Per God's Word (like Heb.4:12, Matt.10:28; 1 Thess.5:23; Eccl.12:5-7; 1 Cor.15, etc.), God gave us 3 parts to our existence, i.e., spirit, soul, and a body (flesh for this world).
Theologians are ever trying to come to an understanding of the difference between our soul and spirit, and the NT Greek sometimes crosses over between the concept of spirit and soul, causing a bit of misunderstanding.
In 1 Cor.15 and 2 Cor.5, Paul revealed that there is a "natural body" (flesh) and there is a "spiritual body". He said as we have borne the "image of the earthy" we shall also bear the "image of the heavenly". The image of the heavenly = the "spiritual body" he was talking about.
Our soul is the individual part of us, our person. Our soul with spirit can be separated from our flesh body. But our soul cannot be separated from our spirit.
In Eccl.12:5-7, we are shown that when our flesh body dies and the "silver cord" is severed, our flesh goes back to the earth where it came from. But our spirit goes back to God Who gave it. More detail is given within the NT about that spirit by Apostle Paul. It involves our soul attached with our spirit. Our spirit is our image body form in the heavenly. But our soul is our personality, whether in the flesh or in the heavenly.
Whether we are here or there, our soul requires a 'body' image. Here on earth it is one of flesh. In the heavenly it is one of spirit (i.e., the "spiritual body" Paul taught). Our spirit body, or spiritual body, is the body Paul taught in 2 Cor.5 that is from God, eternal in the heavens. All born in the flesh have this same makeup.
The difference with eternal Life through Christ Jesus is about being born from above by The Spirit, and it's to our spirit with the soul. For those with a spirit that is not born of The Spirit, their spirit with soul is in a liable to perish state, whether here on earth in the flesh or in the heavenly like the "spirits in prison".
#4 probably the most scholarly and lucid explanation of the subject at hand.
I think the biggest stumbling block to understanding the differences and similarities between body mind and spirit is the word 'soul'. The word has various definitions depending upon the context its used. Think of the word 'fire'. Fire can be described as sexual passion, as a burning chemical reaction, as a nuclear reaction, as a bad temper, etc. Soul is the same. It's used interchangeably to mean the entire body, mind and spirit package and it is also used to refer to the metaphysical component of human existence alone.
I submit that the first step one must take to understand the composite parts of human spirituality is to put the word 'soul' to one side and to perform one's meditations without it. Such an exercise may not be completely inclusive to any scriptural study, but it will certainly help to clear the fog of mystery a bit.
That being said, I'd like to share a bit of personal testimony regarding autonomous human spirituality and external spiritual influences.
One of the first things I learned about spiritual experience was that it wasn't part of my familiar experience. It was something else. Another fact is that there is no such thing as human spiritual autonomy. We do not and cannot operate on our own initiative. We have no power to do so.
The Bible says that man is spiritually dead apart from Christ. That means that man cannot 'reach out' on his own. God must come to us.
Billy Graham once said that man was like a TV receiver. Without an audio/video input the TV set just sits there and displays static. When a signal is applied to the instrument picture and sound appear. Similarly, a human cannot exhibit or experience any original spiritual information unless its given to him or her. The spirit of man, therefore, is very helpless and small perhaps the size of a grain of sand or mustard seed (to paraphrase one of the master's proverbs).
An external spirit can act independently upon the mind and body of man. Evidence of this in scripture and in contemporary experience is demonic oppression, divine healing, salvation, damnation and the personal awareness of either condition. Ever talk to a man who knew he was bound for hell or an addict who said he 'had a monkey on his back'? Ever talk to a man who knew heaven was his destiny? Both will give ample personal evidence for their conclusions and it usually has little to do with Sunday school lessons and/or spiritual indoctrinations.
There was a time when I was apart from my body. My perception was at once distant and immediate. I was close and far away at the same time. Death was near, yet I was wide awake. On another occasion I witnessed the tunnel through darkness that many who have died describe. I saw people moving on the other side, but again I was wide awake, not dead or near death at all. On that occasion I was in a safe place and not threatened at all, yet I saw and knew what I was seeing was true.
The mind rules the body and the spirit rules all. Mind and body die, but the spirit continues. Whether it continues in the bosom of Christ or whether it wanders in dry and lonely places, as the Bible describes, is a matter of decisions made in life. Nothing changes in eternity and the condition of the human spirit at death is the condition it will suffer with or be blessed by in eternity.
but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...
