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What Leaves the Body at Death?
Printed: 25 April 1993; Reformatted: December 2001 What Leaves the Body at Death?
What leaves the body at death? Is it the spirit and what is the difference between the soul and thespirit? This is a very complex subject. Death is described in the Bible as the giving up of the spirit(pneuma; Luke 23:46) and the laying down or departure of the soul (AV: life, Greek: psuche;John 10:11, 15, 17). A full study of such a question needs a list of every occurrence of where thewords spirit, breath, soul, life and body are used throughout the Bible. Then each verse has to beexamined to see how these terms are used alone in each context and in combinations of one or more ofthese words in relation to a person or body.
In the absence of such detailed research, an assessment is possible on the basis of several key verses.
1.1. Spirit
Ez 37:8 – … and I beheld and lo the sinews and flesh came up on them (the dry bones) and
the skin covered them but there was no spirit in them.
Rev 11:11 – … spirit of life (Greek: zoe) out of God entered into them and they stood up
on their feet … – referring to the two dead witnesses.
James 2:26 – … a body without spirit is dead … – as were the dry bones of Ez 37:8.
A principle is evident in these verses: it is the spirit that gives life to the creature and the spirit
originates from God. The spirit is an essence or substance (like breath) which has no shape nor visible
form to indicate its presence. (This is to be distinguished from spirit beings that can exist independently
of a body.) Hence when the creature dies, the body goes to corruption but the spirit which gave it life
returns to God from whence it came.
1.2. Soul
The soul is neither body nor spirit. Paul refers to the three components in 1 Thess 5:23, when he asks
for a blessing for the whole assembly and refers to it as a living entity having a body (soma), soul
(psuche) and spirit (pneuma). Jesus states that God is spirit and hence we find in Matt 12:18 a
reference to God's Soul (psuche) and God's Spirit (pneuma) – Jesus is the physical manifestation of the
Godhead. In Acts 2:27, Peter quotes David as saying Thou wilt not abandon my soul (psuche) in hell
(Greek: Hades) (Hebrew: Sheol) – the spirit is not mentioned because it has already returned to God).
Soul is used throughout Scripture in reference to any living thing. It expresses the nature, characterand personality of the individual – whether man or animal. Hence it identifies the individual andaccounts for the differences between one individual and another. The difficulty in explaining it arisesbecause, while body and soul can be separated, the soul and the spirit can only be distinguished(Heb 4:12).
In the Greek text of John 10:17, Jesus said that He lays down His soul (psuche) for Israel. The word
psuche means soul – not body, not spirit and not life (as translated in the AV). And in this same verse
Jesus stated He would take up His soul again when He rose from the dead. In Luke 24:37, when Jesus
appeared to the Apostles after His resurrection, they all took fright thinking they were seeing a spirit.
But Jesus said … a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. Hence Jesus, when resurrected,
had His own body, His own soul and His own spirit (commended to the Father from the stake) which
gave Him life.
Thus, in terms of the original question, when a living thing dies whether it be plant, animal or man: its spirit (the life-principle) returns to God but what happens to the soul depends very much on whether we are discussing animal, vegetable,natural man or an Israelite! By putting His Name Jehovah (The God of the Living) on Israel (Ex 6:3,4) God, in effect, guarantees
their ultimate resurrection and continuity as an Eternal People. But because all Israelites must die (as a
consequence of Adamic sin) it is necessary to preserve the souls of all Israelites from the time of death
until their resurrection to either everlasting life or to shame and age-long contempt (Dan 12:2).
Therefore, when an Israelite dies (whether good or bad), we are told:
the body goes to the grave and corruption but the soul – that quality which identifies the individual person – sleeps with the fathers in
Sheol (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek).
When asleep in normal life we have no conscious communication, knowledge, understanding or speechwith anyone, nor are we conscious of anything that is going on around us or in the world at large.
Hence in death there is likewise no conscious knowledge of any activity beyond the grave until theSecond Advent (Ecc 9:10).
