Body, Mind, Breath, Soul, Spirit: Is there a Difference?

Introduction

In the Bible, many terms are used to refer to humans and the components they are made of. Flesh and blood are obvious, but other words are used such as “soul” and “spirit”.

In many modern schools of Christian thought, there is the common doctrine of “the immortal soul”, which is said to be some form of ghostly component within us which survives and remains conscious after death.

This line of thinking in fact can be confidently traced through Christianity back to ancient times, roughly to the 2nd to 3rd Century in some early Gentile Christian writings, such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian and others, who though somewhat differed in their views, believed in the concept of a distinct ethereal component within the human being that could depart after death, whether conciously or unconcciously – though for the most part did not believe in going directly to Heaven at death.

In this article I’m not going to heavily go into what happens or where we go after we die. To learn more of my thoughts that subject, I will refer you to my other post on Sheol, but here I’m going to be exploring the specific meanings of the terms “soul” and “spirit”, and what they may entail when it comes to the actual definitions, metaphysics and nature of mankind.

Scriptural Examination

For Christians, the doctrine of the separation or distiniction of “body and soul”, besides the obvious external connections to Greek philosophical Dualistic thought, comes from the interpretation of three major sources in the Bible.

One from the writings of King Solomon, another from the Gospel of Matthew and a third from the letters of Paul, where it appears some of these passages may teach that there is a “seperate component” of man which leaves the body at death and cannot die:

• Ecclesiastes 3:20-21: “All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
• Matthew 10:28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna”.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “May the God of peace make you completely holy and sound in every way – in spirit, soul, and body – and may He find you blameless, so that you can be preserved when our Lord Yeshua the Anointed One arrives”.

From the basis of citing passages such as these, the teaching of the existence of the immortal soul is asserted and taught by many Christians and churches.

However, whilst this looks to be rather simple and concrete on the surface of our modern English Bible translations, this very common and now considered “traditional” outlook may not be as “Biblically grounded” as many may first assume.

To truly understand the meaning of these terminologies, we need go into the deeper detail of the original languages the Bible was written in, and of original cultural background and overall theology of the people who wrote them.

Soul

The first term we’ll be looking at is “soul” and how it’s used throughout scripture.

The term “soul” in Hebrew is “nepesh”, whilst in Greek the term “psuche” was used for its transliteration.

Living Souls

The first appearance of this term in scripture lies in Genesis 1–2, concerning the creation account:

• “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls (nephesh/psuché)… Let the earth put forth living souls (nephesh/psuché) according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind“. – Genesis 1:20, 24
• “And YHWH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (nephesh/psuché)“.  – Genesis 2:7

Immediately we see the first reference of “soul”, doesn’t speak of the creation or existence of some kind of invisible or ghostly component of a being, but rather, we are told it’s what beings ‘are’. Both man and animal ‘are’ “souls” here.

“Nephesh
Definition: a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion”. – Strong’s Concordance

We see that the term “soul” in Hebrew thought predmominantly means the entire being, the components of the “body, flesh, blood, emotion and mind” merged as unit which creates the “being” that is a “soul”. Thus, everything we are in our living form, our flesh and our conscious minds, is altogether “the soul”, we ‘are’ souls, and it is how the term is consistently used throughout the Hebrew scriptures.

• Set aside a tribute for YHWH from what belongs to the soldiers who went into battle, one soul (nephesh/psuché) of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, or sheep”. – Numbers 31:28

Thus, in other words, the term “soul” in scripture, is in fact better rendered and understood in modern English as “being”. God created living “beings”, Adam became a living “being”.

The Emotional Soul

We also sometimes see this word used in an emotional context. For example:

• “The law of YHWH is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple”. – Psalm 19:17
• “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him”. – Psalm 62:1
• “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water”. – Psalm 63:1

We see phrases throughout scripture such as “I feel in my soul”, or “my soul is burdened”, this would be to say “I deeply feel something with my entire being”.

The Soul’s Mortality

Another interesting verse we can look to where the word “soul” is used in the Tanakh and is very clear on the nature of the “soul” and its mortal state, is in Ezekiel:

• Ezekiel 18:20: “The soul who sins shall die….”

