In Jesus’ message to James E. Padgett received on March 2, 1917, he wrote:
Many theologians and philosophers and metaphysicians believe and teach that the soul, spirit, and mind are substantially one and the same thing; that any one of them may be said to be the man - the ego; and that in the spirit world, one or the other of these entities is that which persists and determines, in its development or want of development, the condition or state of man after death. But this conception of these parts of man is erroneous, for they each have a distinct and separate existence and functioning, whether man be a mortal or a spirit.
The mind in its qualities and operations is very well known to man, because of its varied manifestations and being that part of man which is more of the nature of the material and has been the subject of greater research and study than has been the soul or the spirit.
But the soul... is a thing of itself, alone - a real substance, though invisible to mortals; the discerner and portrayer of men's moral and spiritual condition - never dying, so far as is known, and the real ego of the man. In it are centered the love principle, the affections, the appetites and passions....
The soul is subject to the will of man... and is the certain index of the workings of that will either in thought or action, and in the souls, qualities of love and affection and appetites and passions are influenced by the power of the will, either for good or for evil. It may be dormant and stagnate, or it may be active and progress. And so its energies may be ruled by the will for good or for evil; but these energies belong to it and are no part of the will.
The soul's home is in the spirit body, whether that body is encased in the mortal or not, and it is never without such spirit body which, in appearance and composition, is determined by the condition and state of the soul.
... the soul, or its condition, decides the destiny of man as he continues in his existence in the spirit world - not a final destiny, because the condition of the soul is never fixed. As this condition changes, man's destiny changes; for destiny is a thing of the moment, and finality is not known to the progress of the soul until it becomes the perfect man....
... mortals who have passed to spirit life are said to be spirits... But such mortals are not nebulous, unformed and invisible existences. They have a reality of substance more real and enduring than has man as a mortal, and are, in form and features, visible and subject to touch and the object of the spiritual senses.
So when men speak of "soul, spirit and body," if they understood the truth of the terms, they would say: soul, spirit body, and material body. There is a spirit, but it is altogether distinct and different from the spirit body, and also from the soul.
The spirit is not a part of the spirit body, but is an attribute of the soul, exclusively. Without the soul, it could not exist. It has no substance..., and it is not visible to even the spirit vision. Only the effect of its workings can be seen or understood... it is real and powerful, and, when existing, it never ceases in its operations, and is an attribute of all souls.
Then what is the spirit? Simply this: the active energy of the soul... the soul has its energy, which may be dormant or which may be active. If dormant, the spirit is not in existence; if active, the spirit is present and manifests that energy in action. So to confuse the spirit with the soul, as being identical, leads to error and away from the truth.
The Soul – What it is and what it is not
True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus, Volume 1, page 107
