What is a Soul?

(Biblical Truths)

When the word “Soul” is mentioned, people often think of incorporeal spirits/ghosts or an energy or lifeforce of some type. Many think all living things (and possibly even non-living things) on Earth have these souls inside them: which is usually defined as an intangible yet energy-like and usually even conscious force inside a Human or animal (and possibly even plants/ non-living things) powering the body they live in: it is usually considered the "real them" inside the body of a human/animal: that is this intangible non-physical spirit that really is the consciousness of a living being that holds their memories, talents, and personalities and is where their intelligence and thinking really comes from instead of their bodies. Along with all this, many also believe that, when the body dies, the soul of the human/animal (and possibly even plants) comes out and separates from the now dead and decomposing body to go to some type of afterlife. Usually this separate soul is conscious (or at least partially conscious) with the living being's memories and personality while they were alive in their new afterlife and usually continue to live in this soul-form for the rest of eternity.

All religions believe and teach this about the soul, included in this group of people are also most Christians: most who mainly believe human souls go to either heaven or hell at death.

But ultimately is all this true about the soul? is this really what the bible has to say about a human’s soul?

Let's find out:

The Bible does talk about souls:

Genesis 2:7

“...a living soul.”[1]

Ezekiel 18:4

“...all souls are mine;…”[1]

Leviticus 23:30

“...the same soul…”[1]

So, we see there is such a thing as a soul, but what exactly is a soul according to the Bible?

The English word “soul” is the word used to translate the Hebrew word “נֶפֶשׁ” (knee-fesh) used in the Old Testament and The Greek word “ψυχή” (psoo-khay') used in The New Testament [1]

These two words are often translated into English as "soul", especially in the king James version of the Bible (and other derived/inspired versions of The King James version [2] but in newer non-King James translations these words are more often translated as “Creature” “person(s)” “people” or even “life” [2].

Notice this verse in the King James Version talks about souls:

Exodus 12:4

“... according to the number of the souls;…”[1]

But then this word “souls” is then translated in The New international version (a non-king James derived translation) as “people” here:

Exodus 12:4

”…account the number of people there are.”[1]

This leads to much fewer mentions of souls existing in these newer translations [2].

These different translations make it harder to figure out what a soul really is: is ‘people’ an accurate translation of the original word ‘soul’ (or nephesh)? And if it is, does this mean a soul is actually a person (or creature, people, or even life) or is it something else?

we need to take a close look at all the mentions of these two original words in the original Hebrew and Greek text to find out how they are defined to know for sure.

the first mention of The Hebrew word 'Nephesh' in the Old Testament (and thus the first mention of souls in the Bible) is in Genesis 1 during creation week when God was creating souls:

But did you know, according to this account, God created fully developed soul's multiple times during creation week? According to the original Hebrew word for soul and God’s creation account, he definitely did create souls, but notice what these souls are defined as:

Genesis 1:20

“And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures (the original word here is Nephesh: that is SOULS)…’ ” [1]

According to this verse, these souls were not spirits/ghosts floating around: they were actual physical animals (specifically referring here to sea animals: such as whales, fish, and crustaceans)

The other souls created during this time were land animals/insects:

Genesis 1:24

“And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures(Once again, the original word here is Nephesh : SOULS) according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals,…’”[1]

Once again, no spirits were created here; only physical land animals and insects were. So, according to these verses all animals are considered souls (or have souls)!

The next soul mentioned is when God created Adam (the first known human). In this verse, the Bible shows, in more detail, how exactly a soul is made:

Genesis 2:7

“...the Lord God formed a man (Human) from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Nephesh or soul).”[1]

It’s important to notice the Human (Adam) was not necessarily a soul to start with nor was he given an immortal soul: that is, God didn't breathe an immortal spirit-like/energy-like essence into Adam's mouth/nose and it became Adam's consciousness (the real him) inside of his body (as covered in "Heaven contradictions", a spirit is not what we would consider a soul or the spiritual conscious of a human). But notice only after God breathed that breath (spirit) of life into his physical body does he seem to BECOME A SOUL!

In other words, Adam was no given a soul when God breathed in him the spirit of life (the spirit of life was not necessarily the soul itself) like many would read, but rather when the spirit of life combined with Adam's newly formed body, he then BECAME a soul.

So, the combination of a physical body (dirt) with God’s breath of life (spirit) seems to make a soul!

