Bible Studies

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I'll always quote from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition, unless I mention otherwise. I have been using the NASB since the late 60s.

There is much popular teaching around the Body of Christ regarding the meaning of the words "spirit" and "soul" that is wrong. Some of these errors significantly confuse, or distort, the meaning of some very important verses of the Bible. I'll give several examples in this article. It is beyond the scope of this article to fully deal with the use of these words in the New Testament, but I'll point out some basic things we should know about the meaning of these important words.

The NASB, 1995 edition, translated the Greek noun "pneuma" as follows: breath (3), Spirit (239), spirit (103), spirits (32), spiritual (1), wind (1), and winds (1). As you can see, the NASB typically translated pneuma as Spirit (referring to the Holy Spirit) or spirit(s), which often refers to, or relates to, the human spirit and quite often is used of evil spirits. And the NASB translated the Greek noun "psuche" as follows: heart (2), heartily (1), life (36), lives (7), mind (1), minds (1) person (1), persons (3), soul (33), souls (14), suspense (1), and thing (1). As you can see, the NASB typically translated psuche as soul(s) or life/lives. When psuche is translated life/lives it typically refers to life in this world, not life by the Spirit, spiritual life, eternal life. (The Greek noun "zoe" is typically, but not always used of life by the Spirit, eternal life.) I'll limit this study almost entirely to verses where the NASB translated soul(s) or spirit(s) and to the meaning of these words.

Although some popular teaching makes a rigid and clear distinction between the spirit of man and the soul of man and teaches that the soul equals the mind, the will, and the emotions, typically there is no substantial difference in meaning between the spirit of man and the soul of man in the New Testament, as I will demonstrate in this article. When this popular teaching is applied to a verse like James 1:21, it greatly distorts the interpretation of this verse. We will discuss James 1:21 at the end of this study.

A person after death and separate from the body can be called a spirit or a soul. On "SPIRIT(S)," see Heb. 12:23 ("...and to the spirits of the righteous men made perfect

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