🌱 Dust
The body is physical and will return to the ground when it dies. But Genesis says God shaped it himself, so Christians believe the body is part of God's good creation.
Christian Beliefs about the Universe and Human Beings » Body, Spirit and Soul in Christianity
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, 1.2 (Christianity)
- What Genesis 2:7 teaches Christians about the body and the breath of life
- What Christians believe about the soul, and two views about the spirit
- Why Christians see the body as good, and how they think body and soul fit together
- How Christians respond to physicalism
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Unlock This CourseDust and breath: Genesis 2:7
Do Humans Have a Soul? Human Nature and Physicalism set out the general ideas. Christians start from one verse about the first man, Adam:
'Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being' (Genesis 2:7).
💨 Breath
Genesis describes God breathing life into no other creature in this close, personal way. Christians take this to mean that a human being is more than dust: each person's life comes straight from God.
Key terms:
- Breath of life: the life God breathes into Adam in Genesis 2:7. For Christians it shows that human life is a gift from God.
- Spirit: in Christian belief, the part of a person that is open to God. The Bible's words for 'spirit' also mean 'breath' or 'wind'.
- Incarnation: the Christian belief that God became a human being, with a real human body, in Jesus.
- Resurrection of the body: the Christian belief that God will raise the dead to a new bodily life, not leave them as souls without bodies.
The soul: the part that relates to God and lives on
Remember, the soul is the non-physical part of a person. Christians believe two main things about it.
🙏 It relates to God
Christians believe the soul is the part of a person that can know, love and worship God. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, praises God, she begins, 'My soul glorifies the Lord' (Luke 1:46). Prayer and worship are ways of caring for the soul.
✨ It lives on
Jesus said, 'Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul' (Matthew 10:28). Most Christians believe the soul does not die with the body. The Catholic Church teaches that God creates each soul directly and that it is immortal.
Jesus asked, 'What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?' (Mark 8:36). To forfeit means to lose. So Christians believe a right relationship with God matters more than money or success.
The spirit: two Christian views
The Bible speaks of the body, the soul and the spirit. Christians do not all agree on whether the spirit is separate from the soul.
2️⃣ Two parts: body and soul
On this view 'soul' and 'spirit' are two words for the same non-physical part of a person. Mary says, 'My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour' (Luke 1:46-47), saying one thing twice in different words. This is the most common Christian view and it is the teaching of the Catholic Church.
3️⃣ Three parts: body, soul and spirit
Paul, an early Christian leader whose letters are in the Bible, wrote, 'May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless' (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Some Christians take this as a list of three parts. The soul is the mind, feelings and will. The spirit is the deepest part, which connects with God. This view is held by some Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians.
Two-part Christians reply that Paul is not listing parts. He means 'the whole of you'. Jesus told people to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30), and nobody thinks that makes four parts.
Do not mix up the human spirit with the Holy Spirit. Christians believe the Holy Spirit is God himself, present and at work in the world.
The body is good, not a prison
Some ancient Greek thinkers called the body a prison for the soul. Christianity rejects this idea, for four reasons.
- Creation: Christians believe God made the body, and Genesis says he called his creation very good.
- Incarnation: 'The Word became flesh' (John 1:14). If God took a human body in Jesus, Christians say, bodies cannot be bad.
- A temple: Paul wrote that 'your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit' (1 Corinthians 6:19). A temple is a holy place, so the body should be respected and looked after.
- Resurrection: Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead in his body. The Apostles' Creed, a short statement of belief said in many churches, includes the words 'the resurrection of the body'. So the Christian hope is for a whole person. This is taught fully in Heaven, Hell, Judgment and Resurrection.
So feeding the hungry and caring for the sick are seen as Christian duties, and the body is treated with respect at a funeral.
How do body and soul fit together?
Christians differ on whether the soul can exist apart from the body.
⛪ The soul leaves the body at death
This is the view of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and many Protestants. At death body and soul separate. The body returns to the ground and the soul lives on. The Bible says, 'the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it' (Ecclesiastes 12:7). At the resurrection God will join body and soul again. The Catholic Church teaches that body and soul form one single nature, so a soul without its body is not a complete person.
📖 One whole person
Other Christians say the Bible does not teach a soul that can live apart from the body. In Genesis 2:7 Adam is not given a soul: he becomes 'a living being', which older Bibles translate as 'a living soul'. The Bible also says that God 'alone is immortal' (1 Timothy 6:16). So life after death is wholly God's gift at the resurrection. Seventh-day Adventists teach that the dead are not aware of anything until God raises them.
Christian responses to physicalism
Remember that physicalism says the real world is nothing more than the physical world. Christians reject this.
- God is not physical. Jesus said, 'God is spirit' (John 4:24). If God exists, the physical world cannot be all there is.
- Humans are more than matter. Christians believe people are dust and breath, made in God's image.
- Science has limits. Science studies what can be measured. Christians say a soul is not that kind of thing, so science cannot rule it out.
- Experience. Christians point to prayer, conscience and love as signs of a reality beyond the physical.
- The resurrection of Jesus. For Christians this is evidence that death is not the end.
Christians do not ignore the science. Many say the close link between brain and mind fits their belief that body and soul are closely joined.
Common mistakes
Do not write that Christians think the body is bad: they believe God made it and will raise it. Do not write that all Christians divide a person into three parts: most say two.
Exam-style question
Paper 1 style. (a) and (b) test AO1; (c) and (d) test AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three religious beliefs about the nature of human beings. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two teachings about the soul in this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain why the human body is important in this religion. [6 marks]
(d) 'The soul matters more than the body.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
Model answer
(a) 1. Human beings were made by God (1). 2. Human beings have a soul (1). 3. The body will be raised after death (1).
(b) Christianity. Christians believe the soul is the part of a person that relates to God (1), which means it is cared for through prayer and worship (1). Christians believe the soul lives on after death (1), because Jesus said that people can kill the body but cannot kill the soul (1).
(c) Christianity. The body is important because Christians believe God made it. In Genesis 2:7 God forms Adam from the dust, so the body is part of God's good creation, not a prison for the soul.
It is also important because of the Incarnation. Christians believe God became human in Jesus, with a real body. This means the body cannot be bad.
Paul taught that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. This means Christians should respect their own bodies and care for other people's, for example by helping the sick.
Finally, Christians believe in the resurrection of the body, so the body matters for ever.
(d) Plan. For: Jesus said people can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; he asked what good it is to gain the whole world and forfeit your soul; the body returns to dust but most Christians believe the soul lives on.
Against: the Incarnation shows the body is good; the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; Christians hope for the resurrection of the body; 'one whole person' Christians say you cannot split the two; physicalists and humanists say there is no soul, so the body is all we are.
Possible conclusion: judge each point as you go, then pick a side. For example: I disagree. For Christians the soul lives on, but God made, entered and will raise the body, so a person needs both.
Exam tip
In part (d), the key words are 'matters more'. Weigh the two up, and use the resurrection of the body to show why Christians refuse to choose.