SOUL AND SPIRIT

When you hear the term "Soul" and "Spirit", what comes to your mind?

 

Many believe that these words mean something invisible and immortal that exists inside us.  They think that at death this invisible part of a human leaves the body and lives on.  Since belief is so widespread, many are surprised to learn that it is not at all what the Bible teaches.  What, then, is the "Soul" and what is the "Spirit" according to God's word?



 

Are you having trouble distinguishing between the voice of your re-created spirit and the voice of your soul? Your spirit and soul are two different entities, but only God’s Word can separate the two. As you begin renewing your mind with God’s Word, you will position yourself to follow your heart—your spirit—with confidence in every situation of life!

Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t necessarily mean you will be successful in fulfilling God’s plan for your life. Certainly, if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, you will go to Heaven one day. But it’s quite possible to live out your entire life on the earth and fail to fulfill your destiny and receive the rich blessings God has planned for you.

The only way you can successfully run the race God has set before you (Heb. 12:1) is by learning how to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit as you listen to your heart, your re-created human spirit. Learning to be led by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God is the most important lesson you’ll ever learn in life.

When I say, “Listen to your heart,” what “heart” are you supposed to listen to? Even in the world, people sometimes say things, such as, “I mean it from the bottom of my heart” or, “He has a big heart.” They understand that these phrases don’t refer to the physical heart, the physical organ that pumps blood throughout the body. They know there is more to man that just the body.

The Bible teaches that man possesses a spiritual heart as well as a physical heart. In fact, there are more than 800 references in the Bible to man’s heart, and very few of them refer to the physical part of the body. Most of these references refer to the unseen center of man’s being—the inward man (2 Cor. 4:16; 1 Peter 3:4). When I say, “Listen to your heart,” I am referring to listening to your spirit, the inward man.

Of course, it’s true that at times, your physical senses give you information that you should listen to and heed. For instance, if you touched a hot stove, your sense of touch would tell you, “Take your hand off that stove quickly!” And you need to obey that!

But I’m talking about listening to your heart, or spirit, in situations for which there may be no solution in the natural or in the physical realm. Your physical senses might tell you, “Run from this problem!” Or your mind might tell you, “There’s no way out!”

But in those kinds of situations, you need to receive the Holy Spirit’s direction and stand on God’s Word without wavering. Successfully following God’s plan for your life depends on what you choose to listen to—your physical senses or the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you just listened to your physical senses or to your mind, you’d eventually lose your peace and joy and forfeit the victories God intended for you to have.

For instance, if you focused your attention on what you heard on the news, you could become depressed thinking about all the problems in the world around you. You could begin wondering, How are we ever going to make it?

But it doesn’t matter what your mind or your physical senses tell you! It doesn’t matter what the news media says! Regardless of what the circumstances look like, the Word of God is still true. And if you would get quiet on the inside and begin listening to what your heart, or spirit, is saying, the Holy Spirit would minister the truth of God’s Word to you.
 

We are spirit beings, but the Bible also teaches that we each possess a soul and we live in a body.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:23

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.

It’s easy to distinguish our body from our spirit or even from our soul, because the body is the part of us that’s visible and contacts the physical, tangible realm. With the body, we contact the physical realm. With our spirit, or heart, we contact the spiritual realm. And with our soul—including our mind, will, and emotions—we contact the intellectual and emotional realms.

But what about distinguishing our spirit, or heart, from our soul? It’s much more difficult to
distinguish between our spirit and our soul, because they are intangible, unseen parts of our being. Yet it is vitally important that we learn how to correctly distinguish between the two. If we don’t, we won’t be able to successfully listen to our heart and be led by the Holy Spirit in the situations and circumstances of life.

Hebrews 4:12 shows us not only that the spirit and soul are separate entities, but that they can be divided or distinguished.

HEBREWS 4:12

12 For 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.

The Word of God “divides asunder” or separates the soul and spirit of man because they are two separate and distinct entities. There would be no need to divide them if they were the same. For instance, if you tried to separate water from water, you would find it is impossible. You cannot separate something from itself.

But two distinct entities can be separated. For example, when water and dirt are mixed together in a container, the muddy water is still basically made up of two different elements: water and dirt. If left undisturbed, the mud would settle to the bottom of the container. The mud could be separated from the water, because dirt and water are two separate entities.

Similarly, although the spirit and soul are intertwined within the nature of each of person, they can be separated from each other because they are two separate entities. But they can only be separated and distinguished by the Word of God.

The truth is, you can only follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in your spirit, or heart, if you are continually renewing your mind with the Word of God (Rom. 12:2). You become more sensitive to God and the things of God when your mind is being renewed with the Word.

If you will continually fill your mind with God’s Word by reading, meditating on, and speaking the Word, you will begin responding to circumstances in line with the Word rather than from your physical senses or from your emotions—according to the way you used to think. So just stay faithful to daily receive the Word into your heart and mind (James 1:21), and it will become easier and easier to listen to your heart with confidence, following the Holy Spirit’s leading in all the situations and circumstances of life.

