Are our souls eternal?

Does the Bible shed any light on this?

I know God knew us from when we were 'knitted together ' in our mother's womb. That we are each loved by Him. But was that where we began our existence?
So upon accepting Christ as Saviour, we live forever with Him. Or we go to the other place of cold and darkness away from God, called Hell. Which means we are eternal beings.

This passage of scripture immediately came to my mind upon reading your question:

Genesis 2:7
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.

This seems to indicate that Adam did not become a living soul until the time came that God breathed the breath of life into his lifeless body.

Yes. Man began his existence in Eden. When Adam disobeyed God, he died. Yet he still walked and talked and raised a family. However, he did this alienated from God. And that is what death is. Separation from God. The second death is eternal separation from God with no more opportunity to repent.

He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. 1 Timothy 6:16a

"He" is the blessed and only Sovereign One—the King of kings and Lord of lords.

"The soul who sins shall die."

Life ever after is attained solely by grace through faith in the shed righteous blood of Jesus Christ.

What a fine question!! I see both sides to this, because my question is what would you define to be a soul?? Is a soul a person? Or is the soul part of the Holy Spirit in us?? How you define this, you could go either way I suppose.

Now Proverbs 11:30 says and he who is wise wins souls! SO!!! If you believe the soul is flesh then it is not eternal, because we receive new bodies, however if you believe the soul is part of Holy Spirit in us, then the soul would be eternal. I personally believe the soul is of Spirit, otherwise a doctor with an x ray would see it. LOL But a great question!!!

Howdy MaryM and welcome to the forum.

In the words of a certain rat who was mentor to four large turtles, "You ask questions which are not questions." The thread title has a question mark but the opening post reads more like a statement of belief.

The Bible is clear that we will live forever, whether in heaven or not. But if you make a thread phrasing it as a question, don't be surprised when people come in wanting to debate all kinds of angles.

There's nothing to indicate that our souls pre-existed our bodies. We aren't past-eternal. Are our souls eternal to the direction of the future? I'm not denying that we will exist eternally, but is that the same thing as saying that our souls ARE eternal? Maybe not. My point is that their eternality comes from God's purposes, not necessarily from something inherent in us. There is a sense in which nothing but God is eternal because the eternity of everything else that may exist eternally is still dependent on God and his plan for his creation. God not only created us but also sustains us in being.

I have often questioned this subject. I grew up believing the soul is eternal, but have had some very close friends that believe only those who are born again have immortal souls. There are different verses that have made me stop and think, like Matt 10:28

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

And 1 Timothy 6:16, speaking of God,

"Who only hath immortality,"

But the view that the wicked person's soul is not immortal doesn't line up with Revelation 14:11

"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

Anyone have any thoughts on what the other verses that seem to lend to the other view might mean?

One thought truly worthy of meditation is the it is quite possible many will receive tha Holly Spirit upon our transfiguration come our Lord to take us up.

It is written "many are disobedient by My will," a strong pointing out that we should never judge by appearances.. Granted this may come off as something of a controvery, however it is no so with all who do not judg3e others. God bewith, and bless you.

Yes, 'they will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Lamb... and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever (after their torment is exacted, tho they are surely alive while being tormented) but I don't see anywhere where "soul" is used in reference to those spoken about in Rev 14:11. I seems to me that "soul" is only used in reference to those that receive life. And before anyone throws rev 20:4 at me, please take a look at it with me first with new eyes;

Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Nothing in the Bible says the soul is immortal apart from God’s providence. People sometimes stitch together passages and form a doctrine, but that’s called an interpretation and it isn’t based on empirical evidence.

So I go with the soul of the unsaved is not immortal and will be destroyed in hell. The soul of the saved will be given immortality in the age to come. There are actually verses to support this while there aren’t any verses to support the immortality of the unsaved soul.

You mean like this?:

"...And I saw the [living] souls of those who had been beheaded {dead bodies} for their testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life [resurrected/reunited with bodies] and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Grace, Peace, And JOY In Christ, And In His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided (+ I and II)!

More like this:

...And I saw the souls (resurrected/reunited with bodies) who had been dead that came to life and reigned with Christ

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.

Yes. The Bible sheds much Light on the subject of Soul.
No. We existed before conception.
Our Spirit is infinite; however, our Souls are subject to destruction.

The Spirit goes back to God who gave it. Spirit can never be destroyed.

FYI...

A Lifeform's Genome is its Soul. In other words, anything that has DNA has a Soul.

Spirit is the Energy (Electromagnetism) that quickens us (e.g., makes our hearts beat, etc.).

The Body is formed when the above two combine.

That's a pretty cool way of explaining the birds and the bees.

Scripture teaches that Life is in the Blood. This is because Blood contains DNA, the Word Made Flesh. The Word of God is Life.

When Abel died, his Blood cried from the ground...

Genesis 4:10
"And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground."

It was not his Body that cried. It was not his Spirit that cried. It was his Blood, where Soul resides. Note that the Blood of Jesus speaks better things than that of Abel.

It is both Soul and Spirit that live on after death.

Some verses show the Soul entering back into the Body...

1 Kings 17:21
"And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again."

1 Kings 17:22
"And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived."

We are Tripartite Beings.