The Nature of Man (Body, soul & Spirit), Part 2

In the introductory post for this series, I merely introduced the subject. This time I want to begin to develop some of the fruits of my labors as I have studied this subject.

We all want to know who we are. We want to know ourselves inside and out. The better we understand who we are as “man,” the more completely we'll be able to fulfill our purposes (or at least know what they are).

As I wrote before, there are two words in the Bible that describe that inner part of man. There are actually more than two if we consider words like heart, mind, etc. However, our focus is on the differences between soul and spirit, and if the differences are distinct enough to say that we (humans) are beings with a dual nature (body and spirit), or three-fold nature (body, soul and spirit). Whichever is the case we also want to know the “so what?” What does it mean, and why does it matter?

In this second post in the series, I want to begin to lay out a basic case for what I understand to be right. Some of this is a rearrangement of some old notes I found that I put together years ago to help me study with “Jehovah's Witnesses.” If any are reading (you know who you are) I hope you'll consider what I'm about to say with an open mind.

The word “soul” is the translation of the Hebrew word “nephesh,” and the corresponding Greek word “psuche.” I have made a worthy effort to come to the conclusion that nephesh is almost always translated by psuche in the LXX (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament). It is never (that I have found) translated as “pneuma.” It can have a variety of meanings. For my purposes I categorize these into lesser meanings, including breath (as in breath of life or life-force), life, heart, feelings, person, wants or needs, and greater meaning, which is spirit. I have an extensive (though not exhaustive) list of its uses in a number of passages.

The word “spirit” is the translation of the Hebrew word “ruach,” and the Greek word “pneuma.” I have not found a single instance in which the two words are not parallel and always translated into the English, “spirit.” Spirit only refers to a being with a (normally) invisible (to mortal eye at least) nature that is supernatural, or to the part of human beings that fits that description. God is spirit. The word is also used of angels and demons, and man, but never to animals. When soul is used in its higher meaning in the Bible, its meaning is identical to spirit. Thus the two words are partially interchangeable. On the other hand, spirit is not used for the lesser meanings of soul; so a fine distinction of meaning is intended when the two words are used together (we'll look more closely at such passages in part 3).

I don't think many of us have too much confusion about “body.” We can probably all agree that we have a body, and thus have a physical side to our human nature. However, some believe that the “soul” of man (and they would see the spirit as the same thing here) is merely the life-force, and therefore they think that when a man dies he ceases to exist until God sends the soul back into him (JWs). There is no doubt that “life,” or “life-force” is a valid meaning of soul. It isn't the only meaning, but a valid one in some passages. Context determines which meaning is in view. However, that there is something to the inner or invisible nature of man that is not just flesh and animating life-force the Bible proves in the very first chapter. Genesis 1:26 says,

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26 ESV).

A quick glance at John 4:24 and 24:39 proves that God is spirit, and that a spirit does not have flesh and bones. Therefore in whatever way man is made in God's likeness, it isn't his flesh. It cannot merely be life-force either, because all animals have that, and only man is made in God's image. Therefore Genesis 1 must be speaking of man's spirit, as distinct from mere life-force, as that part made like God. We see here that there is a difference between at least one valid meaning of soul and the only meaning of spirit. To study further the obvious distinction between the flesh of man and his spirit (which is more than mere life-force), study Genesis 3:19 with 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, and Zechariah 12:1 with Ecclesiastes 12:7 (also Acts 17:29-32, James 2:26).

We'll sum up this second post in the series by concluding that man is at least a dual-natured being. We have a body and a spirit that continues on after the death of the body. In the next post we'll examine a few passages that use both soul and spirit, examine the distinctions between the terms, and decide if man has a three-fold nature.

Thanks for reading. Comments are welcome.
---JLP