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The concept of the soul has been widely debated in religious and philosophical circles. Many believe in the immortality of the soul, but what does the Bible actually teach? According to Scripture, a soul is a living being, and this word is always a combination of two things: body plus breath. Therefore, one cannot exist unless body and breath are combined. The Bible does not teach that humans have an immortal soul but rather that humans are souls who can die.
The Creation of the Soul
The first mention of the word “soul” in the Bible provides the clearest definition. Genesis 2:7 states:
“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 being.” (NKJV)
The word “being” here is translated from the Hebrew word nephesh, which is also translated as “soul” in many places. This verse shows that the soul is not some separate entity within man, but rather the entire person—formed from the dust of the ground and given life through God’s breath.
Souls Can Die
The Bible explicitly states that souls are not immortal. If a soul were inherently immortal, then it could not die. However, Ezekiel 18:20 clearly says:
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”
This passage directly contradicts the idea of an inherently immortal soul. If souls could not die, this statement would make no sense.
All Living Creatures Are Souls
The Hebrew word nephesh is not exclusively used for humans; it is also used for animals. Genesis 1:21 states:
“So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”
The phrase “every living thing” is from the Hebrew nephesh chayyah, meaning “living soul.” This means that animals, like humans, are considered souls in the biblical sense.
The Breath of Life
The Bible consistently ties the existence of a soul to the presence of breath. Job 33:4 says:
“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
When the breath of life leaves a person, the body returns to dust, and the soul ceases to exist. Ecclesiastes 12:7 confirms this:
“Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”
The “spirit” (from the Hebrew ruach) here is the breath of life, not a conscious entity that continues to live separately from the body.
Man is Mortal, Not Immortal
The Bible is clear that humans are mortal. Job 4:17 asks:
“Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?”
The word “mortal” means subject to death. Nowhere does Scripture state that the soul is inherently immortal. Instead, 1 Timothy 6:15-16 explicitly states that only God possesses immortality:
“He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”
If only God has immortality, then humans do not have an immortal soul.
Death – A State of Sleep
The Bible frequently compares death to sleep, further demonstrating that there is no conscious, immortal soul that continues after death. Jesus Himself described death in this way. In John 11:11-14, He said:
“Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
When His disciples misunderstood, He clarified:
“Lazarus is dead.”
If Lazarus had an immortal soul that immediately went to heaven or hell upon death, Jesus’ statement would not make sense. Instead, He equated death with sleep—a state of unconsciousness.
The Hope of Resurrection
If humans had immortal souls, there would be no need for a resurrection. However, the Bible repeatedly emphasizes the resurrection of the dead as the great hope of believers. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul writes:
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
This resurrection only makes sense if the dead are not already in heaven or hell but are asleep in the grave, awaiting Christ’s return.
The Incorrect Doctrine of the Immortal Soul
The idea that souls are inherently immortal is not found in Scripture. Instead, it originated from pagan philosophy, particularly from Greek thought. Plato and other Greek philosophers taught that the soul was an immortal essence that lived on after death. This belief gradually influenced Christian doctrine over time, despite its absence from biblical teaching.
The Bible warns against such deceptive philosophies. Colossians 2:8 states:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”
The belief in an immortal soul is one such tradition of men, not a teaching of God’s Word.
Conclusion
In summary, the Bible teaches that a soul is a living being, not an immortal entity. A soul comes into existence when the body and breath are united. When a person dies, the soul ceases to exist—the body returns to dust, and the breath returns to God. Humans are mortal, and only God has immortality. The hope of eternal life is found in the resurrection at Christ’s return, not in an immortal soul that continues to exist after death.
Understanding this biblical truth clears up much confusion about life, death, and eternity. Rather than fearing death as a transition into an unknown realm, believers can trust in the promise of the resurrection and eternal life through Jesus Christ.
In my understanding soul’s attribute is consciousness. When the body received the spirit of life from God, man became a living soul. That is, life with consciousness from which emanates feelings and emotion such as love, hate, anger, passion, and any attributes that can come out of being conscious. In contrast: Plants and the like with life but have no consciousness cannot be called living soul. Animals and other breathing life are living souls. Man and animals are soul. Human soul has a great significant than the animal.
There is yet another attribute in the BREATH or SPIRIT of life that God breathes in man’s nostrils that animals and other breathing creatures don’t have. God created all living creatures and received the spirit of life from God by His mere word (Genesis 1:24-25). Whereas, God formed the body called man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the spirit of life. And in that same breath, God formed the spirit that makes man spiritually conscious that can relate to God. People who don’t know the real God, such those who were born in the jungle inherently looking for a spirit god to worship—that animals don’t. Some worship the sun, the mountain, the stone, or anything they can worships with the thought there is a spirit behind those objects (See Acts 17:22-29). The Scriptures below are the biblical proofs that God formed the spirit in man through the same breath He breathes the spirit of life.
“The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who FORMS THE HUMAN SPIRIT within a person,” (Zechariah 12:1).
“But it is the SPIRIT IN MAN, the breath of the almighty, that gives him the Understanding,” Job 32:8.
“The lamp of the Lord searches the SPIRIT OF A MAN; it searches out his inmost being,” Proverbs 20:27.
The soul is only active with a body from which emanates feelings and emotion and other attributes of the soul. The soul which is embedded in the spirit that returned to God is naked (See 2 Corinthians 5:3). It is a disembodied spirit. When the spirit is clothed with the new heavenly body (verse 4, clothed with our heavenly dwelling) it will be conscious as the same person who dies with all the attributes of the soul, such as the memories and the characters of the person that were developed while in the body in his entire life on earth. This is what the Bible said, “That each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad”. This will occur at the resurrection at the second coming of our Lord. This resurrection is portrayed in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man in the judgment seat of Christ, that is, the receiving of the rewards for the saves and condemnation for the unsaved (See 2 Corinthians 5:10).
The Dead Know Nothing
“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate, and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6) NIV.
The body has no importance at this point, for its purpose has been served, that is, while in the body man is being processed in the likeness of God, through trials, sufferings, and overcoming. At death: The sick, imperfect, corrupt body, then, will be decommissioned and returned to its source of origin and permanently be there as it was.
“The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it,” Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NKJV). This is a statement of fact and has nothing to do with the sin committed by the first man. Adam was created with a physical body—not spirit and a glorified body. Physical is temporal, spiritual is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18 ASV).
This Is The New Body (For the saved)
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:1-4) NIV
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
I was a former seaman, then a driver, a gardener, and now an old man staying at home studying the Bible. Thank you for the information I got from you.