So, God created souls and a soul has to be made, but we still don’t really understand what a soul is. Let’s continue reading the Bible for more Details:

God makes a promise to every type of soul

One of the next mentions of ‘nephesh’ is in Genesis 9 when God make a promise to every type of soul on earth:

Genesis 9:16 (KJV)

“...the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures (nephesh or souls) of every kind on the earth.” [1]

The Souls here God’s making a promise to are not dead ghosts/spirits of humans/animals floating around like many people might assume a soul is: that ridiculous! Especially to assume this considering the whole context of this passage. The souls he is making a promise to are physical living flesh and blood human beings and physical living flesh and blood animals who had just stepped off the ark: specifically, God was promising this to Noah and his family and their future descendants and all the pairs of animals that survived on the ark and their descendants:

Genesis 9:8-9 (KJV)

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ‘I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature (animal) that was with you’”[1]

Esau’s souls

Another mention of the word ‘nephesh’ is in Genesis 36 when Esau took his wives and his children somewhere else to live, he also brought along souls (or nephesh) from his house with him:

Genesis 36:6 (KJV)

“And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons (nephesh: souls) of his house,…” [1]

So apparently Esau had souls in his family (or house), but does this mean Esau and his family took along with them ghosts or spirits of some kind with them? No, obviously not, according to this passage Esau was only taking his family and all their physical possessions with him:

Genesis 36:6 (KJV)

“And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters,…and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into…[another]…country…” [1]

This verse is describing Esau taking his physical possessions and/or people with him; so these souls from Esau’s house are not referring to ghosts or spirits; these souls are referring to actual living humans who were living with him (other than his family: most likely his slaves/servants) so this word nephesh is rightfully translated as ‘persons’.

The king of Sodom wanted souls from Abram

Speaking to Abram after winning a major war, The King of Sodom asked him for souls to keep:

Genesis 14:21(KJV)

“And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, ‘Give me the persons (nephesh or the souls)...'”[1]

But when the King of Sodom asked Abram for souls was, he asking for spirits/ghosts of dead human beings? From the rest of the context no, he was asking Abram for physical living human beings: specifically, he was asking back all his citizens of Sodom that were captured previously in this war:

Genesis 14:11(KJV)

“...they (the enemy) took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, [and all the people,] and went their way.”[1]

But once Abram defeated them in another war he won all they had captured from Sodom including all the captured citizens of Sodom:

Genesis 14:16(KJV)

“And he brought back all the goods,…and the women also, and the people.”[1]

and the king of Sodom wanted his citizens back but in return Abram could keep everything else:

Genesis 14:21(KJV)

“And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, ‘Give me the persons (nephesh or the souls), and take the goods to thyself.’”[1]

So once again these are not ghosts or spirits these are living physical human beings that the king of Sodom is asking for. So once again the translation ‘persons’ is correct.

Abram’s and Sarai’s souls from harran

Did you know before Abram and his wife Sarai were commanded by God to go to Canaan they had come to possess their very own souls of other humans? And when God finally told them to go to Canaan they took these human souls with them? This is what the verse says in the Bible anyway:

Genesis 12:5 (KJV)

“And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son,…and the souls(nephesh) that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan…”[1]

But does this mean Abram and Sarai somehow came to own their own ghosts/spirits of dead humans? considering the rest of this story in Genesis, obviously no! these souls were not ghosts/spirits of some type but rather referred to physical flesh and blood human beings they had come to own in Harran also known as human slaves/servants!

Because human servants/slaves are spoken of again later in the story:

Genesis 12:14-15 (KJV)

“And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house,…And he divided himself (in a plan of attack) against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote (defeated) them, ”[1]

From this story we can also conclude some of these servants were born in Abram’s house or tent and these servants had weapons and helped him fight against a physical army!

This definitely does not describe ghosts/spirits: it’s clearly describing physical human beings who are born and can fight in wars!

70 Souls went to Egypt

When Israel and all his family went live in Egypt, the Bible says that 70 souls of Jacob’s family went to Egypt:

Genesis 46:27 (KJV)

“...all the souls (nephesh) of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten (seventy).”[1]

Now when these 70 souls went to Egypt were there 70 floating ghosts/spirits from Jacob’s dead family floating into Egypt? NO! That would be absolutely ridiculous! From the rest of this chapter, they are obviously still physically living human beings traveling to Egypt: specifically these 70 souls in this chapter were referring to Israel's descendants that went with him: that was his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren.

