Spirit

VIEW:17 DATA:01-04-2020

SPIRIT.—The term is applied to God as defining His nature generally (Joh_4:24), and also as describing one element in that nature, His self-consciousness (1Co_2:11). It expresses not only God’s immateriality, but also His transcendence of limitations of time and space. In the phrases ‘Spirit of God,’ the ‘Spirit of the Lord,’ the ‘Spirit of Jesus Christ,’ the ‘Holy Spirit,’ the ‘Spirit of Truth,’ the third Person in the Godhead is described (see Holy Spirit). The term is applied to personal powers of evil other than man (Mat_10:1; Mat_12:45, Luk_4:33; Luk_7:21, 1Ti_4:1; cf. Eph_6:12), as well as personal powers of good (Heb_1:14), and to human beings after death, either damned (1Pe_3:19) or blessed (Heb_12:23). It is used also as personifying an influence (1Jn_4:6, Eph_2:2, Rom_8:15). Its most distinctive use is in the psychology of the Christian life. The contrast between ‘soul’ and ‘spirit,’ and between ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit,’ has already been noted in the articles on these terms. While soul and spirit are not to be regarded as separate faculties, yet ‘spirit’ expresses the direct dependence of the life in man on God, first in creation (Gen_2:7), but especially, according to the Pauline doctrine, in regeneration. The life in man, isolating itself from, and opposing itself to, God, is soul; that life, cleansed and renewed by the Spirit of God, is spirit; intimate as is the relation of God and man in the new life, the Spirit of God is distinguished from the spirit of man (Rom_8:16), although it is not always possible to make the distinction. In Acts the phrase ‘holy spirit’ sometimes means the subjective human state produced (‘holy enthusiasm’), and sometimes the objective Divine cause producing (see ‘Acts’ in the Century Bible, p. 386). As the Spirit is the source of this new life, whatever belongs to it is ‘spiritual’ (pneumatikon), as house, sacrifices (1Pe_2:5), understanding (Col_1:9), songs (Col_3:16), food, drink, rock (1Co_10:3-4); and the ‘spiritual’ and ‘soulish’ (rendered ‘carnal’ or ‘natural’) are contrasted (1Co_2:14; 1Co_15:44; 1Co_15:46). Spirit as an ecstatic state is also distinguished from mind (1Co_14:14; 1Co_14:16), as inwardness from letter (Rom_2:29; Rom_7:6, 2Co_3:6). The old creation—the derivation of man’s spirit from God (Gen_2:7, Isa_42:5), offers the basis for the new (Rom_8:1-17, 1Co_2:11-12), in which man is united to God (see Inspiration).
Alfred E. Garvie.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma. Man in his normal integrity ("whole," holokleeron, complete in all its parts, 1Th_5:23) consists of "spirit, soul, and body." The spirit links man with higher intelligences, and is that highest part receptive of the quickening Holy Spirit (1Co_15:47). The soul (Hebrew nephesh, Greek psuchee) is intermediate between body and spirit; it is the sphere of the will and affections.
In the unspiritual, the spirit is so sunk under the animal soul (which it ought to keep under) that such are "animal" ("seasonal," having merely the body of organized matter and the soul, the immaterial animating essence), "having not the spirit" (Jud_1:19; Jas_3:15; 1Co_2:14; 1Co_15:44-48; Joh_3:6). The unbeliever shall rise with an animal (soul-animated) body, but not, like the believer, with a spiritual (spirit-endued) body like Christ's (Rom_8:11).
The soul is the seat of the appetites, the desires, the will; hunger, thirst, sorrow, joy; love, hope, fear, etc.; so that nephesh is the man himself, and is used for person, self, creature, any: a virtual contradiction of materialism, implying that the unseen soul rather than the seen body is the man. "Man was made" not a living body but "a living soul." "The blood, the life," links together body and soul (Lev_17:11).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

in Hebrew, רות in Greek, πνευμα, and in Latin, spiritus, is in the Scriptures sometimes taken for the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Holy Trinity. The word signifies also the reasonable soul which animates us, and continues in existence even after the death of the body; that spiritual, thinking and reasoning substance, which is capable of eternal happiness, Num_16:22; Act_7:59. The term spirit is also often used for an angel, a demon, and a ghost, or soul separate from the body. It is said, in Act_23:8, that the Sadducees denied the existence of angels and spirits. Jesus Christ appearing to his disciples, said to them, Luk_24:39, “Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” And St. Paul calls the good angels “ministering spirits,”
Heb_1:14. In 1Sa_16:14; 1Sa_18:10; 1Sa_19:9, it is said that an evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul: and we have also the expression unclean spirits. Add to this, spirit is sometimes put for the disposition of the heart or mind: see Num_5:14; Zec_12:10; Luk_13:11; Isa_11:2. Discerning of spirits, or the secret character and thoughts of men, was a gift of God, and placed among the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, 1Co_12:10; 1Jn_4:1.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