We can say nothing about what happens when a natural man dies; the Bible is silent with respect totheir resurrection options. However, the soul of an animal perishes completely, along with its body, asdoes, eventually, the soul of the disbelieving Israelite (Ps 49:12,20). Jesus confirms this warning in theNew Covenant: Matt 10:28: And fear not them which kill the body (soma), but are not able to kill the soul(psuche): but rather fear Him Which is able to destroy (Greek: destroys) both soul (psuche)and body (soma) in hell (Ge-Henna). Luke 12:4,5: And I say unto you My friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body(soma), and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you Whom yeshall fear: fear Him Which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell (Ge-Henna);yea I say unto you, fear (Him). The Greek verb translated fear, is used in two ways. The first is the common meaning of to be afraidof. The second is the reverential fear which Vine describes as not a mere fear of His power andrighteous retribution, but a wholesome dread of displeasing Him. For example, men do not usuallyswear in front women for fear of displeasing or offending them. The meaning is well illustrated in Josh24:14: … fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth … By way of further elucidation, both of what has been said above and of what has been mistranslated in
our Bibles, we should be aware of the word Hell. Hell is used to translate two common Greek words
(Hades and Ge-Henna) and is used in everyday conversation to refer to a place where people are
tormented forever. Hell is not only wrong as a translation of either of the Greek words, it is
meaningless in association with "eternal torment", because no such thing is described in the Bible.
1.3. Hades
From Acts 2:27 we can establish that Hades is the New Covenant equivalent of Sheol in the OldCovenant. From the usage of Sheol it is best translated by (The) Grave – that is, not just any grave.
The more popular meaning of Hades as "the unseen world" is derived from its common Greek usageoutside of the Bible. In an 1877 commentary on the Prayer Book, we find the following notes againstthe word Hell (in the Apostle's Creed) it states: "Hell", Hades, the unseen world, into which the soul passes when it is separated from thebody, and where it awaits the resurrection of the body and the final judgement. Thisclause shows that Christ had a reasonable human soul, which was subject at death toexactly the same law as we are subject to, We have been taught to believe that after Jesus died on the stake, He descended into Hell, meaning
some awesome place below. But this is not true – His soul descended into The Grave where there is no
work, device, knowledge or wisdom (Ecc 9:10). It is certainly not Satan's domain. (Until the time of
Jesus' death, Satan legally owned the dead bodies (Jude 9) but Jesus' death paid the price for these
bodies, including His own.) Consequently, Jesus states (Rev 1:18) that He holds the keys of Death and
The Grave. After the Day of Judgement, The Grave and Death will be cast into the Lake of fire, the
lake, the (one) of fire (Rev 20:14).
Peter states that Jesus, having died in the flesh was quickened in spirit. After He had risen, Jesus went
and proclaimed, not preached, His victory over death to the angels in prison (Tartarus, 2 Pet 2:4,
1 Pet 3:19). These are not the souls in The Grave because that is the place from which He had just
risen and the souls in The Grave have no knowledge of anything, including such a proclamation by
Jesus.
The spirit which quickened Jesus was His own spirit returning to Him at the end of His three days inthe heart of The Earth. This was in accordance with the power and authority which He held but hadlaid aside at the start of those three days (on the morning of Thursday, 14th Nisan). Similarly, at theFirst Resurrection, it is only those spirits that hear and understand the shouted command of the voice ofthe Son of God (John 5:25) that will leave their place with God to raise their respective souls from TheGrave. (Those amongst the living who are acceptable are changed into their eternal form in thetwinkling of an eye, 1 Cor 15:52.) 1.4. Ge-Henna
In the Old Covenant, Ge-Hinnom, the Vale of Hinnom (the vale of burning), was the place outside thegates of Jerusalem where children were passed through fire in worship of Moloch. In later times thevalley was the place where carrion (carcasses, offal etc.) and other refuse from the Temple wasdestroyed by means of a fire always kept burning. At the time of Jesus the valley had become therubbish dump for Jerusalem where the city's garbage and other worthless refuse was incinerated in acontinual fire. It was from this historical basis that Ge-Henna became associated with the true place ofdestruction in the New Covenant Scriptures. It should be translated as The Place of Destruction whichconveys something of its meaning, rather than transliterated which conveys none of its meaning.