Souls here once again refers to living humans

And this description of souls continues for the rest of the Old Testament and is rightly translated as creature, person(s), lives, or people:

Exodus 12:4 (KJV)

“And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls (nephesh); every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.”[1]

Leviticus 4:2 (KJV)

“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul (nephesh) shall sin…”[1]

Leviticus 11:46 (KJV)

“These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves about in the water and every creature (nephesh)…”[1]

Numbers 31:35 (KJV)

“And thirty and two thousand persons(nephesh: souls) in all,…”[1]

Joshua 10:28 (KJV)

“...that day Joshua took Makkedah (a city)…and all the souls (nephesh) that were therein (inside the city);…”[1]

Judges 18:25 (KJV)

“...the lives(nephesh:souls) of thy household.”[1]

Jeremiah 31:25 (KJV)

“For I have satiated the weary soul (nephesh), and I have replenished every sorrowful soul (nephesh).”[1]

Then in the New Testament the Greek “ψυχή” (psoo-khay') is used as a replacement to ‘nephesh’ in the Greek text

(in fact, a direct quote of an Old Testament verse using 'nephesh' is translated using this new Greek word in the New Testament:

1 Corinthians 15:45(NIV)

"...So it is written:

(Genesis 2:7)

'The first man Adam became a living being ('being' was originally 'nephesh' but is retranslated here as 'psuché') [1]'")

This word is basically used the same way its Hebrew equivalent was in the Old Testament:

Acts 2:41 (KJV)

“Then they that gladly received his word (the gospel) were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them (Christians) about three thousand souls (psuché).”[1]

Acts 27:37 (KJV)

“...we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls (psuché).”[1]

Acts 2:43 (KJV)

“…fear came upon every soul (psuché): and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”[1]

So, considering all these verses defining souls, a soul seems to not be a spirit or ghosts of some kind but instead seems to be just a living physical human or living physical animal.

‘Soul’ is still used this way in modern English sometimes (mostly in a poetic tone):

Like an English speaker might say:

“Not a soul was seen”

When someone says this, they don’t mean there are no ghosts or spirits around, they just mean there was no one physically around (or there were no humans and possibly animals around): this phrase is just saying where the speaker is seems completely empty.

“That’s looks like a poor soul”

When someone says this, they don’t mean they see a sad ghost or spirit floating around, they are talking about an actual physical human being (or possibly animal) they see who looks hurt, unwell, or in a bad situation.

Much like soul is used in the Bible, ‘soul’ in these English examples is not referring to a ghosts or spirit, they are referring to actual human beings/animals.

Besides being used as another word for living humans and animals Another common way this word soul (or nephesh/psuché) is used in the Bible is to describe a specific group of humans by showing who possesses the soul:

Like My Soul

Genesis 49:6(KJV)

“...O my soul,…”

Psalm 103(KJV)

“...Bless the Lord, O my soul…”

Hebrews 10:38(KJV)

“...my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”

Or Your soul

Leviticus 11:43(KJV)

“Ye shall not make yourselves (originally ‘your nephesh’ or ‘your souls’) abominable..." [1]

Luke 12:20(KJV)

“...this night thy soul shall be required…”

His soul

Numbers 30:2(KJV)

“...If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond;…”

Her soul

Numbers 30:4(KJV)

“...her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul,…”

Their souls

Esther 9:31(KJV)

“...they had decreed for themselves (originally ‘their nephesh’ or ‘their souls’)…” [1]

A soul

Leviticus 5:4(KJV)

“...Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good…”

Every soul

Acts 2:43(KJV)

“…fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”

No soul

Leviticus 17:12(KJV)

"...No soul of you..."

Any soul

Leviticus 22:11(KJV)

"...any soul ...born in his house:..."

So not only is the word ‘soul’ used to talk about actual humans and animals, but it's also used to show an individual human possess a soul of some kind (thought it does not identify what exactly this soul is that they possess). However, this Hebrew and Greek use of a personal pronoun and the word ‘soul’ (my soul, your soul etc.) is the English equivalent of using a reflexive and some indefinite pronouns in English (Myself, yourself, nobody, everyone etc.)

In other words, ‘Your soul’ in Hebrew/Greek is the English equivalent of saying ‘yourself’

‘No soul’ is the English equivalent to ‘no one’ or ‘nobody’

‘Every soul’ is the English equivalent to ‘Everyone’ or ‘Everybody’

And so on:

My soul=Myself

A soul= Someone/Somebody

His soul=Himself

Her soul=Herself

Any soul= Anyone/Anybody

Etc.

Basically, when you say ‘my soul’ you are not necessarily referring to a spirit or ghost inside of you (but could be; since what a soul is, is not really clear) but specifically in this case, it's just referring to yourself (which is why the word soul is just replaced with ‘self’ often in English). So, whatever a soul is, it does seem that it’s the ‘real you’ because it's so personal until it's considered to be you!

So far it seems souls do not necessarily mean a spirit or ghosts or even referring to a spirit or energy inside of something’s body, but instead seems to be just referring to an actual physical human being or even animal (thus really any physical living being). So, is this what the Bible is saying a soul actually is, or is there more to a soul?

