Difference between the spirit and the soul
This was a question that came to me some time ago. At first, I found it a little hard to explain the difference in simple terms, but now I think I get it. To begin, I would like to start from:
Job 14:10 "But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"
When a man dies, his natural body “wasteth away”, that is, it will diminish by gradual loss through decay. Here, the Bible also gives us a clear definition of what constitutes natural death, that is, when a man “giveth up the ghost”. What is meant by this term? In fact, we also find the same term in several other instances, for example:
Genesis 25:8 "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people."
What is “ghost”? Often, we read about the term “Holy Ghost” in the New Testament. Another name of the Holy Ghost is the “Holy Spirit”. The Bible also tells us in:
Luke 23:46 "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."
Therefore, ghost is another term for “spirit”. That is to say, death occurs when the spirit of man is departed from his natural body. This is then, when his natural body will begin to diminish by gradual loss through decay. Speaking to Adam after he had sinned the sin of death, God said to him in:
Genesis 3:19 "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
The natural body will ultimately return to dust, for it was made from dust on the first place, as we read in:
Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Adam became a living soul when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Therein also is the basic relationship between the spirit, soul and body established. Zechariah tells us in:
Zechariah 12:1 "The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him."
Comparing these verses, we know that God (external agent) breathed the “breath of life” (spirit) into the man which he formed from the dust of the ground (body) and man became a “living soul” (soul). God did not form the soul, but man “became a living soul”, which is to say, his soul came from the breath of life, which is spirit.
Genesis 2:22 "And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."
Just like how the woman was taken out of a man, the soul was also taken out of the spirit. In fact, the psalmist by inspiration of the Holy Ghost tells us in:
Psalms 34:2 "My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad."
This goes to show that the soul of a person is of a female gender, regardless of the physical gender.
Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"
The church is the bride of Christ. She is the reason why Jesus Christ came, and paid for her liberty with his life. In the same manner, Jesus tells us in:
Matthew 16:26 "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Christ was the Son of man who gave his own life in exchange for the souls of whosoever believeth in him, that is, the church.
Ephesians 5:31-32 "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."
This was Paul quoting from Genesis 2:24, and it goes to show that the church was taken out from Christ, even as the woman was taken out of the man.
Ephesians 5:23 "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."
Christ is the head and the church is the body. The head and the body is one flesh, even as the man and his wife is one flesh, and the spirit and the soul is one in the same flesh. Paul calls it "great mystery". I hope this is a clear enough explanation of the difference between the spirit and the soul, well, at least this is what I see from Scripture.