Soul
Spirit
Heart
Mind
An examination
of the Hebrew and Greek words
related to the concepts of body, soul, spirit,
heart, and mind, with commentary on the variations of
understanding
of the differences among them.
The short definitions provided
for each Hebrew or Greek word below are adapted from the
Strong's Concordance Lexicon entries for each. Links are provided to the
complete Lexicon entries for each
word that are on a separate webpage on this site. The Strong's numbers
for each are included, e.g., G5590, H2416.
Scene from Dante's Inferno:
Souls of the Damned passing in front of Dante and Virgil
When hearing the word "soul," the
average person may picture in their mind something like the
scene above from a painting illustrating Dante's Inferno.
A soul to most is another word for what some would call a
"ghost," a disembodied human being. In other words, as one
webauthor put it, your body is like a space suit, and your soul
is like the astronaut that wears it. Take the astronaut out, and
the space suit would fall to the floor in a crumpled heap. But
the astronaut without the suit would have no way to interact out
in space with his environment outside his space ship. The suit
has no "life" of its own. It is merely a vehicle for the
thinking, perceiving astronaut to get around.
This is how most people view a
soul. It is the thinking, perceiving part of a human. When the
human's body is alive, the soul is inside the body. While it is
in its body, it uses the brain and senses of that body to interact with
the world. After the body dies, the soul leaves the body, and
then has no way to really
have an effect on the natural, physical environment. But it
still "exists" as a separate, intelligent being. And, according to some, it can appear to living
humans, although when they see it, it is like a misty vapor that
they could put their hand through. The term ghost is usually
reserved for situations in which such a disembodied soul is seen by a living
person. Thus if we think of this being existing somewhere such
as Heaven or Hell that can't be seen by living humans, the term
soul is used. If it manifests itself to a human on Earth, it is called a
ghost. A typical representation of this notion is the "ghost of
Abraham Lincoln" in one of the attractions at the Lincoln museum
in Springfield, Illinois.
Another way some might describe a
soul would be to compare it to a three-dimensional hologram projection of a person,
looking just like him, but without material solidity. In the
Inferno, Dante
could identify souls in Hell because they looked just like the
human body that they had left behind when it died.
In art, most such souls or ghosts
are portrayed as being a misty white color. This is likely
because of the pale appearance of a corpse after it has been drained
of blood. Even though the soul or ghost is not viewed as having
a physical body, the assumption seems to be that it would have
the appearance of a dead body. Strangely enough, because of the
way most illusions of souls, spirits, or ghosts are created in
modern times for special effects, ghosts tend to be portrayed in
some people's minds as being either blue, like Lincoln's ghost
above, or a sickly green, like "Madame Leota" in Disney's
Haunted Mansion attraction.
The word "spirit"
may conjure up a variety of notions. To some it is just a
synonym for soul. To others, it is a "life force" that takes a
soul inside a body and merges and animates both to constitute a complete
human. To others it is the essence that makes a person different
from an animal ... animals are viewed as being bodies with souls
inside them also. But without the spirit that man has, they are
unable to connect on a higher level with God. And to still
others, spirit is a word that describes a being that was created
without a physical body, exists in a non-physical dimension, and
cannot normally be seen by humans, although some believe that some of
these beings can affect objects and situations in the natural
world.
Since most people have never
claimed to have seen a ghost or a soul or a spirit, no matter
how they define those terms, where do they get these notions? In
fact, since most Christians accept the Bible as the only
reliable source of information on the reality beyond the
physical dimension, where in particular do Christians get the
perceptions they have about the words soul and spirit? This
article explores some of the Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible
that have historically been translated into English as soul or
spirit, along with those that have been translated body, mind,
and heart.
The bottom line is that many popular concepts about
these matters are not clearly established in the Bible.
Serious
Bible students would
like for Hebrew and Greek words to have much more
precision than they do, so they could easily build a
"theological vocabulary," with narrow definitions
for words such as soul and spirit that
are totally based on biblical usage. But this is
impossible. Therefore we need to take care that the
English words we use to describe what we believe about
topics are clarified ... their common English
connotations may have little to do with the underlying
Hebrew and Greek.
