by Giuseppe Monno
THE SOUL AND THE SPIRIT
Drawing on the words of Saint Paul:
«“May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept irreproachable for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23),»
some authors, especially within modern Protestant theology, have proposed a tripartite view of the human being, understood as composed of body, soul, and spirit. However, this interpretation is not shared by the patristic tradition nor by Catholic theology, both of which recognize in the human person a single rational and spiritual soul, the substantial form of the body.
When Saint Paul uses the term “spirit” (pneuma), he does not intend to introduce a second immaterial reality distinct from the soul, but rather to indicate the soul itself insofar as it is elevated by grace to communion with God. This usage fits harmoniously within the biblical context, where “soul” (psychē) and “spirit” (pneuma) can at times be used interchangeably, while expressing different nuances: the soul as the principle of life and consciousness, the spirit as the openness of the human being to divine action.
This perspective is also reflected in the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 367):
«“Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit. Thus Saint Paul prays that God may sanctify his people ‘wholly,’ with ‘spirit and soul and body’ kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. ‘Spirit’ signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can be freely raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.”»
NEFESH, PSYCHĒ, RUACH, PNEUMA
To understand biblical anthropology properly, it is essential to consider the meaning of the original terms used in Sacred Scripture.
The words nefesh (Hebrew) and psychē (Greek) primarily designate life (1 Kings 19:4; Ezekiel 18:4; Matthew 16:25–26; 20:28; John 15:13), but they can also refer to the living person as a whole (Deuteronomy 20:16; Joshua 10:28, 40; Revelation 16:3), or to the inner dimension of the human being (1 Kings 17:21–22; Matthew 10:28; Revelation 6:9). Depending on the context, these terms may refer to the whole person (Genesis 2:7), the mouth (Isaiah 5:14; Habakkuk 2:5), the throat (Proverbs 25:25), and even the blood (Leviticus 17:14), thus showing a remarkable semantic richness.
Similarly, ruach (Hebrew) and pneuma (Greek) present a wide and nuanced range of meanings. They often indicate the vital breath or principle of life (Sirach 34:13; James 2:26; 1 Peter 3:19), the breath itself (Psalm 146:4), and, in the fuller context of revelation, the Spirit of God and his action in human beings (Isaiah 11:2–3).
In biblical thought, the human being is not conceived as a sum of separate elements, but as a living unity. The various linguistic expressions do not designate “parts” of the human person in a strict sense, but rather different ways of considering the one personal reality.
Only in later Greek thought, especially with Plato, does a sharper distinction between soul and body emerge. However, Christian revelation, while adopting Greek terminology, profoundly reinterprets it, preserving the unity of the human person and orienting it toward its supernatural vocation.
The biblical vision of human unity does not exclude, but rather prepares—gradually and in the light of fuller revelation—the recognition of a real distinction between soul and body and of personal survival after death.
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL IN SACRED SCRIPTURE
Biblical revelation, while not initially presenting an explicit philosophical doctrine of the soul’s immortality, progressively leads to the recognition of personal survival after death, reaching greater clarity in the New Testament.
Job 19:26–27
«“After this skin has been destroyed, still in my flesh I shall see God.”»
This passage, philologically complex, has often been interpreted in the Christian tradition as expressing an eschatological hope: the possibility of seeing God beyond death. Although it belongs to one of the most ancient wisdom books, it already suggests the idea of personal survival.
2 Maccabees 15:12–16
The Second Book of Maccabees, written in the second century B.C., reflects a more developed reflection on the afterlife. The vision of Judas Maccabaeus, in which the deceased Onias and the prophet Jeremiah appear, provides a significant testimony to personal survival after death and to the communion of the righteous, anticipating the Catholic doctrine of the intercession of the saints.
In the New Testament, this perspective becomes clearer:
Matthew 10:28
«“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”»
Here Jesus Christ distinguishes between body and soul in an eschatological perspective: the soul is not subject to physical death, but remains under God’s sovereign judgment.
Luke 16:22–25 (Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus)
In this parable, Jesus describes, using symbolic but realistic language, the condition of souls after death: Lazarus is comforted, while the rich man is tormented. Beyond the imagery, several key elements emerge:
– conscious survival after death;
– personal retribution;
– the impossibility of passing from one state to another.
2 Corinthians 5:6–10; Philippians 1:23–24
In Saint Paul’s reflection, life beyond death appears as immediate communion with Christ. “Leaving the body” is understood as “going to be at home with the Lord,” in expectation of the final resurrection, when soul and body will be reunited (cf. 1 Corinthians 15).
Revelation 6:9–10
«“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of all those who had been killed on account of the word of God and the witness they had given. They cried out in a loud voice, ‘Holy, faithful Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?’”»
This strongly liturgical image shows that the souls of the martyrs live in God’s presence, participate in a form of worship, and await the fulfillment of justice—an anticipation of the “heavenly liturgy” described later in Revelation (cf. Revelation 7).
