Does man have a soul AND spirit?

In Dan. 7:15 he said he was grived in his spirit in the mist of his body.
Luke 1:46 and Mary said My soul doth magnify the Lord. Then continues to say in Luke 1:47
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

 

I Thess. 5:23, "I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

 

What are the biblical definitions of the terms "soul" and "spirit?"

I remember hearing that your soul was your eternal being, and your spirit was your personality, that pretty much tags along with your soul. But that doesn't sound quite right.

 

As I understand it;
Your soul is composed of mind, will and emotions. It is that which you communicate to the world with and which receives information from the world also.
Your spirit is that which the Bible calls your heart. It is that which you communicate to God with and which He communicates to you through.
Jim

 

A good guideline in differentiating between the "soul" and "spirit" of man I have found in the works of the late Christian psychologist Conrad A. Baars (Feeling and Healing Your Emotions Plainfield, NJ, Logos International, 1979 and others). He divides our 12* basic emotions into "humane" emotions, (love/hate, desire/aversion, joy/sadness), which are ennobled by our or "intellect" ("intuitive", or "contemplative" mind); thus making up our "heart"; and also our "utilitarian" emotions (hope/despair, courage/fear, peace*/anger), which aid our "reason" ("working" or "discursive" mind) thus making up our "mind". ("intuitive" comes from a Latin word meaning "look" or "view", and "intellect" from "to read between", both as opposed to simply "reasoning")

"Upwardly" he says, "the humane emotions are intimately linked with our spirit, and the utilitarian emotions with our reason" [i.e. soul]. Downward, both groups are linked with our body. (p.33). The humane emotions are from our "pleasure appetite" and cause inner movement within the psyche. They are our responses to what we perceive as "good" or "bad". Our intuitive mind also receives its knowledge from such sources as nature, the arts, faith, and directly from God through the Spirit, thus echoing the biblical statement. The utilitarian emotions of our "utility appetite" move us to action to make life better or respond to threats to our happiness or well being. Thus, they are concerned with mundane things; what is useful or harmful. It's the humane emotions that distinguish us from animals (hence, "humane"). While they certainly share the utilitarian emotions (anger, courage, etc) with us, the other set of emotions are not "ennobled" in them, being that they have instinct to guide them. Since we have those emotions, our instincts are undeveloped or "sophisticated" (its character altered).

So this gives us a good idea of how to distinguish our soul from our spirit: just think of the emotions associated with them!

*Baars does not recognize an opposite of "anger", which he calls the "ultimate emotion". But it seems "peace" or "contentment" would fit. Anger is a "sense-evil" emotion sort of like an active, charged version of sadness, and a temporal cousin to hate. So its opposite would be similarly related to love and joy. "Peace", as it is defined in the Bible is a more spiritually charged form of joy, and is connected with love. It is needed when the other utility emotions are not able to remove the cause of pain or unhappiness, or when something gives you pleasure apart from the intuitive mind. The proof is that animals such as our pets would have the sense-evil reaction of anger if teased, but if petted, a sense-good reaction that is not the "humane" love or joy, and certainly not hope or courage. They are then peaceful. Baars and his colleagues considered this state (which they referred to as "meekness") as not an emotion, but as a spiritual state. But this would probably result from the fact of anger appearing to be the "ultimate emotion". It's opposite then, may appear not to be an emotion at all. But its presence in animals proves it must not be "spiritual". The "peace that surpasses understanding" given supernaturally to humans by God would be the spiritual state.

 

I have a study by a Rev. David E. Dean titled 'The Way of the Christ Life'...

In it he uses circle diagrams to express the concept of the Spirit Soul and Body...

From a technical type....


Spirit: is the interface between man's Soul and the Spirit of God. This is the part that is Dead until Birthed by the Spirit of God.

Soul: (While variously divided by differing authors) Consists of the Mind, Will, and Emotions.

Soul - Mind: The data processing center for the Human Being. Provides the 'interface between the Body and the Soul. Can run somewhat autonomously (sub-consciously). Can be trained. Repository of 'Time-Delineated' memory.

Soul - Emotions: (remember Pentecostal speaking here. ) Has the highest level of interconnect with the Spirit of Man (and thus the Spirit of God) of any portion of the Human Being.

Soul - Will: That part of us that directs our path in accordance with the known Precepts of God's Word. That exacts self-discipline. Decides what is to be meditated upon and what is not to be meditated upon.

Body: In very real terms a tent the real me dwells in until I am issued a New Body at either the Rapture or Ressurection.

This delineation has some interesting ramifications...

Such as the ability to take literally what Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 10:5...

It also takes away the excuse that it was our 'body' that drove us to sin...

Or, we couldn't control that lustful thought...

 

What about when Jesus tells the story about the evil spirit that resides in an individual that gets driven out, but returns later with many other evil spirits?

It seems to me that this means there is something supernatural, seperate and distinct from the Soul and Body that makes up a living person.

 

Agreed, Eladar,

However, one might ask what the point of it all was...

The house was empty... How did *that* happen **after** it had been cleansed?

What was it empty of that made room for 'evil' spirits?

And, lastly, is the spirit of a man the only place an evil spirit can reside....

But, that's probably another thread altogether?

BTW: Point to ponder... Is there a preventative for re-infestation by evil?

Oh, but, that's another thread, too.

 

Calvin4Me,

That's the answer I was looking for.

 

I think this is known as a parallelism, making soul and spirit here the same thing.

I am not sure where I stand on it, but I have heard that in many cases, "soul" and "spirit" are the same thing in the Bible and are used interchangeably. In other cases, they seem to be distinct with the soul meaning emotions. I know there is at least one passage where animals are said to have a soul, and in that case, most believe it has something to do with the emotions (though I am sure hoping to see my wonderful German Shepherd who died 18 yrs. ago in heaven despite all the theology against it .)

Right now, I believe that man is a body/mind/spirit unity and this division of soul and spirit seems artificial. That is also what I was taught in my Soteriology class. I know that doesn't mean it's right, but the case for it was pretty convincing. Soul is either spirit or part of the emotions, depending on context.

 

What does it profit a man if he should gain the world but lose his SOUL? It seems to me that the soul is eternal and more than mere emotion, but I'm not an expert. - Meercat )

 

There are different words translated as 'soul.' But overall, from reading the Bible, I get the following loose definitions of what 'soul' means:

1. Breath.
2. The 'life force' within your body, that makes you alive and not dead.
3. Oneself as an individual.

In Revelation, 'soul' might refer to dead bodies under the altar. I recall a retired Greek professor who believed this citing the Septuigint (Greek transaltion fo the OT in use in Jesus' day) as evidence.

The 'soul' of an animal is in it's blood.

God has a 'soul.'

Jesus has a 'soul.'

 

No Bible text mentions "The eternal soul of man" or "the immortal soul of man" or "man whose soul is immortal". Not one in all of scripture.

In Matt 10 Christ states that God destroys "BOTH body AND SOUL in hell fire". I think we can believe it.

In some texts (like 1Peter 3) the soul IS the person "8 souls entered the ark and were saved" in other places the person HAS a soul. So the context determines its meaning.

The same is true of spirit. Paul said to the church of Corinth that though he was absent - yet he wast present in spirit with the church. Elsewhere we find that the body without the spirit is dead.

The context determines the meaning.

In Christ,

Bob

 

BobRyan is right. The idea that "soul" and "spirit" have definate meanings can lead you astray. Check the context.

"To achieve spiritual success you must find your Self . . "

"What are you talking about? It's right there on the coffee table with my other magazines . . "