What is the difference between the soul and the spirit?

For me,in simple terms,the soul is the power of God molding,holding,together the created self,body.
While the spirit is what is referred to as the silver cord,in Ecclesiastes. That is the communication portal,link,by which holy spirit information and influences the person.

NotTheRock said:

By the way, that comes from the Bible. Your theology is mistaken.

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IMO:

o "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire" (Revelation 20:15)

o "Not cast off forever" (Lamentations 3:31) indicates restored communion with God for those *not* in the Lake of Fire.

o This final judgment, after the millennial reign of Jesus, indicates destruction of those who *are* in the Lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

It's in the book.

NotTheRock said:

By the way, that comes from the Bible. Your theology is mistaken.

Lamentations 3:31 esv
For the Lord will not cast off forever,

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Check out Revelation 20:11-14.

NotTheRock said:

Ephesians 1:10 says that Jesus came to unite all things in himself. You apparently believe that Jesus failed

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"As many as *received him*, to *them* he gave the gift of eternal life." (John 3:16).

The offer is there. Jesus paid the penalty, God the Father accepted what Jesus did. You snooze, you lose.

NotTheRock noted:

<The Lord will not cast off forever> (Lamentations 3:31)

That refers to the Jews, who were banished from their homeland by God:

"How lonely sits the city [Jerusalem] that was full of people."
(Lamentations 1:1)

<banished one will not remain an outcast>

That was fulfilled in 1973, achieved via the Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement," Hebrew יום כפור) War.

Armour of God said:

What is the difference between the soul and the spirit?

I don't think I fully understand it and I keep reading different opinions on it.
Are they the same thing?
Do they both live on after our death?
Do they remain together after our death?
Which one goes to heaven? Both?

I'm interested to hear/read what people have to say about this. Hopefully I can get a better understanding of it

Click to expand...

What has helped me to understand these somewhat difficult spiritual things (the "things of God"), especially the difference between and purposes of the body, soul, and spirit, was to look at the human being as a three-part existence modeled exactly after the Old Testament Tabernacle/Temple: The Outer Court (Body), The Holy Place (Soul), and The Holy of Holies (Spirit). I have been a student of not only the Gospel but of the Mosaic Law and especially how it modeled the Gospel for all of my Christian life (46 years now) and I still find depths of meaning for us today in those old shadows.

• The Body (Your Physical Form / The Outer Court): The tangible, visible vehicle you use to navigate the earthly world. Just as the Outer Court was the place of daily operations, sacrifice and offering, priests serving God and serving people, your body is where your physical actions of service to God and to man take place, your activity in the world.
  
  
• The Soul (Your Personhood / The Holy Place): The unique internal seat of your personhood, your mind, will, and emotions. It stands as the intermediate realm between the outward physical world, and the inner spiritual world. It is the place where there is the Menorrah (the light that gives the mind understanding) and the Table of the Lord's Presence (bread that gives life to the will) and the Altar of Incense (where there is communion with God through the emotions).
  
  
• The Spirit (Your Innermost Sanctuary / The Holy of Holies): The deepest, immaterial chamber of your being. It is a sacred space designed to host a spiritual presence. This sanctuary is the interface where personal spiritual entities—whether the Holy Spirit, or outside spiritual influences and temptations—interact with you and influence your personhood (soul) and consequently your actions (body).

Spiritual Life vs. Spiritual Death​

When we look at spiritual life and death through this lens, it describes which spiritual presence is occupying your innermost sanctuary, which ultimately determines the condition, actions, and destiny of your soul and of your body.

