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Spirit & Soul Understanding Man's Duel Nature Introduction:
The words “spirit” and “soul” are used many times in the Bible. We want
to look at the usages of each word in the Bible. There is some confusion in the
religious world about these two words and because of that false doctrines taught
about the nature of man and even what awaits on the other side of the grave. Points
of interest: 1)
Jehovah Witnesses Doctrine of Man not possessing a soul but being a soul 2)
How soul and spirit are used in the Bible? 3)
What is it, the soul or spirit, which returns back to God? I)
Jehovah Witnesses and Man’s Soul A)
Jehovah Witnesses and Genesis 1.
Genesis 1.26-27 and Genesis 2.7
a. “man is not made in the same form of God but he possessed the same
attributes; the privilege of holding dominion over the earth and its forms of
life; the birds, fish and animals” Let
God Be True, 2nd edition, 1946, page 145
b. “His body is adapted to life on earth, not life in the invisible
heavens. Nevertheless, man is ‘in God’s image’ in that he is created with
moral qualities like those of God, namely, love, and justice, and he has powers
and wisdom above t hose of animals, so that he can appreciate the things that
God enjoys and appreciates, such as natural beauty and the fine arts of music,
writing, reading, speaking, reasons…which the lower creatures are not
capable.” Things In Which it is
Impossible for God to Lie, page
139.
c. Man is no different in his nature than any other creature created by
God. 2.
Based on how they define the word “soul” or “living being”
a. Soul – Nephesh in the Old
Testament
i. Genesis 2.7 nephesh is translated as “living being” in many
translations but as “soul” in KVV
ii. Nephesh is also used to refer to living animals, Genesis
1.20
b. Therefore man does not possess a soul but is a soul i.e. a living
being.
i. Hell does not exist, the eternal punishment will not occur
ii. The physical body of the righteous will be resurrected, the physical
body of the wicked will not be raised. 3.
The Jehovah Witnesses take one definition and apply it to all passages. B)
The Dual Nature of Man 1.
Soul Nephesh
in the Old Testament
a. Occurs 780 times in the Old Testament
i. Breath, breath of life, the soul, by which the body lives, the mind as
the sea of the sense, affections, and various emotions to which is ascribed
love, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Vol. 2
page 3.
b. Translated as soul 428 times; life 119 times
c. May refer to:
i. Animal life, Genesis 1.20
ii. The body, in this sense it is always referring to a dead body,
Lev. 21.11
iii. May be distinguished from the body,
Isaiah 10.18
iv) May refer to the inner man: Genesis
42.21 anguish of soul,
I Samuel 2.23
the Heart grieves, etc. 2.
Soul Psuche
in the New Testament used 100 times
a. Breath – the breath of life, the vital force which animates the body
and shows itself breathing
b. The soul – the sea of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions
(heart)
i. the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not
dissolved by death 3.
New Testament passages which shows a distinction between the body of man and his
“soul”
a. Man was made in God’s image, a spiritual being, John
4.24
b. Matthew 10.28 distinction made between the body and soul
c. Acts 2.27 the body was in the grave and the soul in sheol II)
The Soul and Spirit A)
Soul (Psuche) is N.T. word 1.
Usages:
a. Refers to a person, Acts 2.41 “about three thousand souls were added
to them”; 1 Peter 3.20
“eight souls were saved through water”
b. Life itself, John 13.38 “lay down your life for My sake?”
c. Distinguished from the body, Matthew
10.28
d. Distinguished from the spirit, Hebrews
4.12 2.
Spirit (Pneuma) in the N.T. or
(Ruach) in the Old Testament, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, Vol. 2 page 13
a. A movement of air, of the wind, breath of the nostrils or mouth
b. The spirit, i.e. the vital principle by which the body is animated,
the rational spirit, the power by which a human being feels, thinks, wills,
decides
c. a spirit – generically a life giving spirit, a human soul that has
lef the body, a spirit higher than man but
lower than God, i.e. angel …used
of demons, or evil spirits who were conceived of as inhabiting the bodies of men
d. Usages
i. May refer to the wind, John 3.8
ii. Breath – 2 Thess. 2.8
iii. Unclean spirits, Mathew 8.16 3.
The particular definition depends on the context
a. Spirit as that which returns back to God, Ecclesiastes
12.7; Luke 23.46
b. Spirit as the life within man, Jairus’ daughter in
Luke 8.55; James 2.26.
c. Soul as that which returns back to God or exist after death, James
1.21; Romans 2.5-9
i. We purify our souls in obeying the truth, 1
Peter 1.22,23
d. Soul as the life of a person, Romans
11.3; Acts 20.24 4.
Hebrews 4.12 both soul and spirit are
used
a. Notice the intentions of a man are connected to his thoughts but they
are different; the joints are parts of the bone but they are different; the
spirit and soul are both part of man but they are different.
b. Man is a spiritual being that possesses a soul. That is the point the
Hebrew writer is making. The word of God can make the distinction. Conclusion:
We did all of this in order to realize that we have the words soul and spirit
used in different ways. We can say our spirit returns back to God; we can also
say our soul awaits the day of Judgment. Both are correct in distinguishing the
spiritual part of man (that which exist after the body returns back to dust)
from the body. We sing the song “To Canaan’s Land” where the soul never
dies. |