Soul and Spirit

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Hello Friends

Last night I was discussing the nature of soul in a chat room and was amazed at the number of different definitions of soul that popped up. So the questions I would like you all to discuss here is:

1) What is the correct definition of soul?

2) What is the correct definition of spirit?

Here is some scripture relevant to this question.

1 Samuel 1:15

But Hannah answered and said, "No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.

Job 7:11

"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Isaiah 26:9

With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

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.

Hebrews 4:12

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, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Looking forward to your posts friends may wisdom shine.

All Praise The Ancient Of Days

[sagz4Christ]

Distinctions of soul and spirit.......hmmmm....let me see...

I got this at StudyLight.com:

"Man is not spirit, but has it: he is soul. .... In the soul, which sprang from the spirit, and exists continually through it, lies the individuality--in the case of man, his personality, his self, his ego." He draws attention to the words of Elihu in Job (33:4): `God's spirit made me,' the soul called into being; `and the breath of the Almighty animates me,' the soul kept in energy and strength, in continued existence, by the Almighty, into whose hands the inbreathed spirit is surrendered, when the soul departs or is taken from us (1 Kings 19:4). Hence, according to Oehler the phrases naphshi ("my soul"), naphshekha ("thy soul") may be rendered in Latin egomet, tu ipse; but not ruchi ("my spirit"), ruchakha ("thy spirit")--soul standing for the whole person, as in Genesis 12:5; 17:14; Ezekiel 18:4, etc.

1 Kings 19:1-4

Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.

Let me add one more bit here:

SOUL

sol (nephesh; psuche(as opposed to "pneuma - spirit"); Latin anima):

New Testament Distinctions:

(1) In the New Testament psuche appears under more or less similar conditions as in the Old Testament. The contrast here is as carefully maintained as there. It is used where pneuma would be out of place; and yet it seems at times to be employed where pneuma might have been substituted. Thus in John 19:30 we read:

"Jesus gave up his pneuma" to the Father, and, in the same Gospel (John 10:15), Jesus gave up His "psuche for the sheep," and in Matthew 20:28 He gave His psuche (not His pneuma) as a ransom--a difference which is characteristic. For the pneuma stands in quite a different relation to God from the psuche. The "spirit" (pneuma) is the outbreathing of God into the creature, the life-principle derived from God. The "sour" (psuche) is man's individual possession, that which distinguishes one man from another and from inanimate nature. The pneuma of Christ was surrendered to the Father in death; His psuche was surrendered, His individual life was given "a ransom for many." His life "was given for the sheep"

(2) This explains those expressions in the New Testament which bear on the salvation of the soul and its preservation in the regions of the dead. "Thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades" (the world of shades) (Acts 2:27); "Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil" (Romans 2:9); "We are .... of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:39); "Receive ..... the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21).

The same or similar expressions may be met with in the Old Testament in reference to the soul. Thus in Psalms 49:8, the King James Version "The redemption of their soul is precious" and again:

"God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol" (Psalms 49:15). Perhaps this may explain--at least this is Wendt's explanation--why even a corpse is called nephesh or soul in the Old Testament, because, in the region of the dead, the individuality is retained and, in a measure, separated from God (compare Haggai 2:13; Leviticus 21:11).

Interesting reading to say the least. What do you all think about this?

~Sagz

[wordsower]

Soul = immaterial part of a person. Mind, will and emotions. Acts 2:41,43, Matt. 22:37

Spirit = immaterial being, center of emotion in a person, controlling influence see Isaiah 29:10, 1 Cor. 2:11, 1 Sam. 16:14-23, Romans 2:29

1 Thess. 5:23 shows they are separate

[godrulz]

spirit= God-conscious part of man (animals do not have one) that lives forever.

soul= personality, will, intellect, emotions= self-conscious

body= world conscious (senses)

spirit-soul (distinct theoretically, but united for all intents and purposes)dwells in the body, which is a temporary vessel for the real you.

These are simple concepts off the top of my head...a word study in Hebrew/Greek is necessary. Remember, the words can be used in different senses...e.g. there were many souls lost at sea or before the throne of God (soul here referring to the whole person).

We do not want to artificially dissect the person...we are a whole...but there is some distinction...we are more than flesh and bone.

We become an everlasting person at conception, in the image of God.

[Ovedya]

Body = composed of the outter "shell of man" with the 5 senses for discerning the physical world.

Soul = Composed of the mind, emotion and will.

Spirit (human spirit) = The "breath" of man, created by God as a vessel to be filled with the life of God.

Here's a great web site FYI: http://www.tripartiteman.org/

[wordsower]

Hey Godman,

I just found this yesterday. Isn't God timely?

Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it. Who gives breath to those who walk on it, and spirit to those who walk on it.

Seems breath and spirit are not the same. Which is a key verse for people who believe in soul sleep (JW, SDA's) Ecclesiates says the spirit returns to the Lord at death.

