the human soul, what is it?

[Sec]

the Christian faith is functionally illiterate when it comes to knowledge of what exactly the human soul is. Until tonight. If you read this, whether you accept this as true or not, you will at least have a footing to build your knowledge of the human soul upon.
It is actually simple. The human soul is your mind. Not your brain, that is the hardware, your mind, is the software that runs the brain, stores all your files (memories) and runs your body.
When you die, God, through the Holy Spirit, uploads your mind, which is composed of your consciousness, and all your memories, and saves it for the resurrection.
There are a million theological questions that are easily answered once this concept is accepted as true, but you have to wrap your mind around the fact that eternal life is a fact of life, and God is in complete control of it, forever! You will always be you.

<><===><>
Gary Sechler
with knowledge on loan from God

 

[GodIsSalvation]

I do not believe the soul is the mind.

I believe the soul is the breath of life. The Bible is the only functional collection of literature that explains the soul.

 

[crossnote]

the Christian faith is functionally illiterate when it comes to knowledge of what exactly the human soul is. Until tonight. If you read this, whether you accept this as true or not, you will at least have a footing to build your knowledge of the human soul upon.
It is actually simple. The human soul is your mind. Not your brain, that is the hardware, your mind, is the software that runs the brain, stores all your files (memories) and runs your body.
When you die, God, through the Holy Spirit, uploads your mind, which is composed of your consciousness, and all your memories, and saves it for the resurrection.
There are a million theological questions that are easily answered once this concept is accepted as true, but you have to wrap your mind around the fact that eternal life is a fact of life, and God is in complete control of it, forever! You will always be you.

<><===><>
Gary Sechler
with knowledge on loan from God

Pretty pictures require a source...chapter? verse?

 

[4enlightment]

the Christian faith is functionally illiterate when it comes to knowledge of what exactly the human soul is. Until tonight. If you read this, whether you accept this as true or not, you will at least have a footing to build your knowledge of the human soul upon.
It is actually simple. The human soul is your mind. Not your brain, that is the hardware, your mind, is the software that runs the brain, stores all your files (memories) and runs your body.
When you die, God, through the Holy Spirit, uploads your mind, which is composed of your consciousness, and all your memories, and saves it for the resurrection.
There are a million theological questions that are easily answered once this concept is accepted as true, but you have to wrap your mind around the fact that eternal life is a fact of life, and God is in complete control of it, forever! You will always be you.

<><===><>
Gary Sechler
with knowledge on loan from God

The soul is the life force, without it, the body will be lifeless like when its asleep, it doesn't perform duties.

 

[Jason0047]

Soul: = Your Consciousness, Mind, Feelings, Morality, & Inner Being
(This is your inner self that controls both your spirit body and physical body)
(Condition: The soul lives on in the spirit world. It can only be destroyed by Jesus Christ)


Spiritual Body (or Spirit): = Your Invisible Celestial or Incorporeal Body
(Your unseen spiritual body which only appears visible in the spiritual realm)
(And is attached to the soul and can express & feel emotion as the Bible indicates)
(Condition: spirit can die, if it is replaced by a new spirit given by God thru the process of being born again and or it can be destroyed by Jesus in the 2nd death)


Physical Body: = Your Visible Flesh and Blood Body
(Your body exists within the physical realm & is attached to both the soul and spirit body)
(Condition: body can die, leaving the remaining soul and spirit body for the Judgment. A new physical body will be created for both the Righteous who will live with Christ eternally and a new body will be created for the Unrighteous whereby their body will be destroyed in the Lake of Fire.)


Your soul, spirit, and body are all distinct from one another and yet they all make up one person and can function as one.


The Needs & Desires of the Body and the Spirit:


The physical body has needs and desires; And then when a person accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior or becomes born again (i.e. their spirit being reborn) their spirit then has needs and desires, too.


For example:


Your physical body needs =
Water, food or meat, and sleep in order to function.


Your reborn spiritual body needs =
Word of God (water), doing the will of Christ just as Christ did the will of the Father (food or meat), and praise & worship (rest) in order to function.


Your physical body desires =
The union with a mate, happiness, usefulness with talents or work, beautiful things, relaxation, exhilaration, and a desire to be healthy.


Your reborn spiritual body desires =
Marriage to Christ, to be in the beauty or splendor of heaven, to be at peace with God, etc. The spirit also desires spiritual gifts, too.


The soul of man expresses his individuality. The body is the part of us that is world-conscious; the soul is self-conscious; and the spirit (that is born again) is God-conscious.


In other words...


