The Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground (body), and breathed into his nostrils the
breath (spirit) of life; and man became a living
soul (soul)".
Genesis 2:7. It is not said that man became spirit and soul; but rather, that God inbreathed spirit, and man became a living soul.
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (
1 Thessalonians 5:23)
If you look at
Genesis 2:7 adam does not have a soul.But in
1 Thessalonians 5:23 man DOES have a soul
I found all of this at this website: The Errors of Soul Sleep
Regarding the O.P. Quote : "
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23)"
Hi
@Frank Goad Just a quick observation on the quote in the O.P. (which changes the context of the controversy).
Your quote adds what it not there as well as leaving out out the first phrase entirely and it doesn’t indicate potential variable division of phrases.
The Greek actually says
Αυτος δε ο θεος της ειρηνης αγιασαι υμας ολοτελεις και ολοκληρον υμων το πνβευμα και η ψυχη και το σωμα αμεμπτως εν τη παρουσια του κθριου ημων Ιησου Χριστου τηρηθειν.
1) ADDING UNAUTHENTIC LANGUAGE TO THE TEXT
The O.P. quote of Thess 5:23 adds the phrase “
I pray”. This doesn’t appear in any Greek source text and is not part of any genuine text.
2) REGARDING VARIABLE DIVISIONS / PARATACTIC PHRASES
The first phrase is “
May the God of Peace himself, sanctify you entirely…”
The second phrase is “…
and your spirit completely….”
The third phrase is “….
and your soul
The forth phrase
or second sentence (depending upon Johns meaning and sentence division by the translator) is :
“[May] your body be held (protected/preserved/etc) blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
The author of John uses many paratactic sentences. That is, he offers a verb and applies it to multiple subsequent phrases or sentences (thus the correct English translation is affected by the translators opinion as to whether the phrase is independent or not….).
IF this specific text is frankly paratactic then John is saying “
May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely (ολοτελεις). And may he sanctify [paratactic] your spirit and your soul completely (ολοκληρο).” And may your body be held blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess 5:23.
The main point is that the division of phrases does not necessarily lump spirit, soul and body in the same sort of union the O.P. assumes.
3) THE EARLY JUDEO-CHRISTIAN USE OF THE TERMS "SPIRIT", "BODY" AND "SOUL".
I agree with the various posters who point out that the spirit is the entity that is intelligent and it is placed into a body. Together, this union of body and spirit is a “soul”. This is the model that is most common in the Early Judeo-Christian literature and, I think, it is the most rational and logical model.
In any case Frank Goad, I hope your spiritual journey is wonderful and satisfying as you attempt to work out these issues of text and faith.
Clear
ειτζφυτωω
