Quick Answer: Yes - but it doesn't seem to be important to
make a clear distinction between the human soul and the human spirit.
Key Scriptures:
Mark 12:33, Luke 12:19 (examples) The clear implication throughout the New Testament
is that human beings have souls <psuche>.
I Thes 5:23 “…your whole <pneuma> and <psuche>
and <soma> be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” This seems to clearly establish that “we” are each composed of
a body, soul and spirit and that each of those three entities has some
distinction between them.
I Cor 15:45 Would seem to indicate that there is some
difference between the soul and spirit.
Adam had a soul. Jesus had a
spirit. But, in this case the verse is
speaking of Jesus in his human “form” – the “last Adam” – so I think the
description means that humans have a spirit.
Heb 4:12 seems to be definitive: there is a distinction between the soul and
the spirit – they are not the same thing.
Yet this verse also implies that separating the soul and the spirit is a
very hard thing to do. In fact, it takes
a unique instrument to do it: the Word
of God. As a result of this verse I
began to refer to the supernatural part of human beings as the
“<psuche-pneuma>” or soul-spirit.
Granted, that term is never used in scripture, but there does not seem
to be an emphasis in scripture on separating the concept of human soul from the
concept of human spirit. I could not
find a single verse where the distinction seemed to matter in any way. Thus, I think it is kind of a mistake to
think of them in really distinct terms.
The analogy I used in my mind was that of the material brass. Although it is composed of copper and zinc,
each of which is a distinct metal, yet in brass it almost seems like you can’t
divide them and that brass itself is a new metal. I thought of the term <psuche-pneuma>
as being like brass. If pressed, you
would say, yes, it is composed of two elements (copper and zinc), but for all
practical purposes, it is just brass.
Luke 11:24-25 This is the passage where the unclean
<pneuma> goes out of man, then comes back to find the “man” swept and
cleaned, and invites other unclean <pneuma>. I don’t think this means that the person’s physical brain is swept. There is something about our
<psuche-pneuma> that allows for the indwelling of another <pneuma>
or even multiple <pneuma>s from without.
That can be the Holy Spirit, but it can also be evil spirits (I never
hear of a good spirit indwelling a human other than the Holy Spirit – so I
think that must not happen). And I think
it must be hard for us to ward off the outside spirit connection. In other words, it must be hard for us to
maintain our own <psuche-pneuma> in the “swept and empty” condition. Clearly, I would say, once the Holy Spirit
indwells us, the Holy Spirit keeps all other spirits away. That would be a part of the sealing that
happens [Eph 4:30]. Without that connection, we are
vulnerable. I feel that the condition of
being "swept and cleaned" describes the state that many people are
trying to achieve and maintain. Many
people want to live a good moral life, but they don't have anything to do with
anything "spiritual."
Caveat:
None.
Related Scriptures
and Thoughts:
Here's an
obtuse thought: is it possible that there are some “human equivalent” creatures
with no souls? I’m not sure you could
absolutely exclude that concept. I do
not know of a verse that says “all creatures that look and act like human
beings have souls.” But it seems to be just
accepted in scripture that all human beings have souls. However, as odd as it may seem, I don't think
you could make this a point of doctrine.
There is a clear difference between being alive and responding
intelligently; and having a soul.
Also, just
because human beings have a <psuche-pneuma> does not mean that they are
fully controlled by that component of themselves. There is still the flesh - <sarx> -
which often controls behavior. This will
be dealt with in more detail in response to some of the other questions I have
posed. In fact, I do believe it is
scriptural to say that there are some people who are so given in to the control
by their <sarx> that they do not appear to be influenced in any way to
their <psuche-pneuma>. That is a bad
state to be in.
Discussion:
This
question was of high importance to me as it provides a framework for
understanding the brain-mind problem from a Christian viewpoint. Where is the "mind" located? Is it in the brain? Is it in the soul? Is it in the spirit? Based on my review of scripture, it seems to
clearly fit into the "soul-spirit" and to try to break it down
further requires going beyond what is clear in scripture.
To me,
this also means that the nice neat diagram of three concentric circles...body,
soul, spirit...[see earlier discussion here] is not necessary correct. Based on Heb 4:12,
I wouldn't make a solid line separating the soul from the spirit. In fact, I would just have two circles: the <sarx>, and the
<psuche-pneuma>. As discussed
elsewhere, the common term for body, <soma>, can either refer
specifically to the <sarx> (flesh) or to the entire human, including the
flesh and soul and spirit.
Finally,
as a result of this study, I decided to add a couple of additional questions to
my list (#20 and 21). These questions
relate to the issue of whether science is equipped to "find" the soul
or spirit and, if so, what kind of test would be needed.
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