Thomas Williams

“ With these facts before you, that man is mortal, and that the soul and spirit of man are never spoken in the Scriptures as immortal, we may now ask you to listen to the use of the word immortal, so that you may more fully see that immortality is in no sense man's present possession, and that therefore "immortal soul" and "immortal spirit" are invented phrases--not scriptural. ”

“ The Spirit of Man Is Not an Immortal Entity, But the Word is Used for Life, Mind and Disposition
Now, reader, you may be under the impression that spirit is only applied to man in the Scriptures; and truly, if it is a word that signifies immortal entity, it ought never to apply to the beasts in any sense. If we show you testimonies in which spirit is spoken of as belonging to the beasts as well as to man, then you will see at once that it cannot have the meaning commonly attached to it. ”

“ It was the breath of life that God breathed into man to make him a living man. Before that he was a lifeless man. When God takes away the breath of life or the spirit of life, which all creatures possess, the man becomes as lifeless as he was before he received the breath of life. Hence Solomon says in Ecc. 12:7, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." The word rendered spirit here is the same as is rendered breath in chapter 3:19, where it says of man and beasts, yea they have all one breath (ruach) . ”