The translation of the Heb. ruÆach , “spirit,” “wind,” “breath,” and of the Gr. pneuma , “wind.”
God is declared to be a “Spirit” ( John 4:24 ). The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. Angels are “ministering spirits” ( Heb. 1:14 ). With respect to human beings, “spirit” is the vital, animating force that characterizes a living person. RuÆach is sometimes translated “breath” ( Gen. 7:15 ; Job 9:18 ; etc.), breath being a readily observed and conclusive evidence of the presence of life.
At death the invisible life force leaves the body ( Gen. 7:22 ; cf. Job 27:3 ; Ps. 104:29 ). The spirit returns to God who gave it ( Eccl. 12:7 ; cf. Acts 7:59 ). Seventh-day Adventists have sometimes identified the spirit, which leaves the body at death, with simply the breath. For example, the expression in Luke 23:46 “he gave up the ghost” ( Gr. exepneusen ) is literally “he expired,” or “he breathed out.” On the other hand, the spirit that returns to God has also been identified with the character: “Our personal identity is preserved in the resurrection, though not the same particles of matter or material substance as went into the grave. The wondrous works of God are a mystery to man. The spirit, the character of man, is returned to God, there to be preserved. In the resurrection every man will have his own character” (Ellen White, in SDACom 6:1093).
However, the Scriptures nowhere indicate that a human’s “spirit” exists as an intelligent entity, apart from the physical brain and nervous system. In fact, quite the contrary is repeatedly and emphatically affirmed ( Ps. 146:3 , 4 ; Eccl. 9:5 , 6 , 10 ; etc.). The concept of the spirit’s being capable of independent, intelligent, conscious, personal existence apart from the body was derived from pagan Greek philosophy and was introduced into the Christian church in the early centuries of the Christian Era by theologians of the church in Alexandria, Egypt, who adopted Platonic philosophy and blended it with Christian doctrine. See Death ; Eternal Life ; Immortality ; Resurrection ; Soul .