TAEM iu herem tufala word hia “soul” and “spirit,” wanem nao iu tingim? Plande pipol bilivim hao olketa word hia minim samting wea man no savve lukim wea stap insaed iumi and wea kanduit dae. Olketa tingse disfala part bilong man hem lusim body taem hem dae, and hem gohed for laef. From diswan hem wanfala main biliv bilong pipol evriwea long world, staka sapraes tumas taem olketa lanem hao hem barava no wanfala Bible teaching. Sapos olsem, wanem nao Word bilong God teachim abaotem soul and spirit?

Firstaem, tingim soul. Maet iu remember hao tufala main languis wea olketa man wea raetem Bible iusim hem Hebrew and Greek. Taem olketa raet abaotem soul, olketa wea raetem  Bible iusim datfala Hebrew word neʹphesh or datfala Greek word psy·kheʹ. Tufala word hia kamap winim 800 taem insaed Bible, and evritaem, datfala New World Translation iusim English word “soul” for tufala. Taem iumi lukluk gud long wei wea Bible iusim disfala word “soul” or “olketa soul,” hem showaot klia hao word hia savve minim (1) pipol, (2) olketa animal, or (3) laef bilong man or animal. Bae hem gud for iumi storyim samfala scripture wea showimaot thrifala mining hia.

Pipol. “Long taem bilong Noah . . . tu-thri pipol nomoa, hem nao eitfala soul, stap sef long datfala big wata.” (1 Peter 3:20) Long hia, hem klia hao datfala toktok “olketa soul” hem minim pipol—Noah, waef bilong hem, thrifala son bilong hem, and olketa waef bilong olketa. Long Exodus 16:16 hem storyim instruction wea olketa Israelite kasem long hao for kolektem manna from graon. God sei long olketa: “Tekem wanem iufala needim . . . fitim namba bilong olketa soul wea each wan long iufala garem long tent bilong hem.” So olketa savve tekem manna for fitim namba bilong pipol long each famili. Samfala nara example bilong wei wea Bible iusim “soul” or “olketa soul” for storyim pipol stap long Genesis 46:18; Joshua 11:11; Acts 27:37; and Romans 13:1.

Olketa animal. Long story insaed Bible abaotem creation, hem sei: “God hem sei moa: ‘Wata mas fulap witim olketa soul wea laef, and olketa animal wea flae mas flae long skae antap long earth.’ And God hem sei moa: ‘Earth mas garem olketa difren kaen soul wea laef, olketa difren kaen animal wea man savve keepim, wea muv, and wea wild.’ And hem kamap olsem.” (Genesis 1:20, 24) Long disfala scripture, hem iusim datfala sem toktok “olketa soul” for olketa fish and olketa animal wea man savve keepim and olketa wild animal tu. Bible iusim “soul” for olketa bird and nara animal tu long Genesis 9:10; Leviticus 11:46; and Numbers 31:28.

Laef bilong man. Samfala taem, datfala word “soul” minim laef bilong man tu. Jehovah hem sei olsem long Moses: “Evri man wea laek killim dae soul bilong iu, olketa dae finis.” (Exodus 4:19) Olketa enemy bilong Moses laek for killim dae wanem? Olketa laek for killim dae Moses. Taem Rachel  hem bornem son bilong hem Benjamin, “soul bilong hem go aot (bikos hem dae).” (Genesis 35:16-19) Long datfala taem, laef bilong Rachel finis nao. Tingim tu disfala toktok bilong Jesus: “Mi nao datfala gud shepherd; datfala gud shepherd givim soul bilong hem for olketa sheepsheep.” (John 10:11) Jesus givim soul bilong hem, wea minim laef bilong hem, for sevem olketa man. So hem klia hao long olketa scripture hia, datfala word “soul” minim laef bilong man. Iu savve faendem olketa nara example bilong diswan long 1 Kings 17:17-23; Matthew 10:39; John 15:13; and Acts 20:10.

Sapos iu lukluk gud insaed Word bilong God bae iu lukim hao no eni scripture insaed Bible hem joinim datfala toktok “kanduit dae” or “olowe” witim datfala word “soul.” Bible talem hao soul savve dae. (Ezekiel 18:4, 20) Dastawe, Bible kolem samwan wea dae wanfala “soul wea dae finis.”—Leviticus 21:11.

