davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) (03/12/91)
SOUL and SPIRIT: The words 'soul' and 'spirit' occur more than 1600 times in the Bible, but never in conjunction with the terms 'immortal' or 'imperishable'. Hebrew 'ruach' and Greek 'pneuma' are often translated spirit. Their root meaning is 'wind', 'breeze' and 'breath'. 'Ruach' appears 379 in the O.T. Neither preconceived ideas, which by the way originate in Greek and other paganisms, lead one to believe in conscious souls after death. There are many texts where the different translations interchange person or being with soul. Man is described as a "soul" over 150 times in the OT and about 16 times in the New, 13 times used by Paul referring to the natural life of man. In Hebrew the word is 'nephesh' and in Greek it is of shades that English translators have rendered it 45 different ways! God forms Adam of dust, breathes into him "breath of life," and he becomes a "living soul." We use the same kind of language when we say that a man or animal is a conscious being and also has conscious being. . . . . "Soul" is the most comprehensive term for man in his wholeness." Yes, there are ambiguous texts and a few 'difficult' texts (no impossible texts) but the weight of Bible evidence is clear that the dead know nothing until the resurrection. Jesus said death is like a sleep. Death is a sleep that passes in the twinkling of an eye. Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia has to say about the soul: ". . . . . a spirit or breath with which he was endowed by his Creator (Gen. 2:7); but this spirit was conceived of as inseparably connected, if not wholly identified, with the life-blood (Gen. 4:4; Lev. 17:11). Only through the contact of the Jews with Persian and Greek thought did the idea of a disembodied soul, having its own individuality, take root in Judaism" LIVING SOUL = LIVING PERSON & DEAD SOUL = DEAD PERSON God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils and man became a living soul. (Gen. 2:7) {Body plus breath of life = living soul} {Body minus breath of life = dead soul} KJV = My breath in me and spirit of God in my nostrils. NIV = As long as I have life the breath of God is in my nostrils. (Job 27:3 ) {Many more soul/breath texts in the Bible} Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. (Ps. 104: 29) {God gives us the breath of life at birth and takes it back when we die, this life which man cannot create in a test tube} When you die you return to the dust and your spirit {breath of life} returns to God. (Ecc. 12:7) God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. (Psa 49:15) His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (Ps. 146:4) Whoever tries to save his life(psuche) will lose it, and whoever loses his life(psuche) for My sake will find it. (Mat 16:25) Gain the whole world and loose his own soul(psuche). What shall a man give for his soul(psuche)? (Mat 16:26) SATAN'S LIE "You will not surely die", said Satan to Eve. (Gen 3:4) Unto dust shalt thou return, said God. (Gen. 3:19) The soul who sins is the soul who will die. (Eze. 18:4) King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality. (1 Tim 6:16) God alone has immortality and God alone gives immortality to the saints and not to the wicked. HELL = SHEOL=HADES=GRAVE=EARTH=PIT: Sheol (Hebrew) and Hades (Greek) mean much the same thing and in the scrip- ture they most often mean the grave. Some examples: "I shall go down into the grave{sheol}." (Gen. 37:35} In death there is no remembrance of thee. (Ps 6:5) David said "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell{sheol}; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Ps. 16:10) "Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell{hades}, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Acts 2:27) David thanked God for saving his soul from the grave{sheol}, "you have kept me alive". (Ps. 30:3) No work, device, knowledge or wisdom in the grave{sheol} where you are going. (Eccl 9:10) "The grave{sheol} cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth." (Isa 38:18) "Where, O death{hades}, is your victory? Where, O grave{hades}, is your sting? (1 Cor. 15:55) At the resurrection the grave{hades} will give up its dead. (Rev. 20:13) The OT uses the word 'sheol' 66 times. The King James translates it 'hell' 31 times, 'grave' 31 times, 'pit' 3 times and 'the dark' once. The NIV usually translates 'sheol' to 'grave'. Because of the modern connotation of hell the RSV prefers to render sheol as sheol instead of as hell. This is because sheol does not mean hell as we think of it today. What good does that do? People will simply start thinking of hades and sheol as represent- ing the modern version of hell. Fudge p 81 -- The liberal 'The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible' flatly states: "Nowhere in the OT is the abode of the dead regarded as a place of punishment or torment." The conservative 'Baker's Dictionary of Theology' says that "Sheol is uniformly depicted in the OT as the eternal, amoral abode of both righteous and unrighteous alike." IN THE GRAVE UNTIL JESUS RETURNS Those sleeping in the dust will either awake to everlasting life or to everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2) "There comes the resurrection day in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." (John 5:28,29) {How can they hear His voice in the grave if they are in heaven?} "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day" (Acts 2:29) "For David is not ascended into the heavens." (Acts 2:34) "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26) The living righteous and the dead righteous will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess 4:17) "His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish." (Psa 146:4) Clearly, if you can come to accept that the dead know not anything, that the Biblical 'hell' is simply the grave, then the fires of hell cannot be burn- ing today. Time passes for the dead in the twinkling of an eye, and then the resurrec- tion and the glory of His return. Dave (David E. Buxton) From the Silicon RainForest of the Northwest