1 Thessalonians 5:23

Peace in the assembly was very important to Paul. The "spirit" is the part of us that enables us to communicate with God. The "soul" makes us conscious of ourselves. The "body" is the physical part that expresses the inner person. These are not the only elements that constitute humanity (cf. heart, mind, conscience, etc.), but they are the ones Paul chose here.

"It is precarious to try to construct a tripartite doctrine of human nature on the juxtaposition of the three nouns, pneuma, psyche and soma. . . . The distinction between the bodily and spiritual aspects of human nature is easily made, but to make a comparable distinction between ’spirit’ and ’soul’ is forced." [Note: Bruce, p. 130.]

Paul may have mentioned "spirit and soul and body" because these three aspects point to the believer’s relationships to God, himself or herself, and other people. Together they picture wholeness. Paul’s desire for his readers was that every part of them, involving all their relationships, would remain without fault and that they would continue to mature and live free from legitimate grounds for accusation until Christ’s return. Note again that he believed the Lord’s return could precede their deaths.

Since the Lord did not return before Paul died was he wrong to view the Lord’s return as he did, namely, as imminent? No, because imminent means that He could return at any moment, not that He will return very soon.

"In a prayer expressing Paul’s wishes for the congregation, two of the basic themes of the letter are again highlighted. The prayer utilizes two optative verbs, asking that God ’may . . . sanctify’ the Thessalonians and that they ’may . . . be kept blameless.’ The prayer for sanctification reminds the readers of the exhortations in chaps. 4-5. In fact, the call for sanctification brackets these final two chapters. Chapter 4 begins with an exhortation to the people to lead sanctified lives (1 Thessalonians 5:3-8), and chap. 5 ends with a prayer that God would sanctify his people (1 Thessalonians 5:23 a). The prayer for the preservation of the saints until the coming of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:23 b) reflects back on encouragements to persist in hope despite affliction (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11)." [Note: Martin, p. 188.]