Posted on : 17 Mar, 2006
Subject : The Three Spirits of Mankind
 The Three Spirits Within
The Bible contains the revelation that there are three distinct spirits within every person. Each spirit is unique, and exists on a different level than the others. Each has its own qualities. All three are necessary to the fully functional spiritual person. They are called, in Hebrew, the nephesh, the ruach, and the neshamah. They are distinct from one another, and independent of the body.
This is a mystery – a spiritual secret – that cannot be discovered by reading an English translation of the text. One must search the Scriptures and look at the original Hebrew words in order to discover this hidden truth. When the original text is studied, the words and the context make it plain that there are three separate spirits resident within individuals [not including the Holy Spirit].
As we look at each of these words, we’ll discover the attributes of each spirit, and when it joins the body.
Nephesh
The Hebrew word nephesh [Strong’s 5315][1] is usually translated as ‘soul’ in English versions of the Bible But it does not have the same connotation as the present-day meaning of ‘soul’. Nephesh has a very broad application. It means ‘life’, ‘life-force’, ‘person’, or ‘being’. Nephesh applies to everything that is alive; it is the word that describes basic biological life. The nephesh is the spirit that is in all living organisms – including animals. In fact, nephesh is translated as “creature” or “living creature” in several places in Genesis. “And Elohim created great whales, and all the creatures [nephesh] that move within the waters.” [Genesis 1:21] “And Elohim said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the every type of living creature [nephesh]: every type of domestic animal, crawling animal, and wild animal.’” [Genesis 1:24]
An example of nephesh being translated as ‘life’ is in “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” [Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11]
The declaration that Adam “became a living soul” [nephesh] means that Adam came to life – Adam became a living being. Nephesh is not synonymous with the spiritual essence within a person that relates to Elohim. Nephesh is merely the animating spirit that is found within all persons and other living things. It is life at the cellular level.
The nephesh spirit provides life to humans, animals and plants. Although it is usually translated as ‘soul’ in the King James edition of the Bible, it is actually the ‘lowest’ of the spirits found within a person. Nephesh is found in all living cells. Nephesh is present when the sperm fertilizes an egg. A fertilized egg, and subsequent embryo, contains the nephesh spirit.
Nephesh is the essential spirit that is mostly closely connected with the physical body. The nephesh spirit does not have the capacity to consciously reason. Nephesh is associated with instincts, with appetites, and the cravings and actions that are crucial to basic survival.[2] Nephesh is not related to deliberate thinking, but with unconscious reacting. Nephesh is not the spirit portion that consciously communicates with Elohim; it is the unconscious spirit that minds the body.
Our animating nephesh spirit is in us from the moment of conception. Then at the moment of physical death, the nephesh spirit leaves the physical body.[3]
Ruach
Ruach [Strong’s 7307] is usually translated as ‘spirit’, ‘wind’, or ‘breath’. As is true of nephesh, ruach is a spirit that is found in both animals and humans. In Ecclesiastes 3:19, Solomon explained that people and animals “both have the selfsame breath [ruach].”
Whereas nephesh is the unconscious life-spirit, ruach is associated with a limited amount of consciousness. In fact, the general concept of ruach is ‘consciousness’. Ruach spirit is associated with emotions, with will and elementary decision-making, with the ability to learn, and with a certain degree of understanding. The ruach spirit has awareness of self, of others, and of surrounding places and culture. It absorbs the influences of family and society like a sponge soaks up water.
