Westerners struggle with the concept of the soul. Atheists will argue that the soul does not exist. They say it is one of the many myths we have superstitiously believed to be true. And yet it is a term which won’t disappear.
Most people in the West believe that when we die, our souls goes back to God. This idea has a vein of gnostic thought running through it, but also contains some Christian truth.
Due to the lack of precise language to describe the soul, we tend to interchange it with the intellect, mind, spirit and personality. In English, it feels like a fuzzy word which doesn’t accurately describe a phenomena.
In this post, I’ll unpack what the idea of a soul is from a Biblical perspective.
What is a Soul?
These two terms, Soul and Spirit, are used in the Bible and the early Christian writings to describe the immaterial part of a human.
We find the word for soul and spirit are sometimes mixed up and, at times, it appears to be used to express a specific part of a human.
If we look at Jesus’ words in Matthew.
Matt 16 v 26
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul (psychē)? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul (psychē)?
The Greek word for soul is psychē. It means breath or ‘to blow’.
We may think of the creation of Adam, where God blows into his lifeless body. This is the animating force of the person. If this is not present, then the body is inanimate and therefore dead.
So in the verse above, Christ is saying that what’s the point in exchanging your soul (that which animates) for the whole world. When you won’t come to enjoy it, as you will be dead.
What can you exchange in this world for the animating force which keeps you alive. Nothing.
Spirit and Soul
The Greek word for spirit (pneuma) has a similar meaning to soul (psychē). They both mean to blow or breath. I will unpack the differences between the soul and spirit in the next post.
But it seems to me a soul animates a body, but a spirit does not. This is why spiritual unembodied entities, like angels and demons, do not have souls. They don’t need it as they don’t have a body.
Having said that, the human spirit has a similar meaning to soul, ie to blow or breath. So it might suggest the spirit animates the spiritual part of the person and soul animates the physical.
Animal Souls?
Humans, and other embodied creatures, have a soul which animates them too.
Revelation 8:9 (KJV)
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life (psychē), died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
In Revelation, we see John write that a third of the creatures in the sea, who had a ‘soul’, died. If souls were only for humans, then this verse would make no sense.
Therefore, animal souls exist.
I understand the view of some of the early church fathers was that there were human souls, animal souls and even plant souls. As plants grow, reproduce and respond to their environment, it makes sense that they would have a soul which animates them too.
There appears to be differences between the souls of each physical creature. So a dog has a dog soul, a cat has a cat soul, a tree has a tree soul and etc.
I am aware this sounds rather New Age, but I think it makes sense from a biblical standpoint.
Emotions and Passions
The human soul animates the person. This doesn’t just mean in a physical sense, like moving an arm or blinking, but also the emotions and passions.
Acts 15 v 24
Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls (psychē).
In this verse, we see souls were upset, troubled or anxious. These are signs of emotion.
So the soul doesn’t just animate us physically, but also emotionally. It is the seat of our passions and what drives us.
This framework is useful as it gives an explanation for the source of our passions.
Passions are what we are passive towards. And they are the reason why we are driven to do some things and are compelled to ignore other things? So in other words, ‘we can’t help but follow our passions’. Though we are not animals, and so we can overrule them.
Heart and Soul
Another point to note is the link between the heart and the soul.
Luke 10 v 27
He answered, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart (kardia) and with all your soul (psychē) and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
In Scripture, we read ‘heart and soul’ mentioned together on numerous occasions. The impression we get is they are fundamentally linked. In the verse from Luke, we are to love God with all our heart and soul. The word spirit isn’t mentioned. So it makes me think that the heart and spirit are similar too, but fulfil different functions.
The next post will talk about what the spirit is from a Biblical viewpoint and how it fits in with the soul and heart.
Thank you for reading this far. I’m still working through these ideas, so I would call some of this ‘experimental theology’. I hope you enjoy this series as much as I have been thinking and writing about it.
Below is a paywall. This is where I discuss the concept of ‘being born into the wrong body’. And I mention how this Biblical concept of the soul solves the evolutionary problem of cuckoos.
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