Tingim wei wea Bible iusim datfala word “spirit.” Long tingting bilong samfala pipol, “spirit” hem minim sem samting olsem “soul.” Bat datwan hem no olsem. Bible showimaot klia hao “spirit” and “soul” minim tufala difren samting. Long wanem wei nao tufala difren?

Olketa man wea raetem Bible iusim datfala Hebrew word ruʹach or datfala Greek word pneuʹma taem olketa raet abaotem “spirit.” Bible nao showimaot mining bilong olketa word hia. Olsem example, Psalm 104:29 hem sei: “Sapos iu [Jehovah] tekaotem spirit [ruʹach] bilong olketa, olketa dae, and olketa kamap dust moa.” And long James 2:26 hem talem hao “body wea no garem spirit [pneuʹma] hem dae.” So long olketa verse hia, “spirit” minim samting wea mekem body garem laef. Sapos no eni spirit, body no garem laef. Dastawe, long Bible, olketa raetem datfala word “spirit,” and tu, “paoa,” or paoa bilong laef, long ples wea datfala Hebrew word ruʹach hem stap. Olsem example, God hem sei olsem abaotem Flood long taem bilong Noah: “Bae mi mekem wanfala flood kamap long earth for finisim evri samting anda long skae wea garem datfala paoa [ruʹach] bilong laef insaed long olketa.” (Genesis 6:17; 7:15, 22) So “spirit” hem wanfala paoa wea man no savve lukim wea mekem olketa animal and man savve laef.

 Soul and spirit no semsem. For garem laef, body needim spirit long sem wei wea wanfala radio needim paoa from olketa battery. Taem iu putim olketa battery insaed wanfala radio and onem, paoa long olketa battery hia mekem datfala radio krae nao, wea datwan hem olsem hem garem laef. Bat sapos iu aotem olketa battery, radio hem dae nao. Hem olsem tu witim olketa narakaen radio taem paoa hem off. Long sem wei, datfala spirit hem paoa wea mekem body bilong iumi garem laef. And olsem paoa bilong battery, spirit no garem eni feeling and no garem tingting tu. Hem wanfala paoa nomoa. Bat olsem datfala man for raetem psalm hem talem, sapos no eni spirit long body bilong iumi, wea hem nao datfala paoa bilong laef, body bilong iumi bae dae and go bak long dust.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 sei olsem abaotem taem wea man dae: “Dust [wea hem body bilong hem] hem go bak long graon olsem long firstaem and datfala spirit hem go bak long tru God wea givim datwan.” Taem datfala spirit, wea hem nao datfala paoa bilong laef, hem go aot from body, body hem dae and go bak long dust bikos God iusim dust firstaem for wakem man. Olsem tu, datfala paoa bilong laef go bak long God, bikos hem nao givim datwan firstaem. (Job 34:14, 15; Psalm 36:9) Diswan no minim datfala paoa bilong laef hem barava travel go bak long heven, bat hem minim Jehovah God nomoa savve mekem man hem laef moa long future. Only wei for man savve kasem bak datfala paoa bilong laef, wea hem nao datfala spirit, and garem laef moa, hem sapos God iusim paoa bilong hem for duim datwan.

Hem barava comfortim iumi for savve hao datwan nao hem samting wea God bae duim for evriwan wea stap insaed “olketa grev”! (John 5:28, 29) Long taem wea Jehovah resurrectim man, hem bae mekem wanfala niu body for hem and mekem datfala body garem laef taem hem putim spirit insaed datwan, wea hem nao  datfala paoa bilong laef. Bae iumi evriwan hapi narawe taem Jehovah resurrectim olketa wea dae finis!

Sapos iu laek for lanem moa samting abaotem “soul” and “spirit” wea Bible storyim, bae iu faendem gudfala information long datfala brochure Wanem Nao Happen Long Iumi Taem Iumi Dae? and long page 375-84 long buk Reasoning From the Scriptures, wea Olketa Jehovah’s Witness pablisim.