There are three minds at work:


Soul = Mind that makes the ultimate decisions.
Body = Mind that can influence you into fleshy or worldly matters.
Spirit Body (Born of God) = Mind that can influence you into the things of God.


Now, just so that there is no confusion I think it is important to clarify the spirit or the spiritual body.


Spiritual bodies (that are born again of God) can...


(a) Feel emotion like your physical body can feel emotion.
Mary said she would rejoice in her spirit. This an expression of an emotion. So your spirit can feel emotionally.


(b) Have desires or a mind that focuses on the things of God
Just as your physical body has desires of the things of the flesh or of this world, your reborn spirit from God has a mind that desires those things that are spiritually good. So your reborn spirit is not an empty shell. It has needs and desires that want to please God. Also, your reborn spirit lets God know you are a member of His Kingdom (you are born again spiritually).


(c) House the Holy Spirit, Christ, and or the Father.
So just as the Holy Ghost can live within our physical bodies as a Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19), Christ is said to live within the spirit of our hearts (Ephesians 3:17). For your spiritual body has a spiritual heart and Christ can live there. Remember, the Temple had an inner court and an outer court. The outer court would be your physical body and the inner court of the temple would be your spiritual body. God can live within your reborn spiritual body. For God desires to rule from within our hearts and be joined to the body of Christ (Colossians 3:15).


(d) Have True Understanding of the The Scriptures


1 Corinthians 2:14 - "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


In other words, the natural man is the unsaved person who rejects Jesus in this life and they do not receive the things from the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him. The unsaved natural man who rejects Christ cannot know the things of God because they do not have a reborn spirit from God to be able to spiritually discern God's truth.


If your looking for Scripture references for the soul, spirit, and body being distinct and yet one, below you will find three really good articles that are backed up with plenty of verses.


The 1st article I would recommend talks about the difference between the...
"soul's heart" and the "spirit's heart."


Realanswers.tv


The 2nd article I would recommend is the soul and the spirit in regards to salvation. Although, I do not believe in OSAS (i.e. Once Saved Always Saved) or Eternal Security, the article still does a good job at explaining the difference between spirit salvation (Justification) and soul salvation (Sanctification).


First Fruits Ministry


The 3rd article I would recommend is a very lengthy, informative, and in-depth study on the soul, spirit, and the body, of which you can check out here...


Spirit and Soul and Body


Side Note:


I am aware that bread can be a reference to the Word of God, too. I chose Water first because we are to sanctify ourselves with the washing of the Word. And faith cometh by hearing the Word of God (i.e. being born of Water).

 

[Kerry]

The soul is the mind, it is who you are. Whether you like spinach or green beans or jumping out of airplanes. The soul is you and that's where decisions are made. Whether you will follow your flesh our you spirit and remenber the flesh is weak but the spirit is willing. We are made in Gods image soul/mind, spirit and flesh 3 in 1.

 

[Jason0047]

The soul is the mind, it is who you are. Whether you like spinach or green beans or jumping out of airplanes. The soul is you and that's where decisions are made. Whether you will follow your flesh our you spirit and remenber the flesh is weak but the spirit is willing. We are made in Gods image soul/mind, spirit and flesh 3 in 1.

Yes, I agree. For the best way I have found to understand the Godhead is to understand how we are made in God's image (Genesis 1:27). For God is triune and He consists in being as the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:7); And man consists in being as a soul, spirit, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).


For example, when I shake somebody's hand, I am using my soul, spirit, and body in order to do so. Yet the person who is shaking my hand is only receiving the hand shake from my physical body. For they cannot touch my spirit or my soul. Yet I used all three in order to make that one physical action to happen, though; And it was my mind (or my soul) that chose to shake that person's hand. In fact...


There are three minds at work:


Soul = Mind that makes the ultimate decisions.
Body = Mind that can influence you into fleshy or worldly matters (i.e. your old life).
Spirit Body (Born of God) = Mind that can influence you into the things of God.


And all three equally consist in being as one person.


This parallels the three persons of God:


Father = Person who makes the ultimate decisions.
Word = Person who died for our sins done in the flesh and can give you a new life.
Holy Spirit = Person who can influence & teach you the things of God.


And all three equally consist in being as one God.


So in conclusion...


We are triune beings made in God's image because God is triune.

 

[Allin]

Yes, I agree. For the best way I have found to understand the Godhead is to understand how we are made in God's image (Genesis 1:27). For God is triune and He consists in being as the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:7); And man consists in being as a soul, spirit, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).


