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What is the difference between soul and the spirit? When a person dies which one goes back to God? And if its soul or spirit does it go immediately when a person dies?, especially the soul?
To begin, lets define “soul†and “spirit†as the Bibles uses them, and avoid the popular understandings, that may not be Bible-based. The soul – our first encounter with this term is in Gen. 2:7, at the creation of man. In the KJV it reads, “And 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 soul.†When Paul speaks about it in the NT, in 1 Cor. 15:45, he says, “The first man Adam was made a living soul†(KJV). Whatever our understanding of the “soulâ€, the Bible is clear that “Adam BECAME a “soulâ€! He did not receive a soul! The Bible is trying to tell us that the soil of the earth plus the breath of God resulted in a living creature! That is why newer translations like the NKJV, Gen 2:7 as “the man became a living beingâ€. Which is why death is the reverse of creation: Eccl. 12:7, “and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it†Clearly death is seen as creation in reverse! Eze. 18:4 underlines the fact a â€soulâ€/ “living beingâ€/ person is not immortal, when it says, “The soul that sinneth it shall dieâ€. In a modern translation, “the person who sins is the one who will die†(Holman’s translation). The following verses (in the original language) show that the soul refers to living beings: “Souls†can be taken captive – Jer. 52:28-30. “Souls†can be baptised - Acts 2:41. Even animals are “souls†– Rev. 16:3. Lastly, the soul can refer to: “Life†– Gen 9:4, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life (literally ‘soul’), that is, its blood. “Emotions†– Mark 14:34, “My soul (literally ‘soul’) is exceeding sorrowful unto death†To summarise this brief tour through the biblical use of the word “soulâ€, we conclude that it is not separate from man, and does not return to God, at death. It merely ceases to exist. The spirit – our first encounter with the term “spirit†is in the creation of man, in Gen. 2:7, “and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being†Here the Hebrew word is for ‘breath’ is spirit or wind. Isa. 42:5 shows this clearly in Hebrew poetic parallelism: He (God) that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk thereinâ€. So firstly, we have the concept of the spirit as life force. Which is why Eccl .12:7 tells us that a person dies, “the spirit (or “breathâ€) returns to God who gave itâ€. So “spirit†is defined as the life force that characterises a person. Sometimes the quality of that life is diminished for lack of food, “and when he had eaten, his spirit (‘breath’) came again to him†– 1 Sam. 30:12. Spirit as the inner being: The term spirit designates human beings as creatures with the ability to think, decide, and experience strong emotions. It refers to the mental forces that make us humans and distinguish us from animals. The spirit is the center of rational analysis (Ps. 77:6), understanding (Job 32:8), self-awareness (1 Cor. 2:11). Spirit is synonymous with “heart,†which is specifically used in the Bible to designate the rational aspects of human nature. But ‘spirit’ also describes us as emotional beings who experience anger (Judges 8:3), rage (Eze. 3:14), grief (“bitterness of spirit†[see Gen. 26:35; Isa. 54:6]), etc. When “spirit†is used in the creation of man, it refers to the life force that God gave to man, not to a self-conscious entity dwelling inside of man! So dust plus spirit (breath) makes a living soul (‘living being’). All these elements (dust, spirit or soul) are indivisible, that is, they cannot be divided, just like heat and light of a fire cannot be separated. Separation only comes at death, when dust returns to the earth, and the breath of life (or ‘spirit’) symbolically goes back to God, the Source of Life (Eccl. 12:7, cf. Luke 23:46 [‘receive my spirit’]). Once again note, this breath of life force, is not some conscious, intelligent part of man, separate from the body! In summary, to answer your question in light of the above Bible definitions: When a person (or animal) dies, the soul/the living creature/the person ceases to live. In the case of the spirit, or breath, it (the life force, not a self-conscious entity) returns to God, who gave it, and the person ceases to live. The person remains in the grave in an unconscious state, knowing nothing (Eccl. 9:5; Ps. 6:5; 146:3-4). The person will then be resurrected (1 Thess. 4:15-16 cf. John 11:24) either at the first resurrection (for the righteous – Rev. 20:5-6), or the second resurrection (for the wicked – Rev. 20:11-15).