Human Soul and Spirit in Early Christianity

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching

...it to be like His own Son. Through the Father's hands, meaning through the Son and the Holy Spirit, humans, not just a part of humans, were made in God's likeness. Although the soul and spirit are part of a human, they do not make up the entire person; the complete human is the union of the soul receiving the Spirit of the Father and the blending of that physical nature formed in God's image. This is why the apostle states, "We speak wisdom among those who are perfect," referring to those who have received the Spirit of God and who speak in all languages through the Spirit of God, just as he did. Similarly, we also hear many members in the Church who have prophetic gifts, speaking all kinds of languages through the Spirit and revealing hidden truths for the common good and declaring God's mysteries. The apostle calls these people "spiritual" because they share in the Spirit, not because their flesh has been stripped away and they have become purely spiritual. If someone removes the fleshly substance, which is God's workmanship, and considers only the purely spiritual, such a being would not be a spiritual person but just the spirit of a human or the Spirit of God. When the spiri

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching

They do not take this fact into consideration, that there are three things out of which, as I have shown, the complete man is composed —flesh, soul, and spirit.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness

and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved whole without complaint to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Now what was his object in praying that these three—that is, soul, body, and spirit—might be preserved to the coming of the Lord, unless he was aware of the [future] reintegration and union of the three, and [that they should be heirs of] one and the same salvation?

Tertullian, Scorpiace Supporting witness

... reminds them that they must not fear those who kill the body only, but are not able to destroy the soul. Rather, they must give fear to Him who has such power that He can kill both body and soul, and destroy them in hell. Who, I ask, are these killers of the body only, except the governors and kings mentioned before, that is, men? And who is ruler of the soul also, except God alone? Who is this except the one who threatens the fires to come, He without whose will not even one of two sparrows falls to the ground. That is, not even one of the two substances of man, flesh or spirit, because even the number of our hairs has been recorded before Him. "Do not fear, therefore." When He adds, "You are worth more than many sparrows," He promises that we will not fall to the ground in vain, that is, not without profit, if we choose to be killed by men rather than by God. "Whoever therefore will confess in me before men, in him I also will confess before my Father who is in heaven. And whoever will deny me before men, him I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." Clear, as I think, are the words used in making this announcement, and also the way to explain both confession and d

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Direct teaching

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching

...en spirit and soul, as in the words, “May God sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thessalonians 5:23. And the passage, “Bless the Lord, you spirits and souls of the righteous,” as it stands in the book of Daniel according to the Septuagint, also shows the difference between spirit and soul. Elijah, therefore, was not called John because of the soul, but because of the spirit and the power. This in no way conflicts with the teaching of the church, though these were formerly in Elijah and afterward in John. “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets,” 1 Corinthians 14:32, but the souls of the prophets are not subject to the prophets. And “the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha,” 2 Kings 2:15. But we ought to inquire whether the spirit of Elijah is the same as the Spirit of God in Elijah, or whether they are different from each other. And we should ask whether the spirit of Elijah which was in him was something supernatural, different from the spirit of each man which is in him. For the Apostle clearly shows that the Spirit of God, though it is in us, is different from

Tatian, Address to the Greeks Direct teaching

We recognise two varieties of spirit, one of which is called the soul (ψυχή), but the other is greater than the soul, an image and likeness of God: both existed in the first men, that in one sense they might be material (ὑλικοί), and in another superior to matter.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

For the Scripture well knows the distinction between spirit and soul, as, May God sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

1 Thessalonians 5:23 and the passage, Bless the Lord, you spirits and souls of the righteous as it stands in the book of Daniel, according to the Septuagint, represents the difference between spirit and soul.

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

and this happens to a soul especially when it partakes of the material spirit and becomes mingled with it, looking not at heavenly things and their Maker, but downwards to earthly things, wholly at the earth, as being now mere flesh and blood, and no longer pure spirit.

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

For this reason the soul is arrayed against the spirit, and the spirit against the soul.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

and this is the inspiration of the different spirit, and generally what is breathed into the soul, which is the image of the spirit.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Supporting witness

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Justin Martyr, On the Resurrection, Fragments Direct teaching

For the spirit dies not; the soul is in the body, and without a soul it cannot live.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

For although the soul has a kind of body of a quality of its own, just as the spirit has, yet as the soul and the body are distinctly named, the soul has its own peculiar appellation, not requiring the common designation of body.

Tertullian, De Anima (On the Soul) Supporting witness

In like manner, the immortality of the soul precludes belief in the theory that sleep is an intermission of the animal spirit, or an indigence of the spirit, or a separation of the (soul's) connatural spirit.

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Supporting witness

For if good deeds are rewarded, then the body would clearly be treated unjustly. It shared with the soul in the hard work connected with doing good, but it would not share in the reward for those good deeds. Also, the soul is often excused for certain faults because of the body's weakness and need, yet the body itself is kept from any share in the good deeds done, even though during life it helped bear the labor for them. On the other hand, if faults are judged, then the soul is not treated fairly either, if it alone pays the penalty for faults it committed after being urged by the body and drawn away by it to its own desires and movements. Sometimes the soul is overpowered and carried off. At other times it is drawn very violently. And sometimes it goes along with the body out of care and concern for preserving it. How could it be anything but unjust for the soul to be judged by itself for things toward which, by its own nature, it feels no desire, no movement, and no impulse, such as sexual immorality, violence, greed, injustice, and the unjust acts that come from these? For if most evils of this kind come from people's failure to master the passions that tempt them, and if they