For example, when I shake somebody's hand, I am using my soul, spirit, and body in order to do so. Yet the person who is shaking my hand is only receiving the hand shake from my physical body. For they cannot touch my spirit or my soul. Yet I used all three in order to make that one physical action to happen, though; And it was my mind (or my soul) that chose to shake that person's hand. In fact...


There are three minds at work:


Soul = Mind that makes the ultimate decisions.
Body = Mind that can influence you into fleshy or worldly matters (i.e. your old life).
Spirit Body (Born of God) = Mind that can influence you into the things of God.


And all three equally consist in being as one person.


This parallels the three persons of God:


Father = Person who makes the ultimate decisions.
Word = Person who died for our sins done in the flesh and can give you a new life.
Holy Spirit = Person who can influence & teach you the things of God.


And all three equally consist in being as one God.


So in conclusion...


We are triune beings made in God's image because God is triune.

Best answers in short form I've seen on the complexity of distinguishing the spirit, soul, and body from each other.

 

[Atwood]

Soul = Person, Life: Functional, Not Metaphysical Term

Many years ago I started out to do a psychology study of the Bible, investigating all the psych terms in the Bible. I spent a year gathering data, putting verses on cards. It was to be a 2 year research project, but my supervisor advised me to just concentrate on Flesh (sarx) an important psych term in Paul's theology.

My preliminary conclusion is that soul (nephesh/psychē) is a functional term for life or person, not a metaphysical term, and that man has 2 metaphysical parts: spirit & body.

In Genesis when God breathed into man the breath of life, man became a living soul. It doesn't say that God gave man a part called "soul," but the whole man was a living soul. A captain of a ship might count the human bodies & then report that on board there are 50 souls.

Involved with this is the classic argument of trichotomy vs dichotomy, whether man has 3 metaphysical parts or just 2. Other psychological entities are mentioned in scripture: heart (2 different Hebrew words there) reins or kidneys, mind (phrēn/phrenes) & nous -- 2 different words. I don't know that anyone has tried to be a quadotomist or pentotomist saying how many has 5 different non-material parts: heart, mind 1, mind 2, soul, spirit (throw in kidneys for 6!) The word for anger thymos goes back to a Homeric word thymos which evidently meant something like spirit.

The passage in Hebrews 4 about dividing soul & spirit, joints & marrow does not support trichotomy. Joint and marrow are not contiguous parts to slice apart (marrow in inside bones -- it does not border joints). The dividing is slicing the soul, slicing the spirit, slicing the joints, slicing the marrow -- I would interpret this as saying that Christ, the word of God, sees into the person, the spirit, the joints the marrow. All is naked & laid open to Him.

 

[Atwood]

We are triune beings made in God's image because God is triune.

God is incorporeal and has no body.
This analogy fails.
The Trinity is a trinity of persons (egos), not a trinity metaphysical parts.
God is one in essence.
Humans have a physical and a spiritual essence and can exist without the body, though it is not the natural state of man to be disembodied.

It is doubtful that man has a 2nd metaphysical part called "soul." Genesis says that man became a living soul, not received a part called a soul.

Those interested will probably find quite a bit on the internet about dichotomy vs trichotomy.

 

[Kerry]

Yes, I agree. For the best way I have found to understand the Godhead is to understand how we are made in God's image (Genesis 1:27). For God is triune and He consists in being as the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:7); And man consists in being as a soul, spirit, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).


For example, when I shake somebody's hand, I am using my soul, spirit, and body in order to do so. Yet the person who is shaking my hand is only receiving the hand shake from my physical body. For they cannot touch my spirit or my soul. Yet I used all three in order to make that one physical action to happen, though; And it was my mind (or my soul) that chose to shake that person's hand. In fact...


There are three minds at work:


Soul = Mind that makes the ultimate decisions.
Body = Mind that can influence you into fleshy or worldly matters (i.e. your old life).
Spirit Body (Born of God) = Mind that can influence you into the things of God.


And all three equally consist in being as one person.


This parallels the three persons of God:


Father = Person who makes the ultimate decisions.
Word = Person who died for our sins done in the flesh and can give you a new life.
Holy Spirit = Person who can influence & teach you the things of God.


And all three equally consist in being as one God.


So in conclusion...


We are triune beings made in God's image because God is triune.

Amen to that brother.

