Topic
Body, Soul and Spirit
The biblical vocabulary for the parts or aspects of a human being. Christians divide over whether a person is two parts or three, and the case for conditional immortality does not depend on the answer.
Also called: dichotomy, trichotomy, biblical anthropology, soul and spirit, nephesh
Some hold that a person is body and soul, with spirit another word for the same immaterial aspect. Others hold that body, soul and spirit are distinguishable, with the spirit naming what relates to God and is made alive in Christ. Scripture uses the words in ways that have supported both readings for centuries.
Matthew 10:28 is the text that matters most here, because it ties the fate of body and soul together instead of separating them. Jesus says God is able to destroy both in Gehenna, and he says it in direct comparison with those who can kill the body only.
This site sets out both anthropologies and assumes neither. What the argument needs is the link Jesus draws between the two, not a verdict on how many parts a person has.
What this is not
Terms in this dispute are routinely collapsed into one another. These distinctions are what keep the argument honest.
- The soul in Hebrew usage often means the living person, not an immaterial part that survives it.
- Two-part and three-part views are held by conditionalists and by traditionalists alike.
- Saying the soul can be destroyed is not the same as saying human beings are merely physical.
Principal passages
- Matthew 10:28
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23Listed in the Scripture index
- Genesis 2:7Listed in the Scripture index
- Hebrews 4:12Listed in the Scripture index
- James 2:26Listed in the Scripture index
Where this is argued in the case
- S10 Can God Destroy Both Body and Soul?Matthew 10:28 in its own terms, the use of the verb elsewhere in the Synoptics, and a technical appendix on two-part and three-part anthropology.
- RB2 Does the Image of God Make Humans Immortal?Why the image of God does not entail an indestructible soul, and where Scripture locates immortality instead.
- S18 Physical Death as a Picture of Final DeathThe parallel between the first and second deaths, and why the separation definition leads to the same place.
- S22 The Biblical Case for Conditional ImmortalityThe synthesis: 1 Corinthians 15 read through, and the short chain of reasoning from perishable bodies to the fate of the soul.
Objections that turn on this
- S31 Would God Destroy His Image-Bearers?The good instinct behind the objection, taken seriously, and why it does not lead where the objection supposes.
Related topics
Sources for this topic
- Joseph Dear. The Bible Teaches Annihilationism. 1st edition, PDF version. 2016. approximately 590 pages View original of The Bible Teaches Annihilationism (opens in a new tab) Details
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