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

...s origin from the Spirit of God, who is eternal. The soul, he says, is also aware of disease in the body, and it suffers forgetfulness of itself. And just as it grows sick, so it is often healed. This, therefore, is why virtue must especially be used: so that the mind—not the soul—may not be troubled by any pain of the body or suffer forgetfulness of itself. And since this has its seat in a certain part of the body, when some force of disease has damaged that part, it is moved from its place. As if shaken, it leaves its position, ready to return when treatment and health have restored its dwelling place. For since the soul is joined to the body, if it lacks virtue, it grows sick through contact with the body, and by sharing its weakness, that weakness spreads to the mind. But when it is separated from the body, it will flourish by itself. Then it will no longer be attacked by any condition of weakness, because it has put off its weak covering. As the eye, he says, when torn out and separated from the body, can see nothing, so also the soul, when separated, can perceive nothing, because it too is a part of the body. This is false and unlike the example he gave. For the soul is no

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

But every one will allow that we are [composed of] a body taken from the earth, and a soul receiving spirit from God.

Justin Martyr, On the Resurrection, Fragments Supporting witness

and the soul the house of the spirit.

Genesis 2:7 Direct teaching

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Job 12:10 Supporting witness

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Job 33:4 Supporting witness

The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Wisdom of Solomon 16:14 Supporting witness

A man indeed killeth through his malice: And the spirit, when it is gone forth, returneth not; Neither the soul received up cometh again.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching

....” He attributes the Spirit as belonging uniquely to God, who, in the last times, pours it upon the human race through the adoption of sons, but shows that breath was common throughout creation and identifies it as something created. What has been made is different from the maker. The breath is temporary, but the Spirit is eternal. The breath grows stronger for a short time and lasts for a while; after that, it leaves, abandoning its former dwelling without breath. But when the Spirit fills a person completely, it stays and never leaves. “But what is spiritual is not first,” says the apostle, speaking as if about us humans; “but what is physical comes first, then what is spiritual,” according to logic. It was necessary that a human being should first be made and that this being should receive the soul; afterward, it could receive the fellowship of the Spirit. Therefore, “the first Adam was made” by the Lord “a living soul, the second Adam a life-giving spirit.” As the one who was made a living soul lost life when he turned to evil, so also, when the same person turns back to good and receives the life-giving Spirit, they will find life.

Tertullian, De Anima (On the Soul) Supporting witness

Whenever, indeed, the question is about soul and spirit, the soul will be (understood to be) itself the spirit, just as the day is the light itself.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

For in one fashion is the soul in the body, and the spirit, and the power;

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

For, in truth, the spirit is joined to the soul, which is inspired by it;

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

... during those hours or days when they go through such things, do they refuse to pray, or to touch a Bible, or to receive the Eucharist? If they admit that they do, then it is plain that they are without the Holy Spirit, who always remains with the faithful. For Solomon says about holy people, "So that each one may prepare himself, so that when he sleeps it may keep him, and when he rises it may speak with him," Proverbs 6:22. For if you think, woman, that when you are in your seven days of separation you are without the Holy Spirit, then if you were to die suddenly, you would depart without the Spirit and without sure hope in God. Or else you must understand that the Spirit is always inseparable from you, since He is not confined to a place. But you need prayer and the Eucharist and the coming of the Holy Spirit, because in this matter you have committed no sin. For neither lawful union, nor childbearing, nor menstrual cleansing, nor a nighttime emission can defile a person's nature or separate the Holy Spirit from him. Nothing can do that except impiety and unlawful conduct. For the Holy Spirit always remains with those who have Him, as long as they are worthy. And when He depa

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

...the words and in the Scriptures of the Lord, urge us after these things to believe also in the Holy Spirit, once promised to the Church and given at the appointed times. For He was promised by the prophet Joel, but given by Christ. “In the last days,” says the prophet, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon my servants and my handmaids.” And the Lord said, “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you remit, they shall be remitted; and whose you retain, they shall be retained.” But this Holy Spirit the Lord Christ at one time calls the Paraclete, and at another declares to be the Spirit of truth. And He is not new in the Gospel, nor was He even then newly given. For it was He Himself who accused the people in the prophets, and in the apostles gave them the appeal to the Gentiles. For the former deserved to be accused, because they had despised the law. And those of the Gentiles who believe deserve to be aided by the defense of the Spirit, because they eagerly desire to attain to the Gospel law. Certainly, in the Spirit there are different kinds of offices, because in the times there is a different order of occasions. Yet because of this, He who carries out these offices is not different,

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

...that the Son is second beside the Father, He being the same as the Father, while a distinction is clearly drawn between the Spirit and the Son in the passage, Matthew 12:32: “Whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, he shall not have forgiveness, either in this world or in the world to come.” We consider, therefore, that there are three hypostases: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we believe that nothing is uncreated except the Father. Therefore, as the more pious and truer course, we admit that all things were made by the Word, and that the Holy Spirit is the most excellent and the first in order of all that was made by the Father through Christ. And this, perhaps, is the reason why the Spirit is not called God’s own Son. The Only-begotten alone is by nature and from the beginning a Son, and the Holy Spirit seems to need the Son to minister His essence to Him, so as to enable Him not only to exist, but also to be wise and reasonable and just, and all that we must think of Him as being. All this He has by participation in the character of Christ, of which we have s

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwell in you;

Clement of Alexandria, Connection to Romans 8:9 Supporting witness

And the apostle says, "For ye are not any longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit."

Hippolytus, Connection to John 3:6 Supporting witness

Rest satisfied with the word spoken by Christ, viz., "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,"

Irenaeus, Connection to Romans 8:9 Supporting witness

And again he declares, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."

Clement of Alexandria, Connection to 1 Corinthians 2:10 Supporting witness

"For the Spirit searches the deep things of God. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit."