Further response to "Word Maze" Soul/Spirit
 

Gordon Brown 
3150 Iris Ave., #205 
Boulder, CO 80301 

From: PSCF 42 (September 1990): 200.

When I saw that the "Word Maze" column in the March, 1990 issue of Perspectives was about the words "soul" and "spirit," I anticipated an informative discussion of the difference between these two concepts, a topic which is very interesting and also apparently quite important in light of the discussion in I Corinthians 15 of the two types of bodies which are designated by the adjective forms of these two words.  

Instead, I found a discussion which seemed to deny the existence of entities that leave the body at death. Professor Bube pointed out that his view affects the question of the morality of abortion. It would appear that other specific issues affected by such a view are those of infanticide and euthanasia. 

Certainly the words for "soul" and "spirit" in the Biblical languages have a broad range of meanings, including life, breath, and wind. There are, however, a number of instances when these words, especially "spirit," are
apparently used in the Scriptures to indicate entities existing apart from a body. Some of these are Luke 8:55, Luke 23:46, Acts 7:59, I Corinthians 5:5, James 2:26, Revelation 6:9, and Revelation 20:4. The Scriptures also contain numerous references to the casting out of evil or unclean spirits. We are told in Acts 23:8,9 that the Sadducees did not believe in spirits. The context makes it seem unlikely that they 

In summary, there appears to be ample evidence that the Scriptures teach the existence of entities that continue to exist after the death of the body in which they had resided.