The Hebrew word that in the Old Testament is usually translated ‘spirit’ is ruach. The equivalent New Testament Greek word, also usually translated ‘spirit’, is pneuma. Both ruach and pneuma had very broad meanings. They could mean, among other things, wind (1Ki_18:45; Joh_3:8), breath (Gen_7:15; Gen_7:22; Act_9:1), human emotion (Gen_41:8; Num_5:14; Joh_13:21; Act_18:25), human understanding (Isa_29:24; Mar_2:8), will-power (Jer_51:11; Act_19:21), human life itself (Gen_45:27; Luk_8:55) and evil beings of the unseen world (1Sa_16:23; Mar_1:23; see UNCLEAN SPIRITS). Both words were also used of God’s Spirit, the living power of God at work (Jdg_6:34; Act_8:39; see HOLY SPIRIT).
Relationship with God
An examination of the usage of ruach in the Old Testament shows that its basic meaning has to do with something unseen and powerful that is full of life or life-giving. The word can be used of God who gives life to all human beings and animals (Job_33:4; Psa_104:30) and of the life that God gives to all human beings and animals (Gen_7:15; Gen_7:22).
According to this usage, ruach might be defined as the ‘life-force’ or ‘breath of life’ that God created. It belongs to him. He gives it to all people and animals for the time of their earthly existence and he takes it back at death (Num_16:22; Psa_104:29; Ecc_12:7). Pneuma can have a similar meaning in the New Testament (Heb_12:9; Jam_2:26).
However, both ruach and pneuma may be used specifically of the human spirit. That is, they may refer to the human spirit in a way that makes it different from the general life principle that humans share with animals (Pro_11:13; Pro_15:13; Pro_16:2; Pro_16:18-19; Pro_16:32; 1Co_2:11; 2Co_7:1; 1Pe_3:4; see HUMANITY, HUMANKIND). The New Testament goes further and uses pneuma to refer to that higher aspect of human existence that enables people to communicate with God and have religious experiences (Rom_8:16; 1Co_5:5; 1Co_7:34; Gal_6:18; Php_3:3).
‘Spirit’ may at times be another word for ‘heart’. In such cases it speaks of a person’s whole inner life (Psa_51:10; Psa_51:17; Pro_16:2; Mat_5:3; Rom_1:9; Philem 25; see HEART; MIND).
Through sin, the spirit has been corrupted. It is not able to save people from spiritual ruin or bring them eternal life. It is, in a sense, dead, and needs to be born anew through the creative power of the Spirit of God (Eze_36:26-27; Joh_3:6). This leads, then, to an even more restricted meaning of the word, particularly in the New Testament, where the reference is to the reborn spirit of the person whom God has created anew (Rom_8:10; 1Co_2:14-15; Eph_4:23; see REGENERATION; SOUL).
Life after death
Yet another usage of the word ‘spirit’ is in reference to life after death. When the life of the body comes to an end, people do not cease to exist. Because they are no longer ‘in the body’, they are no longer in the physical world, but they continues to exist in the unseen world. They live on in their spirit (Heb_12:23; 1Pe_3:18; 1Pe_4:6). This kind of existence is only temporary, for human destiny is not to live for ever in a bodiless spirit, but to experience eternal life in a renewed body (1Co_15:35-54; Php_3:21; 1Jn_3:2; see BODY).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

spir?it (רוּח, rūaḥ; πνεῦμα, pneúma; Latin, spiritus):
1. Primary and Figurative Senses
(1) As Wind, Breath
(2) As Anger or Fury
(3) As Mental and Moral Qualities in Man
2. Shades of Meaning
(1) As Life-Principle
(2) As Surviving Death
(3) Spiritual Manifestations
3. Human and Divine Spirit
(1) The Human as Related with the Divine
(2) Operations of the Divine Spirit as Third Person of the Trinity
4. Old Testament Applications
5. Various Interpretations

1. Primary and Figurative Senses:
(1) As Wind, Breath:
Used primarily in the Old Testament and New Testament of the wind, as in Gen_8:1; Num_11:31; Amo_4:13 (?createth the wind?); Heb_1:7 (angels, ?spirits? or ?winds? in margin); often used of the breath, as in Job_12:10; Job_15:30, and in 2Th_2:8 (wicked consumed by ?the breath of his mouth?).

