I have a question that I've been wondering about ever since I've been responding to Muslims and Jews regarding the crucifixion. I understand Jesus' human nature only died on the cross and not His devine nature. When we respond saying Jesus' human nature died on the cross, does this include a human soul since a human nature isn't just physical flesh, and would that mean Jesus had two Spirit's, His divine and human? I'm not trying to believe anything heretical. I honestly don't know.
What is at stake in either way the discussion will turn? Say we affirm that the human soul is crucified as well as the human body.
My question isn't a big deal I guess. It's something I've been wondering about. I thought there was something maybe I was missing or didn't understand
This is a subject I have given some thought to. So I will take a stab at explaining my understanding of this somewhat complex matter. YMMV, of course; I don't think we can be entirely dogmatic about this. I believe that man is a tri-part being: spirit, soul and body. 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 4:12. We are in God's image, and God is Trinity as well. The soul can be thought of as the mind, the intellect, the will, the memories. What is the spirit? I think it is the special thing that makes us more than animals, the part of us that has one 'foot' in the natural world and one 'foot' in the spirit realm which seems barely perceptible to us but is fully substantial to God, to the angels and demons, and to the deceased. Since Jesus was very man and very God, I believe that His eternal nature can never die but His human nature was subject to death. And since humans have a human spirit, soul, and body, I take it that Jesus had a human spirit, a human soul, and a human body, besides His divine nature. How could Jesus be fully human if He lacked what the rest of us possess: a human spirit? Now, it's important to note that the spirit of man is considered to be "dead" when it is dead in sin, i.e., dead to God. The unredeemed man's spirit becomes "born again" when God quickens it (makes it alive to Him and recreates it, so He can live in us and commune with us... potentially forever if we do not cast away our faith). But Jesus' human spirit was not dead to the Father due to sin because He was sinless, from birth right up to the day of His crucifixion. On the day when Jesus was crucified, however, take note that Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I believe that when Jesus took upon Himself the sins of all mankind, His human spirit became dead to the Father, not through any sinfulness of His own, but through the massive sinfulness of all the rest of us being placed upon His shoulders and borne to fruition. I would caution anyone to be extremely careful, however, about saying "Jesus died spiritually" without a more detailed explanation, because there are those who, on the assumption that Jesus only had a divine and not a human spirit, will jump to the erroneous conclusion that the phrase implies the death of God's eternal spirit... which, of course, is absolutely impossible and incorrect (and indeed heretical) .
Thank you for detailed response. This became an issue for me because I was also wondering about the Hypostatic union and how popular apologists explained Jesus' death on the cross. It confused me a little because it almost seems like the Hypostatic union is denying that the human soul is a person. I know need to do further study.
There are two distinct ways of viewing the manner in which Christ's Humanity and His Divinity resided within the one and same human being. Some think the two equal natures are intermingled like wine mixed with water are no longer distinguishably wine or water but both are 100% 'there'. Others thought that the two natures were more like oil and water, which no matter how one might try cannot be intermingled but remain distinct. We are told in the Old Testament that to : "Remember him (God) —before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. So even in the case of every mortal person the Spirit does not die along with the body. Why should we expect any different from Christ, who was truly human having become so through being born of woman. I see no essential distinction between the soul and the spirit of mankind, neither did the Hebrews who wrote the Old Testament. The two terms are used synonymously. There is only the essential distinction between Body and Spirit. Christ's body died on a cross and was pronounced dead by the centurian whose job it was to decide such issues. He thrust his spear into the body to ensure no come back on him in case the body was removed before sentence had been finally carried out. Truly any human being cannot exist in a dead body, the spirit of man must depart. Christ had commended His Spirit to God though before death, so his spirit, (i.e. the divine part of his nature and his soul) never died. It is the Spirit of Jesus which is the vehicle of his divinity and his body is now, after Easter Morning, a resurrection body 1 Cor.15:35-49, fitting for his role as a life giving Spirit. Phil.1:19, 1 Cor.15:45. Thus the Cosmic Christ who pre-existed the worlds and continues to be the second 'person' of The Holy Trinity, never died, only the Messiah, The sinless, Incarnate Son of Man, died and has risen again with a Spiritual body, the first fruits of those that slept, 1 Cor.15:20, His Spirit is that of the same Jesus Christ we knew when he walked the earth. HE is still though the second person of The Holy Trinity, but now GLORIFIED. John 17:5. .
I agree with Tiffy that human spirits do not cease to exist; all human spirits will continue throughout eternity (either in God's Kingdom or, for those whose spirits are "dead to God," in the Lake of Fire).
Thanks everyone. Now this got me thinking. I wonder if physicalists or SDA's believe that Christ's soul ceased to exist at His death at the cross.