And, further, if the body and soul are both essential parts of man, as Mr. B. affirms, how can either exist as a distinct, conscious, and perfect being without the other?
Foreseeing these difficulties, Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, distinguishes between soul and spirit thus: “Soul (Heb. nephesh, Gr. ψυχὴ). One of three parts of which man was anciently believed to consist. The term ψυχὴ, is sometimes used to denote the vital principle, sometimes the sentient principle, or seat of the senses, desires, affections, appetites, passions. In the latter sense, it is distinguished from πνευμα [pneuma], the higher rational nature. This distinction appears in the Septuagint, and sometimes in the New Testament. 1 Thess. 5:23.” Then he quotes Olshausen on 1 Thess. 5:23, as saying: “For whilst the ψυχὴ [soul] denotes the lower region of the spiritual man,--comprises, therefore, the powers to which analogous ones are found in animal life also, as understanding, appetitive faculty, memory, fancy,--the πνευμα [pneuma] includes those capacities which constitute the true human life.”
So it seems that, according to these expositors, while the Hebrew nephesh, and Greek psuche, usually translated soul, denote powers common to all animal life, the Hebrew ruach, and the corresponding Greek pneuma, signify the higher powers, and consequently that part which is supposed to be immortal.
Now let us inquire what meaning the sacred writers attach to these terms. As already stated, the original words from which soul and spirit are translated, are, for soul, nephesh in the Hebrew, and psuche in the Greek, and for spirit, ruach in the Hebrew, and pneuma in the Greek. To these no one is at liberty to attach any arbitrary meaning. We must determine their signification by the sense in which they are used in the sacred record; and whoever goes beyond that, does violence to the word of God.
The word nephesh occurs 745 times in the Old Testament, and is translated by the term soul about 473 times. In every instance in the Old Testament where the word soul occurs, it is from nephesh, with the exception of Job 30:15, where it comes from n’dee-vah, and Isa. 57:16, where it is from n’shah-mah. But the mere use of the word soul determines nothing; for it cannot be claimed to signify an immortal part, until we somewhere find immortality affirmed of it.
Besides the word soul, nephesh, is translated life and lives, as in Gen. 1:20, 30, in all 118 times. It is translated person, as in Gen. 14:21, in all 29 times. It is translated mind, as in Gen. 23:8, in all 15 times. It is translated heart, as in Ex. 23:9, in all 15 times. It is translated body, or dead body, as in Num. 6:6, in all 11 times. It is translated will, as in Ps. 27:12, in all 4 times. It is translated appetite, as in Prov. 23:2, twice; lust, as in Ps. 78:18, twice; thing, as in Lev. 11:10, twice.
Besides the foregoing, it is rendered by the various pronouns, and by the words, breath, beast, fish, creature, ghost, pleasure, desire, &c., in all forty-three different ways. Nephesh is never rendered spirit.
This soul (nephesh) is represented as in danger of the grave, Ps. 49:14, 15; 89:88; Job 33:18, 20, 22; Isa. 38:17. It is also spoken of as liable to be destroyed, killed, &c., Gen. 17:14; Ex. 31:14; Josh. 10:30, 32, 35, 37, 39, &c.
Parkhurst, author of a Greek and a Hebrew Lexicon, says:--
“As a noun, neh-phesh hath been supposed to signify the spiritual part of man, or what we commonly call his soul. I must for myself confess that I can find no passage where it hath undoubtedly this meaning. Gen. 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21, 22[1 Kings 17:21, 22]; Ps. 16:10, seem fairest for this signification. But may not neh-phesh, in the three former passages, be most properly rendered breath, and in the last, a breathing, or animal frame?”