What is the Soul and Spirit?

by Bob Pickle

1. Preface
2. The Various Renderings
3. Personifications?
4. Identifying the Original Words in Each Text; End Notes After Each Verse
5. The Soul - Old Testament (94 Verses)
6. The Soul - New Testament (33 Verses)
7. The Spirit - Old Testament (27 Verses)
8. The Spirit - New Testament (4 Verses)

Preface

The most common conception of the nature of man is that man has an immortal soul and/or spirit within him that can be conscious after death. This was the understanding of the Greek philosophers, the Pharisees of Jesus’s day, and numerous pagan religions. But was this the understanding of the Bible writers?

What follows are a total of 157 verses in which the Greek and Hebrew words for "soul" and "spirit" are used in ways that do not fit in with this common conception of the nature of man. For example, some of these verses declare that souls can die, can touch, can eat, can thirst, can hunger, etc. These seemingly peculiar uses of the words for "soul" and "spirit" must be explained somehow, and these explanations should be taken into account when considering the other verses where these words occur.

The Various Renderings

Before we actually look at the verses, let's first look at all the various ways these Greek and Hebrew words are translated:

The word for "soul" in the Old Testament is nephesh. Nephesh is translated in following ways (the numbers being the number of occurrences of each way):

any 3
appetite 2
beast 2
body 4
breath 1
creature 9
dead 5
dead body 4
desire 4
fish 1
ghost 2
heart 15
hearty 1
herself 2
himself 8
life 117
lust 2
man 3
mind 15
mortally 1
myself 1
one 1
own 1
person 29
pleasure 3
soul 475
thing 2
themselves 3
thyself 1
will 4
would have it 1
yourselves 6

Some of these renderings may be confusing. For instance, how can the same word be translated "life," "body," and "dead body"?

The meaning of nephesh's root word is "to breathe." Since those who are breathing still have "life," one of the meanings for nephesh is "life." Since the "body" is what we use to breathe with, one of the meanings for nephesh is "body." Since a "dead body" is what once breathed, one of the meanings for nephesh is "dead body." Thus, all three renderings of nephesh, though apparently quite different, are derived from the same basic meaning of the root word.

In the New Testament the word for "soul" is psuche. Psuche is translated in the following ways:

heart 1
heartily (combined with ek) 1
life 40
make doubt (combined with airo) 1
mind 3
soul 58
you 1

The word for "spirit" in the Old Testament is either ruach or neshamah. Ruach is translated in the following ways: 

air 1
anger 1
blast 4
breath 27
cool 1
courage 1
mind 6
quarters 1
side 6
Spirit or spirit 240
wind 94
vain 2

Neshamah is translated in the following ways:

blast 3
breath 17
inspiration 1
souls 1
spirit 2

The Greek word pnoe is used in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) for neshamah, but it is only used in the New Testament in Acts 2:2, where it is translated "wind," and in Acts 17:25, where it is translated "breath." 

In the New Testament the word for "spirit" is pneuma. Pneuma is translated the following ways:

ghost 2
Ghost (with Holy) 90
life 1
spirit 151
Spirit 137
spiritual gift 1
spiritually 1
wind 1

Read the entire document HERE.