 

 

“SOUL” AS USED IN THE BIBLE

 

First, consider the soul. You may remember that the Bible was originally written mainly in Hebrew ne′phesh or the Greek word psy·khe′. These two words occur well over 800 times in the Scriptures, and the New World Translation consistently renders them “soul.” When you examine the way “soul” or “souls” is used in the Bible, it becomes evident that this word basically refers to (1) people, (2) animals, or (3) the life that a person or an animal enjoys. Let us consider some scriptures that present these three different senses.
and Greek. When writing about the soul, the Bible writers used the Hebrew word

People. “In Noah’s days…a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” (1 Peter 3:20) Here the word “souls” clearly stands for people—Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Exodus 16:16 mentions instructions given to the Israelites regarding the gathering of manna. They were told: “Pick up some of it…according to the number of the souls that each of you has in his tent.” So the amount of manna that was gathered was based upon the number of people in each family. Some other Biblical examples of the application of “soul” or “souls” to a person or to people are found at Genesis 46:18; Joshua 11:11; Acts 27:37; and Romans 13:1.

Animals. In the Bible’s creation account, we read: “God went on to say: ‘Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls and let flying creatures fly over the earth upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.’ And God went on to say: ‘Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.’ And it came to be so.” (Genesis 1:20, 24) In this passage, fish, domestic animals, and wild beasts are all referred to by the same word—“souls.” Birds and other animals are called souls at Genesis 9:10; Leviticus 11:46; and Numbers 31:28.

 

Life as a person. Sometimes the word “soul” means one’s life as a person. Jehovah told Moses: “All the men who were hunting for your soul are dead.” (Exodus 4:19) What were Moses’ enemies hunting for? They were seeking to take Moses’ life. Earlier, while Rachel was giving birth to her son Benjamin, “her soul was going out (because she died).” (Genesis 35:16-19) At that moment, Rachel lost her life. Consider also Jesus’ words: “I am the fine shepherd; the fine shepherd surrenders his soul in behalf of the sheep.” (John 10:11) Jesus gave his soul, or life, in behalf of mankind. In these Bible passages, the word “soul” clearly refers to life as a person. You will find more examples of this sense of “soul” at 1 Kings 17:17-23; Matthew 10:39; John 15:13; and Acts 20:10.
A further study of God’s Word will show you that nowhere in the entire Bible are the terms “immortal” or “everlasting” linked with the word “soul.” Instead, the Scriptures state that a soul is mortal, meaning that it dies. (Ezekiel 18:4, 20) Therefore, the Bible calls someone who has died simply a “dead soul.”—Leviticus 21:11.

THE “SPIRIT” IDENTIFIED

 Let us now consider the Bible’s use of the term “spirit.” Some people think that “spirit” is just another word for “soul.” However, that is not the case. The Bible makes clear that “spirit” and “soul” refer to two different things. How do they differ?
Bible writers used the Hebrew word ru′ach or the Greek word pneu′ma when writing about the “spirit.” The Scriptures themselves indicate the meaning of those words. For instance, Psalm 104:29 states: “If you [Jehovah] take away their spirit [ru′ach], they expire, and back to their dust they go.” And James 2:26 notes that “the body without spirit [pneu′ma] is dead.” In these verses, then, “spirit” refers to that which gives life to a body. Without spirit, the body is dead. Therefore, in the Bible the word ru′ach is translated not only as “spirit” but also as “force,” or life-force. For example, concerning the Flood in Noah’s day, God said: “I am bringing the deluge of waters upon the earth to bring to ruin all flesh in which the force [ru′ach] of life is active from under the heavens.” (Genesis 6:17; 7:15, 22) “Spirit” thus refers to an invisible force (the spark of life) that animates all living creatures.

The soul and the spirit are not the same. The body needs the spirit in much the same way as a radio needs electricity—in order to function. To illustrate this further, think of a portable radio. When you put batteries in a portable radio and turn it on, the electricity stored in the batteries brings the radio to life, so to speak. Without batteries, however, the radio is dead. So is another kind of radio when it is unplugged from an electric outlet. Similarly, the spirit is the force that brings our body to life. Also, like electricity, the spirit has no feeling and cannot think. It is an impersonal force. But without that spirit, or life-force, our bodies “expire, and back to their dust they go,” as the psalmist stated.
Speaking about man’s death, Ecclesiastes 12:7 states: “The dust [of his body] returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to the true God who gave it.” When the spirit, or life-force, leaves the body, the body dies and returns to where it came from—the earth. Comparably, the life-force returns to where it came from—God. (Job 34:14, 15; Psalm 36:9) This does not mean that the life-force actually travels to heaven. Rather, it means that for someone who dies, any hope of future life rests with Jehovah God. His life is in God’s hands, so to speak. Only by God’s power can the spirit, or life-force, be given back so that a person may live again.
How comforting it is to know that this is exactly what God will do for all of those resting in “the memorial tombs”! (John 5:28, 29) At the time of the resurrection, Jehovah will form a new body for a person sleeping in death and bring it to life by putting spirit, or life-force, in it.

 

 

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