Let's look at more verses of how souls are described as:

Souls have emotions

According to the Bible souls definitely can have emotions and even seem to be where emotions come from:

They can Love

Deuteronomy 6:5(KJV)

“...thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all…thy soul ,…”

They can also Hate

2 Samuel 5:8(KJV)

“...the lame and the blind that are hated of David's soul ,…”

They can be Happy

Psalm 35:9(KJV)

“...my soul shall be joyful…”

And also sad

Job 30:25(KJV)

“…my soul grieved (felt sorry) for the poor…”

Jeremiah 31:25 (KJV)

“...every sorrowful soul .”

Souls can get bitter (depressed and/or angry)

Job 7:11(KJV)

“...the bitterness of my soul.”

Souls can panic/have anxiety

2 Kings 4:27(KJV)

“When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, ‘Leave her alone! She ( originally ‘her nephesh’ or ‘her soul’) is in bitter distress (extreme panic),..’” [1]

Souls can be humbled

Leviticus 16:29(KJV)

“...you shall humble your souls…”

Souls can crave/desire:

Isaiah 26:9(KJV)

“My soul yearns for you in the night;…”

Isaiah 26:8(KJV)

“...Your name and renown are the desire of our souls.”

Deuteronomy 12:20(KJV)

“...thy soul longeth to eat flesh (meat)…”

Genesis 34:8(KJV)

“And Hamor communed with them, saying, ‘The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter...’”

So, it seems whatever the soul is the Bible confirms souls do feel emotion and thus must be where emotion comes from.

Souls can understand things (thus are conscious and can remember and learn)

Not only can souls have emotion, but the Bible says they are conscious and can understand and reason:

Joshua 23:14(KJV)

“...ye know in…your souls…”

Souls can understand and obey commands

Deuteronomy 26:16(KJV)

“...follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all…your soul.”

Souls can think (someone can ‘talk’ or think in their soul):

Psalm 13:2(KJV)

“...I take counsel (talk) in my soul…”

A soul can choose to take action (in this case be patient and Wait)

Psalm 130:5(KJV)

“…for the Lord, my soul doth wait,…”

Souls can bless someone:

Genesis 27:4 (KJV)

“...that my soul may bless thee before I die."

So not only do souls have emotions but they also seem to be where consciousness comes from in a living being: thus, the Bible confirms the soul is where emotion and consciousness comes from, but still, what exactly is a soul?

Souls can perform bodily actions

The weirder part about souls is, according to the Bible, they are capable of very physical actions that you would think would not be capable for a spirit/energy inside of a body:

For instance, according to the Bible (and God himself) Souls can eat physical food:

Exodus 12:16

“...prepare food for everyone (once again, that really is ‘every nephesh’ or "every SOUL" in the original language) to eat;…”[1]

Exodus 12:19

“...anyone (once again, that really is ‘any nephesh’ or "any SOUL" in the original language) …who eats anything with yeast in it…”[1]

Leviticus 17:12

“Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you ("No SOUL of yours" in the original language) may eat blood,…’”[1]

A soul can also physically touch physical things

Leviticus 5:2

“If anyone ("any SOUL"in the original language)…unwittingly touches anything ceremonially unclean (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground)…”[1]

Leviticus 7:21

“Anyone ("any SOUL"in the original language) who touches something unclean—whether human uncleanness (that would be blood or other bodily fluids) or an unclean animal…”[1]

And not only that, a soul could physically be bound in chains

Psalm 105:18 (KJV)

“...his (originally ‘his nephesh/soul’)…was put in irons,…”

(In the context of Psalms 105 Joseph, the son of Israel, is specifically being refereed to here when he was sold into slavery (recorded in Genesis 37:28) : it clearly describes in this context physical chains on Joseph's body to enslave him [as opposed to some type of ‘spiritual/mental’ chains on his internal spirit as someone might suggest this text is referring to])

Can physically cry tears with their physical eyes

Jeremiah 13:17 (KJV)

“But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive."

And even physically bow down to the ground making the stomach touch the dirt/ground:

Psalm 44:25 (KJV)

“For our soul is bowed down to the dust (ground): our belly cleaveth (touches) unto the earth (ground).”

So according to the Bible, a soul is capable of physically eating real food, touching physical objects, being physically tied up/chained in physical rope/chains, and even bowing to the physical ground until the belly of a living creature touches the ground and actually crying real tears out of the eyes.

All these descriptions of a soul do not really describe a nonphysical spirit/energy inside a living thing, but rather seem to just be describing the actual living being itself: specifically, it seems to be describing the actual physical body of a living being, is this what the Bible is really saying what a soul is?

