Soul and spirit are not the same. 

The common tendency is to use the terms interchangeably as if they were the same, but they are not. More specifically there is a profound difference or distinction to be made between the soul of man and the Spirit of God.

The soul is a vital part of how humans are put together. We are created body, mind, and soul. All three parts indivisibly together makes us into the persons we are.

All parts are born together and die together. Just as no human body is the same as any other body and no other mind thinks exactly like any other mind, so no human soul is like any other human soul. Every soul is distinctive, different and separate from every other soul, which immediately rules out the possibility that every soul is simply a part of God or God’s Spirit which by nature has been embedded within us.

The soul is distinctively human. It is a part of our original equipment-standard issue. Everyone has one.

Like the body and mind, the soul can grow and change over time. It can also regress and deteriorate. However, time has little to do with that. Some of the best souls are “good old souls,” while the souls of those much younger can unfortunately be damaged or misused.

The soul then is a part of who we are and conversely not a part of who God is, namely a Spirit. The soul of man is our inner being when we are operating at our very best.

Our bodies give us our form, our minds our intellect and our souls our personality and character. All three, body, mind, and soul are the work of the creator which gives us a body that is not His body but one that can act, a mind which is less than His mind but one that can reason, and a soul which is not His Spirit but one that can distinguish between good and evil.

The soul can sometimes act like a conscience, though that is not its main function. The soul is a part of the image of God in us. It is the source of creativity, compassion, community and every other good characteristic we attribute to God. Of course, just as we can misuse our bodies and corrupt our minds so we can ignore the good urgings of the soul within us. It is wrong to reason that God’s Spirit could lead us to do wrong. The soul of man within us is the source of good and evil. Evil is the result of a wayward soul.

While everyone has a soul not everyone possesses God’s Spirit. The Spirit is the gift of God’s presence around us and within us. The gift is offered to many, but unfortunately, fully accepted and utilized by too few. To the extent that God’s Spirit is incorporated into our being, our souls can be nourished and even healed when broken.

There is then a real connection between the human soul and God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit not only breaths life into our bodies, mind, and souls, it also nourishes and repairs them. But the Spirit is not the soul. The Spirit is a gift to the soul. The soul is human, the Spirit is of God. The Spirit brings life to the soul. The soul honors the Spirit by making room for the Spirit of God to live within us.

The Spirit can enter the soul any time at the will of the Father and specifically at baptism by the promise of Christ. 

Rev. Raymond Ticknor is a retired Christian church (Disciple of Christ) pastor living in Monett. He may be reached at [email protected].