• Spiritual Death: This is separation and desecration of the sanctuary. A person's spirit is cut off from God, leaving their innermost sanctuary open to the influence and motivations of corrupting spiritual entities. The soul's mind, will, and emotions are guided by these destructive influences, which ultimately manifest in the actions of the outer court. For the unsaved, this separation ends at the final judgment in the lake of fire, where both form (body) and personhood (soul) cease to exist.
• Spiritual Life: This is divine indwelling and true immortality. Eternal life is a gift from God through faith in Christ. It begins when the Holy Spirit indwells your innermost sanctuary (the Holy of Holies), occupying and guiding your spirit. This divine presence then flows outward in two powerful ways:
  1. Into the Holy Place (The Soul): It radically transforms your mind, will, and emotions in this life, securing your personhood's preservation for eternity.
  2. Into the Outer Court (The Body): It cleanses and influences your day-to-day activities, empowering you as you actively serve God and serve man.
     
     In short: The body is your outer court (the place of physical operation and service); the soul is your holy place (the intermediate realm of your unique mind, will, and emotions that interact with both your outward physical world and your inner spiritual world); and the spirit is your innermost sanctuary (the Holy of Holies) where spiritual entities that dwell in you interact with you. Spiritual life means God dwells in your sanctuary and flows outward to transform both your inner personhood and your outward service, granting eternal immortality. Spiritual death, the state which all men are born in, means being separated from God's Holy Spirit and being ruled by corrupting spirits that lead to total destruction.

IMO:

Body = structure, a plant has a body
Soul = intelligence, a frog has a soul
Spirit = communion with God, a person has a spirit

Unfortunately we lost our communion with God when Adam and Eve sinned

William Barton said:

Check out Revelation 20:11-14.

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'First' let me ask what translation/s do you study with? I am going to use the Young's Literal Translation, just because of its more 'literal' interpretation of the Greek. 'Second' I want to share a quote I had to laugh at the first time I ever heard it....decades ago. "The dumber Christians are, the quicker they are to quote the book of Revelation to prove their point." WB FYI, I'm not laughing at you, and hopefully you are laughing with me.

REV 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and Him who is sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven did flee away, and place was not found for them;

First questions; What "earth and heaven" would "flee away" from the face of "Him"? And 'why' would they do so? Especially if "Him" was Jesus?

vs 12 and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and scrolls were opened, and another scroll was opened, which is that of the life, and the dead were judged out of the things written in the scrolls - according to their works;
The Greek word translated as "dead" is NEKROS. That just happens to be the word from which we get necrotic from. It describes non-viable and non reversible dying of flesh. This explanation kind of goes along with that NT teaching about if your "eye, hand, arm, foot offend you" causing you to sin, then the bible says to cut them off to let that body part become necrotic and dead flesh. But the rest of that bible teaching is so the rest of your BODY can go to Heaven. No, wait that's not true. It says so YOU can still enter the Kingdom of GOD here and now.

I'm just going to stop here WB. It should be obvious that Revelation isn't PROVING your next point. And dealing with the last two verses would take too long.

William Barton said:

"As many as *received him*, to *them* he gave the gift of eternal life." (John 3:16).

The offer is there. Jesus paid the penalty, God the Father accepted what Jesus did. You snooze, you lose.

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'First' let me ask what translation/s do you study with? I am going to use the Young's Literal Translation; just because of its more 'literal' interpretation of the Greek into English.

'Second' what requirements were made in those 2 verses'both 1/2 quoted'? Half quoted verses do not prove 'a whole truth'. Let's start with your first verse Joh 1:12 then your second verse John 3:16 in context with vs 17 which I'm adding;

JOH 1:12 but as many as did receive him to them he gave authority to become sons of God - to those believing in his name,

Two Greek words both get translated as "receive". One is decomai and the other is lambano. This verse uses lambano. Decomai/receive is when first you receive Jesus and your spirit is born again..everlastingly saved. At that moment you have also received conditional immortality for your body of flesh. That condition being 'don't ever commit another sin'....or you will die.

JOH 3:16 for God did so love the world, that His Son - the only begotten - He gave, that every one who is believing in him MAY NOT PERISH, but may have life age-during.


