THE SOUL

We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, strength, and “soul.” Furthermore, we are not to be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the “soul.” It is only God who can destroy both (Matthew 10.28).

But what is the soul and how does it differ from the spirit? One Internet answer (gotquestions.org) puts it like this: “The soul and the spirit are the two primary immaterial parts ascribed to humanity in Scripture.” Nevertheless, discerning the precise differences between the two can be confusing. The word spirit refers only to the immaterial facet of humanity. Human beings have a spirit, but we are not spirits. However, in Scripture, only believers are said to be spiritually alive (1 Corinthians 2:11; Hebrews 4:12; James 2:26); unbelievers are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1–5; Colossians 2:13). 

In Paul’s writing, the spiritual is pivotal to the life of the believer (1 Corinthians 2:14; 3:1; Ephesians 1:3; 5:19;Colossians 1:9; 3:16). The spirit is the element in humanity that gives us the ability to have an intimate relationship with God. It is the immaterial part of humanity that “connects” (John 4:24) with the Holy Spirit within the believer.

I read (online) that Plato did not separate "soul" and "spirit" as distinct, opposing entities. Instead, he proposed “a tripartite soul where "spirit" (thymos) is one of three innate drives that make up the human soul as a whole.” The three parts were the rational, the spiritual, and the appetitive and the first part would govern the other two in a good life. Many of his ideas were developed later by Christian theologians and perhaps Paul as well.

The equivalent for soul that Kewa translators suggested was their word for “shadow’” (wasupa/wasaa). This seemed odd to me until the men explained that the shadow of a person was the essence or representative of his (or her) being. The person’s reflection or shadow was part of the person and was to be treated with respect and even fear. It was therefore an offense to step on someone’s shadow because it was the inner part of the person and changed according to the position of the person and the sun (or moon).

We observed the attitudes and beliefs about the shadow when a solar eclipse occurred. The darkening of the sky and subsequent unusual shadows on the leaves were significant and showed that some force greater than the sun was present. In fact, “During a solar eclipse the shadows cast by leaves on the ground transform into thousands of tiny, crescent-shaped, or "crescent moon" images of the sun” (from the Internet). 

A widow was called a wasaa ona (shadow woman) because part of her was now gone, which could be shown by her shadow.

Eugene Nida and Johannes Louw, in their Greek-English Lexicon (United Bible Societies, 1988:142) note that in many languages the equivalent for spirit is in fact “shadow” because it is “the immaterial part of the individual.” So is the soul, so there is confusion in many languages at this point.

We had some African American friends who once took us for some “soul food” at a restaurant which was accompanied by “soul music.” It was a kind of food and music that was foreign to us but such a sophisticated part of their culture and communication that it got right to one’s “soul.” It represents the feeling and attitude that a person has toward something, or some person, such as a “soul brother.”

There is also a doctrine of “soul sleep,” where, when a person dies, the soul is said to lie inert until God awakens it at the resurrection.

This very essence of our person is found clearly in the words of Jesus in John 12.27 when Jesus anticipated his death on the cross: “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?” However, when Jesus died, he gave up his spirit, not his soul because the soul was his person, who he was, and the being in which he would be glorified by God. 

It is therefore difficult, if not impossible, to divide the two words into two separate and distinguishable categories of meaning. The “cry of the soul” is an intense feeling we have, as when David cried out “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”

The important point is that we should love the Lord our God with all we have, with our heart, mind, soul and strength, in other words, with our whole being, as Jesus said:(Matthew 22.37, quoting in part Deuteronomy 6.5): “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” In some contexts “spirit” is also added

Karl Franklin