The definitions below are based
on the classic Bible reference work of James Strong, in his
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance with Greek and Hebrew Lexicons.
Writing in the 1800s, Strong's efforts were based in the King
James Version of the Bible. Although he relied on studies in the
linguistics of Greek and Hebrew, much of the information he
offers about words in the KJV are influenced by the choices of
the King James translators of 1611. Unfortunately, those
translators didn't really seem to have a clear "systematic
theology" underlying their choices of terminology when
translating the words in question.
According to Strong, the
relationship of the terms translated in the KJV as body, soul,
and spirit lay out like this in Greek and Hebrew:
PNEUMA G4151, the rational
and immortal soul
Directly corresponds to
the Hebrew NEPHESH H5315,
a living creature, used
sometimes of man, sometimes of animals
PSUCHE G5590, breath, that
is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the
animal sentient principle only)
Directly corresponds to
the Hebrew RUACH H7307,
breath, or, figuratively, "life"
ZOE G2222, life, whether
plant or animal
Directly corresponds to
the Hebrew CHAI H2416, life,
alive, living thing
But this system of definitions
doesn't really work, especially
with pneuma/nephesh unless you believe that animals are
"rational" and have
"immortal souls." In fact, all of these words are used
in many ways throughout the Bible that conflict with this
attempt by Strong to make a neat, tidy classification system for
them.
Below are the simple definitions
from Strong's work for the Hebrew and Greek words translated as
body, soul, spirit, heart, and mind. A few other words are
included
that directly relate to the topic at hand. Representative sample
scriptures are included for each, to point out the diverse way
in which they are viewed by the KJV translators.
HEBREW
Chay, Chai
: Life, alive, living thing (H2416)
Eccleisastes 9:5
For the living [chai]
know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing,
neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them
is forgotten.
Leviticus 11:10
And all that have not fins
and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move
in the waters, and of any living [chai]
thing [nephesh] which is in the waters, they shall be
an abomination unto you
Nephesh: A living creature, used sometimes of man,
sometimes of animals; KJV, often "soul." (H5315)
Genesis 1:24
And God said, Let the earth
bring forth the living [chai] creature
[nephesh] after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing,
and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 2:7
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 [chai]
soul [nephesh]
Note that the exact same pair of
Hebrew words, chai and nephesh,
is used to describe animals and man.
When referring to a man, the KJV chooses
to translate it "soul,"
and when an animal, "creature,"
but this is misleading in light of
the common English meaning of the word soul, which
normally implies an immaterial entity that can consciously
reside after death in Heaven or Hell, outside of the body.
Leviticus 21:10-11
And he that is the
high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the
anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to
put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor
rend his clothes; Neither shall he go in to any
dead [muth] body [nephesh],
nor defile himself for his father, or for his
mother;
Note that a nephesh
can be dead, and thus directly refers, at
least in some usages, to the physical body.
And in the cases in which it refers to a human who
has died, the KJV usually chooses to render it "body"
instead of "soul."
Ezekiel 18:20
The soul [nephesh]
that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the
iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the
iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous
shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be
upon him.
In this passage, since it
refers to the concept of "sin" ... which is a willful
act of a person's "mind" ... the KJV translators were
unable to choose to use "body" to translate
nephesh. In this instance
the implication would be "the person who sins, he shall
die." The point remains, that a nephesh can die.
And the nephesh that is a human and a nephesh
that is an animal both die the same death.
Ruach: Breath, or, figuratively, "life"
(H7307)
Ecclesiates 8:8
There is no man that hath power
over the spirit [ruach] to retain the
spirit [ruach]; neither hath he power
in the day of death ... (Amplified Version: There is no man
who has power over the spirit to retain the breath of life,
neither has he power over the day of death...)
I Samuel 16:14
But the Spirit [ruach]
of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit [ruach]
from the LORD troubled him.