 

[vic1980]

the Christian faith is functionally illiterate when it comes to knowledge of what exactly the human soul is. Until tonight. If you read this, whether you accept this as true or not, you will at least have a footing to build your knowledge of the human soul upon.
It is actually simple. The human soul is your mind. Not your brain, that is the hardware, your mind, is the software that runs the brain, stores all your files (memories) and runs your body.
When you die, God, through the Holy Spirit, uploads your mind, which is composed of your consciousness, and all your memories, and saves it for the resurrection.
There are a million theological questions that are easily answered once this concept is accepted as true, but you have to wrap your mind around the fact that eternal life is a fact of life, and God is in complete control of it, forever! You will always be you.

<><===><>
Gary Sechler
with knowledge on loan from God

Psalms 104:29-30

You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to their dust.

You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.

God is Good

 

[Allin]

Re: Soul = Person, Life: Functional, Not Metaphysical Term

Many years ago I started out to do a psychology study of the Bible, investigating all the psych terms in the Bible. I spent a year gathering data, putting verses on cards. It was to be a 2 year research project, but my supervisor advised me to just concentrate on Flesh (sarx) an important psych term in Paul's theology.

My preliminary conclusion is that soul (nephesh/psychē) is a functional term for life or person, not a metaphysical term, and that man has 2 metaphysical parts: spirit & body.

In Genesis when God breathed into man the breath of life, man became a living soul. It doesn't say that God gave man a part called "soul," but the whole man was a living soul. A captain of a ship might count the human bodies & then report that on board there are 50 souls.

Involved with this is the classic argument of trichotomy vs dichotomy, whether man has 3 metaphysical parts or just 2. Other psychological entities are mentioned in scripture: heart (2 different Hebrew words there) reins or kidneys, mind (phrēn/phrenes) & nous -- 2 different words. I don't know that anyone has tried to be a quadotomist or pentotomist saying how many has 5 different non-material parts: heart, mind 1, mind 2, soul, spirit (throw in kidneys for 6!) The word for anger thymos goes back to a Homeric word thymos which evidently meant something like spirit.

The passage in Hebrews 4 about dividing soul & spirit, joints & marrow does not support trichotomy. Joint and marrow are not contiguous parts to slice apart (marrow in inside bones -- it does not border joints). The dividing is slicing the soul, slicing the spirit, slicing the joints, slicing the marrow -- I would interpret this as saying that Christ, the word of God, sees into the person, the spirit, the joints the marrow. All is naked & laid open to Him.

Well put. This is a pretty complex area when talking about whether there are two or three. The Bible says there are two, then says there are three. Jesus said He testified of Himself and that the Father bore witness of Him, and the Bible says that two is the number of witness but that "every matter is established on the word of two or three witnesses." However, John said, "There are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Spirit; and these three are One" (1Jn. 5:7). He follows that with "There are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one" (v. 8). The Bible says man had a body and when God breathed spirit into him, he became a living soul. However, it didn't say that God put a spirit in man, so if we were to go by this, we'd have to say that man is only a body into which God breathed life (spirit) so that he came alive as a soul. This is what the witness says word for word there: "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). When God created Eve, He didn't create her from the ground, however, like He did Adam. He also took a part of Adam and created Eve with it. Did He breathe into her too? There's so much that can be imagined from this. It appears apparent to me that while on earth or in natural laws of physics, one is always one and two is always two, in the economy of spiritual things, one can be one hundred and two can be three.

In the area of psychology, professionals deal with emotional or psychological problems as if they are mental problems, therefore, arriving at actual solutions continues to be illusive for the most part. Psychology is from the word psyche which basically means 'spirit'. While the whole man is one person, there are so many different divisions. For example, we all have one mind as we know it, but even our physical brain gives hints into the actual truth. The brain has two hemispheres and then many parts. I know that each person has one mind but also has three minds (conscious, subconscious, and unconscious). Jesus said that His Father's house has rooms in it, and the Bible implies that the heart has rooms in it (different parts or aspects). From Ps. 51:1-11, and from the fact that a Christian can give parts of his heart to God and withhold parts, we can safely surmise that there are definitely different rooms/areas within the heart (soul when referring to a Christian giving different parts of his heart to God for sanctification).

The Bible says several times that Jesus "perceived their thoughts". The 'thoughts' here are not the thoughts you think in your conscious mind but the thoughts you believe in your subconscious mind-- i.e. the attitudes and convictions of your heart-- the ones you are rarely aware you are thinking/believe. Jesus would say, "Why do you think in your hearts...?" The conscious mind thinks with words and pictures and spoken language; but the subconscious mind doesn't use sentences and words to think but more feels, knows, believes, understands, chooses. Again, I believe that two in the Bible often translates to three and three to two (and you can mix up all the numbers really). You can see this puzzle all through the Bible as in the example of Eph. 4:11 where some say there are only four ministry gifts (lumping pastor and teacher together) and others say there are five. However, whether there are four or five, in 1Cor. 12:28, the same Paul who wrote that there are five/four writes that there are only three (and then adds more than two more to the list): apostle, prophet, and teacher with evangelist and pastor seeming to be cut out and replaced with what seems to be other gifts. The Bible also talks about seven Spirits of God rather than one in the original translation (the newer versions changed it to 'seven-fold Spirit' to preserve the belief in one Father, one Son, one Spirit). This is one of those areas where we should hold our beliefs lightly and wait for more light on the issue.