The true rendition of this verse might come as a surprise to some, for in most modern translations, rather than the word “soul”, it is often rendered “person”… However, “soul” is the original term written at this passage in the manuscripts, both in the Greek Septuagint and Hebrew scrolls, and it shows a “soul” can die.

This of course makes sense, if we take into consideration the fact that as we’ve seen above, that the soul simply refers to a “living being”.

This in fact is expounded upon and confirmed further in the New Testament by Paul, in which he tells us we are not naturally immortal, but mortal, and that we must be “clothed with immortality” for eternal concious life, and is conditional of God’s grace and judgement, not something we already have within ourselves.

• “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality“. – 1 Corinthians 15:53
• “…and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Yeshua the Anointed, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. – 2 Timothy 1:10
• “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life”. – Romans 2:6-7

Why the Confusion?

So the question is; if the scriptures have long stated, not that we “have immortal souls”, but rather that we ‘are’ souls, and that such souls are mortal…. How did the Hebrew understanding of the “soul”, become what it is today in most people’s minds?

The confusion originates from Hebrew to Greek cultural and textual transliteration.

The word for “soul” in Greek is “psuché”, and in ancient Greek thought and culture, this term refers to one’s inner spirit and immortal being – especially after the influence of the teachings of Plato in the 400s B.C.E. Meanwhile, the Hebrew word soul, “nepesh”, did not share this same meaning, neither in definition nor culture.

However, when the Old Testament Bible was translated sometime in the 400s-300s B.C.E into Greek language (the Septuagint), the Greek term “psuche” had been used as a transliteration of the original Hebrew word; “nephesh”.

Because Hebrew thought which says we “are souls” is very different to Greek thought, which separates the “body and soul”, this is why the translation from Hebrew to Greek can be very confusing, and has a very deep impact on the interpretation of Biblical theology.

It’s for this reason, by the 2nd century A.D and onward, many Gentile Christians began to intepret these scriptures from the Greek language, in accordance to ‘their’ cultural background, rather than the original Jewish one. And it led to much debate amongst Gentile Christian communities.

Writings of the New Testament

But of course. One might ask, if we ‘are’ souls in classical Hebrew thought, then what are writers like Matthew and Paul talking about in the New Testament? Have they been influenced by Greek thinking in their writings?

First, let’s investigate Matthew 10:28 closer. The passage where we see Yeshua is quoted to have said “do not fear those who will the body, but cannot destroy the soul”.

The word written as “soul” in this passage, is translated into English from the Greek word “psuché” just as it is in the Greek Old Testament.

As we know, in Hebrew the mind, if we remember that “psuche” was used a replacement for “nepesh”, this term is used to mean a “person”, consisting of the body, emotion and mind.

One simple way of understanding what Yeshua was saying, is that whilst men can kill our phyiscal bodies, they are unable to destroy us completely in our “being”, this meaning, not only our current status as living beings, but also, the ‘potentiality’ of our being. For we know we are not just flesh and bone, but also, God’s breath or life is in us, this being what ‘makes us’ living souls (Genesis 2:7).

Thereby, a simple manner of reading might say “do not fear those who kill you, but cannot destroy your whole existence” – that existence being the eternal life only God can truly give or take away. Thus the verse being better rendered as:

• Do not be afraid of those who destroy the body but cannot destroy the being“. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both body and being in Gehenna”.

It’s also of note, there is also another way of even ‘translating’ this verse from the Greek, which is also in line with this style of thought…

What is interesting, is that “psuche” is not only a transliteration for “soul” in the Bible, but it has also been used throughout the Bible at times as a transliteration for the “breath of life”, of the Hebrew term for “spirit” (ruach) which means “life force” or “breath”, and is a separate term from the Hebrew use of “soul”. Whilst most of the time the term “pnuma” is used in Greek in placement of “ruach”, there are some occasions where “psuche” is used instead.

