Components of the Soul
A biblical perspective on the heart.
The heart is a composition of all three components of the soul, the intellect, will and emotions plus the most important part of our spirit which is our conscience.
Matthew 9:4 “Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?”
Your thoughts, and the process of thinking is an activity of the mind, but notice that Jesus said that is an action or a product of the heart. That scripture reveals that our mine and intellect is a part of the heart.
In Romans, chapter 10:9 “For believing involves thinking and reasoning which the Bible considers to be part of the heart. Thinking is a part of the heart.
Acts 11:23
The word purpose is translated from the Greek word professes In this context, it means to plan our to purpose In advance it implies deliberate intention, which requires the exercise of a persons will so this verse tells us that our will is a part of the heart.
If you have a purpose in your heart, that means you’ve set your mind on something that means you intend to do something and come hell or High water. And I have a purpose in my heart that I’m going to go back to school and I’m going to get this degree what you’re saying is I am going to do it that’s your word and the Bible tells us that that’s part of the heart.
John 16:22
We associate emotions with the heart. rejoicing is an emotion just like sorrow is, but Jesus also tells us that our emotions originate in the heart in other words that come from the heart. The heart is a composition of all three components of the soul. The intellect, the will and emotions. The heart is all three parts of the soul. There is something else added to the heart, A true heart.
Hebrews 10:22
Don’t deceive yourself don’t let your heart be faults. When you intend to do something that’s not God's will but you convince yourself it’s ok. That's one of the reasons why we’re supposed to guard our hearts so that we will have a true heart. Now we see that our conscience is a part of our heart.
1 John 3:20
Our conscience that blames us or condemns us when it convicts us and says this isn’t right. Which tells us our conscience is a part of the heart. So what is the heart according to the Bible looking back at the definition that was given the heart is all three components of the soul. The intellect will and the emotions plus the most important part of our spirit is our conscience. The soul, and the spirit of a man. You will never be able to know how to guard your heart if you don’t understand the soul and the spirit of a man. Man is a tripartite being a Parte is an adjective that means divided into parts tri means three and therefore tripartite means divided into three parts, the spirit, the soul and the body.
1 Thessalonians chapter 5:23
They are three distinct parts. The spirit and soul cannot be separated. They are different parts, and they are distinct from each other, but they cannot be separated from each other.
Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12
Notice there’s a division between the spirit and the soul and the word pierces is the only division between the two, which is that the word of God can do that outside the word of God nothing can separate the two. and for that to the Bible has the tendency to use these terms interchangeably they are always together, even though they are two different things.
That’s why you would hear people say when a person dies their spirit goes to heaven and then you can turn around and say their souls go to heaven, and the two would be right, because they cannot be separated. Death is a separation from the soul and the body that is a separation from the Spirit and body. So we need to understand that the spirit and soul are always together, so when a person dies Their spirit and soul goes to heaven and they’re not divided they’re always together. There are two distinct parts. The soul and the spirit each have three parts. The soul is made up of the intellect, the will and the emotions; these three parts cover all the functions of the soul.
To think, and to reason , to plan with purposeful intentions and to feel with emotions. Those are the three parts of the soul and they work together. Most of the time your emotions will affect your thoughts and your intentions and your will can dictate your emotions and your thoughts, God created a soul to have the ability to reason to determine you are given a free Will. You have something that animals don’t have. You are not a brute beast who acts according to instinct. That's why God holds us responsible because you are made in the image of God and it doesn’t mean that you look like God.
When we sin we game this Adamic nature and we are depraved, but you still have the ability to reason you still know the difference between right and wrong. You still have the ability to make up your mind and so the Bible says in the Old Testament after Adam and Eve that if you kill someone, if you murdered, someone your life should be taken, that tells you why because man is made in the image of God and we think it’s because we killed someone made in the image of God,that’s not what is saying it’s saying the reason your life should be taken is because you knew it was wrong you are made in the image of God, you are not a brute beast you know what right and wrong is.
The spirit is also made up of three parts. It’s more difficult to name the three parts than it is to describe the way that they function.
Functions of the Spirit
The first part of the Spirit functions as our conscience. There's a part within us that knows right from wrong even when you’re 8 months old that makes us feel guilty when you do wrong.
Romans chapter 2 Paul is talking about the Gentiles, the Gentiles that don’t even have the law they don’t even know that there is a law. How can God hold them accountable Romans chapter 2, verse 15. The soul and the spirit work together. Sometimes they work contrary to each other. Sometimes we try to reason and justify what we did and if we can come up with a reason why what we did is wrong was ok then guess what we nullified our conscience.