 

[Kerry]

Dude , Jesus knew what they were thinking and the Father already knew what they would do. Jesus said I do nothing accept what I see my Father do. David said and I think also Jeremiah that while I was in the womb you knew me.

 

[directline2iam]

Well it says God formed man out of the dust of the ground.
God breathed in him the spirit of life.
man BECAME a living soul.
pretty simple stuff.

It says love the lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength.
So according to some of you it says, "with all thy heart and soul and soul and strength."
Sounds kind of stupid to me.

Living soul = man + spirit
Since the body of man will return to dust, what is left? living soul and Spirit.
No power other than God who created the living soul can destroy it, therefore it exists out side the dust body.
When God resurrects the uncorruptable body which He will create, man will become a wholly glorified living soul.
end of story.

 

[jb]

the human soul, what is it?

Man is tripartite; body, soul and spirit. His body comes from his parents, his spirit comes from God, and his soul, i.e., himself, is the result of this union of body and spirit, a new individual without experience of any kind, but good because made by God Himself. Man is a soul, he possesses a spirit and a body, the former whereby he can contact the spirit world, and the latter with which to enter and appreciate the material world. The soul, if it loses its body, is dead to this world; if it loses its spirit, it is dead to God and the Heavenly world. If it loses both, it is dead to both worlds, conscious only of the isolation and hopeless darkness of death. Gen 2v7—margin "lives," Num 16v22, Isaiah 57v16, Eccl 12v7, 1Thess 5v23, Matt 11v11, Heb 4v12, John 3v6, 1Cor 2v10-16, Job 10v21-22, Heb 2v15, Luke 12v5

Yahweh Shalom

 

[Jason0047]

Those who believe that the "soul" only exists when the body is alive are mistaken. The Scriptures say that God has a soul. Granted, the Lord's soul is eternal and uncreated. For the Scriptures speak of Christ in Sheol, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Psalm 16:10).

 

[Sec]

Pretty pictures require a source...chapter? verse?

That can only be accessed by God revealing Himself to you, and everything I wrote, becomes explained by God. That is the main problem with our current translations, well, now wait a minute, let me back up here a moment. I can used chapter and verse to explain it, using the words of Jesus, but I'll have to start a new thread. I'll call it "Elijah, when and where."

 

[peacefulbeliever]

Those who believe that the "soul" only exists when the body is alive are mistaken. The Scriptures say that God has a soul. Granted, the Lord's soul is eternal and uncreated. For the Scriptures speak of Christ in Sheol, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." (Psalm 16:10).

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen. 2:7

Let's see - if man did not become a living soul until God breathed into him the breath of life and man breathed - then I would say when man takes his last breath - his 'soul' is dead for the man himself is dead - no breath - no oxygen going to the blood -

nephash - soul, self, life, creature, passion A. that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man B. living being, C. living being (with life in the blood Lev. 17:11) D. the man himself, self, person or individual E. seat of appetites F. seat of emotions and passions, G. activity of mind H. activity of will 1) dubious; H. activity of character 1) dubious

IOW, what makes you YOU as a living being. (Animals are also living 'creatures'; i.e. soul - same word - nephash.)

two cents . . . .

 

[Jason0047]

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen. 2:7

Let's see - if man did not become a living soul until God breathed into him the breath of life and man breathed - then I would say when man takes his last breath - his 'soul' is dead for the man himself is dead - no breath - no oxygen going to the blood -

nephash - soul, self, life, creature, passion A. that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man B. living being, C. living being (with life in the blood Lev. 17:11) D. the man himself, self, person or individual E. seat of appetites F. seat of emotions and passions, G. activity of mind H. activity of will 1) dubious; H. activity of character 1) dubious

IOW, what makes you YOU as a living being. (Animals are also living 'creatures'; i.e. soul - same word - nephash.)

two cents . . . .

Seeing Adam did not have a soul without his body prior to his creation, this passage is just stressing the fact that he is human and not an angel or spirit.