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Soul and Spirit

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 8, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 29.

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Soul and Spirit

By L. L. C.

In the minds of many, even of those who study the Bible, there has arisen a confusion as to the meaning of the words “soul” and “spirit.” Many Christians seem to think that the two are synonymous, or differ so slightly that the difference cannot be explained; but the word of God makes clear the difference between the two, for we read in Heb. 4: 12:—
“The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
If soul and spirit were the same thing, the word of God could not divide them asunder.
To get the force of these words, it is necessary for us to consider how they were used in the Bible in the language in which the Scripture was originally written, that is, the Hebrew for the Old Testament, and the Greek for the New Testament. The Hebrew word usually translated soul is nephesh. The Greek word is pseuche. The word usually translated spirit is in the Hebrew ruach, and the Greek word is pneuma. The translators of the English Bible, however, did not always translate these original words as soul and spirit. Nephesh sometimes appears in English as life, as in Ps. 38: 12:—
“They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.”
Also in Prov. 12: 10, we read:—
“A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
In this latter case even the beast is said to have a nephesh, or soul. Nephesh is also translated living creature, as in Gen. 1:24 and 2:19:—“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.” “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
Nephesh is sometimes translated body, as in Num. 19:13:—
“Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord.”
Here we read of a dead nephesh, or soul. Even in the cases where nephesh appears translated in the English Bible as soul, it does not seem to have the qualities which usually are given to it by popular theology.
Abraham, being afraid that he might be killed for his wife’s sake, begged her to say that she was his sister, saying that thus his nephesh might live. See Gen. 12: 13. The Biblical soul is said to eat. The soul eating the flesh of the peace offering on the third day was to bear his iniquity (Lev. 7:18), and the soul touching anything unclean should be unclean (Num. 19:22).
In the New Testament pseuche is mostly translated soul. Christ’s soul is said not to have been left in Hades, the grave (Acts 2:27), and the ark is said to have saved eight souls from the flood (1 Peter 3:20).
The Scriptural use of nephesh and pseuche indicates that they refer to personality or individuality. In most cases the word “person” or “individual” could be substituted and the text would read well.
The word “ruach,” generally translated spirit, is sometimes translated breath:—
“Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” Ps. 104:29.
“That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.” Eccl. 3:19.
Sometimes ruach is translated wind, as in Gen. 8:1:—
“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged.”
In the cases where ruach is translated spirit, which are numerous, it seems almost always to refer to the life or the life principle. In many cases this is thought of as being in the breath.
Pneuma, though usually translated spirit, occurs also in the English Bible as wind, as in John 3:8:— “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
The word “pneuma” should be carefully distinguished from another Greek word “phantasma,” which is used in Matt. 14:26, and other such places. This Greek word might well be translated phantom or ghost.
The Scriptures clearly state what happens to the spirit at death:—
“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Eccl. 12:7.
The best Biblical commentators, even those who may believe in the immortality of the soul, recognize that this scripture merely affirms the return to the condition which existed before man was created. It is not said that the spirit is different on its return to God than it was before it was breathed into the man. The life which God gave, the vital force bestowed, returns to the Giver. The soul or person, which consisted of a body of dust and the spirit of life, has ceased to exist as a living entity, but God can again bring it to life at the resurrection. This explains why we are exhorted by Christ himself, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matt. 10:28.
Men can destroy only the body, but God can, and in the case of the wicked will, destroy the personality and individuality, so that a man shall be as if he never had been.
L. L. C.