Observations.net

The spirit, soul, and body are different, but unified entities:

1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The spirit is the source of life:

Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The word translated spirit is pneuma, which according to Strong's Concordance means a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze. The word pneuma is the source of such words as pneumatic. Strong's Concordance also informs us that the spirit is the vital principal by which the body is animated.

The word translated soul is psyche, which also means breath. Psyche was the Greek goddess of the soul. Psyche is the source of the word psychology.

In simple terms, when a human is conceived, the life principle or spirit infuses the fertilized egg of the woman. The spirit gives life to the body.

The joining of spirit and body creates the psyche or soul. The soul is the seat of the personality. The psyche is you.

When the body dies, the life force or spirit lives on. Spirit is immortal.

2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Not only the spirit survives, but also the soul or personality. The spirit, by itself, can serve as a vessel for the soul.

Consider the nature of angels to reinforce the point that the spirit can serve as a vessel for the soul. Angels are spirit beings without bodies. Yet, they also have souls (or personalities) that reside in their immortal spirits. The Bible says of angels:

Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

(If an angel ever appears in physical form, the outward appearance is nothing more than a projection.)

Humans, though, unlike angels, were meant to have physical bodies. As such, the human spirit/soul residing in Heaven, lives in an interim state. Souls in Heaven await the Resurrection in which they will be restored as physical / spiritual beings.

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

1Co 15:52 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.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 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.

At the Second Coming of Christ we will be raised. Our spirits and souls will be restored to our bodies. But our resurrected bodies will be incorruptible and immortal.

In summary:

Soul/psyche - personality
Spirit/pneuma - Life force, immortal, capable of serving as a vessel for the soul
Body - Given life by spirit, vessel for the soul, currently mortal, but will be made immortal

Is the human soul preexistent?

No. The human soul is created through the union of spirit and body. The genetic inheritance of the body, the brain, the nervous system and so on, shape and mold the psyche. So much of what is you comes from your body. Humans are not angels and were never meant to be bodiless spirits.

Do human spirits reincarnate?

No. If your spirit or life force were to reincarnate, then your soul, meaning you, would be thrown away and a new psyche would be formed in your place. If your spirit reincarnated, your soul, again meaning you, would not be immortal. You would be gone forever.

Our Lord said:

Mat 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Do animal souls survive death?

The Bible does not say. However, I contend that all life is immortal. It is my position that the spirit or life force of an animal or even of a tree or flower survives for all eternity. God is the God of the living not of the dead.

When Jesus says in the book of Revelation, I make all things new, I believe that He means that He will restore all life - everything, as it should be, as it was meant to be.

What about the pessimism of the book of Ecclesiastes, which indicates that animals merely return to dust, and even expresses doubt about the human soul?

Honestly, the book of Ecclesiastes is a weird book that hardly seems inspired or the least bit spiritual. As far as I'm concerned, it does not belong in the Bible. My focus is the New Testament and those Old Testament books, the prophets in particular, that clearly point to the New Testament.

If I had my way, I would strike Ecclesiastes (weird, unspiritual), Song of Solomon (pornographic), and Esther (never mentions God, vengeful) from the Bible.

Remember this: Even the best of the Old Testament is clearly inferior to the New Testament. Jesus said this of John the Baptist, who was the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets:

Mat 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

What about soul sleep?

That is really a stupid idea. Think of it this way. Your body dies. Your life force dies. With no vessel, your soul ceases to exist. So when the Resurrection comes, a copy of you is recreated. But since your body had become dust and your atoms were recycled through various plants and animals, the new body is not the same as before.

There is no continuity whatsoever. The old person called you disappeared. The raised person is merely a copy, not the original. You can't say that the raised person is the same soul who once breathed and walked. For instance, I crash my car. The insurance company pays for a new one of the same make, model and year. It may look similar, but it's not the same car.

Stupid, stupid idea. Anyone pushing soul sleep should be told to go take a hike. There are people I simply refuse to associate with; people who hate Christ, commies/leftists, calvinists, zionists, and I would add soul sleepers to that list.

The soul sleeper might contest that the soul is merely put in suspended animation until the Resurrection. But, honestly, why in the hell would God do that? Again, stupid, stupid idea.

If the human soul is not preexistent, how could the human Jesus be preexistent?

Jesus is God; we're not. The God part of Jesus exists outside of time; we exist inside time.

Like other humans, was Jesus influenced by His physical genetic heritage?

Yes. Jesus inherited the genes of His mother Mary. He was shaped and molded by His human experience. He was and is the God/Man. He was not merely masquerading as a human. He was human.

If a human soul is created in the union of spirit and body, was not the same the case with Jesus?

Again, Jesus is God; we're not. He was born of a virgin. He did not receive His spirit, His life force, from His adopted father Joseph. His spirit proceeded from the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit entered into the womb of Mary and became a human baby.

If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, how could Jesus be shaped and molded by His human experience?

Again, the God part of Jesus exists outside of time. All that would happen to Him during His human experience was already a part of Him from eternity as the timeless God.