Psyche, Pneuma, Soma and Sarx Word Study

Part 4, The Soul is a Dusty Business

Following upon the last post, let's walk through another contrast between psyche and pneuma in 1 Corinthians. 

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul discusses the nature of the resurrected body. In that discussion he makes a contrast between psyche and pneuma. And the contrast he makes is the same one we've been tracing over the last two posts. Specifically, psyche--our soulish self--cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven because psyche, our soul, is connected to our physical, biological, animal natures. Pneuma, however, being properly spiritual, can enter heaven. 

Here's 1 Corinthians 15.42-49 from the ESV translation:

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. 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”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; 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.

As we noted in the last post, English readers of the Bible have never seen the contrast between psyche/soul and pneuma/spirit at work in this text. As before, let me reshare the text, making the contrast clear:

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. 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 psychical body; it is raised a pneumatical body. If there is a psychical body, there is also a pneumatical body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living psyche”; the last Adam became a life-giving pneuma. But it is not the pneumatical that is first but the psychical, and then the pneumatical. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; 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.

This text makes the New Testament imagination absolutely clear. The soul (psyche) is different from pneuma. Where pneuma is associated with the spiritual and the heavenly, the soul is associated with the earth and dust. "Soulishness" is more closely associated with biology and natural animal life. Souls are weak, natural, and perishable. Souls die. Pneuma, by contrast, is heavenly, imperishable, and powerful. Spirit does not die. 

When we imagine the "soul" we think of ghosts. When Paul imagined the "soul" he thought of dust.