a reply to:
OpinionatedB
That was a good answer.
Even the rabbis could never fully explain it, but the nephesh is certainly a living creature.
Jesus said "Don't fear those who kill the body, but fear Him who can cast both body and soul into hell". Paul compared our bodies to tents that
will one day fold up and the soul is taken up. The old English idiom "give up the ghost" means to die. Some people still use that phrase today.
Jesus commended His Spirit to God, which means that when He died, His Spirit went to the paradise of God. That was the promise to the thief on the
cross. The mocker on the other side wasn't given the promise.
Life and death, all in the power of Jesus' hands, because He overcame physical death and then many old prophets came from their tombs. That's not
reanimation, because reanimation doesn't make the body living, it simply means that the body moves, but it is not living. These old ones actually
came back to life.
Elisha is another example, when the men were hiding in the cave from the enemy soldiers, they threw their dead friend into the cave and the friend
came back to life, so there is power in the anointed ones, but that power is life. Elisha never came back to life himself. Only Jesus was capable of
that.
There is also the concept of the Golem, in some people's idea of kabbalha, they believe that one day the rabbis will utter the secret name of God and
the monster will animate but it won't be living, it will just be an animated body.
That is why they formed kabbalha, to learn the secret name so they can raise golems. I don't think people realize that. But perhaps there are golems
walking around now, people who are animated but not alive. WE are alive in Christ, because life is more than just body functions, it is all
encompassing.
You have experienced the newness of life, the body still decays but one day this body will no longer be needed to house the spirit and soul, because
you in everything you are will be before God.