Soul

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

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. Genesis 2:7 (KJV)

The Biblical soul in the Old Testament is translated only from the Hebrew word nephesh (נפש), which literally means the "complete life of a being" though it is usually used in the sense of "living being" (breathing creature).^[1] Psyche is the equivalent New Testament Greek word from which the English word soul is only translated. In the Greek Septuagint nephesh is mostly translated as psyche (ψυχή).

The New Testament follows the concepts of the Septuagint, and thus uses the word psyche with the Hebrew nephesh understanding rather than the Greek philosophers^[2], that is, an invisible power (or even more, for Platonists, immortal and immaterial) that gives life and motion to the body and is responsible for its attributes. The concept common today of an immaterial soul separate from and surviving the body is not found in ancient Hebrew beliefs.^[3]

Nephesh is applied to humans, lower animals, corpses and to God Almighty.

Etymology

Illustration showing the number of times nephesh is translated in the Old Testament into an assortment of English words in the NIV and KJV. Besides the twelve common words listed, it is also translated into another 125 miscellaneous English words and phrases in the NIV. And, it is not even translated another 43 times that it appears in the texts.

The word soul is translated only from the Hebrew word nephesh in the Old Testament (nephesh appears 750 times in 683 verses) and only psyche in the New testament (psyche appears 104 times in 95 verses).^[4] Nephesh is also translated into 131 other English words and phrases in the NIV Old Testament :

• PERSON / BEING -- life, lives, as surely as live, alive, keep themselves alive, soul, souls, living soul, being, person, people, man, creatures, creature, spirit, body, breath, heart, hearts, heart's, hearts', lifeblood, mind, minds, thoughts, neck, throats, members.
• PRONOUNS -- all, another, anyone, everyone, he, herself, him, himself, I, me, my, myself, one, ourselves, she, someone, them, themselves, these, they, thing, those, us, we, you, yourself, yourselves.
• FEELINGS -- affection, appetite, appetites, craved, craving, desire, desires, discontented, earnest, earnestness, faint, feel, fierce, given to gluttony, greed, greedy man, hot_tempered, how it feels, hunger, hungry, in anguish, needs, pleased, relish, thirst, thirsty, wanted, weary, wished, wishes, zeal.
• DEATH -- breathe last, breathed her last, corpse, dead, dead body, death, die, dying, kill, kills, made a fatal mistake, mortal, murders, takes life, wait to kill, wanted to kill.
• MISC -- be a willing party, closest friend, completely, cost, counting on, courage, descendants, enemies, guilt of murder, his own, impatient, in all, its own, just what wanted, kidnapping, livelihood, long, member, none, perfume, personal vows, plunder, slave, slaves, stouthearted, that, the flock, threatened, willing.
• UNTRANSLATED -- 43 times^[5]

Biblical definition of nephesh

Genesis 2:7

• The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being [nephesh]. NIV
• 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 [nephesh]. KJV

God's nephesh recipe:

1. Take one physical body
2. Insert the breath of life into the body
3. Results: A living, breathing, nephesh

Characteristics of nephesh

• Hunger: Ex. 12:16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone [nephesh] to eat—that is all you may do.
• Thirst: Prov. 25:25 Like cold water to a weary soul [nephesh] is good news from a distant land.
• Emotions:
  • Affection: Eze. 24:21 I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your [nephesh] affection.
  • Distress: Gen. 42:21 We saw how distressed he [nephesh] was when he pleaded with us for his life,
  • Yearn: Psm. 84:2 My soul [nephesh] yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
  • Weep: Jer. 13:17 But if you do not listen, I [nephesh] will weep in secret because of your pride;
  • Love: Sngs. 3:2 I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart [nephesh] loves.
  • Delight: Isa. 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul [nephesh] rejoices in my God.
  • Anger: Jdg. 16:16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, [so] that his soul [nephesh] was vexed unto death;
  • Grief: 1 Sam. 2:33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your [nephesh] heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
• Sin: Lev. 5:1 A person [nephesh] sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge.

A nephesh, therefore, has a physical body, is breathing and alive, gets hungry, thirsty, angry, falls in love and is a sinner. A nephesh is a person.

Other nephesh

Human beings are not the only nephesh.

• Gen 1:24 …Let the earth bring forth the living [chay] creature [nephesh] after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:
• Gen 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; … what Adam called every living [chay] creature [nephesh], that was the name thereof.
• Lev 11:46 This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living [chay] creature [nephesh] that moveth in the waters, and of every creature [nephesh] that creepeth upon the earth.

