God created mankind in His image. Just as God is three-in-one, so man is a tripartite being made from human spirit, soul and body (1Thess 5:22). Before a man is born again, his spirit is dead (Eph 2:1-3). His life is controlled by his soul ~ his will, mind and emotions, and his body. He has a tendency towards sin - the sinful nature, which entered the human race when Adam and Eve sinned (Rom 5:12). When, by the will of God and the invitation of man, a person is born again - submits his life to Christ, his spirit becomes alive in Christ, he is connected by his human spirit to God - who is spirit (Jn 4:24), and he is called a new creation (2Cor 5:17). At this point the changes in a man are in his spirit - his body and soul do not immediately change - though they may well be impacted (Rom 8:10). Our soul and our spirit particularly are very closely woven together but they are distinct (Heb 4:12).

 

The new creation can then begin to function in the manner originally intended. God's righteous spirit draws a man by his human spirit to life in accordance with God's perfect will - the body and soul can now be subject to the human spirit, which has been subjected to God (Gal 5:16).

 

We still live in a fallen world and man is not yet free of the sinful nature - the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:17). God's will and salvation concerns our whole being and as we continue on our Christian journey we are challenged to become like Jesus and God works on our soul and body and life through His word and His spirit guiding ours. There is a conflict, but we are no longer slaves to the sinful nature (Rom 6:11); our lives have been crucified with Christ - and sin and death no longer have a hold on us (Gal 2:20). We are able to live the Holy life God calls us to (1Pet 1:15-16) by deliberately subjecting our body to our soul, our soul to our spirit and our spirit to God (Gal 5:25). We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2Cor 10:5) and take up our cross daily - denying ourselves and being obedient to Christ (Matt 16:24). We do away with the acts of the sinful nature (Gal 5: 19-21) and begin to produce the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5: 22-23).

 

In our struggle with sin it is good to know we can (and must) submit ourselves to a higher authority than our own thoughts/plans/desires and in Christ we are victorious (Rom 8:37) and are able to win the battles which wage war against our souls (1Pet 2:11). God's spirit helps us in our weakness (Rom 8:26); we can be changed and reflect the life of our Wonderful Saviour (2Cor 3:18).