(2) As Anger or Fury:
In a figurative sense it was used as indicating anger or fury, and as such applied even to God, who destroys by the ?breath of his nostrils? (Job_4:9; Exo_15:8; 2Sa_22:16; see 2Th_2:8).

(3) As Mental and Moral Qualities in Man:
Hence, applied to man - as being the seat of emotion in desire or trouble, and thus gradually of mental and moral qualities in general (Exo_28:3, ?the spirit of wisdom?; Eze_11:19, ?a new spirit? etc.). Where man is deeply stirred by the Divine Spirit, as among the prophets, we have a somewhat similar use of the word, in such expressions as: ?The Spirit of the Lord came ... upon him? (1Sa_10:10).

2. Shades of Meaning:
(1) As Life-Principle:
The spirit as life-principle in man has various applications: sometimes to denote an apparition (Mat_14:26, the King James Version ?saying, It is a spirit?; Luk_24:37, the King James Version ?had seen a spirit?); sometimes to denote angels, both fallen and unfallen (Heb_1:14, ?ministering spirits?; Mat_10:1, ?unclean spirits?; compare also Mat_12:43; Mar_1:23, Mar_1:26, Mar_1:27; and in Rev_1:4, ?the seven Spirits ... before his throne?).

(2) As Surviving Death:
The spirit is thus in man the principle of life - but of man as distinguished from the brute - so that in death this spirit is yielded to the Lord (Luk_23:46; Act_7:59; 1Co_5:5, ?that the spirit may be saved?). Hence, God is called the ?Father of spirits? (Heb_12:9).

(3) Spiritual Manifestations:
Thus generally for all the manifestations of the spiritual part in man, as that which thinks, feels, wills; and also to denote certain qualities which characterize the man, e.g. ?poor in spirit? (Mat_5:3); ?spirit of gentleness? (Gal_6:1); ?of bondage? (Rom_8:15); ?of jealousy? (Num_5:14); ?of fear? (2Ti_1:7 the King James Version); ?of slumber? (Rom_11:8 the King James Version). Hence, we are called upon to ?rule over our own spirit? (Pro_16:32; Pro_25:28), and are warned against being overmastered by a wrong spirit (Luk_9:55 the King James Version, ?Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of?). So man may submit to the ?spirit of error,? and turn away from the ?spirit of truth? (1Jo_4:6). Thus we read of the ?spirit of counsel? (Isa_11:2); ?of wisdom? (Eph_1:17).

3. Human and Divine Spirit:
(1) The Human as Related with the Divine:
We go a step higher when we find the human spirit brought into relationship with the Divine Spirit. For man is but a creature to whom life has been imparted by God's spirit - life being but a resultant of God's breath. Thus life and death are realistically described as an imparting or a withdrawing of God's breath, as in Job_27:3; Job_33:4; Job_34:14, ?spirit and breath? going together. The spirit may thus be ?revived? (Gen_45:27), or ?overwhelmed? (Psa_143:4), or ?broken? (Pro_15:13). And where sin has been keenly felt, it is ?a broken spirit? which is ?a sacrifice to God? (Psa_51:17); and when man submits to the power of sin, a new direction is given to his mind: he comes under a ?spirit of whoredom? (Hos_4:12); he becomes ?proud in spirit? (Ecc_7:8), instead of being ?patient in spirit?; he is a fool because he is ?hasty in spirit? and gives way to ?anger? (Ecc_7:9). The ?faithful in spirit? are the men who resist talebearing and backbiting in the world (Pro_11:13). In such instances as these the difference between ?soul? and ?spirit? appears. See SOUL; PSYCHOLOGY.

(2) Operations of the Divine Spirit as Third Person of the Trinity:
On this higher plane, too, we find the Divine Spirit at work. The terminology is very varied here: In the New Testament we read of the ?Holy Spirit? (1Co_6:19; Mat_1:18, Mat_1:20; 1Th_1:5, 1Th_1:6); the ?Spirit of God? (1Co_2:10 ff; 1Co_3:16; Rom_8:9, Rom_8:11; Eph_3:16, etc.); the ?Spirit of Christ? (Rom_8:9; 1Co_3:17; Gal_4:6); or simply of ?Spirit,? with distinct reference to God (1Co_2:10; Rom_8:16, Rom_8:23, etc.). God Himself is Spirit (Joh_4:24). Hence, God's power is manifested in human life and character (Luk_4:14; Rom_1:1; 1Co_2:4; especially Luk_24:49). The Book of Acts may be termed the Book of the Holy Spirit, working with power in man. This Spirit is placed on a level with Father and Son in the Apostolic Benediction (2Co_13:14) and in the parting message of the Saviour to His disciples (Mat_28:19). As the agent in redemption and sanctification His work is glorified by lives ?renewed? in the very ?spirit of the mind? - a collocation of terms which has puzzled many interpreters (Eph_4:23, Eph_4:24), where pneúma and noús appear together, to indicate a renewal which is all-embracing, 'renewed in the spirit of your mind, so that the new man is put on, created in righteousness and true holiness' (see also Joh_14:17, Joh_14:26; Joh_15:26; Joh_16:13; 1Co_12:11, etc.).

