Body, Soul, and Spirit Explained: The Meaning of Zōē in the Bible

It’s vital for each of us believers to have the reality of body, soul, and spirit explained as early as possible in our walk with Jesus. It’s a core part of our make up as human beings. A lack of understanding of this basic part of our identity makes a great many passages in the Bible unnessisarly confusing and open to misinterpretation.

I know it was for me. As a new believer I assumed that spirit and soul were two words for the same thing. It was years before I learned the difference between soul and spirit.

The moment I did it was like someone pulled back a curtain and things made a whole lot more sense to me. I saw the distinction in passages which previously seemed like they kind of contradicted one another.

This understanding helped me become more secure in my identity in Christ too as I began to understand more about my own nature and the meaning of the zoe in the Bible as it describes the life God provides for us in Christ.

It all starts back in the creation account, with God Himself.

Three-part Nature of the Godhead

Christianity is a monotheistic belief system. That’s a fancy word to say we believe in one God, not a collection of gods. At the same time, we see this interesting verse in the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

— Genesis 1:26 (NKJV)

Did you catch that? This verse quotes God saying, “let Us make… in Our image… according to Our likeness…” Why would one God talk about Himself using plural pronouns? Why Didn’t He say, “let Me make… in My image… according to My likeness”?

The complete answer to that question is not fully revealed until the New Testament. But it ties directly into how mankind was created in the image of God.

It turns out the singular God consists of three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Collectively we can refer to all three as the Godhead.

The night before He was crucified Jesus spoke of sending the Holy Spirit to His disciples, and to us as well. We now know this happened at Pentecost as we see in the second chapter of Acts.

We see all three members of the Godhead mentioned in the instructions Jesus gave in what theologians call the Great Commission.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

— Matthew 28:19 (NKJV)

Plus, the Bible also tells us that Jesus is the exact representation of the nature of God, or as one translation says, “the express image of His person.” Jesus did perfectly what the rest of us humans do imperfectly.

We’ll share more on that here in a moment. The important part for now is to see that God Himself is comprised of three persons. Or we could say He has three parts: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Body, Soul, and Spirit Explained

This is part of what the Genesis account refers to when it says mankind was created in the image of God.

Just like God is made up of three parts, we also have three parts to our nature. The three main parts of our nature are our body, soul, and spirit.

We see all three in one verse here:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

— 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV)

Looking at the original Greek words for each is a useful starting point as we examine these three parts of our nature.

• Spirit – πνεῦμα pneuma – the God connected part of us where our life-power is generated
• Soul – ψυχή psychē – this refers to our mind, will, and emotions
• Body – σῶμα sōma – this is our physical flesh, blood, and bone

When we believed in Jesus and were born again our spirit was made perfect in Christ. It reconnected to the original and correct source, God Himself.

The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit actually takes up residence in our spirit.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

— 1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)

The Bible also reveals that, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:13-14). The fact that our spirit is sealed means at least two things.

First, a seal represents authority. God put His stamp of authority on your spirit when you were born again. The enemy is powerless to overcome that authority.

A seal can also act as a preservative like when vegetables are vacuum packed in canning jars. Nothing can get in to corrupt your spirit because God’s seal is protecting it.

This also means that our spirit was made perfect in an instant. This is the new creation the Bible mentions in our favorite verse here at NewCREEations.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

— 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

Our spirit is the part which was made new, and which is continually being renewed by the power of God’s spirit. God’s spirit in our spirit is a genuine source of power that we have the privilege of learning how to access.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

— Romans 8:11 (NKJV)

The word “if” towards the beginning of that verse really means “since” in this case. This truth applies to all believers. There is so much genuine power from God in your spirit that it gives life to your physical body, even though the natural processes in the world work to decay it. It’s literally the same power which raised Jesus from the dead.

Soul Connection

While our spirit is automatically made perfect in an instant and sealed against contamination with God’s authority the moment we believed in Jesus, our soul changes much more slowly. And that change is not automatic either.

The Bible exhorts us to take an active role in changing our soul.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

— Romans 12:2 (NKJV)

Our soul is transformed to the degree that we renew our minds to the truth of everything Jesus accomplished for us through the cross and His resurrection.

The rest of our walk as believers is a process of renewing our mind to the truth of God’s word so that it transforms our souls. The more we come into agreement with heaven, the more we experience God’s goodness and His supernatural power operating in our lives.

It requires some intentionality on our part to renew our minds. And this is why discipleship is so vital. The act of becoming a disciple of Christ is the transforming process of renewing our minds. Not only do we ourselves grow, but we also bring others along on the journey with us.

The connection point between spirit and soul is the heart. Our heart acts like a governor or valve, determining how much of God’s power gets released from our spirit into our soul, and then out into the world around us.

This is why the Bible tells us to guard our heart.

Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.

— Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)

We protect our heart because it sets the course of our life. And we renew our minds to replace the head knowledge the world put in us with the heart knowledge of God’s truth.

The more we focus on the good things God has done for us, the more our soul comes into alignment with what God already accomplished in our spirit. Then we are well on our way to experiencing God’s best in our lives.

Your Physical Body Follows

Once your spirit is born again and properly connected to the rightful power source in God through Jesus Christ, and once your soul is transformed by the renewing of your mind, you arrive at a place where it’s two against one. Majority rules and your body then comes in line.

