This is the 3rd part in a series of 7 written under the title:
See index for previous parts.
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3. The Living Soul
For many English readers the answer appears obvious. We instinctively read the word soul as referring to an invisible, immaterial part of a person that survives death. Yet before assuming that is what the author intended, we should ask a more basic question. How does the Bible itself use the word?
The Hebrew word translated “living creature” in Genesis 2:7 is nephesh. This is the first occurrence of nepheshin relation to humanity, and in Scripture first occurrences often establish the basic sense in which a word will later be understood. Depending upon the translation, it may be rendered living creature, living being, or living soul. None of these translations is necessarily wrong. The difficulty lies not in the Hebrew word but in what modern readers usually mean when they hear the English word soul.
Most people today think of a soul as something a person possesses. The Hebrew Scriptures generally present a different picture. They present the person not as one having the living nephesh; the person was the living nephesh. Perhaps the easiest way to see this is to look at where the word first appears.
Here, the expression translated “living creature” is again nephesh chayyah. On the sixth day, land animals are likewise described as living nephesh.
Only afterwards does Genesis describe the creation of mankind.
This observation often surprises modern readers. The same expression used of Adam is also used of fish, birds, livestock, wild animals, and every other creature possessing life. At least within the creation account, Genesis does not distinguish humanity from the animals by introducing the concept of an immortal soul. Instead, it uses the same ordinary Hebrew expression for all living creatures. The emphasis falls not upon different kinds of souls but upon the gift of life itself.
Anything animated by the life God gives is described as a living nephesh. This broader meaning continues throughout the Old Testament. Note the following:
A nephesh can become hungry (Proverbs 27:7).
It can become thirsty (Psalm 42:1-2).
It can love (Song of Solomon 1:7).
It can desire (Deuteronomy 12:20).
It can become weary (Jeremiah 31:25).
It can sin (Ezekiel 18:4).
Remarkably, Scripture can even speak of a nephesh dying. The prophet Ezekiel declares:
If we approach that verse with the modern definition of “soul,” it sounds almost contradictory. How can an immortal soul die? The difficulty, however, does not lie in Ezekiel's words. It lies in our assumptions. Ezekiel was using the word exactly as it had been used throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
The nephesh is the living person.
The person who sins dies.
The same pattern appears repeatedly throughout the Law of Moses. Someone who touches a dead body is literally said to touch a dead nephesh (Numbers 6:6; 9:6-10). This would be a very strange expression if nephesh always referred to an immortal, conscious entity. English translations often avoid the expression because it sounds strange to modern ears, rendering it instead as “dead body” or “corpse.” Yet the Hebrew text continues using the same word.
This reminds us of an important principle of Bible study. Words do not carry fixed meanings independent of their context. We naturally read the English word soul through centuries of later theological discussion. Moses and the prophets did not. Their concern was not to distinguish between material and immaterial substances but to describe life as God had created it. That understanding fits perfectly with Genesis 2:7. God did not first create a body and then place a soul inside it. He formed the man from the dust, breathed into him the breath of life, and the man became a living nephesh. The person himself was the living soul.
That does not however, answer every question about human nature.
The Old Testament also speaks of God's Spirit, of the human spirit, of breath, of life, and eventually of resurrection. Each of those ideas deserves careful study.
But before exploring them, we should allow Genesis to establish its own foundation. The Bible's first description of humanity is wonderfully simple.
Genesis has therefore established the foundation
upon which the rest of Scripture builds. Humanity is presented as a
living person formed from the dust and sustained by the breath of
God. Yet this raises another question. If the nephesh is the
living person, what exactly is the breath of life that God breathed
into Adam? What does Scripture mean by spirit? And what
returns to God when a person dies?
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Watch for part 4. "The Breath of Life - What Did God Breathe into Adam?"
This will be posted very soon.
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