4. Old Testament Applications:
In the Old Testament this spirit of God appears in varied functions, as brooding over chaos (Gen_1:2; Job_26:13); as descending upon men, on heroes like Othniel, Gideon, etc. (Jdg_3:10; Jdg_6:34), on prophets (Eze_37:1), on ?cunning workmen,? like Bezalel and Aholiab (Exo_31:2, Exo_31:3, Exo_31:4, ?filled with the Spirit of God?), and specially in such passages as Psa_51:11, where the very presence of God is indicated by an abiding influence of the Holy Spirit: ?The Spirit of Yahweh is Yahweh himself.?

5. Various Interpretations:
May we not reach a still higher stage? Wendt in his interesting monograph (Die Begriffe Fleisch und Geist), of which extracts are given in Dickson's St. Paul's Use of the Terms Flesh and Spirit, draws attention to the transcendental influence of the Divine rūaḥ in the Old Testament as expressed in such phrases as 'to put on' (Jdg_6:34), 'to fall upon' (Psa_14:6, 19), 'to settle' (Num_11:25 f). May we not then rightly assume that more is meant than a mere influence emanating from a personal God? Are we not right in maintaining with Davidson that ?there are indeed a considerable number of passages in the Old Testament which might very well express the idea that the Spirit is a distinct hypostasis or person.?? (see SUBSTANCE). Rejecting the well-known passage in Genesis: ?Let us make man after our own image,? which some have interpreted in a trinitarian sense, we may point to such texts as Zec_4:6, ?by my Spirit?; Isa_63:10, Isa_63:11, ?They rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit?; ?Where is he that put his holy Spirit in the midst of them?? This is borne out by the New Testament, with its warnings against ?grieving the Holy Spirit,? ?lying against the Holy Spirit,? and kindred expressions (Eph_4:30; Act_5:3). It is this Spirit which ?beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God? (Rom_8:16) - the spirit which, as Auberlen has put it (PRE1, article ?Geist des Menschen?), ?appears in a double relationship to us, as the principle of natural life, which is ours by birth, and that of spiritual life, which we receive through the new birth (Wiedergeburt).? Hence, Paul speaks of God whom he serves ?with his spirit? (Rom_1:9); and in 2Ti_1:3 he speaks of serving God ?in a pure conscience.? See CONSCIENCE; FLESH; HOLY SPIRIT; PSYCHOLOGY; SOUL.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Spirit and Holy Spirit. The leading significations of the original words thus rendered may be classed under the following heads:?
The primary sense of the term is wind. 'He that formeth the mountains and createth the wind' (Amo_4:13; Isa_27:8). 'The wind bloweth where it listeth' (Joh_3:8). This is the ground idea of the term 'spirit'?air?ether?air refined, sublimated, or vitalized: hence it denotes?
Breath, as of the mouth. 'At the blast of the breath of his nostrils are they consumed' (Job_4:9). 'The Lord shall consume that wicked me with the breath of his mouth' (2Th_2:8).
The vital principle which resides in and animates the body (Ecc_8:8; Gen_6:17; Gen_7:15).
In close connection with this use of the word is another?
In which it has the sense of apparition?specter (Luk_24:37; Luk_24:39; Mat_14:26).
The soul?the rational immortal principle, by which man is distinguished from the brute creation (Luk_23:46; Act_7:59; 1Co_5:5; 1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:34; Heb_12:9).
The race of superhuman created intelligences.
The term is applied to the Deity, as the sole, absolute, and uncreated Spirit. 'God is a Spirit.' This, as a predicate, belongs to the divine nature, irrespective of the distinction of persons in that nature. But its characteristic application is to the third person in the Divinity, who is called the Holy Spirit, because of his essential holiness, and because in the Christian scheme it is his peculiar work to sanctify the people of God. He is denominated The Spirit, by way of eminence, as the immediate author of spiritual life in the hearts of Christians.
The words Spirit, and Holy Spirit, frequently occur in the New Testament, by metonymy, for the influence or effects of His agency.
As a procreative power?'the power of the Highest' (Luk_1:35).
As an influence, with which Jesus was endued (Luk_4:4).
As a divine inspiration or afflatus, by which the prophets and holy men wrote and spoke. 'Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost' (2Pe_1:21; Num_11:26; Neh_9:30; Eze_3:12; Eze_3:14; Rev_1:10; Rev_4:2; Rev_17:3).
