4. It personifies various kinds of influence, as in the phrases 'spirit of bondage' (Ro 8"), ' spirit of stupor' (11*), ' spirit of the world ' (1 Co 2'-), ' spirit of fear ' (2 Ti 1'), ' spirit of truth ' and ' spirit of error' (1 Jn 4*).
5. It is employed in contrast with 'the letter' {■ypdi/.lj.a) to denote inward reality as opposed to outward form (Ro 2=' 7«, 2 Co 3«).
6. Psychologically it occurs in a sense not to be distinguished from 'soul,' to designate the whole of man's inner nature as something separate from, or contrasted with, his body (Ac 7''^ 1 Co 2" 5'- <■ T**, Ja 2^). See art. SouL.
7. In St. Paul's theology ' spirit ' receives a specific religious meaning that must be distin- guished from the psychological one just noted. The Apostle's doctrine of salvation, with its anti- thesis between sin and grace, leads him to recognize an opposition between flesh and spirit which is much more than the natural contrast between
spirit and body (Ro 8''"). 'Flesh' (y.i>.) stands for fallen human nature, human nature as defiled and determined by sin (cf. Ro 8^, 'sinful flesh,' lit. 'flesh of sin'), in contrast with which 'spirit' stands for the ( 'hristian's new or regenerate nature, in which the Spirit of God dwells (v.") in such a way as to bring deliverani^e from the law of sin and of death (v.-). And the Apostle had .so keen a sense of the diil'erence between the unregenerate and the regenerate condition, and of man's fallen and sinful estate as ail'ecting his whole nature, that he found it necessary to ex|)ress the contrast in a way which would make it plain that the soul as well as the body is subject to the dominance of sin. For this purpose he makes an antithesis between 'spirit' and 'soul' — though for ordinary psycho- logical purpo.ses he treats the words as synonyms— and therefore opposes (1 Co 2''"- 15"- ■'°) the spiritual [ni'cv/j.aTLKdi) to the psychical or soulish (i/'t>x"(05, AV ' natural,' ' sensual '). The soulish man is the merely natural man, the spiritual man is one into whom the Divine Spirit has entered, transforming the natural nvedtia and raising it to a higher power by this indwelling. This distinction which the Apostle makes between 'soulish' and 'spiritual' is not an arbitrary one, however, though he has adopted it for theological purposes of his own, but rests upon a dill'erential use in the OT of tiephcsh (' soul,' LXX V'l'X'i) and rilah ('spirit,' LXX irveO^o). ' Soul ' in the OT stands for the natural life regarded from the point of view of its separate individuality (Gn 2' 17"), while 'spirit' is the principle of life considered as flowing from God Himself (Job 27^ Ps 51'", Ec 12'), who is thus fitly called the God of the spirits of all flesh (Nu IG-'' 27'"). Even in the OT 'spirit' stood, as 'soul' did not, for both the Divine and the human essence, and tlius lent itself more readily to the thought of a vital connexion between the two, in which life is imparted from the higher to the lower. Hence St. Paul was only carrying OT usage and suggestion into a region of clearer theo- logical definition when he contrasted the soulish with the spiritual, applying the former to man as he is by nature apart from Divine grace, and the latter to the new man in whom the Spirit of God has taken up His abode (Ro 8"). This theological use of ' spiritual,' which is characteristic of St. Paul though not wholly confined to him, is ex- tended from persons to things, so that we read of spiritual meat and drink (1 Co 10"-), a spiritual body (15''''), spiritual songs (Col 3'"), a spiritual house and spiritual sacrifices (1 P 2=). In all these cases ' spiritual ' points to the presence of the Divine Spirit or to the activity of a human spirit that has been Divinely quickened and renewed.
Literature.— H. Cremer, Bib.-Theol. Lex. of NT Greeks, 1880, p. Wifi. ; J. Laidlaw, Bible Doctrine of Man, 1895, pp. 131 ff., 26911.; W. P. Dickson, St. Paul's Use of the Terms Flesh and Spirit, 1883, p. I(i8ff. ; B. Weiss, Biblical Theology of the JVT3, Eng. tr., i. [1882] 346fl. J. C. LAMBERT.
SPIRIT, HOLY,— See Holy Spirit.
SPIRITS IN PRISON.— This expression appears in 1 P 3"*, and some of its implications have been already discussed under DESCENT INTO Hades. It remains to summarize the principal interpre- tations that the phrase has received.
1. Augustine argues (£■/). clxiv. ' ad Euod. ' 13if.) that 1 P 3'" alludes to a preaching by the pre- incarnate Christ to the contemporaries of Noah, imprisoned in the darkness of ignorance, who were afterwards overwhelmed in the Flood for their sins. He is led to this conclusion by the difficulty which is presented by tlie apparent restriction of Christ's preaching, if it was in Hades, to one section only of the men who lived before
SPIRITS IN PKISON
SPIRITUAL GIFfS
.01; a
His advent, viz. the antediluvian patriarchs. Aiigustino's interpretation lias had a wide inlhi- enee, but it must he dismissed as iiieonsisti'ut witli the wliole tenor of 1 P 3'"'-. It was alter Christ hail been 'put to <leath in the Uesh ' that He was ' quiulieued in the .spirit,' in which llu 'went and preached unto the spirits in prison.' The words must refer to a ministry of Christ in Hades after His Passion. To whom was tliis ministry addressed?