirit and soul? The soul refers to the person, or the creature that we are. It is mentioned in the Bible 756 times. The soul is what we are. It is what makes us the individual that we happen to be from birth. It is where our appetites and desires are located. It is that life force that will be united with a new resurrected body when Jesus returns at the rapture. In Matthew 10: 28 Jesus said that the body could be killed but also the soul. In the book of Revelation (6:9) John said that he saw the souls of the martyrs in heaven.
In the King James version of the Bible, fourteen Hebrew words are translated as “body”. Usually though it refers to a part of an individual’s material body. Our bodies are that part of us that is the living organism. In the New Testament the Greek word soma is a word used to differentiate between the material fleshly experience versus the spirit. Sometimes it is used in Scripture in a figurative sense such as the whole man or the body of sin or the body of Christ or the body of the church. The strong desires we have such as lust or sexual passion have its center in the body. Scripture often refers to lust, meaning a strong desire which seeks self-gratification. As a consequence, the bodies are from where motivation or intensity arises. Paul mentions in Romans 1 that God gave over the fallen man that they would concentrate on their own lust. This could even go back to the Old Testament commandment that speaks of covetousness. The Bible warns that lust from the flesh, from the body, is the cause of sin leading to death.
In a literal sense, the real us or soul is in constant warfare against the material self or the body. The reason this warfare is significant happens to be that the redeemed soul wants to associate with God while the body wants to associate with earthly desires. The body is the container where the soul resides until death. The spirit is the energizing force of the body that keeps it moving, keeps it alive. Because the human being is a body soul and spirit, we can know he reflects the image of God who is also triune. Knowing these things, it is very significant that we be aware of how the body demands pleasures which are not pleasing to God or of no value to ourselves. When the Bible says we should deny ourselves, it means that we should keep the lust of the body in check so that we are not drawn away into an unhealthy lifestyle. That lifestyle could be a wide range of behavior, habits, or attitude. Paul said that we should behave moderately in all things. He advises us to exercise self-control, which is our own responsibility, not God’s.
Christian Writer 