As miraculous gifts and powers, with which the Apostles were endowed, to qualify them for the work to which they were called (Joh_20:22; Act_2:4).
But the phrase, Holy Spirit, is specially used to denote a divine personal agent. The Holy Spirit is associated, as a distinct person, with the Father and the Son, in the baptismal formula and the apostolic benediction. The Father and Son are real persons. It is reasonable to think that the spirit who is joined with them in this solemn form of induction into the Christian church, is also a personal agent, and not an abstraction?a mere power or influence. The subject is baptized into the belief of three personal agents. To suppose that, in this solemn profession of faith, he avows his belief in the Father and the Son, and the power or influence of God, is forced and frigid.
He is baptized into the name of each of the three (Mat_28:19). We are not baptized into the name of an influence or a power, but into the name of a person?of three real and distinct subjects, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
In the apostolic benedictions, the Spirit, as a person, is associated in the same way with the Father and Son (2Co_13:14). In this uniting of the three there is the recognition of the distinct personality of each, in the separate gift which is appropriated to each.
Distinct personal acts and attributes are ascribed to the Holy Spirit too frequently and fully to admit of explanation by the prosopopoeia.
The Holy Ghost speaks, by Esaias the prophet (Act_28:25), expressly (1Ti_4:1). He teaches (Luk_12:12). He reproves the world of sin (Joh_16:8). The spirit helpeth our infirmities, and maketh intercession for the saints (Rom_8:26-27). He is grieved (Eph_4:30).
Apostles are set apart to him in the work of the ministry, and he appoints them to that work (Act_13:2; Act_15:28).
These are all acts which imply a personal agent. And these acts and attributes distinguish the Spirit from the person of the Father on the one hand, and from the personal subjects upon which he acts on the other.
The Spirit, as a personal agent, comes from the Father, is sent by the Father, and of course cannot be the Father. As sent by the Father, He maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God, i.e. the Father from whom He came. The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God (1Co_2:10). If there be no distinct personality of the Spirit separate from that of the Father, the real import of these passages must be, that the Father comes from Himself, is sent by Himself, makes intercession to Himself, according to the will of Himself, and that He searches the deep things of Himself?which is a style of writing not to be ascribed to any rational man, and certainly not to inspired apostles.
The Spirit of God (1Co_2:11) is not a created spirit; and if uncreated, It must be divine in the highest sense; but this Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and a proper person; hence He is God.
As the author of regeneration, or of the new spiritual and incorruptible life in the heart of the believer, He must be divine. This change, the Scriptures abundantly declare, is wrought by the Spirit and power of God.
Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the only sin for which there is no remission (Mat_12:31). This sin against the Holy Spirit, in whatever it may consist, is distinguished from all other sins by a degree of guilt which renders it unpardonable. If He be not in his nature truly God, there is nothing in Him to give to sin against Him such a peculiar aggravation. Although it is not simply because the Spirit is God that blasphemy against Him is unpardonable?for then would blasphemy against the Father and the Son also be unpardonable?yet it is a sin against God, and, as being against the third person of the Godhead, it is aggravated to a degree of enormity which it could not receive if committed against any other being than God.
The divine and incommunicable attributes of the Deity are ascribed to the Spirit. These attributes belong exclusively to the divine nature; he who possesses them must have the divine nature and honor as God.
Works truly divine are attributable to the Holy Spirit, as creation and preservation, and especially the work of sanctification.
Of the office of the Holy Spirit, it is only necessary to say, that it is not ministerial, like that of the angels and apostles, but it is the peculiar work in the salvation of man which he performs, as sent by the Father and the Son.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


