Language Studies

Greek Thoughts

analusis - αναλυσις (Strong's #359)
Dissolution, separation of soul and body

During the apostle Paul's second Roman imprisonment as he realized the certainty of his not far distant death, he wrote to his protégé Timothy, "For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come" (2 Timothy 4:6). The word "departure" in this passage is translated from the Greek noun αναλυσις (Philippians 1:23), when his fate was uncertain and he thought he may be put to death (Philippians 2:17). This is also the same word from which we get the English word "analysis." Webster defines the term: "dissolving; a resolution (separating or breaking up) of a whole into its parts."^F1 Bagster says: "dissolution; metaphorically departure, death."^F2 Pickering states: "analysis, a resolving, removal, dissolution; deliverance or release from."^F3 Thayer adds the following definitions: "An unloosing (as of things woven), a dissolving (into separate parts); departure (a metaphor drawn from loosing the moorings preparatory to setting sail) . . . or, according to others, from breaking up an encampment."^F4 Finally, "Schleusner explains the sense as meaning: dissolution, separation of soul and body."^F5 Just as Paul pondered the certainty of his death, so, the subject of death is something everyone contemplates at some point in their lives. There are many questions we all have regarding death that will remain unanswered until the day when faith ends in site and hope in realization (Hebrews 11:1). However, we may reach some very definite conclusions regarding the characteristics of this experience awaiting all of us at the end of life's day, by turning to the truths of God's sacred word and the allusions found therein to man's passing. James explicitly defined death as that condition which is obtained when the spirit, the conscious entity of man derived directly from God (Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Hebrews 12:9), is no longer in the body (James 2:26). Paul alluded to this when he wrote to the Philippians, "For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you" (Philippians 1:23,24). Even as the apostle struggled with the anxiety of remaining with those he loved, he nevertheless, anticipated and looked forward to the time when the spirit would depart (αναλυσαι), "separate back again" from his body and he would be with the Lord Jesus in heaven.

The word "departure" in our text is therefore a metaphor and suggests the idea of separation. Thus through the original Greek language we see in this word that which is loosed or released and returns back to that from which it originated. However, a brief look at the different word pictures Thayer suggests in his definition will allow us to catch a glimpse of what we may expect when it is our turn to depart from this earth and to walk into the gathering twilight of death. Thayer begins by depicting the unraveling of a garment by the unloosing and separation of the threads of a woven cloth. The application is that just as a piece of cloth, by unraveling, returns to the element out of which it was made, so the individual, in death undergoes the separation of body and spirit. Separated, the body returns to the dust out of which it was made and the spirit flies back into the unseen realm there to be with God, its originator (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Next, Thayer draws an analysis wherein there is a dissolving or division into constituent parts or elements. The relevance is the dissolving into separate parts the elements of the body, soul, and spirit which constitute man (1 Thessalonians 5:23), thus the resolving of man into his original nature. Thayer's final definition "departure" metaphorically describes death in a twofold illustration: First, by the nautical image of the loosing of the cables of a ship in order to sail away from a port. As a great ship makes way to depart out to sea there is the excitement of the activity surrounding those boarding, the tears of parting, the excitement of a new adventure and the throaty sound of the ships whistle announcing the time of departure. As the ship glides out to sea and fades from view there are shouts of joy and sadness reverberating in the distance by the watching crowd. It is not long, though, until other watchers on the distant shore catch a glimpse of the vessels appearance on the horizon and shout in joy at the prospect of being reunited with those to whom they had previously left behind. Thus, our departing in death is likened to our voyage from this earth, leaving behind those we love and who will miss us, but giddy with the excitement of a new adventure, as we sail away to the unseen realm of heaven longing to be reunited with loved ones who had gone before us. Thayer's second portrait of "departure" is characterized in the breaking up of camp by taking down the shelter of a tent. In the sandy reaches of the East, the traveler was never without his shelter. Any journey he undertook was necessarily preceded by the taking down of his tent prior to departure. In the scriptures the body is portrayed as a tent by Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians: "For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1). Here the word "tabernacle" is literally "tent," and the depiction is that of the tent of man being broken down and returning back to the habitat of God where he shall be clothed and sheltered in the heavenly tabernacle. Thus, by exploring the word pictures suggested by Thayer and examining Paul's use of the Greek word ἀνὰλυσις, translated, "departure," we can clearly see that death is a separation. It follows, therefore, that death is not cessation of existence, nor dissolution of the body, nor annihilation. It is simply separation of the body [the flesh] and the spirit [the immortal entity] (James 2:26).

Throughout the scriptures the separation which takes place in death is manifested time and again. In giving up the ghost or breathing his last, Abraham died (Genesis 25:8); the departing of Rachel's soul from her body signified her death (Genesis 35:18); the child for whom Elijah prayed was dead and revived after God heard the prophets voice and returned the soul to the child's body (1 Kings 17:22); the Psalmist wrote that the days of our years are terminated when that which is immortal flies away (Psalms 90:10); and the martyr Stephen expired (fell asleep) when his spirit left his bruised and broken body and returned to God (Acts 7:59,60). The conclusion from this brief collection of scripture establishes the truth that death is separation of body and spirit. Thus, union with nature or with God is life; separation from nature or from God is death. This can be demonstrated in scripture where man may be living and at the same time be dead. Living to that with which he has union and organization and dead to that from which he has deliverance and separation. The penalty of Adam's sin was death (Genesis 2:7,16,17; 3:3,19). He died a spiritual death (was separated from God, the source of life), the moment he ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, though he lived (existed in the flesh) nine hundred more years. Then, Adam died a physical death, in consequence of being separated from the "tree of life," by which alone it was possible for him to perpetuate his physical existence. In the same sense Satan and his followers of evil angels died when they sinned because they were cast out of heaven and separated from God, but they still exist. The sleep of death (1 Thessalonians 4:13) and the trepidation over the subsistence of the spirit out of the body as a conscious entity is that which concerns everyone. Yet, the beloved apostle Paul, once again, in a remarkable testimony addressing this very fear affirmed: "Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight); we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). A literal translation of this text is even more vivid: "Those who dwell in the body are at a distance from the Lord . . . those who have traveled out of the body reside with the Lord." Therefore, when the time of our departure is come and the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, there will be sadness and tears shed at our parting, but we can take solace when our voyage is over, for on the far shore, awaits those in Christ, a house not made with hands, the reunion of loved ones who departed before us, and a residence forevermore with our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ.

FOOTNOTES:
F1: Noah Webster, Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged Second Edition (New York; Prentice Hall Press, reprinted 1983), pg. 65.
F2: Samuel Bagster, The Analytical Greek Lexicon (London: Samuel Bagster and Son, 1852), pg. 23.
F3: John Pickering, LL.D., Comprehensive Lexicon Of The Greek Language Adapted To The Use Of Colleges And Schools In The United States (Boston: Wilkins, Carter, and Company, 1847), pg. 75.
F4: Joseph Henry Thayer, D.D., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1901), pg. 39.
F5: John Parkhurst, M.A., and Hugh James Rose, B.D., A Greek And English Lexicon To The New Testament (London: Longman and Company, 1851), pg. 35.

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