#1009 The Spirit of the Logos?
September 14, 2026Dear Dr Craig,
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your Systematic Philosophical Theology series so far and volume 2b covering the Trinity and apologetic arguments for the existence of God has been very enriching to my own walk with God.
I appreciate your volume 4 will deal with the incarnation in more depth, but I would like to ask about the use of soul and spirit.
I believe you have stated that Jesus Christ is the soul of the Logos (second person of the Trinity) united to a human body.
Would it be more accurate to suggest that Jesus Christ is the Spirit of the Logos united to a human body?
My reasoning is that Scripture says that God is spirit (John 4:24). God as a concrete substance could be described as a Spirit, who is a maximally great being.
The one being contains three distinct persons who are able to exemplify love most fully, self love, love of another and love of another shared.
The Logos as Spirit would then unite to a human body as Jesus Christ the truly divine, truly human person.
Ordinary human persons would be a created human spirit united to a human body.
Using the language of spirit rather than soul helps me think of demon possession as an unclean spirit competing with a human spirit for control of the human body. And having the Holy Spirit as a Christian is having our spirit guided and counselled by God’s Spirit, but still in an incomplete way in this earthly life.
Many thanks.
Chris
United Kingdom
Dr. craig’s response
A
While I think that your intentions are good, Chris, still the articulation of your point of view needs some work. In saying this, I’m not splitting hairs, for in these sorts of matters it is important that we state our positions clearly, lest people be misled.
So to begin with, my view is not that “Jesus Christ is the soul of the Logos . . . united to a human body.” For the Logos does not have a soul. Rather, my hypothesis is that the Logos is the soul of Jesus Christ. I trust that you can see the difference. Jesus had a soul as well as a body, and that soul was the Logos.
Neither would it be correct to say that “Jesus Christ is the Spirit of the Logos united to a human body.” For the Logos does not have a spirit.
Now I agree with you that “God as a concrete substance could be described as a Spirit.” Indeed, this is precisely how Jesus describes Him in John 4.24. God is a personal, immaterial substance. And, yes, we can say that this substance is tri-personal.
So I think that we could say that “The Logos as Spirit would then unite to a human body as Jesus Christ.” But my fear is that such an affirmation could be misleading. You could lead people to think that it is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who becomes incarnate as Jesus Christ, or even that the Logos is the Holy Spirit. We need to distinguish clearly the persons of the Trinity and ascribe the incarnation uniquely to the second person of the Trinity, the Logos.
My concern becomes real when you say, “Using the language of spirit rather than soul helps me think of demon possession as an unclean spirit competing with a human spirit for control of the human body.” Comparing the incarnation to the indwelling of a demonic spirit illustrates precisely the tremendous difference between incarnation and mere indwelling. A person who is demon possessed is not a demon incarnate. He is a distinct person from the demonic person indwelling him. Similarly, we must not construe “having the Holy Spirit as a Christian” as in any way analogous to incarnation. Yes, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but we are obviously not the Holy Spirit incarnate.
Now I realize that these implications are not your intention, Chris, but nevertheless I think that your statements have the potential to mislead and that therefore a better articulation is in order.
- William Lane Craig