While it does seem that the Bible is saying the physical body of a living creature is the soul there is something to consider:

What if the Bible is just lumping the body and soul up together why they are still alive because they are so interconnected? (a soul can eat because through the body that it is in it too can experience eating, a soul can touch physical things because it can experience it through the body's ability of touching things etc.)

Why this could definitely be the case, the Bible does not really describe the soul as being a separate spirit/energy inside of the body but yet apart from the body in any way or form (if this was really the case you would think the Bible would mention or even hint this was the case about the soul, but no such mention or even a small hint exists as this being the case). But even if the Bible purposely kept this a secret there would be no way of knowing unless we looked at what happens to the soul at death. Fortunately, the Bible does describe what happens to a soul in death so while many Christians (and humans) think the soul separates from the body at death let’s see what the Bible says happens to a soul at death:

Souls and dying

Concerning the soul and death the Bible often describes the effects of being killed on someone's soul, so let's see what happens to a human’s soul when being killed:

God requires a human’s soul that murders

God tells Noah if a human commits murder on another human, he would require their soul from them as punishment:

Genesis 9:5 (KJV)

“... I will demand the life (that originally was 'the nephesh' or 'the soul') of man (human).” [1]

So, we see the soul does seem to be taken by God in some way through this statement, but by this statement did he mean he would take the spirit/energy out of murderers so that their body would just drop dead? why this could be the case that God would get the soul out of a human body; this was not necessarily what God ultimately mean by this statement:

Because God then reveals what he meant by revealing how he would get the soul: he was going to get the soul of a murderer by getting another human to physically kill them!

Genesis 9:6 (KJV)

“...Whoever sheds human blood (when humans bleed, their bodies are being damaged: this is referring to the damage caused by murdering), by humans shall their blood be shed (the human that shed blood/killed will also have their blood shed/be murdered by another human in return);…”[1]

God clearly says here that he himself was not going to take the soul directly himself from the human but would send another human to physically kill them to get their soul. Why this could also mean God gets the spirit/ghost/energy from the murdered human, the verse simply does not say; it just says this taking way of the soul was related to physically killing them.

humans can also take souls

The Bible also says not only does God have the power to take away a soul, but humans also have the power to take away someone else's soul surprisingly! These verses are proof that God is not the only one with power to take away a human's soul, it can also be taken away by other humans as well! Let's see exactly how a human could possibly take another human's soul:

Joseph’s brothers: ‘let us not take his soul’

When Joseph's brothers were plotting to get rid of him by killing him, one brother named Reuben begged his brothers not to take his soul:

Genesis 37:21(NIV)

"When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. 'Let’s not take his life (or 'his nephesh/soul'),' he said."[1]

Apparently, Joseph and his brothers were planning on killing him by taking their brother Joseph's soul, but by this did they mean they were going to snatch his spirit/soul out of his body somehow?

From the rest of the verse obviously not: They were just planning on killing his physical body so he would not be physically alive anymore to make them angry anymore!

Genesis 37:20(NIV)

“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him (his dead body) into one of these cisterns (wells)..."

So, when their older brother Reuben said they should not 'take away his soul' he meant to not kill his physical body to end his physical life!

Pharaoh was trying to get Moses’s soul

After he got in trouble with the pharaoh of Egypt for killing an Egyptian, Moses ran away to a foreign country called Midian. Many years later, God told Moses it was safe to return to Egypt because all the people who wanted to get his soul were now dead:

Exodus 4:19 (KJV)

“And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, ‘Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life (or ‘seeked your nephesh/soul’).’”[1]

So according to God, pharaoh and others who wanted to punish Moses for his murder were wanting to take his soul from him. But does this mean these Egyptians were trying to get Moses’s ghosts/spirit from his body to kill his body then kill the ghost of Moses too or just keep it forever? (And if it’s immortal how would that be possible? Even Egyptians usually believed at this time, that once a human died their ghosts/spirit was immortal and would go to the afterlife) So if they believed this, how were they going to take his soul from his body if they believed it instantly went to the afterlife?

So, what exactly did God mean by ‘taking his soul’?

An earlier mention of this solves this problem: When the pharaoh first realize Moses murdered an Egyptian, he immediately wanted to kill him:

Exodus 2:15 (NIV)

“When Pharaoh heard of this [murder], he tried to kill Moses…”

There is no mentioned of pharaoh wanting to take Moses’s soul here, it just says pharaoh wanted to physical kill Moses plain and simple. Therefore, taking his soul did not mean they were somehow going to extract his spirit/energy from his body: it just means they were going to try to damage his physical body in order to kill his physical body thus taking his physical life away! This is what God meant by ‘taking his soul’!

