adminEvangelist Justice Ndlovu
DEATH is a subject or topic full of mysteries, superstition and fraught with so many theories. In all ages death has conquered the noble, wise, learned, poor, rich, young, old, scientists, philosophers etc, no cure or solution fitting in the sphere of men has been found and the Bible fittingly says in Ecclesiastes 9 v 5 “For the living know that they shall die . . .” We all know it and are powerless when death strikes, we cannot be ready enough, even with Life Assurance policies it still leaves scars we cannot heal and gaps we cannot fill, more questions than answers.
The question to ask is; was it so in the beginning when God created man, when He fashioned us from the dust of the ground?
What is a spirit, soul? Was death part of the initial plan? If not, what changed? Does man have an immortal soul, what is death? Is there any hope after death? What happens at death? Let’s visit the Bible for answers.
Genesis 2: 7 And the LORD God formed man (of) the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (NEPESH). The Bible describes how man was created and notice it says DUST + BREATH OF LIFE = LIVING SOUL. It clearly establishes that man became a living soul, not how people put it that man has a soul, however, man IS a living soul. The Hebrew word used for soul is NEPESH (meaning life, person, being, breathing creature, soul) thus NIV says Gen 2: 7 the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (NEPESH).
Man is composed of two elements (dust+breath of life) and briefly talking about the dust or physical element Isaiah 64 v 8 emphasises that we are made of clay. There is not much debate in the Christian world on the physical aspect the debate arises on the words spirit and soul. Therefore, it’s worth noting here that in the Old Testament (OT) there are two Hebrew words used to describe spirit or translated spirit in expressing the life principle we have as men, and they are NISHMAT AND WRUWACH.
NISHMAT means breath and WRUWACH means breath, life, mind. In the New Testament (NT) the word in Hebrew for spirit is PNEUMA (meaning breath, spirit). Again it is important as we attempt to demystify these terms to know about Hebrew poetry or writing is based on the principle of synonymous parallelism that’s when the first part or section of a statement is repeated in the second part expressing the same meaning in different but similar words. We need to keep this in mind as we study the subject of death and how the Bible answers it particularly in the OT.
What is, according to the Bible, a spirit? Basically we will discover as we study the Bible that it refers to the vital power that allows the body to function, or the energising force or electric current that gives the body the necessary vitality so that it can function, i.e, the electric current that allows the heart to pump, the lungs to breathe, nervous system to function etc. Let’s notice verses that use the words that are translated spirit in Hebrew, nishmat and wruwach in the OT.
Job 33: 4 “The spirit (ruwach) of God hath made me, and the breath (nishmat) of the Almighty hath given me life.” Notice the statements are parallel expressing the same meaning in different words. Spirit is similar to breath; God is similar to Almighty; hath made me is synonymous with hath given me life in the second-half of the verse. Therefore, ruwach and nishmat can be used interchangeably.
Job 27: 3 “All the while my breath (ruwach) (is) in me, and the spirit (nishmat) of God (is) in my nostrils;” KJV. Again here notice the spirit is in the nostrils.
Isaiah 42: 5 “Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath (nishmat) unto the people upon it, and spirit (ruwach) to them that walk therein:
Notice again the synonymous parallelism between the underlined statements confirming that spirit and breath are the same thing in the context of expressing the life principle of man. Incidentally, both animals and human beings have wruwach and nishmat, ie breath and spirit. Ecclesiastes 3 v 19-21.
“For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all (is) vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?’’
The wise man Solomon was asking who knows where the spirit goes, does man’s spirit go up? And those of animals go down? Since they all have the same breath in them. Man and animals are the same in the fact that the same energising force gives them power to have a heartbeat, lungs to pump, nervous system to function. Although human beings are far more greater or superior beings than animals they use the same energy source like a computer and a refrigerator they both use the same energy source but the other is more sophisticated than the other.
The NT verses have PNEUMA for the the word spirit and is equivalent to nishmat and ruwach. Analysing James 2 v 26 “For as the body without the spirit (pneuma) is dead, so faith without works is dead also”. John 19: 30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost (pneuma)”. The verse simply means Jesus stopped breathing and died. However, many have read into the text what is not written or said in the context trying to substantiate the claim that there is an invisible entity called the soul leaves the body and goes to heaven and yet the Bible definition of soul is not the distorted greek philosophy definition. The Bible definition of a spirit simple means breath of life in the context of the life of man.
Does man have a soul according to the Bible? NO, MAN IS A LIVING SOUL (DUST + BREATH OF LIFE = LIVING SOUL/BEING). Let’s consider a few texts that use the word soul in the OT or use the word NEPESH translated soul and analyse what they pertain to. Genesis 14 v 21; Gen 2 v 7; Gen 12 v 5.
Gen 12: 5 “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls (nepesh) that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came”. — KJV. The same verse in NIV, NLT, ESV use person instead of souls going with Abram. Therefore, as we further continue in our study trying to unravel the mystery of death we will discover that the Bible refers to souls as tangible, visible entities which are living beings or simple put person. Therefore, where did the immortal soul concept come from. Is it that same old lie of the serpent in the Garden of Eden to Eve.
Gen 3: 4-6 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’’.
Join me next week as we continue on the NT definition of soul and spirit and how Jesus addresses the subject of death. The Lord bless you. (0733484369/0717426517).
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