Numbers 5:12-14
Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and
commit a trespass against him, And a man lie with her
carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be
kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness
against her, neither she be taken with the manner; And the
spirit [ruach] of jealousy come upon
him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or
if the spirit [ruach] of jealousy come
upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not
defiled:
Proverbs 18:14
The spirit [ruach]
of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit [ruach]
who can bear? (Amplified Version: "The strong spirit
of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak
and broken spirit who can raise up or bear?")
Psa 51:14
Cast me not away from thy
presence; and take not thy holy spirit [ruach]
from me.
Note that the term ruach can refer to actual physical breath that
sustains life, to the Holy Spirit, to an evil
spirit, to a an "attitude" like jealousy, or
to a "spirit of man" that seems to refer to his
general frame of mind or emotions--this kind of
spirit can be wounded or "crushed" (NIV).
Geviyah
: a physical body,
dead or alive [H1472]
1 Samuel 31:12
All the valiant
men arose, and went all night, and took the body [geviyah]
of Saul and the bodies [geviyah] of his sons
from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt
them there.
GREEK
Dianoia:
deep thought, the mind
Luke 10:27
... Love the Lord your God
with all your heart [kardia] and with all your soul [psuche]
and with all your strength and with all your mind [dianoia] ...
Kardia:
the heart, figuratively the thoughts, feelings, or mind
Luke 10:27
... Love the Lord your God
with all your heart [kardia] and with
all your soul [psuche] and with all your strength and
with all your mind [dianoia] ...
Psuche:
Breath, abstractly, that which defines a living from a
non-living thing [G5590]
Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul [psuche]:
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul
[psuche] and body in hell.
This
passage in Matthew indicates that the soul is something
that cannot be "killed" by other humans, but can be
destroyed by God.
Revelation 16:3
And the second angel poured
out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a
dead man: and every living soul [psuche]
[NIV: thing] died in the sea.
This
passage in Revelation cannot be talking about humans,
since they do not live "in" the sea, and thus would not
be affected directly by the sea turning to blood. Thus
the word psuche is not limited to describing
humans.
1 Corinthians 15:45
And so it is written, The
first man Adam was made a living soul [psuche];
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
This
passage in 1 Corinthians is likely a direct reference to
Genesis 2:7--"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 [chai]
soul [nephesh]." So even though Strong
decided that psuche and ruach were the
parallel words in Greek and Hebrew, this seems to
indicate otherwise. This does not mean that there cannot
be multiple parallels. There likely are--and what this
tells us is that attempting to narrowly define a
theology of "body/soul/spirit" is not possible by using
just the Bible.
Pneuma: Wind or
breath, figuratively, the essence of a rational being, KJV often
"spirit" [G4151]
Matthew 3:16
And Jesus, when he was
baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit [pneuma] of
God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Matthew 12:43
When the unclean spirit
[pneuma] is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry
places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Acts 17:16
Now while Paul waited for
them at Athens, his spirit [pneuma] was
stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to
idolatry.
It is
obvious from these samples that the term pneuma
has a wide variation in usage, all the way from a
description of the Holy Spirit, to a demonic or unclean
spirit, to some part of the essence of a man, different
from his body (soma) and his soul (psuche).
Soma: a physical
body [G4983]
Matthew 26:12
For in that she hath poured
this ointment on my body [soma], she did it
for my burial.
Zoe: Life, whether
of plant or animal [G2222]
1 Peter 3:10
For he that will love life
[zoe], and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
Other articles
in this website series about Hell discuss some of the
significance of these various words
as they relate to the biblical teachings about the Afterlife.
They are collected here in particular as a central reference
source.
This site contains a collection
of articles, on the topic of Hell and the Afterlife, that may
each be used independently for research purposes. But it also is
designed as a systematic, sequential overview of the whole
topic, which can be read like a book.
For those who would like to take
advantage of this perspective of the content, the articles are
arranged in the
Reading Guide as they would appear as chapters in a book, along
with a few reference chapters at the end such as would appear in
a book Appendix.
Use the
links below to go to the next article, previous article, or
first article
in the Reading Guide sequence.
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NOTE:
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Unless otherwise
noted, all biblical references in this and other articles on the
Is It True What They Say About Hell? website are from the
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Is it true what they say about Hell? website were written by Pam Dewey, with
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