I posted this elsewhere, last year, apologies for the length, they have a 24k limit on posts
Biblical Anthropology: A minority view
Sources:
P S Johnston, "Humanity", in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology
J K Chamblin, "Psychology", in Dictionary of Paul and his Letters
D Guthrie, New Testament Theology, pp164f
H Ridderbos, Paul
J W Cooper, Body Soul and Life Everlasting, 2nd Edition
R Nash, Ultimate Questions
"[To speak of a person's soul] is not to speak of a ghost residing in a person. It is to speak of the person himself - that essential core which makes us persons. Christians are very clear that we are meant to be embodied. In this life and in our ultimate intended state after death, personhood is expressed in bodily form: it is incarnated [my emphasis]. But our personhood can survive the death of our present bodies. The power of God which gives us life now, can continue our conscious personal history in a new body.
C Stephen Evans, The Quest for Faith, p123, q in Ronald Nash, Ultimate Questions, p375"
The question of Biblical anthropology has two foci: the Biblical evidence, and theological exposition. It is the belief of many over recent decades that the theological exposition of the Biblical evidence has been slanted by extra-biblical considerations, to wit, Greek neoPlatonist philosophy, which entered the church during the ECF times, and has never been fully expunged. We see such considerations arising in the field of the Doctrine of God, as related by the proponents of Open Theism, who claim that the Classic understanding of God owes more to Greek philosophical concepts such as "impassibility", than to the Biblical picture of God. Whether it does or not (and i own a certain influence, but not to the extent OVers do) is not the issue here. MY post will examine anthropology, with the same concern.
In common parlance, the idea is that we are two parts: a corporeal shell, which shall die, and an imm ortal soul, which shall not. We often say that we have a soul (while ignoring the illogic of that statement: who is it that has a soul); we consider that the soul is perduring in itself, is naturally immortal, and the old idea of the after-life is of "souls" in heaven with God. This view was reinforced by Descartes and his dualism, which bedevils Western thinking in all areas of our lives, ie, that Intellectual pursuits are better than manual ones, and that intelligence is a measure of worth.
Christianity has generally held to what is termed the dichotomous view of human anthropology (body and soul), with the Eastern orthodox holding to a trichotomy (body, soul, and spirit). There is trichotomy within Western Christian thought, but usually as related to those who are born again, and thus become body, soul and spirit. During the 17th century, such views came under attack philosophically, from a materialistic angle, and later in the discoveries of neurobiology in the 20th, but within Christian thought, the idea of an ontological dualism was attacked by such as Oscar Cullmann, coming from a Biblical Theology angle, who challenged what he saw as incipient platonist dualism with a more Biblical Hebraic holism (or as John Cooper calls it [see sources] Holistic Dualism).
The Scriptural Evidence
In the Old Testament, we find the word nepe.
It denotes the whole person, as a "living being",
Scripture Verse:
Gen 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require;
Lev 4:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD [concerning things] which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:
It has a wider use following on from that main use, such as "inner desires" covering a range from simple physical appetites to longing to serve God,
Scripture Verse:
Pro 23:1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
Pro 23:2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Though the word is at times translated as "soul" in our English versions, it does not denote "soul" in a dualistic sense. That would be reading into the text.
Another word used in the OT is ruach, often translated as spirit. it is often used to denote the link between humans and the Divine, by denoting non-physical attributes such as thoughts, abilities, etc:
Scripture Verse:
Exo 28:3 And thou shalt speak unto all [that are] wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.
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Overall, the OT presents an anthropology of humanity based on a psychosomatic unity, rather than the duality of a material body holding a separate though interacting immaterial soul. Its eschatology also is focussed not on the separation of "body" and "soul", though there are indications of this in their view of the place of the dead, but the final reunion of the two in the resurrection.
Scripture Verse:
Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.
Non Biblicists would of course point this out as being evidence of the primitive nature of Hebrew beliefs, in which everything is grounded in a "realistic" view of things, and that only physicaly resurrection and future life is what counts. So be it, let them say.
In the New Testament we find an equal emphasis on the whole person, in which salvation is not simply a matter of getting our souls into heaven, but the future resurrection and blessing of being in whole bodies is the aim.
Two main terms are used, particularly in Paul, that of psyche and pneuma, with synonyms. The two terms represent different aspects of nonphysical human nature (only a complete Eliminative Materialist would deny that mental events are not physical at all), and that the use of these terms is primarly relational and theological, rather than biological and psychological. Psyche represents our relations to this world, this present evil age; pneuma represents our relations to God and the future age. From such terms Paul derives psychikon and pneumatikon, natural and spiritual.
Psyche. "Soul" in most EVV. This is, Guthrie points out, the least important of Paul's terms, occuring only 13 times in his writings. it denotes firstly, a man's life, his natural beingness,
Scripture Verse:
Rom 11:3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Rom 16:4 Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Phi 2:30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
It denotes oneself:
Scripture Verse:
1Th 2:8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
It denotes life as such, whether human or not:
Scripture Verse:
1Co 14:7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
Its opposite is apsychos = lifeless.
It denotes the whole person:
Scripture Verse:
Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
It even seems to denote will, or intention:
Scripture Verse:
Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Eph 6:6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart [where one might expect to find kardia;
Phi 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Some might point to
Scripture Verse:
1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But this is one verse, and appears to be emphatic in its usage; you can't build a doctrine on one verse, and this favours the tripartite view, not the dichotomous view of standard Western theology.
It is noted by Guthrie that Paul never links "body" and "soul" in a definition of the human person, since either covers both ideas; he has no "lofty" view of the soul apart from the whole person; and that pneuma has priority in his view, utilizing the meaning range of nepe, and also modifying it.
continued...
