We consist of three parts and it is the spirit that enables us to communicate with God. In this post, I use the example of recovery from addiction to explain each part.
The logo for Alcoholics Anonymous contains the three words Unity, Service and Recovery. I have added the extra information inside the white triangle to show additional meaning.
Unity is the physical relationship created by members meeting together, either at meetings themselves or socially.
Service is where individual members use things such as their emotions, personality or intellect to help newcomers or AA itself.
Recovery is the objective and involves a spiritual awakening. This occurs by developing a relationship with God as we understand him, or a Higher Power as it is often called in AA.
As the co-founder of AA, Bill W. wrote on page 64 of the chapter “How it Works”, “For we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick.” Until we become spiritually well, there can be no lasting sobriety.
I could also have used the words body, soul and spirit instead, as they mean the same thing. As we apply these attributes to Christianity we can look more closely at what they represent.
Body – Soma
Our body includes our five senses of smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight as well as the power of speech. It also has physical needs such as food, water, oxygen, shelter, clothing, activity, sleep, sex and so on.
To be 100% physically healthy, we need our five senses and to have our basic needs met. However, we can live with less than perfect.
Soul – Psyche
Our soul is how we interact with the world and other people. It includes:
- Self – our identity, personality, character
- Emotions – feelings, passions
- Intellect – mind, thoughts
- Will – our willpower, desires, self-discipline
- Conscience – knowing right from wrong
- Evil – our sinful human nature
To be of service to God, we need our soul to be in a healthy state. We cannot do much good if our soul is sick.
Spirit – Pneuma
Our spirit is the deepest part of our makeup. Like a piece of fruit, our body is the skin, the soul is the flesh and our spirit is the core. While the skin may appear fine, it is not until we bite into the fruit that we may find the flesh is rotten. And the core is from where new fruit or regeneration begins.
As Christians, our core or spirit is where we find peace and revelation by reading or hearing the word of God. Our spirit is where the Holy Spirit lives, enabling us to communicate directly with God through prayer.
Our spirit guides and leads our soul, which allows us to choose to obey God and perform actions through our body that please him and to spread the word to others.
What The Scriptures Say
In the old testament we can read, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” [Ezek 36:26] And in the new testament, when Mary learns she is pregnant with Jesus, “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.’ “ [Luke 1:46–47]
And Jesus himself said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” [John 3:6–8] “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” [John 6:63]
The Apostle Paul writes, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the [second] coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1 Thes 5:23]
And in Hebrews we read, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” [Heb 4:12]
And Paul also writes, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” [1 Cor 6:19] “I say then, ‘Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.'” [Gal 5:16–17]
Spiritual Revelation
Paul says, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” [1 Cor 2:14] “So that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” [Eph 1:17]
And James writes, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” [james 2:26] “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty [grace] and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” [James 1:23–25]
James is saying that if we do not grow in faith and do not allow our spirit to guide and lead our soul to do good for the Lord, then we are like someone who looks in the mirror and forgets what they have learned as soon as they walk away.
Paul is saying that to a non-Christian, the word of God makes no sense to them. It is not until we believe in Christ that the Holy Spirit can enter into our spirit and reveal the true meaning of Scripture and what God is offering.