The Meaning of "Gave Up the Ghost" and Where Our "Ghost" Goes

The phrase "gave up the ghost" appears in several passages. For Ananias:

"And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost." (Acts 5:5)

The same language is used of Jesus and Stephen. The key is to understand what "ghost" means in this older English expression.

In this usage, "ghost" is simply "breath." It is not referring to the immaterial soul as we typically use "spirit" or "soul" in theological language today. Etymologically, "ghost" is related to "gasp," the intake and outflow of air. To "give up the ghost" means, quite literally, to stop breathing. They ceased respiration; physical life ended.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 speaks of death in parallel terms:

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7)

In this context, "dust" is the material body and "spirit" is the life-breath God originally gave when He breathed into man the breath of life. It is parallel to saying, "the dust goes back to the ground; the breath goes back to the One who gave it." It is poetic, but the thought is straightforward: life-breath ceases; the body decomposes; God's life-giving breath is no longer animating that body.

So, when Scripture says Jesus, Ananias, and Stephen "gave up the ghost," it is describing physical death: they stopped breathing.

If the question behind the question is, "Where does the soul go?" that is a different matter. The "ghost" in this idiom is not the soul; it is the breath. The soul is the essential "self"---who we are, not merely the air in our lungs.

For believers in this present dispensation, Paul gives the clearest pattern in Philippians 1:23:

"For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better."

Paul is our pattern. When he contemplates death, he speaks of "departing" and "being with Christ." This indicates that, for the believer, to die is to go consciously into the presence of Christ. While the body returns to dust and the breath of life is no longer active, the believer's soul goes to be with the Lord.

So we can summarize:

• "Gave up the ghost" = ceased breathing; physical death occurred.
• The "spirit" of Ecclesiastes 12:7 = the life-breath God gave; it returns to Him in the sense that He no longer sustains that physical life.
• The believer's soul, according to Paul's testimony, departs to be with Christ, which is "far better" than remaining in the flesh.

The "ghost" in the idiom is not our soul floating away; it is our breath stopping. The soul of the believer goes to be with Christ.