V. Clarifying Distinctions Between Soul and Spirit

The relationships, distinctions, and contrasts between “spirit” and “soul” can be seen from Genesis 2:7. The inbreathing of the “breath [or “spirit”] of life” into the first human man body-organism, made or constituted it a “living soul.” Prior thereto the soul, as regards Adam, had no existence. The “man” Adam was fully made and complete in bodily form before he began to live, for “God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7). Nothing was wanting to make him a “living” man or being, or entity, or “living soul” but the “breath of life.” When God breathed this into him, he then became a “living soul.”CFF1 38.7

1. “SOUL” DEPENDENT UPON PRESENCE OF “SPIRIT.”

As long as the “breath of life,” or spirit, remains in man, the “soul” continues to be or live. But when the “spirit” departs, he is no longer a living soul. Hence, the existence of the soul, as produced by the presence of the spirit, must always depend upon the continuance of that presence. In other words, with the reception of the SPIRIT [ruach], the SOUL [nephesh] comes into being and remains in being. And when the spirit is withdrawn, man thereupon ceases to be a living, sentient being. Thus the psalmist says, “His [man’s] BREATH [ruach, spirit] goeth forth, he returneth to his earth [Hebrews ‘adamah, ground or soil]; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4).CFF1 39.1

2. SPIRIT AND SOUL, HAVE SERIES OF CONTRASTS

Spirit” and “soul” are therefore distinct and distinguishable. They constitute, essentially, cause and effect—connected but separate and distinct, coordinated but contrasting. Thus the “spirit” produced “life” in man, making him a “living soul,” capable of thinking, feeling, and acting—and with moral responsibility. The soul is the living person or being himself, not a separate, independent “something.” And it must never be forgotten that spirit and soul are never confused in Scripture, nor are they used interchangeably.CFF1 39.2

At death the “soul” (the man himself) goes to she’ol (the grave, gravedom, or the state of death), while the spirit goes back to God, from whom it originally came. That is totally different. Further, the soul sins (Ezekiel 18:4, 20). But that is not said of the spirit. In death the two are dissevered, and it requires a resurrection from death to another life to re-establish the dissevered connection.CFF1 39.3

3. “SPIRIT’’ RETURNS TO GOD WHO “GAVE IT.”

Of the final disposition of the ruach (spirit, or breath), the Old Testament writers record:CFF1 40.1

“Thou takest away their BREATH (ruach), they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy SPIRIT [ruach], they are created: and thou renewest the fate of the earth” (Psalm 104:29, 30).CFF1 40.2

“His BREATH [ruach] goeth forth, he returneth to his earth [Hebrews ‘adamah, ground or soil]” (Psalm 146:4).CFF1 40.3

“There is no man that hath power over the SPIRIT [ruach] to retain the SPIRIT [ruach]; neither hath he power in the day of death” (Ecclesiastes 8:8).CFF1 40.4

After describing man in advanced age—with its characteristic deterioration, followed by death itself (Ecclesiastes 12)—such figures are employed as, “the silver cord [spinal cord] be loosed, or the golden howl [head or skull] be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain [failure of the heart]” (Ecclesiastes 12:6, 7). The sage of Ecclesiastes next says: “Then shall the dust [by metonymy, put for body, made of dust] return to the earth as it was: and the SPIRIT [ruach, not nephesh] shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).CFF1 40.5

4. TO “SAVE A SOUL” IS TO SAVE A MAN

The question also arises as to the meaning of “save a soul.” It is simply to save what is the equivalent of a soul—the man himself. Man was made to have eternal life, but lost it by sin. He was to have continued on perpetually had Adam not sinned. Man dies the first death because Adam sinned. But he may be saved from, and avoid, the second death by redemption. Saving a soul, then, is saving a person from death; or, in other words, it is saving him unto life. That is the wonder of the gospel in operation.CFF1 40.6

5. BIBLICAL PORTRAYAL OF DEATH

Of Abraham’s death it is written: “Then Abraham gave up the ghost [yielded up his spirit], and died in a good old age ...; and was gathered to his people [idiomatic euphemism for death and burial]. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah” (Genesis 25:8, 9).CFF1 40.7

Of Jacob’s death and burial this is the record: “He [Jacob] ... yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.” “For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah” (Genesis 49:33; Genesis 50:13).CFF1 41.1

And of David’s death, and Solomon’s, it is written, “So David slept with his fathers [laid down to sleep], and was buried in the city of David” (1 Kings 2:10); “And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David” (1 Kings 11:43).CFF1 41.2