In Genesis 2:7 it says man became a living soul.Not that he was given a soul.
Exactly.....a body + breath (spirit) = a soul. A soul is mortal and needs breath in order to stay alive.....it also requires food and water, otherwise it dies. Sin is responsible for death among humans. (Ezekiel 18:4)
And in (1 Thessalonians 5:23).It says we are made up of spirit soul and body.
"May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may the spirit and soul and body of you brothers, sound in every respect, be preserved blameless at the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ."
This is speaking about the 'spirit, soul and body' of the Christian brotherhood. Another meaning of the word "soul" is "life". When God's Law stated that there should be
"eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, soul [nephesh] for a soul [nephesh]"....it was talking about a life being given for a life taken.
This is how the Jewish Tanach renders it...
"You shall not have pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."
Also in (Hebrews 4:12) it says we are soul and spirit.And we are made of joints and marrow.Which I think is referencing to (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
"For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart."
God’s Word does not stop at just a surface view of human actions but it penetrates beneath the surface to discern motives and attitudes, to divide between fleshly desires and mental dispositions. That these two forces exist within an individual Paul shows:
“With my mind I myself am a slave to God’s law, but with my flesh to sin’s law.” (
Rom. 7:25) With his mind Paul served God’s law, but with his flesh he served the law of sin. So the life one lives as a human soul of flesh and blood may be different from what is one’s mental attitude or spirit.
Also in 1 Kings 17:20-22 it says Elijah brought a boy back to life.He prayed for his soul to come back to him.And it did.
"Soul" also means "life"...so the boy's life was returned to him.
But in Genesis 2:7 it says we don't have a soul. Also in Hebrews 4:12.When it talks about us having a soul. Is it just talking about our being? Like in Genesis 2:7?
The soul is the living, breathing creature, whether man or animal. We don't have a soul that inhabits our body and can leave it when we die. What leaves our body is our spirit which in Greek is "pneuma". In English we have pneumatic tires and we suffer with pneumonia....it has to do with air and breath.
Psalm 146:4 says...
"His spirit goes out, he returns to the ground;
On that very day his thoughts perish."
This is the breath of life that goes out of the body when we breathe our last. If you have ever been with someone who has died, then you know that the breath exits the lungs when they stop working. The spirit goes out much like a light "goes out". It doesn't leave the room but is extinguished.
In Luke 1:46-47.Is it talking about the same thing in Hebrews 4:12?
Mary's expression here is one of gratefully acknowledging God's choosing of her as the mother of the Messiah.
"And Mary said: “My soul magnifies Jehovah, 47 and my spirit cannot keep from being overjoyed at God my Savior".
Mary's deepest inner feelings and her spirit soared at Gabriel's announcement.
The Hebrew "
ruʹach" and the Greek "
pneuʹma" are used with reference to (1) wind, (2) the life-force in earthly creatures, (3) the impelling force that issues from a person’s figurative heart and causes him to say and do things in a certain way, (4) inspired expressions originating from an invisible source, (5) spirit persons, and (6) God’s holy spirit.
Context determines the correct rendering.