Presenting biblical answers to tough questions
Q: What is a spirit? Is it different from your soul?
A: I might compare the terms “soul” and “spirit” to the terms “morals” and “ethics.” The two words can overlap in meaning and be basically synonymous (compare John 12:27, with John 13:21 for example). However, at other times they are distinct in usage and differences can be drawn between them (I Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12).
Fundamentally, the word “spirit” is drawn from Hebrew and Greek words with the sense of wind or breath; something that is there but can’t be easily understood or detected (John 3:8). So then “Spirit” refers to something unseen but essentially real. This can be an attitude (Proverbs 16:18), a gift or ability (Exodus 28:3), an unseen being or angel (Psalm 104:4), the immaterial part of a human being (Psalm 146:4), or God Himself (Psalm 139:7).
The word “soul” is also drawn from the concept of breath, but it leans more toward the sense of a person’s existence or life. Like the word “spirit,” “soul” can mean our inner or immaterial being (Luke 12:19), which departs when we die (Matthew 10:28). It can also be used to describe an entire person (Ezekiel 18:20; Acts 2:41) or as a synonym for physical life (Luke 12:20). The Greek term can also mean our mind or rational self (Philippians 1:27).
The slight differences in meaning lead to slightly distinct usages for each term in Scripture. For example, God and the angels are almost universally described as spiritual, while the term “soul” is used more frequently for human beings. A concordance can be used to look up all of the places where each word is used if you would like to dig deeper into the distinctions between them. This was a great question!
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