Herod tried to take away Jesus’s soul

In a perfect example of this in the New Testament, Herod, the king of Judea, was trying to kill Jesus so he would not grow up to be king, but an angel tells his father Joseph that Herod was trying to take his soul:

Matthew 2:20 (NIV)

“...[he]…said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life (originally 'The Child's psuché/soul ') are dead.’ ”[1]

Now how was Herod trying to take Jesus’s soul if it was an incorporeal ghost or spirit inside of his body that would go to heaven/be taken away at his death? But in the rest of the chapter, we see he was just trying to kill his physical body thus taking away his physical life! There is no way he could take a ghost/spirit from him if this is what a soul really is.

And this taking away of the soul is not just limited to humans: according to the Bible, animals can also have their souls taken away by humans!

Leviticus 24:18 (NIV)

"Anyone who takes the life ( or 'The nephesh/soul') of someone’s animal..."[1]

but once again, this does not mean the human can somehow reach inside the body of an animal to extract their spirit/energy; this simply means a human has the potential to harm an animal's body to make it stop working in order to kill them physically:

Leviticus 24:21 (NIV)

"...Whoever kills an animal..."

According to all these verses a human soul is absolutely affected by the death of the body: So much so, that being killed is referred to as taking away a soul! And notice in all these verses, the soul is not described or even hinted at being a spirit inside of a body that leaves the body at death, but rather is once again described as the body itself!

So:

A Soul=The body of a living creature

However, what if the Bible is just lumping the body and soul up together again? (a soul can be killed because the body the soul is in can experience being killed) but when they die the body and soul permanently separate, thus this makes the soul still a ghost-like being and immortal/separate from the body.

While this can be true, let continue to read more about descriptions of a soul in the bible concerning what happens to it after death:

Living and dead souls

We know a soul is usually considered alive; this is confirmed by the Bible strongly linking life with the word soul/nephesh:

Genesis 1:21(KJV)

“...every living creature (soul)…”[1]

Genesis 2:7(KJV)

“...a living soul.”[1]

Infact, the soul is soo connected with life that it's sometimes just translated as life:

Genesis 9:5(KJV)

“...your blood of your lives (souls)...”[1]

Judges 18:25(KJV)

"...with the lives (souls) of thy household."[1]

2 Samuel 19:5(KJV)

"...this day have saved thy life (soul), and the lives (souls) of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives (souls) of thy wives, and the lives (souls) of thy concubines;..."[1]

So obviously the soul is strongly associated with life and living beings; this is to be expected if a soul is an immortal spirit/energy which gets separated from the body at death and continues to live somewhere in the afterlife forever. If all this is true, then a soul after death should still be described as being alive and still living on separately from the body; is this how The Bible describes a soul at death?

The Bible does describe what a soul is like after physical death; According to the Bible a soul does not continue living apart from the body somewhere after death: The Bible says (and significantly God himself says) a soul is dead after death:

Leviticus 21:11

“...there is a dead body ('nephesh/soul').”[1]

(Notice how this word “soul” is translated here as “body”)

Firstly, if there can be dead souls, then a soul obviously is not immortal and can die!

And God also confirms this when he says any soul that sins will die!

Ezekiel 18:4 (KJV)

“Behold, all souls are Mine;…the soul who sins will die.”[1]

Souls can be destroyed!

Leviticus 23:30

“...I will destroy…anyone (or any soul)…”[1]

So, a soul is definitely not immortal, a soul can definitely be killed/destroyed, thus die!

Secondly, God does not describe the soul as being separate spirit and well alive from the body in the verse above, rather he describes the soul as THE dead body!

So, once again, is the soul really just the physical body like the Bible seems to describe?

Yes, God officially confirms this when he tells Moses and Aaron to not touch a dead soul of a human (once again translated as 'body' here):

Numbers 19:13(KJV)

"Whosoever toucheth the dead body (that originally is 'nephesh or soul') of any man that is dead,..."[1]

If a soul was really just a spirit/energy that had departed to some other afterlife by this time someone was dead, that would be an absurd thing to say because it would be impossible to do; but if this was referring to an actual dead body of a human this would make perfect sense; and this is exactly what God was referring to!

And this is also proved by Adam's creation:

We know a soul can be either alive or dead, so a soul could also not necessarily be alive to begin with either, but has to become alive: This is proven in describing Adam’s creation when the bible says Adam had to become a living soul:

Genesis 2:7

“...the Lord God formed a man [Human] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Soul).”