“Psyxḗ (Psuche):
(from psyxō, “to breathe, blow” which is the root of the English words “psyche,” “psychology”) – soul (psyche); a person’s distinct identity (unique personhood), i.e. individual personality. 5590 (psyxē) corresponds exactly to the OT 5315 /phágō (“soul”). The soul is the direct aftermath of God breathing (blowing) His gift of life into a person, making them an ensouled being“. – HELPS Word-Studies

“Psuche:
Usage: (a) the vital breath, breath of life, (b) the human soul, (c) the soul as the seat of affections and will, (d) the self, (e) a human person, an individual”. – Strong’s Concordance

The term body is from the Greek word “soma”. This is the word used in Matthew’s Gospel when Yeshua mentioned “body and soul”. However, in Hebrew theology, we have seen that the body is ‘included within’ the overall ‘component definition’ of one’s “soul”. However, it is accurate to say that the “spirit” or “breath” (ruach) is indeed something very distinict from the soul in Hebrew thought, and since in the Greek translations of the Bible, “psuche” has been used also as transliteration for this term, then it’s possible that what Matthew wrote wasn’t a reference to the Greco-concept of body and soul….

If Yeshua was thinking and speaking in accordance to the ‘original’ Hebrew understanding of the soul based on the scriptures and how they were translated from Hebrew to Greek, and that psuche can also mean “spirit” or “breath”, not just soul, it might be more appropriate that the verse should actually say in English:

• “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and mind but cannot kill the breath of life“. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both breath of life and body and mind in Gehenna”.

Further evidence of this can actually be found in the early Aramaic versions of the Gospels, which render the term “napsa” where English versions have written “soul”, and can hold the same Hebrew meaning of “ruach” as well as to “nephesh”, whereas the later 15th century Hebrew versions of the Gospels render the Hebrew term “nephesh” directly, which strangly results in a double phrase, as far as Hebrew language and traditional Jewish theology is concerned.

• Do not be afraid of those who kill the body (pugor) but cannot kill the spirit/soul (napsa)…” – Matthew 10:28 (Aramaic version)
• “And you must not be willing to fear them who kill the body, for they are not able to kill the nephesh (body-person-mind-being)…”. – Matthew 10:28 (Hebrew version)
  
  

“npš ḥyh, napsa :
(a) as the life force
(b.1) as the inner self.
(b.2) as the seat of intelligence and culture
2. living person (a) self . (a.1) self; as a reflexive pronoun to come to, have one consciousness restored
3. throat, breath…” – The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon

Overall, what Yeshua may have been saying in Matthew’s Gospel, is that whilst the body can be killed by others, our “life”, cannot be taken away, but only God can ensure the final fate of our “entire being”. This would be consistent with classical ancient Jewish thought.

But what did Paul mean at 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where he actually mentions these terms as three distinict things? It’s clear in his writings he makes distinict mention of “Soul, Spirit and Body”.

If in Hebrew thought, the “soul” includes one’s entire being, body, emotion and mind, why is it that he mentions the body, separate from the soul in this respect? Was he influenced by Greek philosophy or religion? Is Paul sharing in some of the beliefs that some of the corrupted Jewish rabbis began to adopt in this time period in this respect? Who believed in Greek and Indian religious concepts such as Dualism and Reincarnation?

I would say that it is unlikely this is the case, as he makes it clear that he holds a traditional Hebrew view of the soul when talking about the creation of Adam by quoting Genesis, contrasting his “soul of flesh” to the nature of heavenly spirits in his letter to the Corinthians:

• “It’s written that the first man (Adam) became a living soul. However, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit”. – 1 Corinthians 15:45

The answer then, may be in the fact that these Greek words can render several different meanings at once.

In this respect, Paul’s use of “soul” in 1 Thessalonians 5, may render the poetic meaning of “devotion of one’s emotional being”, “willpower” or “whole essence”, similar to the phrase of “one’s heart”, whilst body obviously referring to our flesh, our actions. It’s interesting also in this respect to note that “psuche” is the origin word for the modern English word “psyche” meaning the mind or will.

Therefore, Paul’s words may be better translated or understood as:

• “May the God of peace make you completely holy and sound in every way – in spirit/breath, inner-person, and body…”

Now at this point, you might be wondering “if the soul is both the body, seat of emotion, and the conscious mind, then what on Earth is the spirit?”.

If you’ve been keenly observant, you may have already noticed that I’ve already mentioned that this term can actually mean two things; Breath or spirit, and this is now what we will begin to look deeper into.

