Can "soul" be the truest part of a person?

[thereselittleflower]

Yes,your soul is very,very important.

True. And the spirit is even more important, because if your spirit remains dead, your soul will be lost.  Man is a tripartite being -- the spirit, the soul, and the body constitute the individual. Until and unless one is born again, the spirit is dead, and if the spirit is not alive, one cannot truly worship in spirit and in truth.  There is no need to substitute "soul" with another phrase. The soul is you apart from God.  The spirit is you in union and communion with God, through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.  So, to answer your question, the spirit is the truest part of the person.

 

The soul and the spirit are the same,  The words are often used interchangeably in scripture.

 

 

We are a three part Being:
1 Thess 5:23
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
KJV
This is an inward out prayer- s/Spirit the inner man and Holy Spirit; the soul comprised of non-corporeal aspects, mind, will, emotion;
the body the pure corporeal existing only in space time matter continuum...   Love, Steven  

 

It would seem that way from that verse.   But that verse is not all that there is in scripture.

 

Jesus never spoke about the spirit as separate from the soul.

 

Matthew 10:28

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Luke 12:5
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

 

"you" in Luke 12:5 is the  "body and soul" in Matthew 10:28  - According to Jesus,  your body and soul is you.

 

What happened to man's spirit here if the spirit is actually separate from the soul?

 

 

Psalm 84:2

I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.

 

Proverbs 16:24

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

 

 Job 14:22

But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

 

Again the words of Jesus:

 

Matthew 16:26

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

 

Luke 9:25
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

 

Jesus' words make the soul the 'very self' of the person.

There is no separate 'spirit'

 

Again the words of Jesus:

 

If the passage where Paul speaks of spirit, soul and body means spirit and soul are indeed separate, and man is has a tripartite nature, then Jesus' words here must mean man has 4 parts:

Matthew 22:37

And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'

 

Obviously  man has a body which is not mentioned above, but here Jesus specifies the heart  (which is an idiom for one's emotions, feelings)  Soul and Mind, so following the way some are interpreting  1 Thes 5:23, if that means there are three parts to man there, then this must mean there are 4 parts to man here.

So is man 3 parts or 4 parts?

In reading scripture the words of Jesus are always given pre-eminence.  They are the words of God Himself, spoken by God Himself.

 

When people take verses out of context they can come away with some strange ideas.     In the majority of scripture dealing with man's physical and spiritual natures, man is spoken of as having a body and a soul  -  not three parts, but two.   Those few verses which seem to indicate man has three parts or even four parts must be understood in the light of the rest of scripture which reveals man to be body and soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2015 by thereselittleflower

[WilliamL]

Gen 1

7 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.

Correction, Gen. 2:7. "...the breath [Heb. neshamah] of life [chayyim]." Then spirit [ruach], soul [nephesh], and flesh [basar].

Man is composed of life, breath, spirit, soul, and flesh. Flesh is the physical form (clothing) of the soul, which is the emotional form of the spirit, which is the mental form of the breath, which is the light body of the Life, which Life comes from the Word:

John 1:4 In Him [the Word] was life, which was the light of men.

Five levels of being. We have five fingers on each hand for a reason -- they don't call the arc which circumscribes your thumb the "life line" for nothing!

The confusion comes from the use of the word soul, which Biblically -- nephesh in Hebrew, psuche in Greek -- has a very specific meaning. However, in English the term is generally used as the essence of something, so our understanding of the term has gotten blurred; dumbed-down, as it were.

 

Edited August 25, 2015 by WilliamL

[thereselittleflower]

Gen 1

7 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.

Correction, Gen. 2:7. "...the breath [Heb. neshamah] of life [chayyim]." Then spirit [ruach], soul [nephesh], and flesh [basar].

Man is composed of life, breath, spirit, soul, and flesh. Flesh is the physical form (clothing) of the soul, which is the emotional form of the spirit, which is the mental form of the breath, which is the light body of the Life, which Life comes from the Word:

John 1:4 In Him [the Word] was life, which was the light of men.

Five levels of being. We have five fingers on each hand for a reason -- they don't call the arc which circumscribes your thumb the "life line" for nothing!

 

 

Man is composed of life, breath, spirit, soul, and flesh.

So man now has 5 parts instead of 2 or 3 or  4 parts . . . . 

 

This is what happens when one verse here or there is stripped of its context and then the entire context of scripture is ignored.

 

 

 

[Khristeeanos]

These are all interesting. Thanks for all of you input. I do want to say that the heart is much more than just our feelings and emotions. We believe with out heart that Jesus is raised from the dead and are saved. We trust in God with our heart and lean not on our own understanding.

Excellent discussion.

EDITING BELOW THIS:

You pray with your heart (Genesis 24:45)

A hardened heart can overwhelm logic and emotion (Exodus 7)

You can hate someone in your heart (Leviticus 19:17)

Your heart can fear (Leviticus 26:36

Your heart can lust (Numbers 15:39)

Your heart can be obstinate (Deut. 2:30)

You can seek God with your heart (Deut. 4:29

You fear God with your heart (Deut 5:29)

Edited August 26, 2015 by Khristeeanos
Adding content

[Khristeeanos]

So maybe this should be altered to say:

What if the words "soul" and "heart" are more closely aligned than I have previously thought.

[JohnD]

The Greek words used to describe human beings are soma (body) psuche (soul) pneuma (spirit).

Human sciences rendered the soul the psyche (psuche). But that does not necessarily make it a true representation of a psuche / psychological system that denies the existence of the pneuma / spirit... in their definition of man (a purely physical being) the psyche is merely the function of the brain, emotions, thought process.

But remember where the psuche came from as far as the make up of man is concerned (the Bible). We are a hybrid species from two distinct realities: spirit and physical. It stands to reason that the soul (psyche) is the buffer between the two realities in us all. 

This would also explain the threefold change we experience in death. The spirit departs††† taking away the animation of the body. The soul ceases to exist. The body atrophies and appears to sleep. 

††† The spirit of the believer goes to be with the Lord in its disembodied state until the general resurrection. The spirit of the unbeliever goes to sheol in its disembodied state until the general resurrection. Believers will be reunited with their perfected bodies to be with the risen Lord forever. Unbelievers will be raised from the dead to pay homage to the Lord Jesus and they will be cast into the lake of fire where their bodies will be destroyed in the fire, their souls will cease to exist, but their spirits will live on forever in eternal fire.

[Khristeeanos]

This is getting more in depth than I thought it would. And that makes me happy! I've been debating this in my mind for quite some time now. It is helpful and I have a lot to contemplate and study. So THANK YOU! 

[Khristeeanos]

I'd like to resurrect this thread for anyone that didn't see it the first time around. Please give me your input.

[coheir]

12 minutes ago, Yowm said:

For this reason I go with two. Body+spirit= living soul.

the soul is contained in the body; the body will die the soul without a body is the spirit and has a chance through Christ to live on.

[Flsnookman]

We are made in God's image, God is a triune being we are triune beings.