When a distinction is made between soul and spirit, as is sometimes the case in Holy Writ, then man is depicted as a triune being. Paul wrote the Thessalonians of this triune nature. Soul is used in a number of ways. It may refer simply to physical life which man enjoys in common with lower forms of life. Soul may be used to refer to the intellectual nature of man.
Soul is used as a synonym of that unique unity that bound early disciples together.
The soul is used synonymously with the spirit to refer to man's immortal nature that survives the body and earthly life. When body, soul and spirit are all used, we are speaking of the fleshly tabernacle of clay, the earthly life that inhabits it and that immortal part which is made in God's image, in Deity's likeness. In Luke 20 Jesus proved to the skeptical Sadducees that even though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had long been dead physically when God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, that in a far higher sense the trio of patriarchs all lived as far as God was concerned. The very fact that man is dual or triune in being refutes soul sleeping. Man does not cease to be at death.