The nephesh is present at conception, but the ruach spirit does not join the body until later in the development of the fetus. The ruach spirit comes to the body after conception, but before birth. In Ecclesiastes 11:5, Solomon announced that the ruach spirit enters the child while it is in its mother’s womb, after the stage of fetal development in which bone development has commenced. "The spirit [ruach] comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child….” [Revised Standard Version] “The spirit [ruach] comes to the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman….” [The Amplified Bible] "The life-breath [ruach] passes into the limbs within the womb of a pregnant woman….” (Jewish Publication Society) “The breath of life [ruach] enters the limbs of a child within its mother’s womb….” [God’s Word to the Nations]
The bones of a fetus begin to form between the 10th and 13th weeks of pregnancy, which is during the third month. The revelation given to Solomon declares that the ruach spirit enters at some time after the bones have begun to form – which is after the 10th week. Prior to that time, the fetus contains only the nephesh spirit. The nephesh is present at conception. The ruach spirit joins the fetus by the end of the first trimester. It remains with the body until death.
Ruach is the ‘middle’ spirit that links together the nephesh and neshamah.[4]
Neshamah
Neshamah is the unique life-breath that Elohim breathed into Adam’s nostrils. [Genesis 2:7] Neshamah is the eternal intelligent spirit essence that is placed within humans, only. It is the unique conscious personal spirit that pre-existed with Elohim, and made thoughtful choices during the premortal time.[5] Neshamah [Strong’s 5397] is often translated as ‘breath’, ‘breath of life’, or ‘spirit’. Unlike nephesh and ruach, the neshamah is intellectual. It has comprehension of ideas. It has the ability and freedom to choose, including the ability to exercise faith, and the capacity to commit sin. The neshamah has the capacity to understand spiritual matters and abstract concepts. “The breath [neshamah] of the Almighty gives them [humans] understanding.” [Job 32:8] Neshamah is the spirit that is able to communicate with and connect to Elohim. Our ability to worship is dependent upon neshamah. Similarly, comprehension of spiritual truths and the ability to choose whether to obey or not is the responsibility of the neshamah spirit.
Only mankind has the neshamah spiritual essence. The nephesh is cellular life, found in plants, animals and humans. The ruach spirit is in animals and in humans. The neshamah is found only in humans. In Job chapter 34, beginning with the 14th verse, both ruach and neshamah are mentioned and differentiated. “If He intends it, He can call back His spirit [ruach] and His breath [neshamah]; all flesh would at once expire, and mankind return to dust.” [JPS] This verse is a parallelism: ruach is the spirit that is within “all flesh”, and neshamah is the spirit that is exclusive to “mankind”.
The King James translation of Proverbs 20:27 reads, “The spirit [neshamah] of man is the candle of the LORD, searching [6] all the inward parts of the belly.” A more direct translation would read, “The neshamah is the light of Yahweh concealed [or hidden] within one’s innermost being.”
Unlike the nephesh [which is in embryonic cells] and the ruach [which joins the fetus after the 10th week], the neshamah spirit does not permanently inhabit the body until birth, or very shortly afterward.[7]
The Body Without the Spirit
The body is known as the guf, in Hebrew. The body is the physical carriage of our spirits. It is the temporary tabernacle in which our nephesh, ruach and neshamah reside. Our temporal body has a beginning and end – a birth and a death. But the spirits exist eternally. The three spirits exist independently of the body. Sometimes they are connected with it, and other times they are absent from it.
During mortal life the spirit and the body of flesh co-exist in the same place and time – in the physical realm. But after physical death, the flesh and spirit are no longer united in the same temporal dimension. The spirit and the body are disconnected at the time of death. “The body without the spirit is dead.” [James 2:26] After death, the spirit and body remain separate until the resurrection, at which time they will be reunited. “My spirit and body shall again reunite…” [Moroni 10:34 (10:31); 4th Nephi 1:14 (1:15)] “The spirit and body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we are now at this time…and even there shall not be so much as a hair of their heads be lost.” [Alma 11:43-44 (8:100-103); 2nd Nephi 9:12-13 (6:29 & 32); Philippians 3:20-21] After the resurrection, the spirits and the perfected body will be eternally joined.
Just as there is this separate existence for body and spirit after the death of the body, there was a time before the conception and birth of the body when the spirits were separate from the body. Zechariah 12:1 says that Yahweh “forms the spirit of man within him.” The word that is translated as ‘forms’ or ‘forming’ [yatsar] literally means to ‘squeeze into’ or to ‘mold into shape’. This verse indicates that the pre-existent spirit of an individual is actually placed or squeezed into the physical body.
