"Most Christians believe that man has a spirit, and while it's true that the word "spirit" can be translated "breath," guess what? It also can be translated "spirit"! "
“Soul”—ALivingCreature,HumanorAnimal;LifeasanIntelligentPerson;OtherUses Heb.,???(ne′phesh);Gr.,ψυχ?(psy·khe′);Lat.,
a′ni·ma
In the Hebrew Scriptures the Hebrew word ne′phesh occurs 754 times, first in Ge 1:20. The NewWorldTranslation consistently renders it “soul” and in each case it proves understandable in the light of its context. The use of this one Hebrew word in many different contexts helps us to ascertain the basic idea inherent in the word as the Bible writers used it, namely, that it is a person, an individual, or a lower creature; or, the life that a person or an animal enjoys as such. This is totally different from what the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans religiously and philosophically called a soul.
In the Christian Greek Scriptures the Greek word psy·khe′ occurs by itself 102 times, first in Mt 2:20. This includes Eph 6:6 and Col 3:23, where it is in the expression “whole-souled.” Additionally it is used in many compound Greek words such as in Php 2:2, 19; 1Th 5:14. The NewWorldTranslation consistently renders psy·khe′ as “soul.” This uniform rendering by the same English word proves very enlightening as to how the inspired writers used psy·khe′ and what properties they ascribed to it.
"The Witnesses and the SDA both rely on ONE VERSE in Ecclesiastes, a book that was not even written by a prophet, for their belief that the soul "sleeps" at death. Ecclesiastes was not an eschatological book, but a philosophical book."
You're right. It has very little to do with eschatology. The book of Ecclesiastes was written for a lofty purpose. Solomon, as leader of a people dedicated to Jehovah, had the responsibility to hold them together in faithfulness to their dedication. He sought to fulfill this responsibility by means of the wise counsel of Ecclesiastes.
"Peter says that while Jesus was put to death in the flesh, that he was made alive in the spirit, by which he preached to the spirits in prison, which were disobedient in the days of Noah. If Jesus has a spirit, shouldn't we? And who were the spirits to whom he preached?"
Several different questions here.
1. Angels are sometimes termed spirits; that which is spirit is invisible and powerful. Thus we read: “A spirit came out and stood before Jehovah”; “Are they not all spirits for public service?” (1Ki 22:21; Heb 1:14) Having invisible spiritual bodies, they make their abode “in the heavens.” (Mr 12:25; 1Co 15:44, 50) They are also termed “sons of the true God,” “morning stars,” and “holy myriads” (or “holy ones”).—Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; De 33:2.
2. The demons as such were not created by God. The first to make himself one was Satan the Devil, who became the ruler of other angelic sons of God who also made themselves demons. (Mt 12:24, 26) In Noah’s day disobedient angels materialized, married women, fathered a hybrid generation known as Nephilim, and then dematerialized when the Flood came. (Ge 6:1-4) However, upon returning to the spirit realm, they did not regain their lofty original position, for Jude 6 says: “The angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day.” (1Pe 3:19, 20) So it is in this condition of dense spiritual darkness that they must now confine their operations. (2Pe 2:4) Though evidently restrained from materializing, they still have great power and influence over the minds and lives of men, even having the ability to enter into and possess humans and animals, and the facts show that they also use inanimate things such as houses, fetishes, and charms.—Mt 12:43-45; Lu 8:27-33;
3. (2 Peter2:4) Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tar′ta·rus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment;
4. Jesus' spirit which he entrusted into his father's hand was thus:
In view of the impersonal nature of the life-force, or spirit, found in man (as also in the animal creation), it is evident that David’s statement at Psalm 31:5, quoted by Jesus at the time of his death (Lu 23:46), “Into your hand I entrust my spirit,” meant that God was being called upon to guard, or care for, that one’s life-force. (Compare Ac 7:59.) That there be an actual and literal transmission of some force from this planet to the heavenly presence of God is not necessarily required. Even as the fragrant scent of animal sacrifices was spoken of as being ‘smelled’ by God (Ge 8:20, 21), whereas such scent undoubtedly remained within earth’s atmosphere, so, too, God could ‘gather in,’ or could accept as entrusted to him, the spirit or life-force in a figurative sense, that is, without any literal transmission of vital force from earth. (Job 34:14; Lu 23:46) A person’s entrusting his spirit evidently means, then, that he places his hope in God for a future restoration of such life-force to himself through a resurrection.—Compare Nu 16:22; 27:16; Job 12:10; Ps 104:29, 30.
Class dismissed!