How is 'the church' doing concerning this promise to "MAY NOT PERISH"? Hopefully you can see the YLT is talking about the "life" available "during" the church "age".
And not the everlasting life of the multiple ages to come according to Eph 2:8


YLT JOH 3:17* For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world MAY be saved through him;

vs 17 says "MIGHT" or "MAY" be saved. Let me just copy/paste a quote I found in my studies concerning this topic.

I asked my friend, Dr. Michael Jones, a Hebrew and Greek scholar, what he thought of “might” in John 3:17. Here is a man that only reads the New Testament in the Greek language. In fact, he teaches N.T. Greek. He explained to me in a very simple way: Using “might” in John 3:17 is not good translating. The force of the subjunctive here is not like 'a maybe', or 'a might'. That is why many translators leave “might” out, i.e., to keep the English-only reader from getting confused. The subjunctive can be 'a might', i.e., 'a possibility'–a maybe–a might, and yet, it can also emphasize a statement of fact better than the indicative mood/mode. So, let me illustrate this in English: If a translator gave us a transport from a CRITICAL METHOD of translation theory, he might write: “Bob hit the ball over the fence so that he might have a home-run”. But a translator using a DYNAMIC EQUIVALENT model of translation theory might write it like this: “Bob hit the ball over the fence to get a home-run.” Note that the subjunctive is there, but difficult to see in English.”

I know that's a lot to think about concerning your 1/2 quote on 2 verses. Hopefully @NotTheRock can see some application here concerning Ultimate Reconciliation.

EDIT: Forgot to list chap/verse EPH 2:8

Armour of God said:

What is the difference between the soul and the spirit?

I don't think I fully understand it and I keep reading different opinions on it.
Are they the same thing?
Do they both live on after our death?
Do they remain together after our death?
Which one goes to heaven? Both?

I'm interested to hear/read what people have to say about this. Hopefully I can get a better understanding of it

Click to expand...

If you keep studying your Bible you'll eventually figure it out. Other people's opinions mean nothing (including mine). What God's Word shows as written is what matters.

Clues...
1. Eccl.12:5-7 shows at death of the flesh body, the flesh goes back to the earthly matter where it came from, but one's spirit goes back to God Who gave it. Apostle John said "God is a Spirit." (John 4) The Bible reveals two different dimensions of existence, this earthly realm which is made up of the universe of material matter, and then the heavenly realm which is made up of Spirit. This Eccl.12 Scripture reveals the difference between them.

2. Matthew 10:28 Jesus said to not fear those who can kill our flesh body but not our soul. That means the soul continues on like our spirit does.

3. 2 Corinthians 5 Apostle Paul said that if our earthly tabernacle (house) were dissolved, we still have another body not made with hands (non-material), eternal from God in the heavens. That is about our other body, our spirit body that goes back to God at flesh death. Paul then said to be absent from the body (flesh) is to be present with The Lord.

4. Eccl.12:5-7 also reveals there is an invisible "silver cord" that attaches our spirit to our flesh body. And when it is loosed, i.e., severed, at flesh death, then the respective parts go back to their respective dimension realm.


Now of course most Churches do not teach the above Bible Scriptures as written. They instead modify it to fit their fleshy reasoning, because they fear they will confuse the congregation with the Truth of the matter.

Davy said:

If you keep studying your Bible you'll eventually figure it out. Other people's opinions mean nothing (including mine). What God's Word shows as written is what matters.

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I truly had to laugh at your opening statement. Just exactly which ONE TRANSLATION of the bible, would you be referring to? Man has written 300 different bible translations in the last 1900 years. And 'the church' has been arguing about subjects like this ever since the apostles died and the apostolic church became infiltrated with the spirit of antichrist. That has led to 40,000 different "Christian" denominations.

Hillsage said:

I truly had to laugh at your opening statement. Just exactly which ONE TRANSLATION of the bible, would you be referring to? Man has written 300 different bible translations in the last 1900 years. And 'the church' has been arguing about subjects like this ever since the apostles died and the apostolic church became infiltrated with the spirit of antichrist. That has led to 40,000 different "Christian" denominations.