The Spirit

As we know, the Greek word written as “soul” which might even be better translated as “spirit” specifically in Matthew 10:28, comes from the word “psuché”, which is the transliteration of the Hebrew term “nephesh”.

But as aforementioned, it can also hold the same meaning as the Hebrew word “ruach”, which means “breath” or “life force”, the thing which results in the maintenance of the “living soul” (the person’s body and mind).

As also mentioned earlier, there is another Greek term which is more often used to replace “ruach”, and that term is “pneuma”, which in fact holds the exact same meaning as the Hebrew term, and is the term actually used by Paul in the scripture quoted in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

It is in fact shown even in the language lexicons, it states that “pneuma” and “psuche” are very similar in their use and can render the exact same meaning in Hebrew usage, when applied to the “spirit” (breath or life force).

“Psyxḗ (Psuche):
(from psyxō, “to breathe, blow” which is the root of the English words “psyche,” “psychology”) – soul (psyche); a person’s distinct identity (unique personhood), i.e. individual personality. 5590 (psyxē) corresponds exactly to the OT 5315 /phágō (“soul”). The soul is the direct aftermath of God breathing (blowing) His gift of life into a person, making them an ensouled being“. – HELPS Word-Studies

“Psuche:
Usage: (a) the vital breath, breath of life, (b) the human soul, (c) the soul as the seat of affections and will, (d) the self, (e) a human person, an individual”. – Strong’s Concordance

“Pneúma:
properly, spirit (Spirit), wind, or breath. The most frequent meaning (translation) of 4151 (pneúma) in the NT is “spirit” (“Spirit“). Only the context however determines which sense(s) is meant…. The Hebrew counterpart (rûach) has the same range of meaning as 4151 (pneúma), i.e. it likewise can refer to spirit/Spirit, wind, or breath.]” – HELPS Word-studies

Thus, we can begin to see why the word for “body, emotion and mind” (soul-person) has been confused with “breath and life-force” (spirit), for the Hebrew use and Greek use of these words respectively differ, and the Hebrews used both of these Greek terms to refer to both of these respective things, sometimes somewhat inconsistently.

Of course, the word “ruach” has many other meanings, besides; “spirit, breath and life-force”, for it also can refer to God’s Holy Spirit, it can also refer to “spirits” (such as angels or demons), as well as just simply “wind” (the literal wind which blows trees). The interpretation of the word is dependent on context and grammar, so it’s easy to see why there was a huge mix up in translation.

This is where we come to the really interesting part.

The Hebrew word “ruach” (“Pneuma” in Greek) was the word used at Ecclesiastes 3:21, where he says “the spirit goes up”. So we can see here that Solomon is telling us, once a person (a “soul” consisting of body and mind, according to Ezekiel 18:20) dies, his “spirit” (which can mean wind, breath, life-force or something angelic) departs from him… But what does this actually mean?

If it speaks of something truly ‘distinict’ and “tangible”, then I highly doubt it refers to the passing of gas when we die (permit me some humour)… Neither do I believe it refers to the mere simple loss of breath, for our “oxygen” surely doesn’t return to God who resides in the non-physical spirit-realm (1 Kings 8:27).

Solomon’s deep musings, Yeshua’s words in Matthew’s gospel, as well as Paul’s words on a man’s spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11), all appear to give the term a much deeper meaning… So is this referring to the concept of an immortal soul or a conscious angelic-like creature that comes out of us?

Well, to make things easy, Solomon actually tells us:

• Ecclesiastes 9:5-6: “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.”

So clearly, as I explained in more detail in my article on Sheol, those who are dead “know nothing”, this sentiment is echoed throughout the Bible, where the dead are compared to those sleeping (Job 14:12, Ephesians 5:14, Luke 8:52, John 11:11-14), and thus perfectly matches the words of the prophet Ezekiel, that “souls die”.

Thus, this reveals to us that this “spirit” is not a conscious part of us which is departing from the body at death, and this has long been known by historians and scholars of ancient Judaism.

“The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body… is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture“. – Jewish Encyclopedia, Immortality of the Soul

But that still doesn’t answer what the spirit actually “is”, and the Bible doesn’t exactly ‘tell us’, at least not fully, only that we know it’s something that “causes us to be alive” and “enables us to be a soul” when God “breaths it into us” (Genesis 2:7). Thus, we can only really theorise just what is meant by “spirit”.