THE WISDOM DIFFICULTIES: QOHELETH
The book of Qoheleth offers a particularly challenging reflection on the fate of the human person after death. With a disenchanted and sometimes pessimistic tone, the author emphasizes the fleeting nature of existence:
«“All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return” (Qoheleth 3:20),»
and again:
«“The living know they will die, but the dead know nothing at all…” (Qoheleth 9:5).»
These statements seem to exclude conscious survival after death, reflecting a still obscure view of the afterlife, marked by the silence of Sheol.
However, the book concludes with a more open perspective:
«“Before the dust returns to the earth as it once came from it, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Qoheleth 12:7).»
This verse introduces an element of discontinuity with the earlier pessimism, suggesting a relationship between the human person and God that is not entirely exhausted by death.
The internal tension in Qoheleth should not be seen as a contradiction, but as an expression of an incomplete stage in the biblical revelation concerning the afterlife. The text does not formulate an explicit doctrine of the soul’s immortality, but neither does it definitively exclude it; rather, it implicitly prepares for its later development, which will find fuller light in Christian revelation.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL’S IMMORTALITY IN CHRISTIAN TRADITION
From the earliest centuries, the Church Fathers reflected on the destiny of the soul after death, engaging both with biblical revelation and Greek philosophy. Authors such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Tertullian clearly affirm personal survival after death, while avoiding the attribution of an absolute immortality independent of God.
In this context, the thought of Origen is also noteworthy. He distinguishes between a “natural” immortality, characteristic of Platonic philosophy, and an immortality rooted in participation in divine life. However, certain Origenist positions (such as the pre-existence of souls) were not accepted by the Church, which gradually clarified its teaching.
A major theological synthesis is found in Thomas Aquinas, who teaches that the human soul is the substantial form of the body and, being spiritual, is incorruptible. The immortality of the soul does not arise from absolute self-sufficiency (as in Platonism), but from its spiritual nature as created by God: it does not dissolve at death, but continues to subsist, while remaining naturally ordered toward the final resurrection.
This doctrine was explicitly defined at the Fifth Lateran Council, which taught that the soul is individual, spiritual, and immortal, and survives the death of the body. This definition did not introduce a novelty, but solemnly affirmed a truth already present in the Church’s faith.
The same teaching is reaffirmed by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 366):
«“The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God—it is not ‘produced’ by the parents—and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death.”»
In light of this tradition, the authentic meaning of the soul’s immortality in Catholic doctrine can be clarified:
– it is real and personal, since the soul continues to subsist after death;
– it is rooted in the soul’s spiritual nature, created by God;
– it is not absolute or independent, since the soul persists in being only because it is sustained by God;
– it is ordered to the resurrection of the body, which is the definitive fulfillment of human salvation.
Thus, Christian tradition avoids both radical dualism of Platonic origin and any materialistic reduction, maintaining an integral vision of the human person as a unity of soul and body, called to eternal life in communion with God.
RESURRECTION AND FINAL JUDGMENT
In continuity with the biblical vision of the human person as a unity, revelation teaches that although the soul separates from the body at death, the human destiny is not complete until the final resurrection, when the person will be restored in the unity of body and soul.
Sacred Scripture affirms that the soul survives bodily death, but the definitive state of the human person is not that of a separated soul, but of the whole person risen.
Already in the Old Testament, there is an explicit announcement of the resurrection:
«“Many of those who lie sleeping in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace” (Daniel 12:2).»
In the New Testament, Jesus proclaims this truth clearly:
«“The hour is coming when all those in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out: those who have done good will rise to life; those who have done evil will rise to condemnation” (John 5:28–29).»
Saint Paul also confirms this hope:
«“For the Lord himself, at the signal given by the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).»
At the end of time, therefore, not only the soul but the whole human person will be involved in judgment. Body and soul, reunited, will appear before God for the universal judgment. This event is solemnly described in the eschatological discourse:
«“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory… And they will go away, these to eternal punishment, and the upright to eternal life” (Matthew 25:31, 46).»
Christian doctrine thus distinguishes:
– a particular judgment, which follows immediately after death;
– a universal judgment, which will take place at the end of time, after the resurrection of the dead.
As taught by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the resurrection of the dead is inseparable from faith in Jesus Christ, “the resurrection and the life,” and constitutes the definitive fulfillment of God’s saving plan for humanity.
In this way, Christian hope does not stop at the survival of the soul, but affirms the full restoration of the human person in the unity of body and soul, destined for eternal communion with God or for definitive separation from him.
CONCLUDING REFLECTION
The doctrine of the soul’s immortality is rooted in biblical revelation and unfolds progressively throughout salvation history, reaching its full light in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The human soul, created directly by God and destined for him, does not perish with the death of the body, but continues to subsist in a personal and conscious way.
However, the state of the separated soul does not constitute the ultimate fulfillment of the human person. While awaiting the final resurrection, the soul undergoes the particular judgment and receives an initial retribution, already participating either in communion with God or in its deprivation. This state is provisional and oriented toward the final consummation, when, in the resurrection of the dead, the human person will be fully restored in the unity of body and soul.
In this perspective, Christian hope is not limited to the survival of the soul, but concerns the salvation of the whole human person. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, the ultimate destiny of the human person is eternal communion with God, in which the original vocation of humanity is fully realized.