Aurel Gheorghe Supporter

In order to explain what “soul” is and what isn’t we must go to the Bible.
The Bible does not teach that God placed a soul in human beings at Creation. It specifically states that God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living being. Some Bible translations uses the words “living souls.” To state it in equation form, body + breath = living soul (Genesis 2:7). 

Upon death, the body returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit (breath of life) returns to God who gave it. Nowhere in the Bible we find that the soul returns to God. The Bible mentions the word “soul” approximately 1,800 times. It never once uses the expression immortal soul, or any other synonym (e.g. everlasting, eternal or never dying). Actually, the world “soul” many times is used in reference to a person or persons. For example Acts 2:41 talks about 3000 souls being baptized. Are we to believe that the disciples baptized 3000 dead person’s souls? Of course not! Also see Acts 3:23; Acts 4:32; Acts 15:24.

The spirit and the breath are the same throughout Scripture. When a person dies, it is God’s life-giving power, His breath, the spark of life that returns. The psalmist David states it this way: “His breath (spirit) goeth forth” (Psalm 146:4). It is not some conscious entity. It is not some immortal soul. The Hebrew word for breath throughout Old Testament Scripture is ‘ruach.’ This Hebrew word means air, wind or spirit. Job 27:3 talks about God’s spirit, or breath, in our nostrils. At death this spirit, or breath, returns to God.

God mercifully shuts our eyes at death to all of the sorrow, heartache and disappointment on earth. Since the “dead know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and “in the grave there is not remembrance of you” (Psalm 6:5), it is only logical that “the dead praise not the Lord” (Psalm 115:17).
The Bible compares death to a sleep more than 50 times. For Christians, death is like sleeping soundly, not aware of time passing (Revelation 14:13). 

To say it simply; the soul is the breath of life, the spark that God gives at birth and takes away at death.

December 24 2015 • 14 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Shirley H. Supporter prayer warrior

Genesis 1:26,"And God said, Let Us make a man in Our image, after Our likeness... 27, So God created man in His Own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them."

God is a three part spiritual being. We worship God in spirit and in truth. We are body (physical), spirit, and soul. 1Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very GOD of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray. God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In Genesis when Adam sinned, the very essence of man's nature changed. He became focused more on his soul, that is to say on his own wants. He rejected the spirit, the part of us that is God focused. The curse fell.The soul is the seat of desire. Also can be thought of as heart, your hearts desire. 

Remember God is a Spirit. We are all born spiritually dead. This is why we need Jesus! 1Corinthians 15:42-50, 54 & 55.

We will all die naturally. This physical body will die in its time. We will all share in eternity in our souls. This soul that is spiritually alive, thanks to Our Lord will be at home with God. 1Corinthians 15:55, " O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?

Jesus relates the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19 - 31. His soul was in torment. He was spiritually dead. But he will have an eternity!

Jesus said in John 14:3, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

I look forward to that, and to the new glorious body,that I and all others, spiritually alive will spend soul fully in eternity.

Thank you LORD for eyes to see and ears to hear.

December 25 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Craig Mcelheny Supporter Christian Author

The soul is that part of you that transcends life and death. It existed before you were born, as it did for Jeremiah (Jer. 1:4-5), and it will exist after you physically die. Irrespective of your fate as a person who rejects God (Mark 9:47-48 – your ‘worm’ is your soul), or a person who finds God and eternal life (John 17:1-2, 3), your soul is eternal. It is the real you.

It is my belief that you were created by Jesus (Col. 1:15-16) at some point other than your birth (Eccl. 1:10-11). I believe you existed at the Foundation of the World when God made a choice amongst His Creation (Eph. 1:3-4), predestining some to be in His new kingdom (Eph. 1:5-6). The grace we received was given before time began (2 Tim. 1:8-9). It was based on merit. If it were not, then God could not, in my opinion, be praised as just and true in His choices, at the end of this age (Rev. 15:3-4, 16:5-6, 7).

Jeremiah tells us that before he was formed in the womb, he was known by God. Romans 8:28-29 extends that scenario to those whom God called to be conformed to the image of His Son. The soul is shaped and bedecked in the womb with the accoutrements of a physical body. God does these things (Psalm 139:13-14) to a person’s “unformed substance” – their soul (Psalm 139:15-16). It is visible to God, but to us it cannot be seen:

Hebrews 11:3 (NKJV) 
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

When we are born, we consist of two parts – physical body and soul. Until we believe on the One True God, and His only begotten Son, Jesus, we are separated from God – spiritually dead. Once we believe the Father, we pass out of spiritual death and into spiritual life (John 5:24). At that point, we become three parts – body, soul, and spirit – God’s Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:23). What is it that the Father said that we must believe in, in order to obtain eternal life?

Jesus said the words He brings are not His, but from the Father who sent Him (John 14:24). Romans 10:8-9 states that whoever confesses with their mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believes in their heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead, they will be saved. It is at the point of belief that the Father and Son will come into your heart, via the Holy Spirit, and make their abode with you (John 14:23). Jesus spoke these words on the Father’s authority (John 14:10). He stands at the door of your heart (Rev. 3:20), ready to fellowship with you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit actually indwells a person who has believed. It is referred to in Scripture as being “in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:9-10). Again, it requires that you believe God raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 8:11) in order to live by the Spirit (Rom. 8:12-13) and qualify as sons of God (Rom. 8:14). The Holy Spirit is sent as a teacher (John 14:26). It abides in us. (1 John 2:24-25). (BTW, please see https://ebible.com/questions/14574-what-s-the-meaning-of-1-john-2-24-28-where-it-states-that-if-what-we-have-heard-from-the-beginning-abides-in-us-then-we-will-also-abide-in-the-son-and-in-the-father#answer-22786 
for an explanation of these verses). The ‘anointing’ (Holy Spirit) is given to us to lead us into all truth (1 John 2:27).

To conclude, the soul is the quintessential fabric of our very being. The physical body is only a covering. As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:1, our earthly dwelling is a tent, but our heavenly dwelling is a body (spiritual body) not made with hands, i.e. not through procreation, but through transformation into the image of Jesus’ very nature, bearing His righteousness. And while we are in these physical bodies (2 Corinthians 5:2-3) we complain and wish to be in our heavenly bodies, that we may attain to eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:4). The Holy Spirit is given to us as a ‘guarantee’/pledge (2 Corinthians 5:5-6) so that we may find our way back to the Lord.

Isaiah 1:18

January 15 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report