And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7 KJV
In the above scripture we are given insight into the nature of God’s relationship with us through the details of the first stage of humanity’s creation. It is a very intimate, and personal scene with God taking inert material, carefully, lovingly and intricately forming the man while breathing out of His own being the breath or spirit of life and the man became a living soul. We were originally created as a lovingly crafted soul made alive by God's spirit.
This close personal relationship cannot be overstated. God breathed out of himself and gave us part of who He is, and we became forever bearers of his image and likeness. It is a relationship closer than any parent and child. God loves humanity with a pure, sacrificial, and protective love. A parental love untarnished by selfish expectations, human frailty, or misguided action. A love with its ultimate expression as the breathing of spiritual life out of the innermost being of God and into His unique creation. This spirit, breathed into humanity by God, allowed Man to be aware of and have relationship with God our loving spiritual father.
God's spirit breathed into the human body is the reason we could originally be described as a living soul and reveals our three-part nature. Humanity is made up of a spirit, soul and body. The breath of life or spirit, the body made from the dust of the ground, and a living soul, are our three-fold nature. Before the fall our spirit was expressed as a living soul through our body and in this way the image and likeness of the living God was expressed into creation.
The body is how we experience the material world and express our nature into it and our spirit is how we experience and express our nature in the spiritual realm. The soul is how we process and respond to the material stimulation of the body. The soul is also how we processes and respond to the spiritual input from our spirit. However, the body and soul together are set apart and designated in scripture as the flesh, and is the organ of interaction with the material world. Originally this fleshly interaction with the material world was completely governed by the light of God. This governing light originated in the human spirit and was, before the fall man, expressed through the flesh of humanity. This total expression of our spiritual nature is designated in scripture as the human heart. After the fall, the human heart is now dominated by our darkened nature.
Here are two scriptures supporting the distinction between spirit and soul and the threefold nature of man.
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
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12