We know a soul can either be alive or dead: Since this soul had to become alive, a soul must have already existed but was not alive! But the only thing existing at this point was Adam’s body. Therefore, we can conclude Adam’s body was the Soul that came to life! And this makes sense his body would have been completely put together with the right parts (cells and organs) to function as a living being, but this body (Adam) was not a LIVING soul yet! His body had all the parts necessary for coming to life but was not active or functioning at this moment: it was “off”! It was only when God gave Adam the breath (spirit) of life that this inactive soul (or body) became activated or LIVING! Therefore, The Breath (spirit) of life is the necessary force/energy that makes these parts in the body begin to function and make the soul (body) alive. When this breath of life came into his body (inactive soul) it “turned on” or “activated” his body: when his body turned on Adam then became alive (or a living soul) !

But 930 years later, his body finally lost the breath of life and his body returned to being inactive (the body functions begin to shut down: he died)

Genesis 5:5

“Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.”

He went from being a living soul (a living body) to a dead soul (a shutdown body decomposing).

So, there is not a real you/ soul inside of someone's body in a ghost or spirit form the bible nowhere suggest this but rather the physical body is the soul:

A human being is a soul because they are their physical bodies just like animals! (This explains why you soul is considered yourself because your body is your real self! and it also explains why in English the word 'soul' is just replaced with 'body' often: everybody nobody etc. because a soul is a body!) And we all should know (and as proven by the Bible) a human body is definitely not immortal and can/does die eventually!

Therefore, someone's consciousness is not linked with the breath (or spirit) of life (as covered before: not a soul) that departs the body at death, a consciousness/soul is directly linked with the physical body of a living being!

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Contradictions of the soul being the body

Despite The Bible strongly hinting that the Soul is the body of a living creature, there seems to be some verses that seem to describe the soul as something entirely separate from the body: how can this be is this a contradiction?

Death kills the body but not the soul?

In telling the disciples to have fear of God and why they should, Jesus reveals that even in death (specifically here in murder) only the body can be killed in death but NOT THE SOUL!

Matthew 10:28

“Do not be afraid of those (other humans) who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Jesus says here that only the body dies in death, but it does not kill the soul: this is significant because if the body is the soul as we have strong evidence for, then how does this soul continue to exist if the body is destroyed and it is the body?

Also, Jesus distinguished the body and soul separately hinting they are two separate things. Is this a contradiction? and does this prove a soul is a separate thing from the body and even possibly continues to live on in an afterlife like heaven or hell?

but this would contradict every other verse in the rest of the Bible (even God’s own words in the Old Testament) that pretty much say the body is the soul, and Jesus would not contradict the Old Testament and definitively not God!

Why at first, this might seem like a contradiction and that Jesus is saying the body and soul are two different things a closer look at the original word clears this seeming contradiction up:

The original word for “soul” here is the Greek “ψυχὴν” (psoo-khay' ein) (a variation of the main Greek word for soul “ψυχή” [psoo-khay'] which is the Greek word for “soul”); though its root word means “soul” this particular variation means “The life” or just “life” [3] Like in:

Matthew 10:39

“Whoever finds their life (that is psychēn) will lose it, and whoever loses their life (that is also psychēn) for my sake will find it.” [3]

Now if he was talking about someone’s soul (that is body) that would make no sense: how would they fine their soul (body) if they already have it? But if he is talking about someone's life (specifically he seems to be referring to what you make of your life: what goals you go for and what you live for) then this makes perfect sense: someone “finds” their life by finding their desired purpose in life: like being smart, being rich, being famous etc.

Losing your life also does not necessarily mean dying either (like is usually the case when talking about the soul being lost or cut off) but rather seems to mean choosing to leave everything you have strived for in your life in order to become a Christian and follow Jesus’s/God’s ways instead of your own desire. So in this case though the word for “soul” is used, Jesus is not really referring to the standard definition of a soul (which ,as covered above, is the body) he is really talking about a person’s goals/reasons for existing in their life: and this agrees perfectly with the rest of the context here in the rest of this context: speaking about what a follower of Christ will have to sacrifice to follow him.

So, considering this, could Jesus also be referring to someone “life” instead of “soul/body” in Matthew 10:28; just a couple of verse before this one? It could very possibly be the case here, but if he is, what is the life that does not die once the body dies?

