It is unnecessary for those who believe in the divine inspiration of the whole word of God to seek to prove from the New Testament that which we have already seen brought before us in the Old. We merely remark that examination will show to any who seek it, that Old Testament truths are all established in the New; and fully unfolded. But there are others which come before the reader of the New Testament respecting “spirit and soul and body;” for now He, on whom in Himself death had no claim, has gained the victory over death and all its power, and has brought “life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel.” And this for man. Let us then first observe the distinct words (as in the Old) employed to distinguish “soul and spirit” in the New Testament.
It is generally admitted, by those who have had ability to examine it, that our Lord and His apostles quoted the Scripture from a Greek version of the Old Testament, then in common use, and not from the older Hebrew. This Greek translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew was called the Septuagint. But by thus using it our Lord accredited this version, and set His seal upon it as the word of God. This is an important fact; for in this version we have before us the words then used as the equivalents in Greek to the Hebrew “rooagh” and “nephesh,” words we may also expect to find distinctively employed therefore by the writers of the New Testament.
Now in this Greek translation of the Old Testament (MSS. of which still exist) we find in the passages we have already referred to; viz., Genesis 1:20,21,24, 30;2: 7, speaking of the soul’s formation, the Greek word “psukee” as the equivalent to the Hebrew “nephesh.” For spirit (Hebrews “rooagh”) we find in Job 32:8, where its existence is declared, as also in Zechariah 12:1 and Amos 4:13, where its origin and formation at first by God are spoken of; in all these places, the Greek word “pneuma” is given as the equivalent for “rooagh.” In this same translation also, where all three parts of which man is composed are spoken of in one chapter (Job 10) the same distinction as to the use of the words is maintained. “My soul (psukee) is weary of my life. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul (psukee).” (v. 1) “Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit (pneuma).” (v. 12) “Thou hast clothed me” (the man Job; i.e. both soul and spirit) “with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.” (v. 11) In Ecclesiastes 12:7, Haggai 1:14, Ecclesiastes 1:14,17, Malachi 2:16, passages already referred to, the Septuagint has also “pneuma” for “rooagh.”
In entire harmony, and using the same words for soul and spirit as the Septuagint version gives, we find all the scriptures of the New Testament. There is no confounding of them, there is no confusion. In coming to the New Testament, we are emerging from a night of shadows into the full light of day as to all that concerns man. “The darkness is passing, and the true light now shines.” (1 John 2:8) But, apparently small thing as it is, is it not fitting that we should see in this entire harmony of both Old and New Testaments God’s care of His word?” He is the Rock. His work is perfect.” (Deuteronomy 32) Thus sang Moses, and this perfection is manifested in the little (as men speak) as well as in the greatest of His works. May it give to us, as we ponder it, increased confidence in Him who, Jehovah to Israel, is to us our FATHER (John 20:17), and while He will permit us to trace both Him and His ways (1 Corinthians 2:10), while in His word He will speak to us and instruct us therein (John 6:45), as to all that it is necessary for us to know, may the knowledge of who He is humble us. While our Father, He is, nevertheless, the Alpha and the Omega, the unchangeable God. As He says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)
There is an hour when the three parts of which man is constituted, “spirit and soul and body,” must for a time be separated. That hour is DEATH. “Man dieth and wasteth away,” says Job (14: 10), when regarding the body, and Paul in the New Testament repeats it, but follows him beyond the grave. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) Death is the penalty attached to sin.” Sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” (Romans 5:12) It is that condition of the body when seen without a tenant. The body is the man’s earthly house or tabernacle, the habitation of both spirit and soul, so that while in it he is said to be “at home in the body.” While in the body also he is said to be “clothed.” (Job 10:11 to 2., or 5. 4, 6) But he leaves the body at death. Thus we read, “Desiring rather to be absent from the body; again,” “To depart and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23); and again, “The body without the spirit (pneuma) is dead.” (James 2: 26) Here we learn that at death the spirit is not there. But we also read that the death of the body does not affect the soul. “Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (psukee). (Matthew 10:28) At death the soul (psukee) is “required” (Luke 12:20), and then all that ministers merely to the body is left behind for others. The body only is that part in man which is mortal. In Hebrews 9:27 it is seen to be both capable of, and liable to, death, and after that also to corruption. (Compare Acts 13:36, 1 Corinthians 15:42, Romans 7:12, &c) “Flesh and blood (of which the body is formed) cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” So the remark of Martha “Lord, by this time he stinketh” (John 11:39) though spoken of the man, could only refer to the body. Corruption she knew had begun in it, but the cry, “Lazarus, come forth!” from Him who was both the Creator and the Life, was answered at once by the whole man, “spirit, and soul, and body.” “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave, clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” We see therefore that that part of the man, the body in which he dwelt, and in which he is said to be clothed, “Flesh and skin, bones and sinews,” this only rested in that grave at. Bethany, where corruption had already begun its work.
It was there in the condition of which James speaks “without the spirit” (pneuma); for the Lord had before said plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” That the sorrow attendant upon death is also because of the absence of the soul (psukee), we learn from other scriptures. Paul said, “His soul (psukee) is in him,” as a reason why they should not be troubled about the young man whose body they took up (Acts 20:10); but this only shows that the usual trouble and mourning at death are because the soul and spirit have left the body. (Compare also Acts 7:2) And it was certainly so that day at Bethany; for they well knew that Lazarus would “rise again” (v. 24), but at present, and from them, their brother was gone. H. C. A.
(To be continued, D.V)