(רוּחִ, ruach [twice נַשְׁמָה, nishmah, breath, Job_26:4; Pro_20:27], πνεῦμα [twice φάντασμα, a phantasm, Mat_14:26; Mar_6:49], both literally meaning wind), is one of the most generic terms in either the English, Hebrew, or Greek language. We therefore discuss here its lexical as well as psychological relations somewhat extensively. SEE PSYCHOLOGY.
I. Scriptural Usage of the Word. — Its leading significations may be classed under the following heads:
1. The primary sense of the term is wind. “He that formeth the mountains and createth the wind” (רוח, Amo_4:13; Isa_27:8). “The wind (πνεῦμα) bloweth where it listeth” (Joh_3:8). This is the ground idea of the term “spirit” air, ether, air refined, sublimated, or vitalized; hence it denotes—
2. Breath, as of the mouth. “At the blast of the breath of his nostrils (רוח אפי) are they consumed” (Job_4:9). “The Lord shall consume that wicked one with the breath of his mouth” (τῷ μνεύματι τοῦ στόματος, 2Th_2:8).
3. The vital principle which resides in and animates the body. In the Hebrew, נפשׁ is the main specific term for this. In the Greek it is ψυχή, and in the Latin anima. “No man hath power over the spirit (ברוח) to retain the spirit” (Ecc_8:8; Gen_6:17; Gen_7:15). “Jesus yielded up the ghost” (ἀφῆκε τὸ πνεῦμα, Mat_27:50). “And her spirit (πνεῦμα αὐτῆς) came again,” etc. (Luk_8:55). In close connection with this use of the word is another,
4. In which it has the sense of apparition, specter. They supposed that they had seen a spirit,” i.e. specter (Luk_24:37). “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luk_24:39; Mat_14:26).
5. The soul — the rational, immortal principle by which man is distinguished from the brute creation. It is the πνεῦμα, in distinction from the ψυχή. With the Latins it is the animus. In this class may be included that use of the word spirit in which the various emotions and dispositions of the soul are spoken of. “Into thy hands I commend my spirit” (τὸ μνεῦμά μου, Luk_23:46; Act_7:59; 1Co_5:5; 1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:34; Heb_12:9). “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luk_1:47). “Poor in spirit” (πτωχοί τῷ πνεύματι) denotes humility (Mat_5:3). “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of (Luk_9:55), where πνεῦμα denotes disposition or temper. “He that hath no rule over his own spirit” (רוחו, Pro_25:28; Pro_16:32; Ecc_7:9). The moral affections are denominated “the spirit of meekness” (Gal_6:1), “of bondage” (Rom_8:15), “of jealousy” (Num_5:14), “of fear” (2Ti_1:7), “of slumber” (Rom_11:8). In the same way also the intellectual qualities of the soul are denominated “the spirit of counsel” (Isa_11:2); the spirit of knowledge” (ibid.); “the spirit of wisdom” (Eph_1:17); “the spirit of truth and of error” (1Jn_4:6).
6. The race of superhuman created intelligences. Such beings are denominated spiritual beings because they have no bodies like ours. To both the holy and the sinning angels the term is applied. In their original constitution their natures were alike pure spirit. The apostasy occasioned no change in the nature of the fallen angels as spiritual beings. In the New Test. demonology δαίμων, δαιμόνιον, πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον, πνεῦμα πονηρόν, are the distinctive epithets for a fallen spirit. Christ gave to his disciples power over unclean spirits (πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων, Mat_10:1; Mar_1:23; Luk_4:36; Act_5:16). The holy angels are termed spirits: “Are they not all ministering spirits?” (λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα, Heb_1:14). “And from the seven spirits (ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων) which are before his throne” (Rev_1:4).
7. The term is applied to the Deity, as the sole, absolute, and uncreated Spirit. “God is a Spirit” (πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός). This, as a predicate, belongs to the divine nature, irrespective of the distinction of persons in that nature. But its characteristic application is to the third person in the Divinity, who is called the Holy Spirit (Πνεῦμα ἃγιον) because of his essential holiness, and because in the Christian scheme it is his peculiar work to sanctify the people of God. He is denominated the Spirit by way of eminence, as the immediate author of spiritual life in the hearts of Christians. The New Test. writers are full and explicit in referring the principle of the higher life to the Spirit. In the Old Test. the reference is more general. The Spirit is an all pervading, animating principle of life in the world of nature. In the work of creation the Spirit of God moved upon, or brooded over, the face of the waters (Gen_1:2; Job_26:13). This relation of the Spirit to the natural world the ancients expressed as Ens extra-, Ens super-, Ens intra- mundanum. The doctrine of the Spirit, as the omnipresent life and energy in nature, differs from Pantheism, on the one hand, and from the Platonic soul of the world, on the other. It makes the Spirit the immanent divine causality, working in and through natural laws, which work is called nature; as in the Christian life He is the indwelling divine causality, operating upon the soul, and through divine ordinances; and this is termed grace. The Spirit in the world may be considered as the divine omnipresence, and be classed among the doctrines which are more peculiarly theological. But the indwelling and operation of the Spirit in the heart of the believer are an essential doctrine of Christianity. The one province of the Spirit is nature, the other grace. Upon the difference between the two, in respect to the Spirit's work, rests the Christian consciousness. The general presence and work of the Spirit in nature are not a matter of consciousness. The special presence and work of the Spirit in the heart of the believer, by the effects which are produced, are a matter of which, from consciousness, there may be the most consoling and delightful assurance. SEE SPIRITUAL.