Hence we find in the Greek text of Matt 5:22 that Jesus refers to The Place of Destruction, the (one) offire and in Matt 18:8 the AV refers to the hell of fire, but the Greek refers to the fire, the eternal (one).
From these references it follows that The Place of Destruction and the Lake of Fire and Sulphur areone and the same.
As stated earlier, when an Israelite dies, the spirit returns to God and the body goes into the ground.
The soul goes to The Grave where it is held incommunicado until the resurrection. Sheol occurs 65
times in the Old Covenant Scriptures. Its factors, 5 x 13, tell us that The Grave is a place of division
affecting the spirit (13 is the number of Division – rebellion does not occur before there is division; 5 is
the number of the Spirit). The Grave divides the soul from the spirit. Hades is used only 10 times in
the New Covenant Scriptures – 10 is the number of sufficiency (for example, 10 Commandments are
sufficient to embody the Law). The 10 occurrences of Hades and its association with death tell us that
physical death is a sufficient price to pay for our sin (under the Law) and no further price is to be paid.
But the price to escape eternal death is a different matter.
At the First Resurrection, those who have already died but are deemed acceptable to Jesus because of
their belief will be raised. They will live in their eternal form with their body, soul and spirit intact.
Those who are not acceptable and those who die during the Millennium will be raised from The Grave
at the Second Resurrection. They also will have their body, soul and spirit but will face the judgement
of the Great White Throne. This is not a judgement based on active belief but judgement based on
ignorance of or rejection of God and how that individual treated his fellow Israelites. Some will receive
the judgement foretold in the parable of the Ten Talents – their spirit will be taken from them and given
to others and the remaining husk of body and soul will be cast into the Lake of Fire. It is not the
casting in that is to be feared but the doom which follows. That destruction is the total extinction of
both the body and the soul. For such a person no eternal life is possible.
At the time of the First Resurrection, the Beast and False Prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire. Priorto the Second Resurrection, Satan is also cast into the Lake of Fire and all three spirit beings are triedand examined unto the ages of the ages .
The last things cast into The Place of Destruction are Death, The Grave and those whose names are
not written in the Book of Life, Rev 20:14. These events complete the restoration of the Order of Earth
and Heavens made by God Himself (last part of Gen 2:4). Twelve is the number of order or system
hence we find the Order of Earth and Heavens is identified by mention of only 12 members of Adam's
lineage prior to the Flood and 12 patriarchs who continue the lineage from Shem to Jacob after the
Flood. Similarly, there are 12 tribes in the Order of Israel. Therefore, as Ge-Henna occurs just 12
times in the New Covenant Scriptures, it tells us that the fires of this place are the order or system for
destroying evil.
1.5. Conclusion
It is unfortunate that both the AV and RSV have mistranslated Sheol and Hades indiscriminately asHell, the grave, the pit and Ge-Henna to the confusion of all who read those versions. The worst partof the confusion is that it hides from us the relatively simple and straight-forward understanding ofwhat happens to us at death and why there is nothing to fear in dying. Everyone has the capacity toverify these things for themselves by using an interlinear version to identify which Hebrew or Greekword has been used in the relevant verses. It takes some extra effort to reveal the meanings containedin the correct words and in the related numbers. But the magnitude of that effort is far outweighed bythe magnitude of the reward.
Jos 24:14 .2
A
L
Acts 2:27 .1, 3
Luke 12: 4,5 .2
C
Luke 23:46 .1
Col 15:52 .3
Luke 24:37 .1
D
M
Dan 12: 2.2
Mat 5:22 .3
Mat 10:28 .2
E
Mat 12:18 .1
Ecc 9:10.2, 3
Mat 18: 8. 3
Exo 6: 3,4 .2
P
Ez 37: 8 .1
Pet 2: 4 .3
G
Pet 3:19 .3
Gen 2: 4 .4
Psa 49: 12,20 .2
H
R
Heb 4:12 .1
Rev 1:18 .3
J
Rev 11:11 .1
Rev 20:14 . 3, 4
Jam 2:26 .1
John 5:25 .3
T
John 10:11 .1
Thess 5:23 .1
John 10:15,17 .1
John 10:17 .1

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