Being confident that it is not referring to something that is “alive”, “conscious” or “awake”, I theorise there are two interpretations we can attain.

Life-Force Energy

One, is the possibility that this “spirit”, may very well be a component of our inner beings, a form of “energy” if you will. The physical electricity that runs through us, which also may contain everything about us, our being, our memories, the ability for conciousness, the things science cannot yet seem to fully explain.

The mind-body problem cannot be confined to the relation between animal minds and animal bodies. If materialism cannot accommodate consciousness and other mind-related aspects of reality, then we must abandon a purely materialist understanding of nature in general, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. – Thomas Nagel

As Yeshua made a point to say “do not fear those who can destroy the body”, (which we must remember in Hebrew thinking, when the body dies the mind dies), but to “fear the one who can destroy the soul” (which may refer to one’s personhood, seat of emotion, or the breath of life, aka; “spirit”), it may not be so unreasonable to suggest that this spirit may be the “unconscious” essence of us, as it were.

What Solomon and Matthew may have referred to is possibly what science now calls the “law of conservation”, that is, the law that energy cannot be destroyed, only changed in form. To destroy energy, it would require someone, or something which could defy the laws of our universe… and that thing is our Almighty God.

Perhaps it is possible that whilst this “energy”, this “life force” of ours is not conscious, it may be the component of which God will restore to us, ‘with’ our consciousness at the resurrection when we are all given new bodies (whether these be Heavenly or Earthly; Isaiah 65:17-25, Revelation 21:1-4).

We see for example, as aforementioned in Genesis 2, Adam “became a living soul” when God “blew the breath” or “spirit of life into him”, using the word “neshamah” in Hebrew, which also could be used to mean “spirit”:

• “Then YHWH God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath (neshamah/pnoé) of life into his nostrils, and the man became a soul (nephesh/psuché)“. – Genesis 2:7

This also may in part, be connected to the blood, as explained in some Jewish texts, and interestingly, we do know today through science, that oxygen and blood interplay.

“The Mosaic account of the creation of man speaks of a spirit or breath with which he was endowed by his Creator (Gen. ii. 7); but this spirit was conceived of as inseparably connected, if not wholly identified, with the life-blood…” – Jewish Encyclopedia, Soul

This also may play a part in why Apostle Paul speaks of the necessity of “transformation” as “new creatures” to be part of God’s New Kingdom, in which he states “flesh and blood cannot inherit” (1 Corinthians 15:50-51), and hence, having an altogether “new kind” of “body” which comprises of a “heavenly spirit” or “breath” (1 Corinthians 15:48–49, 53-54).

Poetic spirit of God-given Life

On the other hand, it may not be as so complex or metaphysical, but may have simply been a use of Jewish poetry and symbolism.

Without “breath” we cannot live, and the body becomes useless. Therefore, it may be a figure of speech which is simply saying “our life is in God’s hands”, and that only through Him will we ever breathe again, and so our “breath” (ruach) “returns to God” in that sense, and it is He who has the ability to allow us to breathe once more, or withhold that breath from us, and thus our “soul” (personhood and being) is reliant upon God’s grace.

Therefore, Yeshua may have simply been saying “do not fear men who can kill you, but fear God who can choose not to wake you up or restore your breath”.

Conclusion

So to answer the title, “what is the difference between the body, mind, breath, soul and spirit?”. Well I think it’s quite simple (yet also profound).

I do not believe the Dualistic Greco-Eastern doctine of the conscious immortal soul after death harmonises with scripture. The soul in Hebrew thought appears to be the combination of both the body and conscious mind, both of which we are told perish at death.

The spirit on the other hand ‘is’ the breath, as well as the ‘ability’ to breath. The spirit also could possibly the “unique energy of life” that is within all of us, the spark that is beyond scientific means, which ’causes’ us to breath and think.

It (whether poetic or literal) is what God holds in safe keeping of all the dead, as we await the days of the Resurrections, which he will restore into our new bodies when awaking from “sleep”.

Our “ability to breath and live” is in God’s hands.