Adams body of flesh and blood is what died, but the breath of life that God breathed into Adam, does not die, but returns back to God. This being the spirit of Adam, which does not die.
Yes, Stephens body of flesh and blood fell asleep in death. But Stephens spirit does not die, but returns back to God.
Lazarus body of flesh and blood was in the tomb, but the spirit of Lazarus was not in the tomb. But returned back to God, and when Jesus called out to Lazarus to come forth out of the tomb, the spirit of life returned back to Lazarus.
You are attributing a personality to 'spirit'? In Hebrew, spirit is 'rū*ach (rū*hōw' in vs.4 meaning 'his breath') [source:
Psalm 146 Interlinear Bible] ; it simply means breath, nothing more.
"The Greek word
pneuma (as in
pneumonia, a breathing disease) means
breath or
wind – the movement of air. In other Bible translations, this word is often translated as spirit or ghost, as in Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. However,
spirit is just a shortened form of the Latin word
spiritu, which once again just means
breath in Latin. And
ghostconveys another meaning altogether.
In the Bible, the most common use of the word
pneuma is to convey the idea of a force that can’t be seen, such as
breath or
wind. And the problem with translating it as
spirit or
ghost, as is done in other Bibles, is that those words have been given religious meanings that aren’t really implied by the Greek texts.
Therefore, to prevent confusion, the Greek word
pneuma is frequently translated herein as
breath and occasionally as
wind. However, there are many exceptions, as in instances where the Bible refers to demons as ‘spirits.’ Translating
pneuma as
breath in these cases, although correct, might just be confusing. So, there are several places where we have left
pneuma translated as
spirit, since that English word has taken on a meaning of its own.
For example; there are instances where the word pneuma is speaking of a person’s motivation (the
spirit of why we do something). Therefore, we have translated
pneuma as
spirit in such locations, as we have also done in several places that speak of God’s Holy Spirit, where readers will better understand the meaning in Modern English.
Nevertheless, rendering it as
[God’s] Holy Breath (which we have done in other places) is really more accurate and a clarification. For an example, see the Note, ‘
Worshiping God In Spirit and Truth.’
Another important use of the word
pneuma is in the phrase, ‘Breath of Life.’ This term appears to mean more than just breathing, for it seems to refer to the entire mechanics of life itself. It’s the unseen force of life within all living creatures and it’s what makes each cell alive.
However, nowhere does the Bible describe the ‘pneuma’ as immortal, nor is it the same as the soul (a breathing thing); so, it can (figuratively) return to the God who gave it when someone dies, because all hope of future life depends on God and His promise of a resurrection.
Note in particular how the term
pneuma is found in the Greek Septuagint text at Job 27:3, where Job was speaking of God’s Breath or Spirit. For there he asked:
‘Does the
Breath of the Divine One remain in my nose?’
As you can see from his application of this word,
pneuma obviously referred to God’s Breath, not Holy Spirit, for he was clearly talking about that which comes from God and which caused him (Job) to breathe… the Breath of Life.
It is interesting that at Genesis 6:3, God said concerning the wicked people on earth before the Downpour:
‘I won’t allow My Breath to stay with these men through the age, for they are fleshly.’
In Greek, that reads:
‘Ou me katameine to
pneuma mou en tois anthropois toutoiseis ton aiona, dia ai einai autous sarka,’
or,
‘Not not should stay the
Breath Mine with these men the age through, their being flesh.’
Notice that
most other Bibles translate the word pneuma as
Spirit here. Yet, while the words
Breath Mine (
pneuma mou) could possibly refer to God’s Holy Breath, it seems more likely that He was really referring to
the breath of life that He gave to Adam, since the wicked people of that age didn’t demonstrate that they had the Breath or Spirit of God. And from this, it appears as though what God was saying is that the breath of life of the people of that age would be removed prematurely, or that they would die.
However, since God referred to it as ‘My Breath;’ note that there may be a link implied between God’s Holy Breath and the breath of life. For more information, see the linked document, ‘
The Powers of God’s Holy Spirit.’
You can see how rendering the word
pneuma as
breath can clarify the meaning of a Bible verse in the instance found at John 19:30. For it says there concerning the death of Jesus (in Greek):
‘kai klinas ten kephalen paredoken to pneuma,’
or,
‘and inclined his head giving/up the breath.’
So, rather than saying that Jesus gave up his
spirit (which is how it is rendered in other Bibles), implying that Jesus then went to God (which he didn’t, because the Bible tells us that he didn’t go there until forty days later), the obvious reference here is to his giving up ‘the breath of life,’ or the force that maintained Jesus’ life as a human."
http://www.2001translation.com/NOTES.htm#_30
