Search
The spirit and soul mentioned in this book, and their respective functions, are important matters. What we have covered is but an outline of these subjects; there are still many areas which we have not covered. Because there are many important [Greek] words which are not translated uniformly into the same Chinese words in the Chinese Union Version, which of course is often impossible to do, it becomes impossible for those who desire to search more finely into the question but who are ignorant of the original language to grasp the subject. For the sake of accommodating these brothers, we have listed a table here to point out the different Chinese translations in our [Union Version] Bible of the same word in the original language, so that for each Chinese word the readers can see the corresponding word in the original language.
The word "spirit" is ruach in Hebrew in the Old Testament and pneuma in Greek in the New Testament. These two words are used about seven hundred times. Of these, about half of them refer to the Holy Spirit and the evil spirits. About a hundred times, especially ruach in the Old Testament, the word is used in reference to the wind. Once ruach is translated "quarters" (1 Chron. 9:24), and six times it is translated "side" (Jer. 52:23; Ezek. 42:16-20). All other times it refers to the highest part of man, the spirit. For simplicity's sake, we will only list here the verses concerning man's spirit.
[The list on the spirit is omitted.]
The word "soul" in Hebrew in the Old Testament is nephesh, which in Greek in the New Testament is psuche. These two words are used about eight hundred times in the Old and the New Testaments.
[The list on the spirit is omitted.]
The word "flesh" in the Old Testament Hebrew is basar, and in the New Testament Greek it is sarx. The word is used about four hundred times.
[The list on the flesh is omitted.]
The word "heart" in the Old Testament Hebrew is leb, and in the New Testament Greek it is kardia. This word is used about seven hundred times.
[The list on the flesh is omitted.]
The word "mind" in Greek is nous, which is used over twenty times in the New Testament.
[The list on the flesh is omitted.]
There are a few words in the original languages which refer to the mind, intellect, and thoughts. We cannot enumerate them all here. However, when a reader finds out that a word should not be translated as spirit, soul, or heart, and is not nous, it is possible that the word refers to the mind.
