Where it comes from

Thus declares the LORD, Who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him... -- Zechariah 12:1 (ESV)

Purpose

The human spirit causes body to live, without it, the body is dead (Ecclesiastes 12:7). For example:

While he [Jesus] was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.”
But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”

And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child.

And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.”
And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.”

And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

-- Luke 8:49-56 (ESV)

What it is

The human spirit has emotions, for example:

• Troubled:
  • Pharaoh (Genesis 41:8)
  • Job (Job 7:11, 21:4)
  • David (Psalm 77:3)
  • Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:1-3)
  • Daniel (Daniel 7:15)
  • Jesus (John 11:33; 13:21)
  • Paul (2 Corinthians 2:13)
• Revived (out of depression?):
  • Jacob (Genesis 45:27)
  • David (Psalm 51:10)
• Willing or stirred up:
  • Moses (Psalm 106:32-33)
  • Pul and Tilgath-pilneser kings of Assyria (1 Chronicles 5:26)
  • Tribal chiefs (Ezra 1:5)
  • David (Psalm 51:12)
  • Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel (Haggai 1:14-15)
• Hardened:
  • Sihon, king of Heshbon (Deuteronomy 2:30)
• Jealousy (Numbers 5:12-15)
• Sorrow:
  • Hannah (1 Samuel 1:15)
  • Ahab (1 Kings 21:5)
• Drained:
  • Job (Job 6:4)
• Broken (Proverbs 15:4, 15:13, 17:22 Is 65:14):
  • Job (Job 17:1)
  • David (Psalm 51:17)
• Patient or Hasty (Proverbs 14:29, Ecclesiastes 7:8-9)
• Humble or proud (Proverbs 16:18-19, 29:23; Galatians 6:1)
• Anger/Irritation/Annoy (Ecclesiastes 1:14-2:26, 4:1-16, 6:9)
• Sleep/slumber (Isaiah 29:10, Romans 11:7-8)
• Sighed
  • Jesus (Mark 8:12)
• Rejoice
  • Mary (Luke 1:46-47)
  • Jesus (Luke 10:21)

According to Luke, the body grows, but the soul and spirit becomes stronger, for example:

• John (Luke 1:80)
• Jesus (Luke 2:40)

There are 1 God, but many "spirits of flesh" (human spirits):

O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation? -- Numbers 16:22 (ESV)

“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation... - Numbers 27:16 (ESV)

The human spirit

Commonly referred to as "the spirit in man" in the majority of English bibles.

Proverbs define it as:

The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all this innermost parts. -- Proverbs 20:27 (ESV)

• The human spirit can provide skill (Exodus 28:3)
• The human spirit help the human to understand wise things (Job 20:3, 32:8)
• The human spirit constrains the human (Job 32:17-18)
• The human spirit knows the person's thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:11)

The human spirit has transferable power:

Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me...” -- 2 Kings 2:9 (ESV)

Another example:

Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.”
And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
And they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the Spirit of the LORD has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” -- 2 King 2:15 (ESV)

Note that the same "sons of the prophets" differentiate between the spirit of Elijah and the Spirit of the LORD. Elisha did not correct them on the way they attributed "the Spirit of the LORD" to Elijah.

Possible explanations:

• This may imply that human spirits might also be able to do miracles to some degree.
• The "spirit of Elijah" is the Holy Spirit. Perhaps Elisha did not bother to correct the men or to acknowledge the Holy Spirit.

What it can do

• A spirit can help someone to say something (Job 26:4 (KJV))

• The human spirit can provide skill (Exodus 28:3)

• The human spirit can nourish/sustain the body in sickness (Proverbs 18:14)

• The human spirit can search for God or the other way around (Psalm 77:6, Isaiah 26:9, Proverbs 20:27)

• The human spirit can mislead him/herself (Ezekiel 13:3)

• The human spirit can turn against God (Job 15:12-13, Psalm 78:5-8)

• The human spirit returns to God at death (Job 10:18, 11:20, 27:3-4, 33:4, 34:13-15; Psalm 76:12; Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, 8:8, 12:2-7), for example:

  • Jesus (Matthew 27:50, Luke 23:46, John 19:30)

• The human spirit knows the person's thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:11)

• The human spirit can be present where the body is absent (1 Corinthians 5:3-5)

What you can do with it

• You can commit your human spirit:

  • to God, by repentance (Psalm 31:5, 32:1-2, 34:18; Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 5:3; Ephesians 4:22-23)
  • against God (Job 15:12-13, Psalm 78:5-8)

• You can rule your spirit/emotions (Proverbs 16:32, 25:28)

• You need to guard your spirit: Avoid lust and violence (Malachi 2:15-16)

• You must glorify God with it (1 Corinthians 6:20)

• You can or someone else can bless your spirit (Galatians 6:18)

Rebirth of the human spirit

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”

You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead:

Natural body	Spiritual body
What is sown is perishable.	What is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor.	It is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness.	It is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body.	It is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Thus it is written,

“The first man Adam became a living being soul”

The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.

1. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust;
2. The second man is from heaven.

As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

• For this perishable body must put on the imperishable,
• and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?

-- Hosea 13:14

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

-- 1 Corinthians 15:35 (ESV)

This study is part of an ongoing research project and may contain errors.