II. Doctrinal Distinctions and Queries. — The lexical usage thus pointed out gives rise to questions concerning the constitution of the nature of man. Does it consist of two or three elements? Must we accept a dichotomy or a trichotomy? The dichotomy is unquestionably established if it can be shown that soul and spirit designate only different aspects of the same subject. The passage of Scripture which is fundamental in this inquiry (Gen_2:7) seems, however, to distinguish three constituents in human nature — the clay (עָפָר), the breath of life (נַשְׁמִת חִיַּים), and the living being (נֶפֶשׁ חִיָּה). Some understand in the first of these elements the material substance, flesh or body (בָּשָׂר), out of earth; by the second, the spirit (נֶפֶשׁ), out of God, and by the third, the soul (רוּחִ), as resulting from a combination of the other elements. The soul would accordingly be the personality, as constituted of spirit and body, and is both soul and body united into one being. God forms the body, breathes into it the spirit, and the soul results from them both. But the careful reader will note that in the foregoing analysis the proper soul (רוּחִ) has not been brought into view at all. It is only the introduction of the vitalizing element (נַשְׁמָה) into the material organism ( עפר= בָּשָׂר) that constitutes the composite being or animal (נֶפֶשׁ) — a term which is frequently applied likewise to the low orders of creatures (Gen_1:20, etc.). Yet, as in Scripture universally this last distinguishing element is manifestly attributed to man, it still follows, under either view of the above passage, that Scripture teaches a trichotomy, and several passages explicitly sustain the same doctrine — e.g. Luk_1:46-47; 1Co_15:45 sq.; 1Th_5:23; Heb_4:12. To sum up the conclusion reached, the spirit is not soul simply, nor yet identical with the body, but a third somewhat which originates in the body that was formed and the soul that was inbreathed, but which itself is neither formed nor made but simply becomes (הָיָה). If this be true, then the spirit, itself becomes a powerful argument in behalf of a future resurrection of the body. SEE RESURRECTION.
A second inquiry which arises has to do with the manner in which the race is derived from the first pair whom God created. All agree that it is by propagation under the terms of the original endowment (Gen_1:28), and with the steady cooperation of God. But in the original creation of man, God formed the body out of matter previously created, and then added a new quantity in the inbreathing of the spirit, and the question turns upon the point whether a like distinction between body and spirit is made at the beginning of the existence of every human being. Traducianism (q.v.) teaches, under its various modifications, that the original combination of body and spirit into a single soul was made for all time and for the race, and that no direct interference with the natural processes of procreation on the part of God can be assumed. The living soul is transmitted from generation to generation without the intervention of any new creative act. The various schemes of creationism (q.v.) assume that the Creator infuses the spirit into every new human personality by a direct act. The doctrine of pre-existence assumes that a soul for each individual was potentially created at the beginning, and that it attains to actuality when united with its own special body or dust. Inasmuch as the only warrant for the doctrine of preexistence is the desire to avoid the erroneous idea of new creations, which creationism is said to affirm, there is no occasion to discuss its assumption of embryonic souls. Traducianism must likewise be rejected in so far as its doctrine of the propagation of both body and spirit by purely natural processes involves a disregard of the original distinction between the forming of the one and the inbreathing of the other. In creationism the truth is limited to the origin of the spirit, the soul being the product of both the traduced and the infused factors. It is apparent that the theory of traducianisn leads logically to the dichotomy, while that of creationism leads to the trichotomy. In every form of creationism the birth of a human being involves a sacramental wonder, since God is himself directly engaged in imparting to the individual his peculiar spirit. This theory, derived from Aristotle (De Anim. Mot. 9) and transmitted through the Church fathers, was cultivated in the Middle Ages, and generally adopted by Roman Catholic writers, though not as a confessional locus. It was also largely admitted among theologians of the Reformed Church, though by no means universally. Traducianism was more generally accepted in the Lutheran Church, though here also standard and leading authorities leave the question undecided. The Pseudo- Gnostical and Semi-Pelagian heresies, which taught that the spirit of man is either not at all or but little affected by sin, grew out of a combination of creationism and the trichotomy theory; but they were the result simply of misconception. The same is true of the Apollinarian theory, which confines the human nature of Christ to body and soul (anima vegetabilis), and holds that in him the Logos supplied the place of the spirit (πνεῦμα). SEE SOUL, ORIGIN OF.
A third question follows, which is concerned with particulars connected with the forming of the body and the imparting of the spirit, and with the results that follow. The forming of the body extends to the entire organism with reference to all the members of the body, and to the senses, since in these consists the germ of the body. The inspiration of the spirit extends, with regard to all its far reaching consequences, over the whole of the spirit, in all its powers and abilities. Body and spirit, however, contain only germs which attain to organic development and form in the soul, the body especially becoming the form (μορφή) of the soul. Psychology, the philosophy of the soul, has consequently to inquire into the bodily life of the organism, particularly with reference to the senses, the emotions, the intellect, the will, and likewise into the νοῦς, λόγος, πνεῦμα, etc. In our days, psychology may even embrace in its investigations the science of language, since it has become important to demonstrate, in opposition to rationalism, pantheism, and materialism, that the germs of language, no less than of thought, inhere in the spirit; and that language, in which thought attains to expression, secures its development in the soul in harmony with the diversities of nationality, which is equivalent here to individuality, SEE MIND.
A fourth question asks, whither does the soul tend? or, more exactly, what becomes of it when separated from the body? The scriptural answer is brief and confident: the spirit returns to God, but not as it came from God; it retains the nature obtained by its union with the body; and it is accordingly as a soul, i.e. affected by the body, although the latter has become dust, that the spirit returns to God. The Scriptures teach that the soul neither sleeps nor dies, but retains its spiritual character. We shall accordingly not be found utterly naked even after death, but rather clothed with conscious activity (ἐνδυσάμενοι, οὐ γυμνοί, 2Co_5:3 — a passage, however, which legitimately refers only to the finally glorified state; see Alford, ad loc.), and thus await the reunion of soul and body in the resurrection. SEE INTERMEDIATE STATE.
The soul accordingly attains its consummation in the body, which was also the beginning and basis of the personality. Corporeity is thus the end of the ways of God, as it was the beginning in the clay from which man was formed. The three Catholic creeds close with the words “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting;” and Paul writes, “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body... that was... first which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual” (1Co_15:44 sq.). The body is thus the first and the last; “the spirit quickeneth” by the energy of the soul, and is the bond which unites the soul and body, the agent which combines them into a single substance, so that even death is unable to effect more than a partial and temporary separation. SEE DEATH.
See Molitor, Philosophie der Geschichte, etc. 2, 90; 3, 129, etc.; Rudloff, Lehre vom Menschen nach Geist, Seele u. Leib (1858); Von Meyer, in Blätter für höhere Warheiten (1823), 4, 271 sq. The above furnish information with reference to the teachings of the Cabala. According to Von Meyer, the Cabala distinguishes five souls (Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaja, Jechida). See also Dante, Divina Com. Purg. 25, etc.; Heinroth, Psychologie (1827); Schubert, Gesch. d. Seele (1833); Von Meyer, Inbegrif d. christl. Glaubenslehre (1832), p. 134, etc.; Lange, Land d. Herrlichkeit, etc. (1838); id. Positive Dogmatik (1852); Martensen, Dogmatik (1851); De Valenti, Christl. Dogmatik (1847); Ebrard, Christl. Dogmatik (1851); Delitzsch, Bibl. Psychologie (1855); Fichte, Anthropologie (2d ed. 1860); id. Zur Seelenfrage, etc. (1859); Wichart, Metaphys. Anthropologie (Minster, 1844); Polack, Unsterblichkeitsfrage (Amst. 1857); Richers, Schöpfungs-, Paradies- u. Sündfluth-Geschichte [Genesis 1-9] (1854), § 13, p. 210 sq.; id. Natur u. Geist (1850 sq.); Hahn [Aug.], Lehrb. d. christl. Glaubens, 2 ed. § 74; Hahn [G. E.], Theologie d. Neuen Testaments, § 149 sq.; also Lotze, Mikrokosmos... Anthropologie; Deinhardt, Begriff d. Seele mit Rucksicht auf Aristoteles (Hamb. 1840); Schmidt, De Loco Aristot. τὸν νοῦν θυράθεν ἐπειζιέναι in Aristot. Περὶ ζώων γενέσεως (Erfurt, 1847). Of Roman Catholic writings we mention Baltzer, De Modo Propagat. Animarum (1833); also Göschel, Beweise fur d. Unsterbl. d. Seele (1835) [per contra Becker, Ueber Göschel's Vers. eines Beweises d. personl. Unsterblichkeit (Hamb. 1836)]; id. Die siebenfaltige Osterfrage, etc. (1836); id. Beitr. zur spekulativen Philosophie von Gott u. d. Menschen, etc. (1838); id. Zur Lehre v. d. letzten Dingen (Berl. 1850); id. Der Mensch nach Leib, Seele u. Geist, etc. (Leips. 1856); Richter, Die neue Unsterblichkeitslehre, in Jahrb. f. wissenschaftl. Kritik, 1834.-Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s.v. SEE SOUL.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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