Man has three parts - body, soul and spirit. Our spirit enables us to contact God who is Spirit and bring us into a union with God. The spirit also makes it possible for us to be built into the corporate dwelling place of God. The three parts of man parallel the design of Temple and the three stages of the journey of Israel. The presentation shows how the Scriptures reveal this truth and its fulfillment in Christ.

1. The Human Spirit
Formed by God
To be one with God
To be God’s dwelling place

2. 2
“Thus declares Jehovah, who…forms the spirit of man within him”
– Zechariah 12:1
“But there is a spirit in man… – Job 32:8
God has formed a spirit within man to receive Him
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit…”
– John 4:24

3. 3
Body
Soul
Spirit
”…may your
spirit and soul
and body
be preserved
complete…”
– 1 Thess. 5:23
• With our body (Gk. bios) we contact the physical world
• With our soul (Gk. psuche) the psychological world
• With our spirit (Gk. pneuma) we contact God who is Spirit
Man is made of three parts – body, soul and spirit
Man’s spirit is
his inward
“organ” to
contact God
and receive
God

4. 4
Body
Soul
Spirit
GOD AS SPIRIT ”That which is born of the Spirit is spirit…”
– John 3:6
”…made alive in the Spirit”
– 1 Peter 3:18
”…in Christ all will be made alive”
– 1 Cor. 15:22
“It is the Spirit who gives life”
– 1 John 6:63
“…last Adam became a life-giving Spirit”
– 1 Cor. 15:45
Our regenerated human spirit
has been made alive to God

5. 5
“God…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” – Genesis 2:7
“He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” – John 20:22
“…be filled in spirit” – Eph 5:28
The Two “Breathings”
This intimate act of breathing
is seen in both the old creation and new creation
that we may be filled with God!

6. 6
God does not look to heavens or earth, or to a temple built with hands,
but to our human spirit for His dwelling and rest.
Man’s spirit is for the building of God’s dwelling place
The God
who… does
not dwell in
temples
made with
hands
Acts 17:24
…built
together into
a dwelling
place of God
in spirit.
Eph. 2:22
…For we are
the temple of
the living God
2 Cor. 6:16

7. 7
Man’s spirit relates to Holy of Holies and the Good Land
“In the tabernacle fashioned by Moses there were three separate compartments.
In this tabernacle we have a figure of the Christian man. His spirit is the holy of
holies, where God dwells…”
- Martin Luther in his comment on Luke 1:46-47

8. 8
“Let us therefore come forward to the Holy of Holies” – Hebrews
Being in the outer court or the Holy Place was not sufficient to
contact God. There was a need to pass through the veil to be
brought into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.

9. 9
Just like Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan
our Christian journey from the realm of the flesh (Egypt)
to the realm of the spirit (good land of Canaan)
involves a passage through the wilderness of the soul.

10. 10
• In our journey toward God, we must not continue to wander in
our soul, but press on to enter into our spirit
• Our soul-life must be denied in our experience (Matt 16:24-25).
• Our entrance depends upon the constant word of God operating
within us to produce a “dividing of soul and spirit” (Heb. 4:12)
• Knowing the difference between the soul and the spirit is
important for our daily living
We must “be diligent to enter into that rest” (Heb. 4:11)

11. 11
Our human spirit enables God to join
Himself as the Spirit with us.
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
– 1 Cor. 6:17

12. 12
This brings man into a restful union with God
and produces God’s habitation with man.
“even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us” – John 17:21
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them” – Rev. 21:3