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So sorry, your ploy directed at me won't work. I won't argue over Bible translations with you, since I also have to laugh at YOUR statements above, which appear to reveal a general disdain for Bible translations all together.

And I'll give you a hint of why I say your arguments of vanity above are a joke. It's because even if you had the 'original' Bible manuscripts in your hand and was able to read them, you still would not understand them because one MUST have The Holy Spirit in order to understand them. Your type of speech suggest you do not have The Holy Spirit to guide you, or you at least do not listen to Him. Arguments over translations and what men which God did not call have done in past Christian history are not signs of The Holy Spirit working.

Your soul is your "mind, will, emotions."
Think of this as the ""soul realm.""

Your spirit, is the Living YOU.. that is inside your body, that can be born again and joined to God spiritually, as "one with God".... "in Christ".
Your spirit, if born again, will receive a NEW Body during the Rapture.

When we read that the born again are "seated in heavenly places"......that is not your soul.....that is your spirit that has. been born again spiritually : "in Christ".

Angelina said:

I learned this @Pilgrimer, many years ago while ministering in the counseling and deliverance areas and I agree with some of your understanding of how we are made up of body, soul and spirit.

Can Christians Have Demons? Dispelling the myths

New Believers Revelation Unleashed!

www.christianityboard.com

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I read your article and it mirrors not only what I have learned, but my personal experience, thank you for taking the time to share it.
We tend to think of God's work of salvation as a work that is completed at the moment of repentance and conversion. And certainly it is true that our legal standing before God is instantly changed at that moment: "There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." That legal standing is instantly changed by our entering into covenant with God through faith in the blood of Christ.

But the work of cleansing us of sin and transforming us into the image of Christ is only just beginning.

This cleansing, purifying process is an ongoing work of God throughout our lives requring study, prayer, repentance, and submission, ergo "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith," as Paul expresses it toward the end of his life. I was meditating on that one time and I saw in my mind's eye Jesus, holding a lantern, walking slowly through the highways and byways and the corridors and chambers of my heart and mind, shining his light into every corner and down the full length and depth and breadth of my innermost being. And he came to a small chamber tucked way back in the deepest recesses, hidden away from the prying eyes of the world, and I suppose I thought from him. And I clearly remember it to this day. That little chamber was dark and nasty, with a little pet sin I did not want to give up, that I would occassionally take out and stroke it and enjoy it. And that little chamber had a big lock on it and only I could open it up. And Jesus just stood there. There was no condemnation in his eyes, no blame or horror at this ugly thing in me, he just stood there, waiting patiently for me to open the door and let him inside. That was the hardest thing I ever did. Not necessarily opening the door, but acknowledging the thing in his presence. It was so humiliating, to let his eyes look at this ugly thing I loved and kept hidden away to play with. But when I did finally concede that the thing existed (as if it could be denied), the lock dropped away and the door swung open and Jesus stepped into that dark, filthy little secret place. And while I had feared the filth would disgust him and he would turn away and leave, instead, the instant he stepped inside the darkness just melted away like shadows under the noonday sun and that dark, the filth and stench evaporated in the brightness of his light, and that dirty little chamber of my heart became bright with light and clean and even smelled fresh and new. The feeling was like spending my whole life in the cold dark and suddenly have a prison gate thrown open and stepping out into the sunshine. The feeling of warmth reached down to my bones and for the first time I saw what only the light can reveal, a world so clean and pure and beautiful it took my breath away. That shook me so deeply that I remember bowing my head and praying, that if there were any more secret little chambers where I harbored some secret sin, or if any new thing grew in the darkness and hid in me, that the Lord would reveal it to me so I could open it to him and let him come in and make it clean.

