Body, Soul and Spirit

Introduction

There’s a confusion among the faithful about the body, soul and spirit. After death, will the soul depart or is it the spirit which does? If the soul did, it is immortal. If the latter did, it is the eternal one.

Usually with the body – its form now and in the eternal- there is no disagreement that has surfaced that I know of. 

The Scripture Defines Soul and Spirit

 I heard a pastor of PMCC-4thWatch (Marikina, Philippines) discuss about man’s soul departing after death. He cited Genesis 35:18 of the King James Version. The verse: “And it came to pass, as her (Rachel) soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.”

The pastor, as can be expected, concluded that when a person dies, the soul departs. This supports their church claim that the soul of the dead leaves the body and departs for either heaven or hell. Is this a case of one text-doctrine? Would other texts in the whole Bible confirm or contradict such teaching? At the conclusion of our study our reader can easily form their belief as I have.

We have parallel or similar texts in New International Version (NIV) of the particular text.¹ [The following discussion will touch on variations, i.e. understanding, of translations. Knowing which translation is correct or more precise is left to readers. This is where those with the Spirit and those without will be truly separated.  Consider my suggestion: line up as many texts as necessary about the topic as we do below. All scriptures come from the NIV. This is letting the Bible be consistent with its truth; it will give readers the correct understanding of the Word of God.]

1.                   As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni…” (Genesis 35:18)

2.                  We consider Jesus as he is in the throes of death. “Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)

3.                 Then we look at 1 Corinthians 5: 5, NIV “…hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord [think of the execution of judgment at the second coming of our Lord]  

                          

4.                 Another verse to appreciate: “When their spirit departs, they return to the ground (think of man’s death and burial); on that very day their plans come to nothing.” (Psalm 146:4)

5.                  We see a reverse. i.e., return of the spirit to a dead girl in Luke 8: 55 as Jesus revived her: “Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.”

6.                “…the breath of God is in my nostrils,” says Job 27:3

7.            “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4

It is very clear that it is the spirit of man that departs and not the soul as commonly known. The latter is the result of the ascendancy of the KJV over newer translations. The latter belief, which is false, is the source of another false belief: immortal soul. This is a common pagan belief. In contrast, the first century Christians, those taught by the apostles, the twelve apostles and succeeding generations, believed that the dead -- body and soul -- go to the grave to await resurrection. This belief was gradually lost and gained greater momentum in the fourth century when King Constantine made himself a nominal Christian to get the gentiles into the Christian faith.

If you consider the alignment of the seven texts above, which amounts to the perspective of the whole Bible, it is not the soul that departs after death but the spirit. And during the resurrection of the dead, God returns the individual’s spirit—which is the same one that departed. Then, the spirit serves a double purpose: breath of life and person’s identification, with the latter also having the person’s lifetime record, which is vital in the judgment. Consequently, I can say for sure that the “soul” in Genesis 35:18 of the King James Version is synonymous as the ‘spirit” in the NIV. It is more accurate to have ‘soul’ translated as ‘spirit’, the breath of life from God.

King James Version is not as Precise as New International Version

This same translation ‘inconsistency’ between the King James Version –an early English translation (1611)—and later translations like the NIV also occurs with the words hell and grave.  There are 54 references to hell in KJV; only 15 in NIV. The reason is for the fact that NIV translated all 31 ‘Sheol’ (Hebrew) in the OT as grave, a place for the dead, in place of hell that KJV used; and 8 Hades (Greek) in the NT also as grave. This leaves only 15 translated as hell. Some of the 15 ‘hell’ words are meant as hyperbole—not to confirm the presence of hell as we know it; and the rest ‘hell’ words are translated from the Greek word ‘gehenna’—a burning, garbage heap—always seen with smoke rising into the sky—outside  the Jerusalem. This burning heap symbolizes the burning earth at judgment time for the wicked that includes Satan and his demons.

What to make out of this?

The context of the whole Bible must be the only consideration: the soul is destroyed with the body as Jesus said so in Matthew 10:28; it is the spirit that returns to God.

John 3: 16 would also be instructive: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Note the word ‘perish’. It also means to die.

We appreciate next the event in the Garden of Eden. [Eve speaking to Satan]” …God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” With the last underline think of the second death or eternal death, the judgment of the unrighteous at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, think of those declared righteous because of the faith in the gospel of Christ. They will not surely die [think eternal life].

The Brain Makes the Soul

Indirectly, we can know if our understanding is correct by defining the word ‘soul’. Our usual understanding of the soul would be synonymous to the sum-total of our character. In other words the word ‘soul’ embodies our character, which is predestined by God to conform to that of Christ (Romans 8:29) as we are freed from committing sins in our lifetime. In turn character is molded by our thoughts, will, conscience, attitudes, feelings, choices and actions. All these are mediated and brought about by our mind. i.e., brain. Have you heard of the term ‘brain-dead’? Doctors use this term to pronounce anyone dead. On the other hand, the word spirit in the Bible is the breath in our nostrils. (Job 27:3; 33:4) When one expires—we say he or she has breathed his or her last. Therefore, death is body and soul (mind) minus the spirit.

 Jesus Death and Resurrection is Our Model

Finally, we look at Jesus’ death and resurrection as model as I earlier suggested to which we test doctrines. Before he breathed his last, Jesus re-committed his spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46), his body and soul went to the grave [think of Sheol of OT and Hades of NT) and he rested there for three days, after which He was raised to life by God by returning His spirit. In the familiar body form, Jesus stayed for 40 days after resurrection and appeared to the Twelve Apostles and to many before He ascended into heaven body, soul and spirit, meaning the whole person. Come to think of it, if His soul has really departed for heaven after He died on the cross, it would have caused inconvenience for the Father to send Jesus’ soul back to earth. Of course this is a lie that most of us have known from the beginning, even the pagans belief of immortal soul.

 To apply it to my deceased father: (1) he breathed his last in 1995; if Christ returns in 2013 and he is one of God’s children, he will be raised from Sheol (grave) or Hades (grave) where he slept for 18 years, after God has returned his spirit; then he is taken by angels into heaven together with the living children of God, who, unlike my father, will not have experienced death. (Read 1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17) 

My testimony: Praise God for this eternal hope of immortality, as a result of which I do not fear death.

Notes:

¹ The King James Version [and New King James Version] are word for word literal translation of the Scriptures, with manuscripts being orginally written in Hebrew and Greek. On the other hand, the New International Version is a meaning to meaning translation of the same original manuscripts. This fact undeniably will cause a difference between the two translations.