Bible (Archive 4)

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Bible Question: is your sole the same as your spirit or are they different ? thks

Bible Answer: The line between Soul and Spirit is hardly a clear one:

Soul; is sometimes said to be that part of us that is our consciousness, our wants/desires, our feelings, our very thoughts, that which we perceive as, ‘self’, is sometimes said to be our soul, it has been called, the seat of appetite.

Spirit; sometimes is used to mean breath, so indicating that which is vital to life, also sometimes used in describing a tendency toward a particular behavior, (e.g. he has a lying spirit), or, a leaning toward, or, an untruthfulness in spirit. Spirit and soul have both been looked at as, that part of man that is unseen and sentient, yet consciously aware of the fact that we are alive, and, perhaps, even the very thing that is life itself.
(Of course true life is found only in Jesus Christ)
Just what are the tangible differences between the two? Scripture pants a pretty fuzzy line at best. And, while some commentary, tend to keep the line between them though it remains quite unclear, others seem to wipe it out altogether.-John

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“ While outwardly man is a physical being, living and moving in a material universe, there is also a spiritual reality. Finite, physical creatures could never truly relate to an infinite, spiritual Being so when God created man, he formed yet a third facet to our nature, a spirit. The soul, comprised of our thoughts, emotions and will, combined inextricably with this spirit to form a creature unlike all others, higher than the animals and a little lower than the angels; Unique in all Creation. It is this amalgamation of spirit and soul that survives our physical death. It is the essence of who we are as a person and will never cease to exist.” –
gospel.htm: Part of http://www.tlogical.net Copyright ©2005 John M. Fritzius

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“Scripture uses the word "soul" and "spirit" interchangeably. For example, in John 12:27, our Lord says, "now is my soul troubled."
However, in a very similar context, in the next chapter, John tells us that Jesus was "troubled in spirit" (13:21). There are a number of places where it is used in Hebrew Parallelism; e.g., Luke 1:46-47. Dead people are both spoken of as "spirits" (Hebrew 12:23; 1 Peter 3:19) and "souls" (Revelation 6:9; 20:4).

At death, Scripture says either that the "soul" departs or the "spirit" departs (cf Genesis 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21; Isaiah 53:12; Psalm 31:5; Luke 23:46; Ecclesiastes 12:7; John 19:30; Acts 7:59; etc.).

The Bible says that the "soul" can sin or the "spirit" can sin (cf 1 Peter 1:22; Revelation 18:14; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 7:34; etc.).

Indeed, everything that the soul is said to do, the spirit is also said to do and vice versa. This includes thinking, feeling, choosing, and worshiping.

In Jewish thinking human beings are not bipartite or tripartite creatures. Dividing of the various components is such a difficult thing, that no human can untangle the parts or even find the dividing lines. (Hence the surgical imagery of Hebrews 4:12.) Just as today we'd not be able to find the dividing line between our minds and our bodies.

The trichotomy of man was an idea introduced by the Greeks -- Aristotle in particular.

(Not that it isn't "true" -- only that it has its origins from extra-Biblical sources.) Later Gnostic thinking liked this idea, as they deemed that pure reason was higher, more noble, and distinct from baser attributes. Even later, Augustine argued that the image of God's triune nature was reflected in a triune nature of man. The Roman Church still holds to this perspective, although with a bit of a Gnostic twist.

Even our language reflects some of our opinions regarding the components of a man. The ancient Hebrew thought of the heart the same way the average American thinks of the brain. The modern man does not expect to cut into a brain and find the real person. In the same way, the Hebrew would not have expected to cut into a heart and reveal the real person.

Yet both understand that a blob of tissue exists, but both tend to think of it as somehow containing a person's essence.

This is a deep and complex subject. Theologians and philosophers for multiple millennia have discussed it.
The Scripture tells us things that we could not have known by introspection. However, it does not entirely settle all of the questions. What we can say definitively, though, is that man is a being who thinks, feels, acts, and communicates.

Furthermore, we know that the soul/spirit can be separated from the body in death, but that that is an abnormal state -- one that won't exist when God restores creation, for every soul/spirit will be joined with their resurrected body.” --
DocTrinsograce