Animals have a physical bodies. Animals breath and live. They get hungry and thirsty. They are living nephesh.

Summary

Nephesh is a being with a physical body, the breath of life, and has feelings. Not only are humans such beings but the Bible consideres animals to also be living beings. We are all created, living beings.

Psyche = Nephesh

Illustration showing the number of times psyche is translated in the New Testament into an assortment of English words in the NIV and KJV. Besides the five common words listed, it is also translated into another 25 miscellaneous English words and phrases in the NIV. And, it is not even translated another 8 times that it appears in the texts.

The New Testament psyche is equivalent with the Old Testament nephesh.

1 Corinthians 15:45

• And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul (psyche) ; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. KJV
• So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being (psyche)"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. NIV

Psyche as living being

• Luke 10:27 He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul [psyche] and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
• Luke 9:56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives [psyche], but to save them.
• 1 Peter 1:9 “for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls [psyche].
• James 5:20 “remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him [psyche] from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Summary

Psyche is a living person with a physical body, who is breathing.

Jesus came to save nephesh / psyche

• 1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
• Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
• Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Ezekiel 18:20 The soul [nephesh] who sins is the one who will die.

Nephesh / psyche die

• Num. 23:10 "Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me [nephesh] die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!"
• Num. 35:30 Anyone who kills a person [nephesh] is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
• Jos. 11:11 Everyone [nephesh] in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anything that breathed, and he burned up Hazor itself.
• Isa. 47:14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves [nephesh] from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by.
• Eze. 18:4 For every living soul [nephesh] belongs to me, the father [nephesh] as well as the son [nephesh]—both alike belong to me. The soul [nephesh] who sins is the one who will die.

Immortality

God and Immortality

• 1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
• Romans 1:22-23 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
• 1 Timothy 16:15-16 God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Only God is immortal.

Man and Immortality

• Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.
• Romans 2:6-7 God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
• 2 Timothy1:9-10 Who has saved us and called us to a holy life... This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel
• 1 Corinthians 15:52-54 In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory.“

Man must “seek” and “put on” immortality. Jesus, who alone is immortal, has destroyed death and gives immortality to mortal man. Neither immortal nor immortality appear in context with nephesh or psyche anywhere in the Bible.

Death of nephesh

• Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.
• Psalm 104:29 When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
• Ecclesiastes 12:7 And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit [breath] returns to God who gave it.

Death of a nephesh is the reverse of the Creation of a nephesh.

1. Start with a living physical being (nephesh).
2. Remove the breath of life.
3. Result: The dead physical body turns to dust.

A nephesh is a living physical body with the breath of life. A dead physical body without breath is not a nephesh. The nephesh is no more. The breath of life returns to God who gave it.

Consciousness after death

• Ecclesiastes 9:4-6 Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them 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.
• Psalms 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

There is no consciousness after death.

Conclusion

• Nephesh / psyche have a physical body and the breath of life.
• We are nephesh / psyche when we are living beings.
• Nephesh / psyche die.
• Nephesh / psyche cease to exist at death.
• Nephesh / psyche is not conscious and knows nothing after death.
• There is no such thing as an immortal nephesh / psyche.

The English word soul commonly has meanings different than the Biblical nephesh / psyche.

Experimentation

MacDougall of Haverhill, Mass. conducted experiments on terminally ill people (six in all). He took these subjects and placed them on a very sensitive weight table to see if there was a weight change upon death, essentially taking the Biblical stance of the soul leaving the body. Each subject, regardless of size or weight, upon the moment of death lost 3/4 of an once. This test was repeated several times and his conclusion was that this weight was indeed the human soul and that its weight is lost at the moment of it's separation from the body.^[6]

To confirm this he also conducted tests on 15 dogs, created by God without a soul. Upon death they did not experience this weight loss as did the humans. Because this type of test was controversial, and raised many eye brows, several stories about Dr. MacDougal surfaced in an attempt to discredit his work. Words like inhumane were being thrown at him. He was even accused of poisoning the 15 dogs that he tested.

See Also

• Creationism
• Intelligent design
• Science
• Biblical units of measure

Notes

External Links

• Catholic Encyclopedia - Soul
• Soul Man by Snopes
• Discover magazine
• Hypothesis Concerning Soul Substance, Together with Experimental Evidence of the Existence of Such Substance by Dr. Duncan MacDougall, Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, May 1907