I'm still surprised, and it's just new to me in spite of hearing a lot of sermons in so many churches and discussions with so many here about often esoteric things (not mostly esoteric, but at least many discussions including esoteric things) who are from so many churches, at the idea of literally
physically inheriting a soul and spirit from parents. (!?) Or even inheriting in some partly physical way -- still the same unexpected idea that seems wrong.
Physical inherited trait, merely genetic??
That does to me contradict for instance the Ecclesiastes verse. Here it is again in context:
1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,
3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed,
4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—
5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—
6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 12 ESV
It says of course that God gives us our spirit, and that spirit returns to Him when the dust body returns to
the dust where it came from and is made of -- "and the dust returns to the earth as it was".
The body is only dust -- just part of Earth. Only mud and water in a way, composed of a brilliant organization of elements which are only physical matter -- "dust".
You perhaps recall, but this is only echoing the exact same reality told to us in Genesis, by the Lord, in plain wording, again. We are from dust, and to dust these bodies will return (but not our spirits!).
As best I can paraphrase: This physical body is from dust, God gives spirit to make us more than only "dust" alone, and because of this spirit given to the body, we have a soul then, and when the body dies the indwelling spirit/soul then returns to Him.
This is obviously one of the key verses on the subject, showing clearly that soul and spirit are different.
Not sure I agree with this, as scripture shows that even God has a soul!
Matt12v18.(quoting Isaiah42v1)"Behold My servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
God is saying that His soul delights in Jesus!
I am sure we are both well read in the scriptures.
Most Christians settle for the soul as being the seat of the mind, will and emotions. It sounds right and might well be right.
Unfortunately, vast amounts of so called theology are rooted in secular philosophy and psychology, so even the above may need revisiting.
Notwithstanding that, I still believe that both soul and spirit come via our parents, going all the way back to Adam.
