The soul is located in the heart according to the Bible.

According to Genesis, God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him his own breath, and man became a living being. God then planted a garden in Eden and placed Adam there.

God told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or he would die. The serpent tempted Eve to eat from it by saying that she would not die if she did so. Eve ate some fruit from this tree and gave some to Adam, who then ate it as well. However, as soon as they ate it, they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together as aprons for themselves. After they realized what they had done, they covered themselves up with leaves and hid themselves from God’s presence because they were afraid He would kill them (Genesis 3:7-10).

After God created woman from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:22-23), he placed her in his side at night while he slept so that their two bodies could become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

Where Is The Soul Located According To The Bible

What is the human soul, according to the Bible?

Over and over again in Scripture, people are referred to as “souls” (Exodus 31:14; Proverbs 11:30). The human soul is that part of a person that is eternal—the part that lives on after the body dies and decays. Jesus said we were not to fear men, who can only kill the body, but not the soul (Matthew 10:28).

There is some confusion as to whether the human spirit and the human soul are the same thing, or different in some way. The Bible is not entirely clear on this point, but there is evidence of at least some subtle differences. The spirit is described more in terms of force (Numbers 14:24), while the soul seems to be a static entity. Again, there is very little in the Bible to tell us what differences exist between the two. However, there is indication that they are separate entities (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12).

Jesus Christ, because he was fully man as well as being fully God, also had a human soul. His soul experienced anguish at Gethsemane while He prayed before going to the cross. He said “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:36-46). The Messianic psalm also speaks of the soul of the Messiah, saying that his soul will not be abandoned to Sheol, nor his body to corruption, or decay (Psalm 16:9-10; Acts 13:35-37).

The human soul can be strong or weak (2 Peter 2:14), saved or lost (James 1:21; Ezekiel 18:4). It was created by God (Jeremiah 38:16). The human soul needs the protection, purification, and atonement of God (Leviticus 17:11; 1 Peter 1:22). The human soul is imperishable, and every human soul will be somewhere for eternity (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46). This is a sobering thought—every person you have ever met is a soul, living in a body, and that soul will last forever. Some will reject the love of God and as a result they will have to pay for their own sins with death (Romans 6:23), and since the soul is eternal, it will be an eternal death. Those who accept the free gift of forgiveness and Christ’s atoning sacrifice will experience the opposite—eternal life and peace, in heaven (Psalm 23:2).

what is the spirit of man according to the bible

Receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior is a momentous event. But have you ever wondered what happens next? 

The good news is that being saved is just the first step in your Christian life. There’s so much more to being a Christian! Jesus Christ is now living in you, and He wants to have a personal relationship with you. For this to happen, it’s critical to understand the importance of your human spirit according to the Bible.

In this post, we’ll look at some key verses to explore how knowing about our spirit can affect our Christian life.

Key Bible verses

The Bible mentions the human spirit numerous times. 

From the very beginning, the Bible reveals God made human beings with three parts, including a spirit. Genesis 2:7 says: 

“Jehovah God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”

God formed man’s physical body with the dust of the ground. Then God breathed into his nostrils, and man became a living soul. This, of course, points to man’s soul, which consists of the mind, emotion, and will. 

Now, where is the human spirit in this verse? We don’t see the words human spirit, but what we do see is the breath of life. In Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament, the word translated as breath is neshamah. This same Hebrew word is translated as spirit in Proverbs 20:27, which says: 

“The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah.”

By this we can see that when God breathed into man, man’s human spirit came into existence. Our human spirit is the deepest part of our being. 

But why did God create us with a human spirit? Isn’t having a body and soul enough for us to exist? 

Why we have a spirit

Our spirit was created by God so that we can contact and receive Him. Our body and our soul have their own specific functions; only our spirit has the ability to contact God. We can see this from numerous verses, including John 4:24:

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.”

In order to contact—or worship—God, who is Spirit, we must use our spirit.

The way a radio functions is a good illustration of our spirit’s unique ability to contact and receive God. When a radio is turned on and properly tuned, it can receive the invisible radio waves in the air and interpret them.

Our human spirit is like a radio, and God is like the radio waves. Our spirit is the part of our being that corresponds to what God is, so we have to use our spirit in order to contact Him.

What makes our human spirit so important?

Our human spirit is so important to God because God wants to fill us with Himself. He wants us to receive Him, and our spirit is the unique receiver. Our Christian life begins with our human spirit, as we see from John 3:6:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Note 2 in the Recovery Version says:

“The first Spirit mentioned here is the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, and the second spirit is the human spirit, the regenerated spirit of man. Regeneration is accomplished in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit of God with God’s life, the uncreated eternal life. Thus, to be regenerated is to have the divine, eternal life (in addition to the human, natural life) as the new source and new element of a new person.”

The moment we believe in Jesus, His Spirit enters into our spirit. When we’re regenerated, we’re born of God; we receive His divine, eternal life in our spirit; and we become His children. 

The Lord is love, light, peace, rest, comfort, strength, our Shepherd, our refuge, and so much more. And because He’s now living in our spirit, we can experience and enjoy all He is to us right now, not just at some point in the future.

