Questions about the body, soul, spirit, and death
Dear Jeffrey,
I listened to your Bible lesson on the body, spirit, and soul, and it was very helpful. I have some questions and thought I would like to run them by you (my Bible quotes are from KJV):
The Body, Soul, and Death
- Genesis 2:7 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh
- Genesis 2:17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die". The Hebrew word "die" is mûth.
- Ezekiel 18:20 "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." The Hebrew word "die" is also mûth. The Hebrew word soul is nephesh
Questions:
- Genesis 2:7 - God first made man from dust. And then He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Of course, the Bible does not specify whether there is a time interval between creating man from dust and breathing into his nostrils, nor how long that interval may have been. Am I right to assume that first there was the body of a man, followed by the living soul in that body from the dust?
- Does death in Genesis 2:17 refer to the death of the physical body or the soul? Or both? Does the death of the soul mean that the soul disappears and the spirit remains?
- What may have happened if Adam and Eve had not eaten the fruit? Does that mean they will continue to live? Physical body, soul, or spirit?
Death and return to dust
- Genesis 3:19 "unto dust shalt thou return"
- Psalms 104:29 The Hebrew word for die is gâva‛, and "they die, and return to their dust"
Question:
- In both verses, man shall return to dust. But the word used for die (Genesis 2:17 and Psalms 104:29) in Hebrew is different. Does the difference in word usage mean anything?
- Which of the human compositions return to dust? Body or soul?
- How about the spirit?
Judgement Day
- John 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
- John 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
- I Thessalonians 4:16 the dead in Christ shall rise first
- Daniel 12:2 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake
Question:
- In the resurrection, is it the body, soul, or the spirit that faces the Lord?
Thank you.
Answer:
Genesis 2:7 does indicate that God first formed the body and then gave it life (the Hebrew word that is commonly translated as "soul").
In Genesis 2:17, the Hebrew is moth tamuth, two words that are the same but in different forms. It literally reads “dying, you shall die.” Thus, the phrase covers both spiritual and physical death. In the process of physically dying, they died spiritually. Death doesn't mean a disappearance. The body dies, but it still remains. Death is a separation. The body dies because it is separated from the spirit. A spirit dies because it is separated from God. See "What is spiritual death?"
It is useless to speculate what would have happened if something had not occurred. We don't have enough information. We are told that Adam and Eve were denied access to the Tree of Life because "he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Genesis 3:22).
The Hebrew word "gawa" is used of something that is about to die physically. The Hebrew word "muth" is used of something that has died physically or spiritually. In physical death, the physical body no longer has life (soul), and so it falls apart. The spirit of man, however, continues to live, so you could say that the life leaves with the spirit. "His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalms 104:29). "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
In the resurrection, the spirit of a man is given a new body (I Corinthians 15:50-54). Since we are alive, we are still with life (soul). In this form, we face our Lord in Judgment.
