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Soul and Spirit

As a friend told me about a conversation she had with one of our pastors about whether animals go to heaven, she told me about the Hebrew word nephesh ("soul"). I wondered, then, what the difference was between soul and spirit. After a little research, I came across what many seem to agree is a main difference. The soul of a person is that person's being--personality and life--while the spirit is that part of us that connects with God. There are several verses that refer to spirit in this way:*

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

"But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:1)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,...." (Ephesians 1:3)

"addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,...." (Ephesians 5:19)

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." (Colossians 1:9)

"Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:16)

Verses referring to the soul, however, include these:*

"And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin." (Genesis 35:18)

"Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?" (Job 30:25)

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." (Psalm 43:5)

"But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock has been taken captive." (Jeremiah 13:17)

I had also read that the spirit is the part of us that God makes alive when we receive him as Savior. We are, the Bible says, "dead in the trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1) and "dead in [our] trespasses and in the uncircumcision of [our] flesh" (Colossians 2:13).* Still, as I listened to a talk by Tim Keller (who, sadly, was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer), who was asked why the resurrection matters, he said that Christ's resurrection was a "first installment" of what we can expect at the end of time, but more than that, that it was the means by which God is able to resurrect us spiritually now, so that we can "receive partial but substantial healing." He ends, "[The resurrection] is bringing the power of the future into the present and into your life." He cites as support Romans 8:23, which says that we have the "firstfruits of the Holy Spirit."**

This made more sense as I read Romans 6 this morning, and which Keller also cited in his talk. In fact, this passage in Romans gave me new perspective about what Christ's death and resurrection means for us. Romans 6:1-4 reads, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

Because of Jesus's death and resurrection, we, too, die to sin and are raised. In terms of spiritual life, I think of the word "inspired." Our spirits are made alive in Christ, where once we were dead.

In conclusion, the difference between soul and spirit is that one (the soul) seems to be our life, personality, and whole being, and the other (our spirit) is that which interacts with God when made alive through Christ's death and resurrection. We, too, have spirits that are resurrected.

*These come from "What is the Difference Between the Soul and Spirit of Man?" Got Questions. Got Questions Ministries. 2 January 2020. Web. 8 June 2020.
**Keller, Tim. "Questioning Christinity - Why We Can Believe in Jesus." Gospel in Life. 7 May 2020. Web. 8 June 2020.
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