Correct brother-
B. Biblical Data
Before asking whether Scripture views “soul” and “spirit” as distinct parts of man,
we must at the outset make it clear that the emphasis of Scripture is on the overall
unity of man as created by God.
When God made man he “breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). Here Adam is a unified
person with body and soul living and acting together. This original harmonious and
unified state of man will occur again when Christ returns and we are fully redeemed
in our bodies as well as our souls to live with him forever (see 1 Cor. 15:51–54).
Moreover, we are to grow in holiness and love for God in every aspect of our lives, in
our bodies as well as in our spirits or souls (cf. 1 Cor. 7:34). We are to “cleanse
ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit and make holiness perfect in the
fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).
But once we have emphasized the fact that God created us to have a unity between
body and soul, and that every action we take in this life is an act of our whole person,
involving to some extent both body and soul, then we can go on to point out that
Scripture quite clearly teaches that there is an immaterial part of man’s nature. And
we can investigate what that part is like.
1. Scripture Uses “Soul” and “Spirit” Interchangeably. When we look at the usage
of the biblical words translated “soul” (Heb. פשֶׁנ ,ֶH5883, and Gk. ψυχή, G6034) and
“spirit” (Heb. רוּח , ַH8120, and Gk. πνεῦμα, G4460),4
it appears that they are
sometimes used interchangeably. For example, in John 12:27, Jesus says, “Now is my
soul troubled,” whereas in a very similar context in the next chapter John says that
Jesus was “troubled in spirit” (John 13:21). Similarly, we read Mary’s words in Luke
1:46–47: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
This seems to be quite an evident example of Hebrew parallelism, the poetic device in
3 3. See Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology pp. 191–92, for a survey of views held in
the history of the church.
4
4. Throughout this chapter it is important to keep in mind that several recent Bible
translations (especially the NIV) do not consistently translate the Hebrew and Greek
terms noted above as “soul” and “spirit,” but sometimes substitute other terms such as
“life,” “mind,” “heart,” or “person.”
The RSV, which I quote unless another version is
specified, tends to be more literal in translating these words in most cases.
In certain contexts these terms can of course be used to refer to the person’s life or
to the whole person, but they are also used many times to refer to a distinct part of a
person’s nature (see BDB, pp. 659–61, 924–25; and BAGD, pp. 674–75, 893–94, for
many examples).
which the same idea is repeated using different but synonymous words. This
interchangeability of terms also explains why people who have died and gone to
heaven or hell can be called either “spirits” (Heb. 12:23, “the spirits of just men made
perfect”; also 1 Peter 3:19, “spirits in prison”) or “souls” (Rev. 6:9, “the souls of those
who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne”; 20:4,
“the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus”).
2. At Death, Scripture Says Either That the “Soul” Departs or the “Spirit”
Departs. When Rachel died, Scripture says, “Her soul was departing (for she died)”
(Gen. 35:18). Elijah prays that the dead child’s “soul” would come into him again (1
Kings 17:21), and Isaiah predicts that the Servant of the Lord would “pour out his
soul [Heb. פשֶׁנ ,ֶH5883] to death” (Isa. 53:12). In the New Testament God tells the
rich fool, “This night your soul [Gk. ψυχή, G6034] is required of you” (Luke 12:20).
On the other hand, sometimes death is viewed as the returning of the spirit to God. So
David can pray, in words later quoted by Jesus on the cross, “Into your hand I commit
my spirit” (Ps. 31:5; cf. Luke 23:46). At death, “the spirit returns to God who gave it”
(Eccl. 12:7).5
In the New Testament, when Jesus was dying, “he bowed his head and
gave up his spirit” (John 19:30), and likewise Stephen before dying prayed, “Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).
In response to these passages, a trichotomist might argue that they are talking
about different things, for when a person dies both his soul and his spirit do in fact go
to heaven
. But it should be noted that Scripture nowhere says that a person’s “soul
and spirit” departed or went to heaven or were yielded up to God.
If soul and spirit
were separate and distinct things, we would expect that such language would be
affirmed somewhere, if only to assure the reader that no essential part of the person is
left behind.
Yet we find no such language: the biblical authors do not seem to care
whether they say that the soul departs or the spirit departs at death, for both seem to
mean the same thing.
We should also note that these Old Testament verses quoted above indicate that it
is not correct, as some have claimed, to say that the Old Testament so emphasizes the
unity of man that it has no conception of the existence of the soul apart from the body.
Certainly several of these Old Testament passages imply that the authors recognize
that a person continues to exist after his or her body dies.
From the same author.
J.
