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