Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
The Hebrew ideal of man was threefold:
(1) The body, or material part. (2) The vital part, seat of sensations, passions. (3) The sentient, thinking, or spiritual part (Gen. 1:20; 2:7; Num. 16:22; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 4:12).
“Heart” From Concise Bible Dictionary:
The heart is often referred to in scripture as the seat of the affections and of the passions, also of wisdom and understanding—hence we read of “the wise in heart,” also the Lord gave to Solomon “a wise and understanding heart.” It is the center of a man’s being. But before the deluge God’s verdict of man was that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). A similar verdict is found in Genesis 8:21, after Noah came out of the ark. And the Lord said, Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts and every form of wickedness (Mark 7:21). The law required man to love God with all his heart. The reception of the gospel must be in the heart, (Rom. 10:9); and God enables a hearer to receive the good news in “an honest and good heart,” upon which there is fruit (Luke 8:15). In new creation there is a “pure heart,” the Christian being led by the Holy Spirit (1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Pet. 1:22).
“Soul, Spirit” From Concise Bible Dictionary:
Man is composed of soul and body, though in certain cases the term “spirit” is added. Both soul and spirit are put in contrast to the body, as signifying the incorporeal part of man; but there is a distinction between soul and spirit. Soul is often employed to express the moral undying part of man’s being, and it is used sometimes to signify the person; as “all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt” (Gen. 46:26); “eight souls” were saved in the ark (1 Pet. 3:20). “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4, 20).
The Hebrew word commonly translated “soul” is nephesh: in many instances this is translated “life” in the AV, as in Jonah 1:14: “Let us not perish for this man’s life,” or soul. In the New Testament the word ψυχή stands for both “life” and “soul:” “Whosoever will save his ‘life’ shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his ‘life’ for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own ‘soul’? or what shall a man give in exchange for his ‘soul’?” (Matt. 16:25-26).
The soul, as distinguished from the spirit, is the seat of appetites and desires. The rich man said, “I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19). That night his “soul” was required of him. The salvation of the soul cannot be distinguished from the salvation of the person.
The SPIRIT is distinctively the higher part of man, it marks the conscious individuality, and distinguishes man thus from the inferior creation. God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and by this man was set in relation with God, and cannot be really happy separated from Him, either in present existence or eternally. The words are ruach and πνεῦμα, and are the same as constantly used for God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, and for the angels as spirits, and for evil spirits.
The word of God is sharp, and able to divide asunder the soul and spirit of a man, though it may not be easy for the human mind to see the division. The apostle prayed for the Thessalonians that spirit (which is probably viewed as the seat of God’s work), as well as soul and body might be sanctified (1 Thess. 5:23). In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read of the “spirits” of just men made perfect: their place is with God through redemption. Here “spirits” apparently signifies the persons apart from their bodies.
The Holy Spirit being given to the Christian, as the spring in him of life in Christ, he is exhorted to pray with the spirit, sing with the spirit, walk in the Spirit, so that in some cases it is difficult to distinguish between the Spirit of God and the Christian’s spirit.
Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words:
Meaning:
from 5594; breath, i.e. (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from 4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from 2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew 5315, 7307 and 2416)
KJV Usage:
heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you