[Guest coolwaters]

The English word "soul" is in every occurrence the rendering of the Hebrew nephesh, except in Job 30:15 and Isaiah 57:16. Though, with these two exceptions the English word "soul" always represents the Hebrew nephesh, nephesh is not always translated "soul". The usage of the word nephesh by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God is the only guide to the true understanding of it. It will be seen that the word "soul", in its theological sense, does not cover all the ground, or properly represent the Hebrew word "nephesh". The English word "soul" is from the Latin solus = alone or sole, because the maintenance of man as a living organism, and all that affects his health and well-being, is the one sole or main thing in common with every living thing which the LORD God has made. The correct Latin word for the theological term "soul" (or nephesh) is anima; and this is from the Greek anemos = air or breath, because it is this which keeps the whole in life and in being.

The first occurrence of nephesh is in Genesis 1:20, "the moving creature that hath life (nephesh)". 1

The following are ten classifications of nephesh:

Nephesh is used of the lower animals

Nephesh is used of the Lower Animals and Man

Nephesh is used of Man, as an individual person

Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising certain powers, or performing certain acts

Nephesh is used of Man, as possessing animal appetites and desires

Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising mental faculties, and manifesting certain feelings and affections and passions

Nephesh is used of Man, (a) as being "cut off" by God; (b) and as being slain or killed by man

Nephesh is used of Man as being mortal, subject to death of various kinds, from which it can be saved and delivered and life prolonged

Nephesh is used of man, as actually dead

Nephesh, is spoken of as going to a place

[Guest coolwaters]

The meaning of the word ruach"spirit" is to be deduced only from its usage. The one root idea running through all the passages is invisible force. As this force may be exerted in varying form, and may be manifested in divers ways, so various renderings are necessitated. Ruach, in whatever sense it is used, always represents that which is invisible except by its manifestations. These are seen both externally to man, as well as internally within man.

As coming from God, it is the invisible origin of life. All apart from this is death. It comes from God, and returns to God (Ecclesiastes 3:19,20).

Hence, ruach is used of

I. - GOD, as being invisible. "The Spirit of Jehovah" is Jehovah Himself, in His manifestation of invisible power.

II. - THE HOLY SPIRIT : the Third Person of the Trinity.

III. - INVISIBLE DIVINE POWER MANIFESTING ITSELF

In creation.

In giving life.

In executing judgement

IV. - INVISIBLE "POWER FROM ON HIGH", MANIFESTING ITSELF AS DIVINE POWER in giving spiritual gifts. Spoken of as coming upon, clothing, falling on, and being poured out. Rendered "Spirit", but should be "spirit".

V. - THE INVISIBLE PART OF MAN (Psychological). Given by God at man's formation at birth, and returning to God at his death

VI. - THE INVISIBLE CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN; manifesting themselves in states of mind and feeling

VII. - Put by the Figure of Speech Synecdoche for THE WHOLE PERSON

VIII. - INVISIBLE SPIRIT-BEINGS.

IX. - THE INVISIBLE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

[The Journey]

Hello all!!!

Great thread and I have learned a lot. I always thought it is interesting that the Bible presents man as made of three parts. Lets see didn't Dr. Freud take the credit for that idea? :x:

- Steve

[Guest coolwaters]

Pneuma = Spirit, is the Greek word corresponding with the Hebrew ruach in the Old Testament.

The usages given of pneuma.

GOD. "God is pneuma" (John 4:24-). Not "a" spirit.

CHRIST, as in the pneuma

THE HOLY SPIRIT, the Giver, as distinct from His gifts.

THE OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, in the bestowal of spiritual gifts

THE NEW NATURE in the child of God, because "begotten" in us by God

MAN (psychologically), pneuma being imparted to man, making him "a living psuche" (= "a living soul", or being, as in Genesis 2:7. Psalm 104:29, 30. Ecclesiastes 12:7). When taken back to and by God, man, without pneuma, becomes and is called "a dead soul"

CHARACTER, as being in itself invisible, and manifested only in one's actions

OTHER INVISIBLE CHARACTERISTICS such as feelings or desires or that which is supernatural

MAN (physiologically), pneuma being put by Figure of Speech Synecdoche for the whole person; a part for the whole (as in Luke 1:47, "my spirit" = I myself.

ANGELS, or SPIRIT-BEINGS

DEMONS, or evil spirit-beings

THE RESURRECTION BODY

Pneuma hagion = holy spirit

Pneuma hagion is never used of the Giver (the Holy Spirit), but only and always of His gift. What this gift is may be seen by comparing Acts 1:4, 5 with Luke 24:49, where "the promise of the Father" is called (in the former passages) pneuma hagion, and in the latter is called "power from on high". This "power from on high" includes whatever gifts the Holy Spirit may bestow "according to His own will". What particular gift is meant is sometimes stated, that is to say, "faith", "power", etc. See Acts 2:4 (the first occurrence subsequent to Acts 1:4, 5), where we read "they were all filled 3 with pneuma hagion, and began to speak with other tongues, as THE Spirit gave". Here the Giver and His gift are strictly distinguished.

ADVERBIALLY. But this is only once where it is translated "spiritually" in Romans 8:6