Soul

Unit of life, unique, different, and separated from other similar units.

In the Old Testament, "soul" is generally a translation from the Hebrew word nephesh, meaning, among others, "breath", "life", and "person". The New Testament uses the Greek word psuche, which has approximately the same meanings as its Hebrew counterpart.

The fact that nephesh is used, sometimes in the same context, both for human life (Gn. 2:7) and for animal life (Gn. 1:20), shows that the word’s background is a reference to the whole being and not to a part of that being.

In fact, the first occurrence of the word in relation to human life has an enormous importance because, in it, nephesh describes the totality of the being that has been created. When we read the Genesis (2:7), we find that "body" plus "breath of life" is equal to "living soul". Other texts show the same meaning, some of them having nephesh translated as "person" (Gn. 14:21; Num. 5:6; Ps. 3:2 inter alia). On the other hand, expressions such as "my soul", "your soul" and "his soul" are generally idioms used instead of the correspondent personal pronouns (see Lev. 11:43; Jos. 23:11; Jer. 37:9 inter alia).

A nephesh can be killed (Num. 31:19) and is referred to as dying (Jgs. 16:30). We thus conclude that, as far as the Old Testament texts are concerned, man does not "possess" a soul; man "is" a soul.

The New Testament usage of the Greek word psuche is similar that of the Old Testament usage of nephesh. It is used both for human life and for animal life (Rev. 16:3) and it often means "life" (Mt. 2:20; Mt. 6:25; etc.) or "people" (Acts 7:14; Rom. 13:1; etc.). We find psuche also as the equivalent to the personal pronoun (Mt. 12:18; 2 Cor. 12:15 inter alia). Word studies in the New Testament reveal that the Christian teaching about the "soul" is consistent with the Old Testament teaching: man "is" a soul.

Nowhere in the Scriptures, either in the Old Testament or in the New, are we able to find a teaching about the "soul" being an immortal part of the person and having an existence apart from the body. This wholly nonscriptural idea was originated in the ancient pagan religious and philosophical systems of Greece and Egypt and finds no support in God’s Word. As a matter of fact, the only biblical support for this idea is to be found in the first lie ever told in this planet: the serpent’s statement "Ye shall not surely die", found in Gn. 3:4.

God’s warning was clear: the result of disobedience was to be death (Gn. 2:17). In the New Testament, Jesus issued a warning as clear as the preceding one: we are to fear those that can destroy the soul (Mt. 10:28).