Questions & Answers

There are several words in Hebrew or Greek that can be translated "soul" or "spirit," and they are not entirely interchangeable. Each word covers certain "territory" that the other words don't. For instance, one Hebrew word often translated "soul" can also mean "throat," "living thing," or "person" (just as when we say, "That congregation has 200 souls"). The word translated "spirit" can also mean "wind" or "breath." The situation in Greek is very similar.

On the other hand, there is a lot of "overlap" in the meaning of these words. When they are used for the non-material part of a human being, they seem to be talking about the same reality from different points of view. For instance, the sacred writers prefer to use one term that's often translated "soul" to refer to what human beings have. They like to use another term (translated "spirit") for what the angels have, too.

Scripture most often refers to human beings as two "parts," not three (See Ecclesiastes 12:7 and Matthew 10:28). When both "soul" and "spirit" occur in the same verse (as in Luke 1:46-47, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, or Hebrews 4:12), the point usually isn't to make a distinction between them.