{"id":91321,"date":"2025-10-16T17:28:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=91321"},"modified":"2025-10-16T17:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T22:28:04","slug":"questions-about-the-body-soul-spirit-and-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/questions-about-the-body-soul-spirit-and-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions about the body, soul, spirit, and death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>Dear Jeffrey,<\/p>\n<p>I listened to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/soul-and-spirit\/\">your Bible lesson on the body, spirit, and soul<\/a>, 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):<\/p>\n<h3>The Body, Soul, and Death<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Genesis 2:7 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living <b>soul<\/b>. The\u00a0Hebrew word for\u00a0<b>soul is nephesh<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Genesis 2:17 &#8220;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\u00a0<u>die<\/u>&#8220;.\u00a0The\u00a0Hebrew word &#8220;die&#8221;\u00a0 is mu\u0302th.<\/li>\n<li>Ezekiel 18:20 &#8220;The soul that sinneth, it shall\u00a0<b>die<\/b>.&#8221; The\u00a0Hebrew word\u00a0<b>&#8220;die&#8221; is also mu\u0302th<\/b>. The Hebrew word\u00a0<b>soul is nephesh<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Questions:<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>Genesis 2:7 &#8211; 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?<\/li>\n<li>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?<\/li>\n<li>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?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Death and return to dust<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Genesis 3:19 &#8220;unto dust shalt thou return&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Psalms 104:29 The Hebrew word for\u00a0<b>die<\/b>\u00a0is ga\u0302va\u201b, and &#8220;they die, and return to their dust&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Question:<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>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?<\/li>\n<li>Which of the human compositions return to dust? Body or soul?<\/li>\n<li>How about the spirit?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Judgement Day<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><b>John 5:28<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,<br \/>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>John 5:29<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.<br \/>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>I Thessalonians 4:16<\/b>\u00a0the dead in Christ shall rise first<br \/>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Daniel 12:2<\/b> Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Question:<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>In the resurrection, is it the body, soul, or the spirit that faces the Lord?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Genesis 2:7 does indicate that God first formed the body and then gave it life (the Hebrew word that is commonly translated as &#8220;soul&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>In Genesis 2:17, the Hebrew is <i>moth tamuth<\/i>, two words that are the same but in different forms. It literally reads &#8220;dying, you shall die.&#8221; Thus, the phrase covers both spiritual and physical death. In the process of physically dying, they died spiritually. Death doesn&#8217;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 &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-spiritual-death\/\">What is spiritual death?<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>It is useless to speculate what would have happened if something had not occurred. We don&#8217;t have enough information. We are told that Adam and Eve were denied access to the Tree of Life because &#8220;<em>he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever<\/em>&#8221; (Genesis 3:22).<\/p>\n<p>The Hebrew word &#8220;<em>gawa<\/em>&#8221; is used of something that is about to die physically. The Hebrew word &#8220;<em>muth<\/em>&#8221; 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. &#8220;<em>His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish<\/em>&#8221; (Psalms 104:29). &#8220;<em>Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it<\/em>&#8221; (Ecclesiastes 12:7).<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1254,109,653,471],"class_list":["post-91321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-body","tag-death","tag-soul","tag-spirit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3599,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/soul-and-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":91321,"position":0},"title":"Soul and Spirit","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: I Thessalonians 5:11-23 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Man is composed of three elements: body, soul, and spirit - I Thessalonians 5:23 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The body is easy to define. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It has a physical dimension to it - Job 19:25-27 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We understand that it is a container for something else that lives on after our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37267,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-are-peoples-spirits-created\/","url_meta":{"origin":91321,"position":1},"title":"When are people&#8217;s spirits created?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some people believe, which was also me until now, that God made man's spirit and not his physical body. Only in Genesis 2:7 had God put man's spirit in a body. Is this wrong? Also, when God created man on the sixth day, did God just create Adam and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56700,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/watering-down-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":91321,"position":2},"title":"Watering Down Hell","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim R. Everett An Answer to \"Conditional Immortality\" The modern, liberal theologian has joined the cultic religionist in seeking to \"water down\" hell and make eternal punishment nothing more than a momentary oxidation of the body. He inconsistently affirms the eternal nature of God and the future state of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83003,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-animals-have-spirits\/","url_meta":{"origin":91321,"position":3},"title":"Don&#8217;t animals have spirits?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading the article, \"Doesn't Ecclesiastes 3:19 teach that there is no difference between men and animals?\" You said animals have no spirit. The very next passage says that they do have spirits. \"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/death-and-eternity\/","url_meta":{"origin":91321,"position":4},"title":"Death and Eternity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Royce Frederick What happens when a person dies? On day six of creation, \"the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being\" (Genesis 2:7). Death occurs when the \"soul\" or the \"spirit\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34009,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/there-are-three\/","url_meta":{"origin":91321,"position":5},"title":"There Are Three","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant In our Bible studies and teaching, we often refer to God the Father and Christ the Son. Obviously, this is good, as they are prominent figures in our creation, salvation, and daily living. We are also aware that there is a third being that is one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}