In the coming weeks, we will be studying Spirit Soul and Body, but in this piece I will lay the foundation.Often you hear preachers say, “man is tripartite being,” inferring that man is a three-part being: part is spirit, part is soul and part is body. This depiction, though partially correct, is misleading.
Essentially, man is a spirit, not part spirit; He is a spirit being, has a soul and lives in a body. John in his missive, said God is spirit (John 4:24) and man was made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). Thus, if man was made in the image and likeness of God and God is spirit, it therefore infers that man is a spirit.
But you might say if we are spirit beings, what about our body? The body houses the real man (our spirit); it is given to us so we can function here on this earth.
When we say someone has passed on or expired, it simply means his spirit or real man has left the body: The body without the spirit is dead (James 3:26).
Paul, in missive to the church at Thessalonica, shed light on the subject, saying I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Thessalonians 5:23).
Also in his letter to the Hebrews, he said For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
Note that Paul said, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved – Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (Body) Thus inferring that man is a spirit, he has a soul and lives in a body.
Paul distinguishes between the spirit, soul and body of man. We contact the spiritual realm with our spirit, we contact the emotional and intellectual realm with our soul and we contact the physical realm with our body.
By Emmanuel Emeke Asiwe
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