The challenge is that we spent our entire lives letting our bodily senses drive everything our soul does. It’s backwards from what God intended and how He created us to live. The Bible calls living life backwards this way, “living according to the flesh.”

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

— Romans 8:13 (NKJV)

We live according to the Spirit by keeping our attention focused on Jesus, as we elevate what the Bible says is true over what the natural world around us claims to be true.

Walking in the Spirit means we trust in God’s promises and receive them by faith, even when facts in the natural seem to make those promises impossible. This is how believers receive supernatural healing in their bodies.

When we get so focused on the truth of God’s promises to the point where it no longer matters to us what the current facts look like, that’s when we are undeniably walking in the Spirit and begin to experience the supernatural.

Again, when our soul lines up with the truth in our spirit, it’s two against one. Majority rules and our body will line up too.

Which is the Real You?

It’s also worth mentioning that our spirit and soul will last forever. Yet the Bible reveals each of us will die physically at some point (with the exception of believers who are alive when Jesus returns. That generation gets to step into eternity without experiencing physical death.)

Thinking it through we see that our spirit is the most real portion of us. The moment we believed in Jesus it became perfect, just like Jesus. Meanwhile our soul still is sorting through the corruption of this fallen world.

A simple way to see it is that you are a spirit, with a soul, that lives in a physical body.

Three Words For Life

Did you know that the New Testament has three different Greek words that all get translated “life” in English? It’s true.

• bios, refers to physical life
• psychē [or psuchē], refers to our soul, meaning our mind, will, and emotions (sometimes this word is translated plainly as soul)
• zōē, refers to the life of God, meaning the life force which flows to us from God.

As I’m sure you can see, these three words directly line up with our three part makeup of spirit, soul, and body. Unfortunately, it’s not always obvious which one is being talked about when they are all generally translated as “life” in English.

Examples of Different “Life” Verses

Here are some example passages.

John 10:10 (NKJV) – zōē

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Mark 10:45 (NKJV) – psychē

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Luke 8:14 (NKJV) – bios

Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

Matthew 7:14 (NKJV) – zōē

Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

John 1:4 (NKJV) – zōē

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Mark 12:30 (NKJV) – psychē

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

John 10:17 (NKJV) – psychē

Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

John 3:16 (NKJV) – zōē

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 6:35 (NKJV) – zōē

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

1 John 3:16 (NKJV) – psychē

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Luke 9:23-24 (NKJV) – psychē

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

When Jesus talked about laying down His life, He always used psychē, not zōē or bios. He laid His soul down and submitted it to His spirit. This is how we walk in the spirit as well. We discipline our soul to make it submit to our spirit.

That’s what Jesus meant when He told us to take up our cross daily. We aren’t laying down our bios. Instead, we lay down our psychē, crucify it if we have to, until it submits to our spirit.

Crucified With Christ

When we understand Jesus was telling us to lay down our soul when He used the imagery of taking up our cross daily, and not laying down our physical life, it changes things. What about the passage where Paul talks about being crucified with Christ?

Here’s the verse:

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

— Galatians 2:20 (NET)

As we’ve already discussed above, it’s our psychē which was crucified with Christ, not our bios. Think about it. Your physical body was not nailed to the cross with Jesus.

So when Paul says “I have been crucified with Christ” he’s talking about his psychē.

The NKJV italicizes the word “life” in that verse because it is not in the original Greek. The translators added the English word to give clarity because our English sentence structure is different from Greek. In Greek, it’s obvious Paul is talking about zōē life. So the word life is added in English to make it clearer to us.

The word translated “live” in that verse is zaō, which is a form of the word zōē that we covered above. According to the Vine’s dictionary, that word means “spiritual life” (not physical life). The Complete Word Study Bible (CWSB) says the specific use of the word in this sentence means “to be devoted to Him, to live conformably to the will, purpose, precepts, and example of God.”

That verse is not talking about our bios, our physical body. It’s talking about laying down our psychē, our soul, so that we can experience zōē life.

Zōē Belongs to You

When we understand that what Jesus offers is an exchange of our messed up soulish life for His amazingly abundant zōē life, it becomes far less of a sacrifice to pick up our cross every day. This perspective helps us see that it’s a really good trade!

It’s like trading in a broken down ancient Yugo for a brand new loaded Mercedes Benz. Paid for!

When we walk in the zōē Jesus makes available to us, we’re doing far more than just scraping buy in survival mode. Far from it.

Then we’re living the God kind of life Jesus Himself experienced when He walked the earth. It’s rich, meaningful, energized, and connected to Him. Zōē is the kind of life He wants to share with us.

And it starts the moment you belive in Jesus. You do not have to wait until you step into eternity to experience it.

Experiencing zōē is peace in the middle of life’s chaos. It’s purpose instead of emptiness. It’s a joy so complete that it literally becomes strength to you regardless of your circumstances.

Zōē is a deep, ongoing intimate relationship with God where His life flows into yours. As it flows through you it even touches and blesses those around you. It lasts forever. But you get to experience it right now.

Zōē is abundant and eternal. It shifts you from survive mode to thrive mode.

Jesus called it “eternal zōē.” It comes from knowing God and Jesus personally and deeply intimately. “Eternal” speaks to both its quality and duration. It’s not just endless years, but also endless quality of life with God.