What is so confounding is that the struggle wasn't in the deliverance, that only required Jesus to step inside and the result was like flipping on a light switch in a dark room, it was instantaneous and complete. But the struggle was in the shame and fear of admitting to the thing's existence, the confession part, followed by the submission part, the willingness to let him have it and deal with it. For me, that was and still is the struggle. If anyone thinks it's an easy matter to admit to a Holy God in your heart of hearts that you even entertain such thoughts and feelings, to open up the darkest corners of your soul to His gaze ... it is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But it is so very ... liberating! And what He replaces it with, the feeling of being clean and able to stand before Him with an open face ... what peace and joy!

God works in each of us on a very personal, intimate level, so it may not be the same for others. But that has been my experience, and it has not only changed my life, it has changed me, and I would never go back to the pig slop I once enjoyed and did not want to give up.

Blessings in Christ ...

NotTheRock said:

By the way, that comes from the Bible. Your theology is mistaken.

Lamentations 3:31 esv
For the Lord will not cast off forever,

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NotTheRock noted: <not cast off forever>

IMO:

That refers to Israelites ("daughter of Zion," Lamentations 2:1), and it has already been fulfilled, Israelites are back in the land:

o. "Can a nation be born in a day" (Isaiah 66:8)
o. "I will bring you back" (Jeremiah 29:14).

Un-regenerates go to hell when they die, for a minimum of 1000 years, solitary confinement, after which they are judged and annihilated (Revelation 20:11-15).

NotTheRock noted:

<the Lord will not cast off forever, the banished one will not remain an outcast>

The context there is Israel.

The bad news is that (according to the Bible) the majority of people who have ever lived will spend 1000 years minimum in hell, solitary confinement (Matthew 7:13, Revelation chapter 20).

Hillsage said:

'First' let me ask what translation/s do you study with? I am going to use the Young's Literal Translation, just because of its more 'literal' interpretation of the Greek. 'Second' I want to share a quote I had to laugh at the first time I ever heard it....decades ago. "The dumber Christians are, the quicker they are to quote the book of Revelation to prove their point." WB FYI, I'm not laughing at you, and hopefully you are laughing with me.

REV 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and Him who is sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven did flee away, and place was not found for them;

First questions; What "earth and heaven" would "flee away" from the face of "Him"? And 'why' would they do so? Especially if "Him" was Jesus?

vs 12 and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and scrolls were opened, and another scroll was opened, which is that of the life, and the dead were judged out of the things written in the scrolls - according to their works;
The Greek word translated as "dead" is NEKROS. That just happens to be the word from which we get necrotic from. It describes non-viable and non reversible dying of flesh. This explanation kind of goes along with that NT teaching about if your "eye, hand, arm, foot offend you" causing you to sin, then the bible says to cut them off to let that body part become necrotic and dead flesh. But the rest of that bible teaching is so the rest of your BODY can go to Heaven. No, wait that's not true. It says so YOU can still enter the Kingdom of GOD here and now.

I'm just going to stop here WB. It should be obvious that Revelation isn't PROVING your next point. And dealing with the last two verses would take too long.


'First' let me ask what translation/s do you study with? I am going to use the Young's Literal Translation; just because of its more 'literal' interpretation of the Greek into English.

'Second' what requirements were made in those 2 verses'both 1/2 quoted'? Half quoted verses do not prove 'a whole truth'. Let's start with your first verse Joh 1:12 then your second verse John 3:16 in context with vs 17 which I'm adding;

JOH 1:12 but as many as did receive him to them he gave authority to become sons of God - to those believing in his name,

Two Greek words both get translated as "receive". One is decomai and the other is lambano. This verse uses lambano. Decomai/receive is when first you receive Jesus and your spirit is born again..everlastingly saved. At that moment you have also received conditional immortality for your body of flesh. That condition being 'don't ever commit another sin'....or you will die.

JOH 3:16 for God did so love the world, that His Son - the only begotten - He gave, that every one who is believing in him MAY NOT PERISH, but may have life age-during.


How is 'the church' doing concerning this promise to "MAY NOT PERISH"? Hopefully you can see the YLT is talking about the "life" available "during" the church "age".
And not the everlasting life of the multiple ages to come according to Eph 2:8


YLT JOH 3:17* For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world MAY be saved through him;

vs 17 says "MIGHT" or "MAY" be saved. Let me just copy/paste a quote I found in my studies concerning this topic.

