The words spirit and soul are interconnected, for life cannot exist one without the other. The word "spirit" comes from the Hebrew word ru´ach and the Greek pneu´ma, which comes from pne´o, meaning to “breathe or blow". These Hebrew and Greek words for spirit have the basic meaning of “breath†but have extended meanings beyond that basic sense. They can also mean wind; the vital force in living creatures; one’s spirit; spirit persons, including God and his angelic creatures; and God’s active force, or holy spirit. All these meanings have something in common: They all refer to that which is invisible to human sight and which gives evidence of force in motion. Such invisible force is capable of producing visible effects.
Many confuse spirit and soul due to the churches teachings regarding these words. Their instruction is that the soul is "something" separate from the body and at death departs, being immortal. The Bible, however, says that the soul is not immortal, but can die. Ezekiel 18:4 says that "all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."(King James Bible) Or at Acts 3:23, which says that " it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."(King James Bible)
What, though, is the soul ? The Hebrew word for soul is ne´phesh, and in Greek, psy·khe´ . The connotations that the English “soul†commonly carries in the minds of most persons are not in agreement with the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words as used by the inspired Bible writers. This fact has steadily gained wider acknowledgment. Back in 1897, in the Journal of Biblical Literature (Vol. XVI, p. 30), Professor C. A. Briggs, as a result of detailed analysis of the use of ne´phesh, observed: “Soul in English usage at the present time conveys usually a very different meaning from [ne´phesh] in Hebrew, and it is easy for the incautious reader to misinterpret.â€Â
The New Catholic Encyclopedia says: “Nepes [ne´phesh] is a term of far greater extension than our ‘soul,’ signifying life (Ex 21.23; Dt 19.21) and its various vital manifestations: breathing (Gn 35.18; Jb 41.13[21]), blood [Gn 9.4; Dt 12.23; Ps 140(141).8], desire (2 Sm 3.21; Prv 23.2). The soul in the O[ld] T[estament] means not a part of man, but the whole man-man as a living being. Similarly, in the N[ew] T[estament] it signifies human life: the life of an individual, conscious subject (Mt 2.20; 6.25; Lk 12.22-23; 14.26; Jn 10.11, 15, 17; 13.37).â€Â-1967, Vol. XIII, p. 467.
Thus, even as the New Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges, the soul is us as a person, with all our desires and feelings. Closely connected, the "spirit" of a person can be his life force, the very principal of life. The account of the creation of man states that God formed man from the dust of the ground and proceeded to “blow [form of na·phach´] into his nostrils the breath [form of nesha·mah´] of life, and the man came to be a living soul [ne´phesh].†(Ge 2:7) Ne´phesh may be translated literally as “a breather,†that is, “a breathing creature,†either human or animal. Nesha·mah´ is, in fact, used to mean “breathing thing [or creature]†and as such is used as a virtual synonym of ne´phesh, “soul", such as at Deuteronomy 20:16 and Joshua 11:11.
The record at Genesis 2:7 uses nesha·mah´ in describing God’s causing Adam’s body to have life so that the man became “a living soul.†Here at Genesis 2:7, the expression "breath of life" (Hebrew, nish·math´ (from nesha·mah´) chai·yim´), that God placed within Adam, ' blowing ' this within his nostrils, literally means the life-force of man or animal. Just as electricity causes an electrical appliance to function, so likewise does the "breath of life". Adam was a "dead soul" until God brought him to life by the "breath of life" or life-force.
Other texts, however, show that more was involved than simple breathing of air, that is, more than the mere introduction of air into the lungs and its expulsion therefrom. Thus, at Genesis 7:22, in describing the destruction of human and animal life outside the ark at the time of the Flood, we read: “Everything in which the breath [form of nesha·mah´] of the force [or, “spirit†(ru´ach)] of life was active in its nostrils, namely, all that were on the dry ground, died.†Nesha·mah´, “breath,†is thus directly associated or linked with ru´ach, which here describes the spirit, or life-force, that is active in all living creatures - human and animal souls.
At Genesis 6:17, God said that he was going "to bring to ruin all flesh in which the force of life (Literally, “in which the active force (spirit) of life [is].†Hebrew, ’asher-boh´ ru´ach chai·yim´) is active from under the heavens." Thus, during the global deluge, in which “all flesh (human and animals) in which the active force†was, these died because their “breath of life†left them. They died, just as the electrical current is turned off of an appliance and it stops. God said that “everything that is in the earth will expire.†Hence, every person or animal outside the ark, died. Referring back to Genesis 7:21,22, it says that “all flesh that was moving upon the earth expired....Everything in which the breath of the force of life ( Hebrew, asher nish·math´ ruach) was active in its nostrils, namely, all that were on the dry ground, died.â€Â
“The breath of life†(Hebrew, ru´ach chai·yim´) refers to more than just breath or air moving into the lungs. God evidently provided Adam with both the spirit (Hebrew, ru´ach, Greek, pneu´ma; Latin, spi´ri·tum ) or spark of life and the breath needed to keep him alive. Now Adam began to have life as a person, to express personality traits, and by his speech and actions he could reveal that he was higher than the animals, that he was a “son of God,†made in His likeness and image.(Gen 1:27; Luke 3:38)
Because breathing is so inseparably connected with life, nesha·mah´ and ru´ach are used in clear parallel in various texts. Job voiced his determination to avoid unrighteousness “while my breath [form of nesha·mah´] is yet whole within me, and the spirit [weru´ach] of God is in my nostrils.†(Job 27:3-5) Elihu said: “If that one’s spirit [form of ru´ach] and breath [form of nesha·mah´] he [God] gathers to himself, all flesh will expire [that is, “breathe outâ€Â] together, and earthling man himself will return to the very dust.†(Job 34:14, 15)
Similarly, Psalm 104:29 says of earth’s creatures, human and animal: “If you [God] take away their spirit [form of ru´ach], they expire, and back to their dust they go.†At Isaiah 42:5, our Creator, Jehovah God is spoken of as “the One laying out the earth and its produce, the One giving breath [form of nesha·mah´] to the people on it, and spirit [form ru´ach], to those walking in it.†The breath (nesha·mah´) sustains their existence; the spirit (ru´ach) energizes and is the life-force that enables man to be an animated creature, to move, walk, be actively alive.
Therefore, if one’s spirit or life-force (“breath of lifeâ€Â) is lost, he then dies. Parents pass on this life-force to their children, for only life can “beget†life. Thus, the soul is not immortal, for it dies when its life-force leaves and is now a “dead soulâ€Â.(Lev 21:11, literally “souls of one being deadâ€Â, Hebrew, naph·shoth´, plural, followed by meth, “deadâ€Â; )
