This is somewhat of a controversial subject. Some people believe that the soul is immortal, while others don’t … and while people may have their ideas on this subject … truth must be sought from the Maker's Words → which He has magnified above all His name
Psa 138:2..... not the product → man’s intellect.
In reality, the question of soul has very little bearing on our walk …and it will be decisively settled when Christ returns. But for biblical purposes in the here and now…. what does the Word of God state about the soul (where it is, and what it is)
I contend that God’s Word will give us the answers to everything in the Word, that God wants us to know…. If it doesn’t, we don’t know…..guessing and speculation are not a viable option….
The first use of the word soul (
nephesh) is found in
Gen 1:21 It is translated 753x throughout the OT…..
soul (475x),
life (117x),
person (29x),
mind (15x),
heart (15x),
creature (9x) and a few other ways.
Although we see where the word
nephesh (soul) is first used (and translated
creature)…. That verse or the surrounding context still doesn’t help us clearly define
nephesh…. Although the word
nephesh is connected with
chay in
Gen 1:21 which is translated as “living, life & alive”….it gives us a hint.
Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living = (
chay)
creature = (
nephesh)
that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Whatever
soul life is, God created it in mammals first.
Only God can create (make something out of nothing) once God creates something, He does not need to create it again …He just speaks it into existence.
Gen 1:3 through
1:20 is a prime example. Since the earth became w/o
form & void (
tohu va bohu) after it was created in
1:1...... From verses 1:3 until the 5th day God just spoke everything back into existence.
In
Gen 2:7 God did not create soul in man He
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (
chay nephesh)
(The words “breathed into his nostrils” is the figure of speech anthropopatheia or condescension. This figure is used of the ascription of human passions, actions, or attributes, to God.)
So where is… and what is the soul
God gives us the definition of
soul in
Lev 17:11
17:11) For the "life" (nephesh) of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls (
nephesh):
for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul (
nephesh)
.
The word
life in that verse is the Hebrew word
nephesh = soul. ……“For the soul of the flesh is in the blood”
We know blood is what sustains life: Oxygen is delivered throughout the body by means of the red blood cells ….actually it is the hemoglobin molecules from the red cells that deliver the oxygen to the individual cells in the body tissue. The bloodstream also picks up CO2 from the body and returns it to the lunges to be exhaled…
When we die?
The heart, which pumps the blood, which delivers the oxygen to the brain …… stops….. soul life ceases in that particular person…. but is carried on through prodigy. But if there is no offspring, the soul is gone when that person dies;
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
There is nothing immortal about the soul.
3
1
