The Person You Cannot See: Understanding Spirit, Soul, and Body

Article By: George A. Beckett, Sr. MA

September, 2026

The Human Being: Spirit, Soul, and Body

At the outset of this article, I am presenting the biblical perspective that a living individual is more than a physical body. A person is a spiritual being having a human experience while on Earth until physical death or the rapture changes that experience. Scripture presents several distinct spiritual realities that relate to the living person. There is the physical body, which provides the earthly vessel in which we live; there is the human spirit, the life-giving spirit that comes from God and sustains physical life; and there is the soul, which represents the individual and encompasses the qualities that make that person who they are. For those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, there is also another spiritual reality: the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell within the believer. These distinctions are important because Scripture speaks differently about each of them.

This article will examine these realities from Scripture and consider how they relate to one another throughout the life, death, and eternal destiny of the individual. The discussion will begin with God's eternal knowledge of the person, continue with the creation of humanity and the nature of the soul, then examine the life-giving spirit God gives to every person. From there, we will consider what Scripture says about physical death, the condition of the soul after death, and finally the resurrection, when God's ultimate purpose for the human being is fulfilled.

The Eternal Design: Known Before Time

Before the foundations of the world were laid, your identity existed in the mind and heart of Almighty God. Your life on Earth is not presented in Scripture as a random occurrence but as part of God's sovereign purpose. God did not merely become aware of you when you were conceived; He knew you before you were formed in the womb. This truth is expressed in Jeremiah 1:5, where the Lord declares, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart." This statement reveals the intimacy of God's knowledge of the individual even before earthly life begins. It establishes that human existence is known to God from its earliest beginning and that the person's identity and purpose are ultimately under His authority.

This understanding provides an important foundation for considering what a human being is. The person who lives in a physical body is more than the body itself. The body is the earthly vessel through which the person experiences this physical world, while Scripture also speaks of the spirit and soul as realities that distinguish the individual from the physical body.

The Creation of the Living Person

Genesis 2:7 gives us the biblical account of humanity's creation: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." God first formed the man's body from the dust of the ground. He then gave life through His breath, and the result was a living human being.

This passage provides an important distinction for understanding the human person. The physical body came from the earth, while life came from God. The person became a living soul through God's act of giving life. Thus, human life does not originate independently within the individual. It comes from God, who is the giver of life.

The soul represents the individual person and encompasses the inner qualities through which that person thinks, feels, desires, remembers, and makes decisions. In this article, I use the terms mind, will, and emotions to describe important aspects of the soul. Scripture repeatedly uses the word "soul" in ways that demonstrate these characteristics.

The Soul According to Scripture

The Bible associates the soul with the activity of the mind. Psalm 139:14 says, "Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." The soul is therefore associated with knowing and understanding. Proverbs 2:10 similarly connects wisdom and knowledge with the soul: "When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul." Lamentations 3:20 speaks of the soul remembering, while Psalm 13:2 describes taking counsel in one's soul. These passages demonstrate that Scripture can use the soul to describe the inner person who thinks, remembers, considers, and understands.

Scripture also associates the soul with emotions. Psalm 42:5 asks, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?" The soul is portrayed as experiencing emotional distress. Genesis 34:3 describes a soul being emotionally attached, while Song of Solomon 1:7 speaks of one whom the soul loves. Job 30:25 likewise describes the soul weeping for those in need. These passages show that the soul is associated with love, sorrow, grief, and other emotional experiences.

The soul is also associated with the will and the making of choices. Job 7:15 says, "So that my soul chooses strangling, and death rather than my life." The soul is presented as capable of making a deliberate choice. Numbers 30:2 likewise speaks of a person binding his soul with a vow, connecting the soul with personal resolve and commitment. Psalm 107:9 speaks of God satisfying the longing soul, showing that desires and longings are also associated with the inner person.

Taken together, these passages provide a biblical basis for understanding the soul as representing the individual and encompassing the inner faculties through which a person thinks, remembers, feels, desires, chooses, and responds. The soul is therefore more than a physical organ or an abstract force. It represents the individual person in his or her conscious inner life.

The Life-Giving Spirit God Gives to Every Person

While the soul represents the individual and the inner life of the person, Scripture also speaks of the human spirit in a distinct way. The human spirit, as discussed in this article, is the life-giving spirit that comes from God. Genesis 2:7 establishes the source of human life by describing God breathing the breath of life into the man. Ecclesiastes 12:7 provides an important corresponding statement concerning death: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."

The physical body therefore has an earthly origin, while the life that makes the body alive comes from God. At death, the body returns to the earth and the spirit returns to God who gave it. This understanding is reinforced by Job 34:14–15, which declares that if God were to withdraw His spirit and breath, all flesh would perish together. Human life remains dependent upon God from beginning to end.

This life-giving spirit should not be confused with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's Spirit who indwells those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. The human spirit is associated with the life God gives to the person; the Holy Spirit is the divine presence who dwells within the believer. Paul specifically says in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 that the believer's body is "a temple of the Holy Spirit" because the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer.

