What is a “Spirit”?

The English word “spirit” comes from the Latin noun spiritus, which simply means wind; breath; essentially, moving air. Yes, it is as mundane as that. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for “spirit” is rūwaḥ, and the equivalent Greek word for “spirit” in the New Testament is pneuma. Both these words essentially mean the same thing: wind; breath; essentially, moving air. By extension, they can refer to several different things:

1. Ordinary wind

Firstly, since rūwaḥ and pneuma basically mean moving air, they can refer to ordinary wind.

Genesis 8:1 says: “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind [rūwaḥ] blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”

Exodus 14:21 says: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind [rūwaḥ] all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.”

Psalm 1:4 says: “The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind [rūwaḥ] drives away.”

This allows authors to employ puns and word plays. In John 3:8, Jesus says: “The wind [pneuma] blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit [pneuma].” Do you see what Jesus did there? The word for “wind” here is pneuma, which is the same word rendered “Spirit” later on in the same verse. Unfortunately, this word play is lost in English translation.

2. Breath

Secondly, rūwaḥ and pneuma can refer to breath, which is essentially moving air.

The Song of the Sea, which the Israelites sang after God brought them across the Red Sea on dry ground, contains this verse: “At the blast [rūwaḥ] of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.” (Exodus 15:8)

In 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the Apostle Paul says: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath [pneuma] of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

3. The breath of life

Thirdly, because rūwaḥ and pneuma can refer to breath, they can also refer to the life of a breathing being.

The idea is that breath is essential to life; a breathing being has to breathe in order to live, and without breathing there is no living. This is why breath and life are interchangeable in the Bible. Biblically speaking, therefore, breathing beings have the “breath of life” when they are alive, but when they die, they lose their “breath of life”.

When God was telling Noah that he was going to send a flood to destroy all living things, he said: “For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath [rūwaḥ] of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:17) Later on, the narrative says: “They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath [rūwaḥ] of life.” (Genesis 7:15) Later on, when the flood came, “Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath [rūwaḥ] of life died.” (Genesis 7:22)

Revelation 11:7, the two witnesses—here portrayed as two human beings—were killed. Take a look at how the writer narrates their coming back to life in verse 11: “But after the three and a half days a breath [pneuma] of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet.” The two witnesses came back to life when the “breath [pneuma] of life” entered into them.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 describes the death of a person: “the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit [rūwaḥ] returns to God who gave it.” The “spirit” here is not a person’s soul coming out of his body and fluttering to Heaven, since this passage describes the deaths of human beings in general, and yet not every human being “goes to Heaven”.

So what does it mean that “the spirit returns to God who gave it”? Jesus used a similar expression when he said to his disciples: “As you enter the house, greet it. ... But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.” (Matthew 10:12–13) Obviously, “peace” is not a thing which the disciples could send upon a house or take back to themselves. In the same way, God gives people life, i.e., the “breath of life”, and when they die, that “breath of life” returns to him, since he was the one who gave it in the first place.

Narrating the death of Jesus, Matthew 27:50 says: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit [pneuma].” Likewise, John 19:30 says: “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit [pneuma].” Both these gospels say that when Jesus died, he “gave up his spirit [pneuma].” Many Christians take this to mean that Jesus’ immaterial soul came out of his body and fluttered up to heaven. However, this is not the case.

Take a look at how Mark 15:37 narrates the same event: “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.” The Greek word for “breathed his last” here is the verb ekpneō, which means to breathe out. It comes from the verb pneō “blow; breathe”, which is related to pneuma. Thus, Jesus “giving up the spirit [pneuma]” means the same thing as Jesus “breathing his last [ekpneō]”. Jesus gave up his “breath of life”, and died a physical death.

Luke 23:46 brings the two terms together: “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit [pneuma]!’ And having said this he breathed his last [ekpneō].” Clearly, then, the pneuma “spirit” which Jesus committed to God and gave up was not his immaterial soul, but his “breath of life” which he “breathed out” at his death; his physical, human life.

4. Immaterial beings

Fourthly, because wind is immaterial, yet its effects are discernible, rūwaḥ and pneuma was also used to refer to immaterial beings.

Speaking about God the Father, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that “God is spirit.” (John 4:24) The point that he is making is that even though God exists, he is immaterial; he does not have a physical form.

In the Book of Job, one of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, spoke to him about a supernatural encounter that he had with a spirit: “A spirit [rūwaḥ] glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice.” (Job 4:15–16) Eliphaz had seen something in front of him. It clearly existed, since he could see it and hear it speak, but because it did not look like it had a physical body, Eliphaz called it a rūwaḥ “spirit”.

In the New Testament, demons are referred to as pneumata “spirits”, and many times even as akarthata pneumata “unclean spirits”.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples, who initially “were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit [pneuma].” (Luke 24:37) Take at what Jesus said to them: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit [pneuma] does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:38–39)

Jesus was trying to convince his disciples that he was truly alive, and that they were not seeing a spirit imitating his likeness and mannerism. This also disproves the idea that Jesus was resurrected only spiritually but not physically. He was clearly resurrected physically, since the disciples were able to touch him. If he were a spirit, they would not have been able to touch him.

5. The immaterial aspect of a person

Fifthly, rūwaḥ and pneuma could also refer to the immaterial aspect of a person. By that, I do not mean that a person has some immaterial, immortal soul which survives death and goes to Heaven or Hell after they die. Rather, I am talking about a person’s mind, emotions, and will, even his mindset or attitude.

Exodus 6:9 says that the Israelites did not listen to Moses because of their “broken spirit [rūwaḥ]” (ESV). They were discouraged.

In Numbers 14:24, God said that Caleb had a “different spirit [rūwaḥ]”. He had a different attitude from the others.

Numbers 5:14, 30 mentions the “spirit [rūwaḥ] of jealousy” that a husband has when he suspects that his wife has cheated on him.

In Deuteronomy 2:30, God said that he hardened the rūwaḥ “spirit” of Sihon such that he became stubborn and fought against the Israelites.

Judges 8:3 says: “Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.” (ESV) The word for “anger” there is rūwaḥ.

Psalm 34:18 talks about those who are “crushed of spirit [rūwaḥ]”.

Psalm 51:10 pleads for God to “renew a right spirit [rūwaḥ] within me.” Verse 12 pleads for God to “sustain me with a generous spirit [rūwaḥ].” Verse 17 says: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit [rūwaḥ] and a broken and contrite heart.” Notice how the spirit is put in parallel with the heart.

The Book of Proverbs talks about being “faithful of spirit [rūwaḥ]” (11:13), and being “hasty of spirit [rūwaḥ]” (14:29).

Proverbs 16:2 says that the Lord “weighs the spirits [rūwaḥ]” to see what is truly in the heart of men.

Proverbs 16:18–19 contrasts being “haughty of spirit [rūwaḥ]” is contrasted with being “humble of spirit [rūwaḥ]”.

Proverbs 25:28 says: “A breached city without walls is a man who is without rule over his spirit [rūwaḥ].”

In Luke 1:46–47, Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit [pneuma] rejoices in God my saviour!”

In 1 Corinthians 2:11, Paul writes: “For who among men knows the things of the man, except of the spirit [pneuma] of the man which is in him?” Here, the pneuma “spirit” of a person is his mind; the organ which he uses to know and think.