Our human spirit and our Christian life

Knowing about our human spirit is foundational for our Christian life. Once we realize that the Lord Jesus lives in our spirit, we need to apply this realization by using our spirit to contact Him all the time. We can practice doing this first thing each morning. Then continually throughout the day, we can contact Him by simply calling on His name, “Lord Jesus!” 

We can also use our spirit to contact the Lord by praying with God’s Word. For instance, let’s say we read John 14:6: “I am the way and the reality and the life.” We can pray, “Lord Jesus, thank You for being the way. Thank You for being the reality. And Lord, I praise You for being the life, the real life. Thank You for being my life.”

what is the difference between soul and spirit biblically

This is a question that is not easy to point out in our everyday Christian lives. While it is not so difficult to distinguish the body from the spirit and the soul, it is particularly difficult to distinguish the soul from the spirit. What exactly are their differences? Let us consult the Bible once again to give us light about these confusing concepts.

Body, Soul, and Spirit in the Bible

There are a few places in the Bible where the body, soul, and spirit are mentioned. One of these is in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, as written, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If we delve into this verse, it clearly states that we are composed of three parts: The body, the soul, and the spirit. The verse also uses the word “and,” which in the original Greek language means to differ from each other. Thus, this clearly states that each part is different and plays a different role in us.

It is easy to distinguish the body as physical, which means using the five senses; the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of taste, the sense of smell, and the sense of touch.  The spirit and soul are much more difficult because they seem similar but are actually very different. They have different functions in our lives as Christians, as it is written in Hebrews 4:12,

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

It is obvious in this verse that the two are separate and what is apparent is that the Word of God divides these two parts from each other.

Let us imagine a circle on two levels. The outer level is the body, followed by the soul and the core is the spirit. Now, let us discuss the function of the soul to understand its importance of it and then discuss the spirit in detail.

What Is a Soul as Defined by the Bible?

Let’s see what the Bible has to say about the soul as we analyze the verses of Scripture.

Matthew 10:28: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

No man can kill our soul. Although they can kill our bodies, they cannot do anything personally to affect our souls.

Ezekiel 18:4: “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.”

Souls belong to the Lord. He created them when he created us. We also notice this verse mentions that any soul that sins will experience death. Considering every human, except Jesus, had sinned, this means everyone has earned eternal death. Thankfully, God has offered a way of salvation for those whose souls are doomed to die.

Matthew 16:26: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

We cannot allow ourselves to get distracted by the things of this earth. Our soul, after all, cannot take its possessions on earth with it to the afterlife. It would be folly to strive to gain the whole world on account of losing one’s soul. One soul’s destination is of utmost importance and should be the number one priority in a person’s life.

Soul Role and Functions

The soul is basically our mind, our emotions, and our will. It is who we are as human beings. But it is also used to express God. As written in Luke 1:46-47, Mary’s Song, “And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

In this verse, we can see that Mary uses her soul to glorify God and then uses the spirit to rejoice in what God has done to save her. Glorifying God is human behavior and human responsibility. We express our humanity to God through our soul, and we magnify His power and presence through our soul.

Although we express God’s magnanimity in our soul, we can never express God’s power through our soul because it is our humanity. We can do good works and be godly and still fall short. We can never express God’s love for us through our soul alone. We then need the spirit to express God’s love.

What Is a Spirit According to the Bible?

Let us go back to Luke 1:46-47. Mary rejoices about God’s love shown through His only begotten son through her spirit. This means that she enjoyed and experienced God through her spirit. The expression of God’s love is through our spirit.

While the soul is the source of our expression through our humanity, it has its limitations and the only way we can experience God is through our spirit. The soul is merely a channel.

Let us go back to our imagery of the parts. The body is the outer level, followed by the soul and the spirit is the core. The expression of love to God paved the way through the soul. We first magnify God’s power and grace, and then we express and experience it fully through our spirit.

The function of the spirit is spiritual. The spirit is the only way to connect with God, and we can only use the spirit if we believe in God and receive Him through our Lord Jesus Christ’s salvation.

In Romans 8:4, we are reminded by this as stated, “In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

This verse demands us to walk with our spirit and that means living a life according to the spirit and not our soul. The way of the spirit is the way of God. The spirit came to us through Jesus Christ. He lived amongst us and became human and for this reason, he has given us the gift of connecting with God through our spirit.

What Is the Difference between Soul and Spirit?

It is a blessing that we have three parts, the body, the soul, and the spirit. All of these parts have specific functions. The body is our physical functions and here we feel our physical senses such as the sense of sight, taste, smell, hear, and touch. The soul on the other hand is our humanity that makes us feel emotions. It is our way to magnify God through our human limitations.

Finally, the spirit is our spiritual and deeper connection with the Lord. We express our love to God and Jesus Christ through our spirit because this is one of the gifts that Christ gave us when he became human and died for our sins. And thus, we can only use the spirit if we believe in God and Christ and if we do the ways of the spirit.