Therefore, a believer's body is not called the temple of the Holy Spirit simply because every human being receives life from God. It is called the temple of the Holy Spirit because the person has believed in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit dwells within that believer.

God's Authority Over the Person

Understanding the distinction between body, soul, human spirit, and Holy Spirit also helps explain Jesus' words in Matthew 10:28: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Human beings may have the power to kill the physical body, but they do not possess ultimate authority over the individual. God alone has ultimate authority over the person's destiny.

Jesus' statement does not mean that the human spirit possesses an independent immortality that exists beyond God's authority. Rather, Scripture consistently presents God as the giver and sustainer of life and as the ultimate Judge. Human existence is therefore never autonomous or independent of God.

At physical death, the body returns to the earth, while Ecclesiastes 12:7 says that the spirit returns to God who gave it. Scripture also distinguishes between those who have received Jesus Christ and those who have rejected Him. Jesus said that whoever believes in Him has eternal life, while those who reject Him remain under judgment (John 3:16–18). Hebrews 9:27 declares that "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment," and Revelation 20:11–15 describes the final judgment.

The sacred custody of the human spirit, therefore, is not a claim that the human spirit is inherently immortal or beyond God's authority. It is the recognition that life comes from God and that the spirit returns to God who gave it. No earthly power can place a person's ultimate destiny outside the authority of the Creator.

 Physical Death and the Continuing Soul

Physical death brings a separation between the physical body and the living person. Scripture does not portray the death of the body as the end of the individual's existence. Ecclesiastes 12:7 describes the body returning to the earth and the spirit returning to God. Scripture also gives us evidence concerning the continuing existence and awareness of the soul after physical death.

Jesus illustrated this reality in His account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:22–23. The passage says that Lazarus died and was carried by angels to Abraham's side, while the rich man also died and was buried and then found himself in torment. Whatever interpretive questions surround the details of this account, Jesus clearly presented both individuals as continuing to exist consciously after physical death.

Jesus also told the repentant man beside Him, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). This statement provides further evidence that death does not mean the loss of personal existence or consciousness for the believer.

Other passages are sometimes brought into the discussion of what happened to Jesus between His death and resurrection. First Peter 3:18–20 says that Christ was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit and went to proclaim to the spirits in prison who had disobeyed in the days of Noah. Acts 2:27, quoting Psalm 16:10, says, "You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption." Ephesians 4:9 also speaks of Christ descending to the lower regions. These passages have been interpreted in different ways, but together they are relevant to understanding the biblical language concerning Christ's death, Hades, and His resurrection.

Matthew 27:52–53 records that, following Jesus' resurrection, "the tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many." This event demonstrates that physical death does not have the final word over God's people. Resurrection remains part of God's ultimate purpose for the believer.

The Souls Under the Altar

The continuing consciousness of souls after death is also illustrated in John's vision in Revelation. During the opening of the seals, John says, "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held" (Revelation 6:9–10). These souls cry out to God, asking how long it will be before He judges and avenges their blood.

The significance of this passage is that John sees these departed individuals as recognizable and conscious. They remember their earthly experience, know that they were killed because of their testimony, recognize God's holiness and justice, and communicate with Him. The passage therefore presents the souls of those who died as continuing in conscious existence rather than ceasing to exist when their physical bodies died.

This provides an important connection to the earlier distinction between the body, the human spirit, and the soul. Physical death separates the person from the physical body, but the individual does not cease to exist. The biblical picture is one of continuing personal identity and awareness under God's authority.

Identity Preserved Beyond Death

When physical life ends, the body returns to the earth, but the individual does not become an anonymous or unconscious existence. The person remains known by God. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says that "the spirit will return to God who gave it," while the New Testament gives believers the assurance that to be "absent from the body" is to be "present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).

The biblical picture therefore preserves the continuity of the individual. The person who lived on Earth does not lose his or her identity simply because the physical body dies. The soul continues to represent the individual, with personal identity and consciousness remaining under God's authority. For the believer, physical death brings the person into the presence of the Lord while awaiting the resurrection.

The Ultimate Hope: The Resurrection

Yet God's ultimate plan for human existence does not end with a disembodied existence. The Christian hope ultimately rests upon resurrection. God will not leave His people forever separated from their physical bodies. Instead, He promises a future resurrection in which the believer receives an incorruptible body.

Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:44: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." The resurrection is therefore not merely the continuation of spiritual existence. It is the restoration of embodied life in a transformed and incorruptible form.

This brings the biblical picture of the human being into its fullest perspective. God gives life; the individual lives on Earth as a person with a body, soul, and life-giving human spirit; the Holy Spirit indwells those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ; physical death separates the person from the earthly body; the spirit returns to God who gave it; and the soul continues in conscious existence according to God's appointed purpose. Ultimately, the believer's hope is the resurrection, when God completes His purpose by giving His people glorified bodies.

The human being, therefore, is more than a physical body. Our life comes from God, our identity remains known to God, our existence remains under His authority, and our ultimate destiny is determined by our relationship with Jesus Christ. Physical death does not remove us from God's sovereign care, and for those who belong to Christ, death is not the end of the story. The final hope is resurrection and eternal life in the presence of God.