Our Triune Nature: Spirit, Soul and Body

Our make up as humans is triune. We exist in three in parts – spirit, soul and body. The spirit part of us is what relates with the soul which in turn relates with the body. We are made in God's image in our spiritual makeup. Our physical bodies are only for the purpose of physical dealings on this physical earth.

We know more about our physical bodies than we do about our spiritual bodies. This book shades some light on the nature of our spiritual makeup, how to maintain its wellbeing, and receiving God's healing whenever there is injury to the spirit.

We are spirits living in bodies

The real person in us is not our bodies. It is our inner makeup of the soul and the spirit. We are therefore spirits living in bodies and not the other way around. Our bodies are not our true selves but the spirit of each of us is.

Thank God that it is not our bodies that are made in God's image. They are made for our spirits to express themselves on earth. We'd have a never-ending debate if our bodies were made in God's image. We'd be debating about his gender, his race, genetics, height, weight, age looks and so on.

Each of us has one spirit, just as we each have one body. This spirit is largely referred to as the human spirit. This serves to distinguish it from other spirits, such as God's angels (which are also spirits) and fallen angels (which are also spirits). It also distinguishes it from the Holy Spirit.

The next subsection will show how our physical bodies are used by our spirits to relate with all matter in the physical early realm.

We each have a physical body for using in the physical earthly realm

The physical body is what relates with the rest of the world. The physical body is for using in the physical earthly realm. Without our bodies our assignments on earth end. The earth is only for people with physical bodies. That is why the dead cannot relate with us who are still alive and they cannot relate with the physical realm. Some claim the dead can relate with us. Chapter 13 of my other book, Breaking Curses, Including Generational Curses , shows it's biblically not true. The chapter is titled “Familiar Spirits: Eliminating Myths from a Biblical Perspective.”

Once the physical body dies the spirit in each of us leaves the body and awaits its destination –heaven or hell. It means our usefulness as spirits on earth has ended. The body goes back to its earthly domain by decomposing. There is no point in contributing to ending our usefulness prematurely by being careless with physiological nutritional and health needs of the body.

Myles Munroe while being interviewed by Benny Hinn on his book Understanding the Purpose and Power of Prayer: Earthly License for Heavenly Interference said, “Any spirit on earth without a body is illegal…The reason why humans can cast demons out is that the humans do have a body. It's the body that makes the humans authoritatively legal on earth.”

Benny Hinn interrupted, “That is why demons seek a body to regain their dominion.”

Munroe continued, “You just stole my next point… Every spirit is trying to find a body. Can I give you another shocker? Even the Holy Spirit. Because He cannot function here without a body. That's why we're called the body of Christ. And it says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, because He Himself needs to be legally here in order to function.”

“Your most important asset on earth is not your spirit. It's your body. Because without your body your spirit also becomes illegal. That's why when you die you have to leave…Every spirit needs a body to be legal on earth because of God's law (giving humans with bodies dominion over the earth)…That is why God put so much value on your body physically that he provided healing to make it last long (on earth),” (Myles Munroe, on This is Your Day, Sky Angel Satellite TV, July 13, 2004).

This is all to supplement on understanding the importance our physical bodies have. With an appropriate perspective on their importance we can cease feeling guilty when caring for them.

Munroe did exaggerate by saying “Your most important asset on earth is not your spirit. It's your body.” What use is the body without a healthy spirit? So it's our soul and spirit that's most important even while here on earth.

However, when seen from the point he was trying to make we can not blame him. He was trying to say that for the spirit of each of us to have any existence and use on earth it needs a body. “It's the body that makes the humans authoritatively legal on earth.”

The body is essential for our existence on earth. Teilihard de Chardin (1881-1955), a Jesuit priest said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience.”

He is also quoted to have said, “You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience.”

In order to continue having this human experience we need to remain in our bodies for as long as the Lord wills –not for as long as we carelessly stretch the tolerance of our bodies. They are precious vessels for our assignments on earth.

God is so interested in our human experience that even God's angels are surprised why God makes it such a big deal. We cannot afford to minimize our worth to God through our existence in these physical suites called bodies. Through these bodies we can accomplish so much for God's glory on earth. That's why the angels marvel at us.

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas,” Psalm 8:4-8 (KJV).

God made us rulers or to have dominion over the works of his hands - on earth. Even over the salvation of fellow humanity he is counting on us. He works through us, in the body of Christ, to reach the lost – not independently of us.

“How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?...As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'” Ro-mans 10:14.

Our existence here on earth is important not primarily for our own sake but primarily for the sake of others –the lost and fellow believers in the body of Christ. We have a divine responsibility to ensure we're treating the temples of the Holy Spirit well so that he can effectively do his work in reaching others.

More about how to nurture our bodies can be found in chapter 8 of my other book , Major Christian Deliverance Principles: Keys for Self-deliverance and Ministry . The chapter is titled, “Christian Deliverance and Healing in Physical Health Areas.”

This book is concerned with the wellbeing of the spirit. The spirit is the engine of the body. Without a healthy spirit the physical body is of no use, no matter how beautiful and healthy it may be. So it's worth knowing how to care for the spirit far more than it is to care for the physical body.

We each have a soul to connect the spirit with the body

The soul is what connects the intricate parts of the spirit in order to use the body while on earth. It is the middleperson between the spirit and the body. The soul therefore serves to connect the two parts together: the invisible (the spirit) and the visible (the body). It consists of the mind, will and emotional faculties.

However the spirit and the soul are not as easily divisible as we assume

The soul which connects with the spirit is sometimes referred interchangeably with the spirit in the bible. This is because the spirit and the soul are not as easily divisible as we understand them. Our understanding of them is only at their simplest level. The bible only gives us a generalized picture of our spiritual makeup. In eternity we will know more about our unseen makeup.

In this book we will consider the soul and the spirit as one and the same thing here. This will make it easier to focus on the essentials while still being totally consistent with scripture. We will refer to the mind, will and emotion faculties as being part of the spirit as much as they are part of the soul.

There is a book I'd recommend for in-depth biblical analysis on the spirit, soul and body. It is a book titled Free Indeed: Fullness for the Whole Man, Spirit, Soul and Body by Tom Marshall. It's a worthy read if you can find it among online stores. The last time I checked (Dec. 2007) it was out of print.

Tom Marshall (1921-1993), a missionary in New Zealand, went to be with Lord in 1993. His books are still treasured today. You can still be able to purchase low-priced used copies at Amazon.com. AllBookstores.com, a book price comparison website, also shows all the major online bookstores where the book can be found. Some local Christian bookstores may also have it. I bought mine in Nairobi, Kenya.

In Free Indeed: Fullness for the Whole Man, Spirit, Soul and Body Marshall goes to great lengths in biblically distinguishing our triune makeup of spirit, soul and body. I consider this book a Christian classic, published in 1975 (almost my age). It will supplement Christian principles on healing the wounded spirit that this book may not have covered

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