The Basics of Righteousness: Spirit, Soul, and Body

Today I’m focusing on spirit, soul, and body. If you grasp this truth, it will transform your life. This revelation helped me understand who I am in Christ, what Jesus has done for me, and it ushered me into walking in the supernatural with victory over my emotions and even my physical body.

We as human beings must understand that we are three-part beings. We have a soul, which we use to express ourselves—the seat of our emotions, intellect, and will. We have a physical body—the part you can see. And we have a spirit—the eternal part of you that will live forever.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This Scripture clearly shows we are tripartite beings: you have a spirit that lives in a body and expresses itself through the soul. This is the teaching on spirit, soul, and body.

If you find this helpful and you’re not yet subscribed, go ahead and hit the bell so you receive notifications—these teachings will really help you. The Bible is very clear: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” It’s not the devil destroying us; it’s our lack of knowledge. If you understand this principle of spirit, soul, and body, your life as a child of God will take on a dimension you never anticipated.

What Gets Changed at the New Birth

Only one part of you gets saved—changed and made new—when you’re born again: your spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

So when you get born again, your spirit is made new. God gives you a new spirit.

Jesus told Nicodemus:

John 3:6–7 (KJV)
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

And:

John 1:11–13 (KJV)
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God… Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The first time you were born, your parents chose to have you. But you must be born again—this time by the Spirit of God. Your spirit must be reborn by the Spirit. You’re born again by the incorruptible Word of God; the Word gives you new life. You become a new kind of being that never existed before. Amen.

Your spirit is made new—redeemed. Your sins are washed away, you get a new nature. But you’re still “stuck,” so to speak, with the same soul (mindsets, emotions, learned patterns) and the same body. If you had brown eyes before, you still have brown eyes. If you had “stinking thinking” before you were born again, it remains to the extent you have not renewed your mind with God’s Word.

How Do You Know Who You Are in the Spirit?

You know your body by looking at it. You know your emotions and intellect by experiencing them. But you only know who you are in the spirit by looking into the Word of God—your spiritual mirror.

James 1:23–25 (KJV)
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass… But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein… this man shall be blessed in his deed.

John 6:63 (KJV)
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The Word often confronts what you feel and see. But if you look intently into it and continue in it, you’ll be blessed—you’ll start to live out who God says you are, not what your past or feelings say.

I was talking to a friend who struggles with an identity complex. She knows God loves her, but feels small, afraid she’ll fail. I told her: you don’t need to fear failure—you’re a child of God. Step into who God says you are, not what negative thoughts accuse you of. God didn’t make failures.

The Bible says you are more than conquerors through Him that loved you. That means Jesus has paid it all; God has given you His identity in Christ. In your spirit, you are complete.

1 John 4:17 (KJV)
…because as he is, so are we in this world.

Not physically, not in your unrenewed thinking—but in your spirit you are one with God.

Spirit → Soul → Body (and Why Renewal Matters)

Your soul must be renewed so it agrees with your reborn spirit, and then what is in your spirit flows to your life and body. Think of the tabernacle type and shadow: the innermost place (Most Holy Place) pictures the spirit, the holy place pictures the soul, and the outer court pictures the body. There’s no direct connection between the Most Holy Place (spirit) and the outer court (body) without passing through the soul. Your soul is the valve—the faucet—that controls the flow.

If the faucet is shut by wrong thinking, what’s in your spirit won’t flow. But when you renew your mind, you “open the faucet,” and life flows from spirit → soul → body.

Proverbs 23:7 (KJV)
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…

Carnal Mind vs. Spiritual Mind

Many Christians live by their five senses (the flesh) rather than by the Spirit.

Romans 8:6–9 (KJV)
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace… So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…

To be carnally minded is to be ruled by what you see, feel, hear, taste, and touch. That mindset resists what God says. People say, “I know the Bible says this, but…” That “but” fights God. Instead, say: “If God said it, I believe it—that settles it.”

You are in the Spirit if the Spirit of God dwells in you. You know He does because you called on Jesus and were born again, not because your senses “felt” it. Live from that truth.

Works of the Flesh vs. Fruit of the Spirit

Your flesh produces works; the indwelling Holy Spirit produces fruit in you.

Galatians 5:19–26 (KJV)
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness… hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife… drunkenness, revellings, and such like… they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

It’s one fruit with many facets. As a child of God, you already have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Don’t beg God to give them—draw from within by aligning your soul with the Spirit.

When I face sickness, I don’t try to “tear open the heavens.” The kingdom is within me. I say, “In the name of Jesus, I command healing to flow from my spirit into my soul and into my body.” Then I renew my mind so my soul stops resisting the Word and lets the life of God flow.

God Relates to Us in the Spirit

John 4:24 (KJV)
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

When your soul (mind, will, emotions) is yielded to God and aligned with truth, your whole being worships God rightly.

You can go through life as “damaged goods,” saying, “I can’t change; I am my past.” Or you can go through life saying, “As He is, so am I in this world. I am a new creature in Christ. The old is gone; the new has come.” That’s why you cannot negotiate against studying the Word—only the Word can transform you.

1 Corinthians 2:16 (KJV)
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

You have the mind of Christ in your spirit. Bring your soul into agreement by speaking the Word and thinking the Word.