Lesson 1 - Teacher's Guide
- Although the Bible clearly reveals that we are three-part beings—made up of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thess. 5:23)—very few Christians practice a functional understanding of this in their everyday lives. Most people actually believe that they’re only made up of body and soul. They confuse soul and spirit as being basically the same thing.
Our spirits are our innermost part. Our souls are our mental, emotional part, which includes our mind, will, emotions, and conscience. It’s often called our “personality.” Our bodies are our physical part. - We can feel both our bodies and our souls, but our spirits can’t be accessed in any natural way (John 3:6). There is no direct connection between spirit and flesh. Therefore, we can’t contact our spirits through our emotions or our physical bodies. Herein lies one of the great problems of the Christian life!
Without understanding spirit, soul, and body, we become frustrated over the apparent disparity between our experience and God’s Word. However, understanding the interaction between the three parts of our beings—spirit, soul, and body—unlocks the spirit realm so we can experience who we are and what we have in Christ. - God’s Word is the only accurate way we can perceive the spirit realm (John 6:63). God’s Word is spirit and life. It reveals spiritual reality. If we want to know what our spirits are like, we must find out from the Word. We can’t just go by emotion or some other type of perception. We must look into the Bible in order to see ourselves in the spirit.
- God’s Word is a spiritual mirror (James 1:23-25). It perfectly reflects who we are in the spirit. It’s the only way we can know. Therefore, we must learn to trust the spiritual reality we see in the Word.
Footnotes
| 1. | A. | Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23. How many parts are we made of? (Three) |
| B. | Name the parts. (Spirit, soul, and body) | |
| C. | Which one is our physical part? (Body) | |
| D. | Which one is our innermost part? (Spirit) | |
| E. | Which one is often called our “personality”? (Soul) | |
| 2. | A. | What does John 3:6 say? (Spirit is spirit, and flesh is flesh) |
| B. | What does this mean? (There’s no direct connection between the two) | |
| C. | Can we contact our spirits through our emotions or our physical bodies? (No) | |
| 3. | A. | According to John 6:63, God’s Word is_______. (Spirit and life) |
| B. | If we want to know what our spirits are like, where must we look? (In the Bible) | |
| 4. | A. | James 1:23-25 reveals God’s Word as what? (A spiritual mirror) |
| B. | Where is the only place we can look to accurately perceive spiritual reality and find out who we are in the spirit? (God’s Word) |