In other verses in the New Testament, Jesus clearly reveals this “life” can die by referring to his life as being laid down (given up) for his people (his sheep):

John 10:15

“...I lay down my life for the sheep.” [3]

How did he give up his life? As revealed later in the gospels, he was murdered by crucifixion (an ancient Roman execution method) to give his life up:

John 19:16-18

“... Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).There they crucified him,…”

John 19:30

“…,he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (he died)…”

By willingly letting himself die like this he was sacrificing himself for his people, he laid down his life (or he died as a sacrifice for them to pay for their sins:

2 Corinthians 5:21

“God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be [a] sin [Offering] for us,…”

Romans 5:8

“…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”)

1 John 3:16

“...Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”

So, Jesus himself says a “life” can be laid down and thus die! And as covered in Biblical Hell and then Hell contradictions, this “soul/life” he is talking about did not continue living on in hell (or someplace in hell) like Jesus seems to say in Matthew 10:28 (and as many Christians/humans tend to think): the “hell” Jesus went to was not the fiery burning hell nor a paradise compartment in hell called “Abraham’s bosom” (as covered in was there a paradise in hell?) it was the Sheol-Hell or better known in our modern language: the grave! Jesus’s soul/life did not continue on living in Hell apart from his body like he seems to say in this verse, but (as covered in “The Truth of Death”) it ended right after he died: as soon as he died his body immediately stopped working and his consciousness died with it! So, if this is true that life does not continue after death thus can be killed by other humans along with the body then why did Jesus say your life continues somewhere else after death?

Notice he actually never says here that anyone's life continues after their body dies (this would contradict all other verses about death as covered in all articles above): this is just assumed. All he says is humans can kill your body but can’t kill your soul/life: his point being humans can only kill so much, but God can totally destroy both your body and soul/life by throwing you in the fiery hell (perfectly agreeing with all other verses about this hell).

So, Jesus’s point in saying this was to show God’s ultimate authority to completely destroy a human and thus show his disciples who they should really fear: even faced with death by other humans!

But if this is true and your life does end when your body is killed them humans can take away your soul/life by killing you: so, what exactly did Jesus mean by “Soul” here?

Why the answer might not be clear here by taking everything we know about God’s (and Jesus’s) authority we can conclude that “life” here is a human’s unique personality, memory, and nature: yes from other verses it's true that technically if this is the life Jesus is talking about, humans can destroy a humans unique personality, memory, and nature by killing the body (since the two seem linked) because the consciousness of the human killed ceases to exist: thus is destroyed. But that is not necessarily the end as we will discover: because God remembers the human’s unique personality, memory, and nature that was killed, and with his power, is able to bring the human that was killed back to life: completely restoring their unique personality, memory, and nature that was previously destroyed at their death. This is most likely what Jesus meant about this “life” here:

humans may destroy another human’s body (and consciousness) but they cannot go to heaven and take God’s memory of them from him nor stop him from bringing them back to life with their unique memory/nature fully intact. But that’s different if God himself decides to destroy a human: he could destroy both the body and their unique memory/nature in Gehennah Hell (the fiery hell) in the future and, as will be covered later, even though God would remember the human destroyed in Gehennah hell and still has the power to bring them back to life again; he will not bring a human back to life that was thrown in hell ever again: thus both their body and soul is absolutely destroyed in hell forever!

all of this perfectly agrees with all other verses about a human’s consciousness/soul after death and agrees with the use of “psychēn” meaning either soul or life (or a specific quality about a human’s life).

So long explanation short: Jesus is not saying the body and soul are two separate things here as it might first appear: he is just saying only God can completely destroy a human totally for good: therefore, fear him.

The vision of beheaded souls (dead human spirits)?

Why John was having a vision about heaven and the future he describes seeing the souls of humans who had died by beheading:

Revelation 20:4

“ I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God.”

But does this mean John saw the spirits of dead humans in heaven? And would that mean the soul is something more than the physical body and continues on living after death?

Once again, this contradicts all other verses on life after death and even the soul being the body; and this seeming contradiction is very easy to solve:

This verse clearly says these murdered humans that had been previously brought back to life and were ruling with Jesus:

Revelation 20:4

“…the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God…. They came [back] to life and reigned with Christ…”

So they were not dead human spirits ruling with Jesus in heaven: they were actually physical human beings that had been previously killed but were brought back to life by God’s power ruling on earth!

John is saying he saw human bodies or living humans who were previously killed for being Christians but were brought back to life in the future! This only further proves that a soul is a body!

(You can either close this extra window to return to "The truth of Death" or click here to return to The Biblical Truths main menu)

Sources:

[1]

[A] Strong’s Hebrew 5315.--”נֶפֶשׁ”(neh'-fesh)--a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion, from Bible hub

Website:

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5315.htm

[B] 5315. נָ֫פֶשׁ (nephesh) Englishman’s concordance wordsearch, from Biblehub

Website:

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/strongs_5315.htm

[C] 5590. ψυχή (psoo-khay')-- breath, the soul, from Bible hub

Website:

https://biblehub.com/greek/5590.htm