Bible Dictionaries
Soul

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

denotes "the breath, the breath of life," then "the soul," in its various meanings. The NT uses "may be analyzed approximately as follows:

(a) the natural life of the body, Matthew 2:20; Luke 12:22; Acts 20:10; Revelation 8:9; 12:11; cp. Leviticus 17:11; 2 Samuel 14:7; Esther 8:11; (b) the immaterial, invisible part of man, Matthew 10:28; Acts 2:27; cp. 1 Kings 17:21; (c) the disembodied (or "unclothed" or "naked," 2 Corinthians 5:3,4 ) man, Revelation 6:9; (d) the seat of personality, Luke 9:24 , explained as == "own self," Luke 9:25; Hebrews 6:19; 10:39; cp. Isaiah 53:10 with 1 Timothy 2:6; (e) the seat of the sentient element in man, that by which he perceives, reflects, feels, desires, Matthew 11:29; Luke 1:46; 2:35; Acts 14:2,22; cp. Psalm 84:2; 139:14; Isaiah 26:9; (f) the seat of will and purpose, Matthew 22:37; Acts 4:32; Ephesians 6:6; Philippians 1:27; Hebrews 12:3; cp. Numbers 21:4; Deuteronomy 11:13; (g) the seat of appetite, Revelation 18:14; cp. Psalm 107:9; Proverbs 6:30; Isaiah 5:14 ("desire"); 29:8; (h) persons, individuals, Acts 2:41,43; Romans 2:9; James 5:20; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:14; cp. Genesis 12:5; 14:21 ("persons"); Leviticus 4:2 ('any one'); Ezekiel 27:13; of dead bodies, Numbers 6:6 , lit., "dead soul;" and of animals, Leviticus 24:18 , lit., "soul for soul;" (i) the equivalent of the personal pronoun, used for emphasis and effect:, 1st person, John 10:24 ("us"); Hebrews 10:38; cp. Genesis 12:13; Numbers 23:10; Judges 16:30; Psalm 120:2 ("me"); 2nd person, 2 Corinthians 12:15; Hebrews 13:17; James 1:21; 1 Peter 1:9; 2:25; cp. Leviticus 17:11; 26:15; 1 Samuel 1:26; 3 rd person, 1 Peter 4:19; 2 Peter 2:8; cp. Exodus 30:12; Job 32:2 , Heb. "soul," Sept. "self;" (j) an animate creature, human or other, 1 Corinthians 15:45; Revelation 16:3; cp. Genesis 1:24; 2:7,19; (k) "the inward man," the seat of the new life, Luke 21:19 (cp. Matthew 10:39 ); 1 Peter 2:11; 3 John 1:2 .

"With (j) compare a-psuchos, "soulless, inanimate," 1 Corinthians 14:7 .

"With (f) compare di-psuchos, "two-souled," James 1:8; 4:8; oligo-psuchos, "feeble-souled," 1 Thessalonians 5:14; iso-psuchos, "like-souled," Philippians 2:20; sum-psuchos, "joint-souled" (with one accord"), Philippians 2:2 .

"The language of Hebrews 4:12 suggests the extreme difficulty of distinguishing between the soul and the spirit, alike in their nature and in their activities. Generally speaking the spirit is the higher, the soul the lower element. The spirit may be recognized as the life principle bestowed on man by God, the soul as the resulting life constituted in the individual, the body being the material organism animated by soul and spirit. ...

"Body and soul are the constituents of the man according to Matthew 6:25; 10:28; Luke 12:20; Acts 20:10; body and spirit according to Luke 8:55; 1 Corinthians 5:3; 7:34; James 2:26 . In Matthew 26:38 the emotions are associated with the soul, in John 13:21 with the spirit; cp. also Psalm 42:11 with 1 Kings 21:5 . In Psalm 35:9 the soul rejoices in God, in Luke 1:47 the spirit.

"Apparently, then, the relationships may be thus summed up 'Soma, body, and pneuma, spirit, may be separated, pneuma and psuche, soul, can only be distinguished' (Cremer)."* [* From notes on Thessalonians, by Hogg and Vine, pp. 205-207.]