I asked my friend, Dr. Michael Jones, a Hebrew and Greek scholar, what he thought of “might” in John 3:17. Here is a man that only reads the New Testament

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NASB, for parallel English-Greek
NIV Interlinear Old Testament (Hebrew--English)
ESV Bible for reading

<Heaven and earth fled away>
Sin corrupts the sinner and *everything* associated with him, hence new heavens and new earth after the millennium--old heavens and earth disappear (Revelation chapters 21, 22. Compare with Genesis 1:1).

John 3:16-20 is the gospel (Greek ευαγγελιον, ευ=good, αγγελιον news, ie. "good news":

" For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life " (John 3'16)

Armour of God said:

What is the difference between the soul and the spirit?

I don't think I fully understand it and I keep reading different opinions on it.
Are they the same thing?
Do they both live on after our death?
Do they remain together after our death?
Which one goes to heaven? Both?

I'm interested to hear/read what people have to say about this. Hopefully I can get a better understanding of it

Click to expand...

The soul is the person, who the person is, will emotions, being. The spirit is the life force, the element that gives life to the body and enables the soul to function as a living being. The spirit is inherited from our parents on down to the first man Adam. The spirit can influence the soul and is in the blood of anyone Leviticus 17:11. Jesus' life force is God's Holy Spirit, the eternal life in His blood which gave Him life as a man, enabled Him to rise from the dead and the reason why Jesus said, "As the Father has life in Himself so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself" John 5:26. That same Spirit of eternal life is given to us through faith in Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. The Spirit remains distinct from the soul, yet is one to the point of being indistinguishable. The writer of Hebrews likens soul and spirit to bone and marrow, two elements that are one. Hebrews 4:12.

When we die the spirit returns to God - Ecclesiastes 12:7. The soul remains behind and goes to where the decisions made in this life sends it, either to heaven if the person has received Christ, or the "sea" trapped in this dimension Rev. 20:13, or hell.

Biblica said:

The soul is the person, who the person is, will emotions, being. The spirit is the life force, the element that gives life to the body and enables the soul to function as a living being. The spirit is inherited from our parents on down to the first man Adam. The spirit can influence the soul and is in the blood of anyone Leviticus 17:11. Jesus' life force is God's Holy Spirit, the eternal life in His blood which gave Him life as a man, enabled Him to rise from the dead and the reason why Jesus said, "As the Father has life in Himself so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself" John 5:26. That same Spirit of eternal life is given to us through faith in Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. The Spirit remains distinct from the soul, yet is one to the point of being indistinguishable. The writer of Hebrews likens soul and spirit to bone and marrow, two elements that are one. Hebrews 4:12.

When we die the spirit returns to God - Ecclesiastes 12:7. The soul remains behind and goes to where the decisions made in this life sends it, either to heaven if the person has received Christ, or the "sea" trapped in this dimension Rev. 20:13, or hell.

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Interesting. What do you mean by “the "sea" trapped in this dimension”?

IMO:

o. All living things have bodies.

o. Soul = intelligence.

o. Spirit = communion with God.

o. A tree has a body.

o. A cat has a body and a soul.

o. A person has a body, soul, spirit.

o. The human race has lost its communion with God.

o. Communion with God will be restored (Revelation chapters 21, 22).

IndianaRob said:

Interesting. What do you mean by “the "sea" trapped in this dimension”?

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I get this from Revelation 20:13 - "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.." This event occurs at the last judgment so we can see that there are different realms for the dead. The sea would be symbolic of the world, Rev. 17:15. We can conclude that the souls that are in that level are possibly "ghosts" that did not rate the lowest hell where the devil, his angels and his followers go. The souls that are in this realm, the sea, our realm, possibly are the source of some paranormal activities. They are in a level of hell because they are bodiless and cannot function as normal humans anymore which would be a from of torment.