Christian theology

====Components====
;Soul
{{See also|soul|nephesh|psyche (psychology)|Spirit (animating force)|Human body|Flesh}}
The semantic domain of [[Bible|Biblical]] soul is based on the [[Hebrew]] word ''[[nephesh|nepes]]'', which presumably means "breath" or "breathing being".<ref>''Hebrew–English Lexicon,'' Brown, Driver & Briggs, Hendrickson Publishers.</ref> This word never means an immortal soul<ref>''Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.''</ref> or an incorporeal part of the human being<ref>''Dictionary of Biblical Theology,'' Father Xavier Leon Dufour, 1985.</ref> that can survive death of the body as the spirit of dead.<ref>''New International Dictionary''.</ref> This word usually designates the person as a whole<ref>New Dictionary of Biblical Theology</ref> or its physical life. In the [[Septuagint]] ''nepes'' is mostly translated as ''psyche'' ({{lang|grc|[[wikt:ψυχή|ψυχή]]}}) and, exceptionally, in the [[Book of Joshua]] as ''empneon'' (ἔμπνεον), that is "breathing being".<ref>"A careful examination of the biblical material, particularly the words nefesh, neshama, and ruaḥ, which are often too broadly translated as "soul" and "spirit," indicates that these must not be understood as referring to the psychical side of a psychophysical pair. A man did not possess a nefesh but rather was a nefesh, as Gen. 2:7 says: "wayehi ha-adam le-nefesh ḥayya" (". . . and the man became a living being"). Man was, for most of the biblical writers, what has been called "a unit of vital power," not a dual creature separable into two distinct parts of unequal importance and value. While this understanding of the nature of man dominated biblical thought, in apocalyptic literature (2nd century BC–2nd century AD) the term nefesh began to be viewed as a separable psychical entity with existence apart from body.... The biblical view of man as an inseparable psychosomatic unit meant that death was understood to be his dissolution."—Britannica, 2004.</ref>

The [[New Testament]] follows the terminology of the [[Septuagint]], and thus uses the word ''psyche'' with the Hebrew semantic domain and not the Greek,<ref>''Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament''</ref> that is an invisible power (or ever more, for [[Plato]]nists, immortal and immaterial) that gives life and motion to the body and is responsible for its attributes.

In [[Patristic]] thought, towards the end of the 2nd century ''psyche'' was understood in more a Greek than a Hebrew way, and it was contrasted with the body. In the 3rd century, with the influence of [[Origen]], there was the establishing of the doctrine of the inherent immortality of the soul and its divine nature.<ref>The early Hebrews apparently had a concept of the soul but did not separate it from the body, although later Jewish writers developed the idea of the soul further. Old Testament references to the soul are related to the concept of breath and establish no distinction between the ethereal soul and the corporeal body. Christian concepts of a body-soul dichotomy originated with the ancient Greeks andwere introduced into Christian theology at an early date by St. Gregory of Nyssa and by St. Augustine.—''Britannica,'' 2004</ref> Origen also taught the [[Reincarnation|transmigration]] of the souls and their preexistence, but these views were officially rejected in 553 in the [[Fifth Ecumenical Council]]. Inherent immortality of the soul was accepted among western and eastern theologians throughout the [[middle ages]], and after the Reformation, as evidenced by the [[Westminster Confession]].

;Spirit
The spirit (Hebrew ''ruach'', Greek {{lang|grc|[[wikt:πνεῦμα|πνεῦμα]]}}, ''pneuma'', which can also mean "breath") is likewise an immaterial component. It is often used interchangeably with "soul", ''psyche'', although trichotomists believe that the spirit is distinct from the soul.

:"When Paul speaks of the ''pneuma'' of man he does not mean some higher principle within him or some special intellectual or spiritual faculty of his, but simply his self, and the only questions is whether the self is regarded in some particular aspect when it is called ''pneuma''. In the first place, it apparently is regarded in the same way as when it is called ''psyche''– viz. as the self that lives in man's attitude, in the orientation of his will."<ref>Bultmann, I:206</ref>

;Body, Flesh
The body (Greek {{lang|grc|[[wikt:σῶμα|σῶμα]]}} ''soma'') is the corporeal or physical aspect of a human being. Christians have traditionally believed that the body will be [[Resurrection of the dead|resurrected]] at the end of the age.

Flesh (Greek {{lang|grc|[[wikt:σάρξ|σάρξ]]}}, ''sarx'') is usually considered synonymous with "body", referring to the corporeal aspect of a human being. The [[apostle Paul]] contrasts flesh and spirit in [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 7–8.