The Almighty said to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. [Jeremiah 1:5] Yahweh had a relationship with Jeremiah before his birth – with his neshamah. Paul made a similar reference to his own ministerial calling in Galatians 1:15, where he wrote “…God…appointed me before I was born…”
Paul explained that the spirits of Believers existed, and were “chosen...before the foundation of the world”. [Ephesians 1:4] Our spirits existed before the physical world was formed – and before our physical bodies began to exist.
The Four of Us
Each of us is a quartet: made up of one body plus three spirits. We are a total of our guf, nephesh, ruach, and neshamah. Each different component is necessary. Recognizing that we consist of these components helps us better comprehend life.
Obviously, we are not only our body – our body is the physical chariot in which our spirits are placed during mortality. The body is the garment our spirits wear. Our body is the physical connection with the physical world in which we live. It is our visible form.
We are much more than our nephesh – we are much more intelligent than flowers and butterflies and cats. We have the basic life force in common with them, and in that sense we are not only like them, but we have a connection with all life. We do have primal lusts, which are necessary to existence, but we are more than our lusts.
We are more than our ruach spirit, also. Our ruach reacts and has understanding of worldly circumstances. It communicates with others, and responds to environment and culture. It is the spirit that adopts the mannerisms of our family and the customs of our society.
We are, at the purest level, our neshamah. It is the crown of our existence. The neshamah communicates with Elohim, and transcends this temporary life. It existed with Elohim prior to our physical life, and will return to God when we die. It is the true spiritual essence of who we are. The neshamah is part of the Family in Heaven.
During this interval of our existence, we are the sum of our guf, our nephesh, our ruach, and our neshamah. How we perceive ourselves, and are perceived by others is a combination of all four. Each component may influence all the others, to varying degrees. For example, it is common that people do not express their neshamah completely because of the influence of their ruach. In other words, it is common to fail to realize who we really are at the neshamah level because of the dominant ways in which family and culture have impacted our ruach spirit. And when our physical body is out of balance because of hormones, deficiencies, or genetic defects, it has an effect on the nephesh and the ruach.
The sum of the three spirits plus our body is who we are during this earthly existence.
[1] Strong’s Concordance is the most widely used book that helps cross-reference Hebrew and Greek words and their English counterparts. Strong assigned each word a number, to simplify cross-referencing.
[2] The Bible twice translates nephesh as ‘lust’. [Exodus 15:9; Psalm 78:18]
[3] Rachel’s nephesh [soul] was departing as she lay dying. [Genesis 35:18]
[4] The Ruach ha Kodesh is another name for the Holy Spirit. One role of the Holy Spirit is to help communicate between mankind and Yahweh – forming a connecting bridge between the two. The Ruach ha Kodesh [also known as Eloah] interprets the words of our prayers, and it relays truth to mankind from Yahweh. In this same manner, the ruach spirit within a person is an intermediary between the two other spirits.
[5]Neither nephesh nor ruach are the spirits that made choices and exercised faith prior to this mortal life. The nephesh and ruach do exist in the spiritual realm before they are joined to the body. Genesis 2:4 states that even the life-force of plants existed prior to the physical creation. Elohim made “...every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.” This indicates that even the lowest level of animating spirit existed before this mortal life, also.
[6] The Hebrew word chapas also means ‘hidden’ or ‘disguised’.
[7] There are passages within the Torah that suggest that the neshamah is not permanently connected to the body during the first month of life. ‘Value’ was not assigned to children below the age of one month. [Leviticus 27:1-6; Numbers 3:13-15, 22, 34] Some believe that the sacred ordinance of blessing a child seals the neshamah to the body.
David Bruce Clark
Lion of God Ministries
PO Box 33 Oak Grove MO 64075
www.lionofgod.com
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