When man give up his spirit, what becomes of it?

The state of the dead is one of the most solemn and profound topics in all of Scripture, and it is crucial that our understanding comes directly from God's Word, not from human tradition or speculation.

The classic Bible study guide, Bible Readings for the Home, approaches this topic by letting the Bible speak for itself, compiling key verses to build a complete picture. As we will see, the Scriptures consistently portray death not as a journey to a conscious spirit realm, but as a period of unconscious rest, specifically a deep sleep from which we will be awakened by the voice of Jesus Christ.

WHAT IS MAN?

MAN'S CREATION AND NATURE

What is man's nature?
"Shall mortal man be more just than God?" Job 4:17.

Note. Mortal: "Subject to death.", Webster.

Of what was man formed in the beginning?
"God formed man of the dust of the ground." Genesis 2:7. 

What act made him a living soul?
"And [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Verse 7.

Note. The living soul was not put into man; but the breath of life which was put into man made him — the man, formed of the earth — a living soul, or creature. "Man became a living being," says the Smith-Goodspeed American translation. (University of Chicago Press).

The Hebrew words translated "living soul" in this text are nephesh chaiyah, the same expression used in Genesis 1:24, translated "living creature."

The word nephesh occurs in the Old Testament 755 times. In the King James Version it is translated 428 times as "soul, for example: Genesis 2:7; 12:5; Numbers 9:13; Psalm 6:3; Isaiah 1:14. Nephesh is also translated in the following ways:

• 119 times, life (life's, lives). For example: Genesis 1:20, 30; 9:4; 1 Kings 19:14; Job 6:11; Psalm 38:12.

• 29 times, person. For example: Numbers 31:19; 35:11, 15, 30; Deuteronomy 27:25; Joshua 20:3, 9; 1 Samuel 22:22.

• 15 times, mind. For example: Deuteronomy 18:6; Jeremiah 15:1.

• 15 times, heart. For example: Exodus 23:9; Proverbs 23:7.

• 9 times, creature. Genesis 1:21, 24; 2:19;9:10, 12, 15, 16; Leviticus 11:46.

• 7 times, body (or, dead body). Leviticus 21:11; Numbers 6:6; 9:6, 7,10; 19:13; Haggai 2:13.

• 5 times, dead. Leviticus 19:28; 21:1; 22:4; Numbers 5:2; 6:11.

• 3 times, man. Exodus 12:16; 2 Kings 12:4; 1 Chronicles 5:21.

• 3 times, me. Numbers 23:10; Judges 16:30; 1 Kings 20:32.

• 3 times, beast. Leviticus 24:18.

• 2 times, ghost. Job 11:20; Jeremiah 15:9.

• 1 time, fish. Isaiah 19:10.

One or more times as various forms of the personal pronouns. (These figures are from Young's Analytical Concordance.)

Are other creatures besides man called "living souls"?
"The sea.... became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea." Revelation 16:3. 

Note. Look up the nine instances of nephesh, "soul," translated as "creature," and you will see that they all refer to animals as "living creatures," or, as the words might have been translated, "living souls.". On the phrase nephesh chaiyah, living soul or creature, in Genesis 1:24, Adam Clarke says: "A general term to express all creatures endued with animal life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations, from the half-reasoning elephant down to the stupid potto, or lower still, to the polype, which seems equally to share the vegetable and animal life."

An examination of the various occurrences of nephesh in the Old Testament shows that nephesh describes the individual rather than being a constituent part of the individual. It would be more correct, therefore, to say that a man is a nephesh, or "soul," than that he has a nephesh, or "soul" True, the expressions "my soul," "thy soul," "his soul," etc., occur frequently, but in most instances these are simply idiomatic expressions meaning "myself," "thyself," "himself," etc. Translators recognizing this have at times substituted the personal pronoun. For examples see Psalm 35:25; Proverbs 6:16; 16:26; Isaiah 5:14.

Do others besides man have the "breath of life"?
"And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life." Genesis 7:21, 22. 

What does Job call that which God breathed into man's nostrils?
"All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils." Job 27:3.

Note. The spirit, then, is the breath. The margin says, "That is, the breath which God gave him." 

When man gives up this spirit, what becomes of it?
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Ecclesiastes 12:7.

Note. That is, the spirit, or breath of life by which man lives, and which is only lent him of God, at death goes back to the great Author of life. Having come from Him, it belongs to God, and man can have it eternally only as a gift from God, through Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:23.) When the spirit goes back to God, the dust, from which man was made a "living soul" in the beginning, goes back as it was, to the earth, and the individual no longer exists as a living, conscious, thinking being, except as he exists in the mind, plan, and purpose of God through Christ and the resurrection. In this sense "all live unto Him" (Luke 20:38), for all are to be raised from the dead. (See John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15; Romans 4:17.)

FROM WRATH AND DEATH TO LIFE

Who only have hold of the life eternal?
"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:12.

Note. The veriest sinner has this temporal life; but when he yields up this life, he has no prospect nor promise of the life eternal. That can be received only through Christ. 

Why was Adam driven from Eden and the tree of life?
"And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." Genesis 3:22. (See verse 24.) 

How are all men in the natural state regarded?
"We all.... were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Ephesians 2:3. 

If the wrath of God abides on us, of what are we deprived?
"He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36. 

Through whom can we be saved from wrath and given immortality?
"Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Romans 5:9. "Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." 2 Timothy 1:10. 

Who only possesses inherent immortality?
"The blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality." 1 Timothy 6:15, 16.

Note.—This word for immortality as applied to God is not aphtharsia, "incorruptibility," which is used twice, in 2 Timothy 1:10 and Romans 2:7, but athanasia, "deathlessness," which is used also in 1 Corinthians 15:53,54.

God is the only being who possesses original life or immortality in Himself. All others must receive it from God. (See John 5:26; 6:27; 10:10, 27, 28; Romans 6:23; 1 John 5:11.)

To whom is eternal life promised?
"To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." Romans 2:7:

Note. One does not need to seek for a thing which he already possesses.

The fact that we are to seek for immortality is proof in itself that we do not now possess it. 

When will the faithful be changed to immortality?

"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52).

What is then to be swallowed up?
"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Verse 54. (See verse 57).