Sermon Tone Analysis

*NM 6** Body, Soul, Spirit, and Immortality*

Soul \\ Immortal Soul? \\ Spirit

*NM6** Abstract*

/In this paper we look at what scripture says about the body, soul, and spirit.

There is a difference between all three.

The scriptures indicate that the soul is not the spirit of man, but tradition mixes these two different things.

When some today speak of the soul, what they mean is the spirit.

This causes confusion since the soul can die (it is mortal), but the spiritual element cannot die (it is immortal)./

*Soul*

nm79» What does the soul have to do with the body or with the spirit?

What is the body?

What is the soul?

What is the spirit?

And is the soul immortal?

There is much confusion about what a soul is and if it is immortal.

The view of Catholics and many Protestants is that the soul is immortal.

From /This is the Faith/, written by the former Archbishop of Liverpool, Dr. Richard Downey, we see the Catholic view on the soul:

Man ... has a body and a soul ... it is a spirit, immortal, and endowed with intelligence and free will.

Soul is not just another word for spirit.

Animals have souls, but their souls are not spirits.

Only man's soul is a spirit; in man is the only kind of spirit that is a soul....

There is an obvious difference between a living human body and a corpse.

That difference is the soul."

(pp.

21-22)

As we will see from scripture there are several assertions here that are wrong.

First the soul is not a spirit, second it is not immortal, and third its free will is limited under the absolute free will of God.

You will not find immortality connected to the soul in scripture, but you will find Satan telling Eve that she is immortal (Gen 3:4; serpent = Satan, Rev 12:9).

So how do the Catholics "prove" that the soul is immortal?

"Scripture is full of proof that the soul of man is spiritual and immortal.

'The Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life; and man became a living soul' (Gen 2:7)

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and torment of death shall not touch them.

In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die .... but they are in peace .... their hope is full of immortality."

(Wis 3:1-4)

These two quotes are under the heading, "What Does Scripture Say?," and are the two main verses used by the author to prove his assertion.

The first quote of Gen 2:7 says nothing about the soul being immortal.

The second, even though it is not from the Bible, does not say the soul is immortal, but that man has hope of immortality.

Of course they have hope of immortality because of the resurrection.

The other scriptures quoted by the author speak of the hope of immortality because of the resurrection or the immortality given through the Spirit.

The author substitutes the /hope/ of immortality for mankind with its real mortality, and mixes the soul with the spirit.

The hope of immortality is not the same as immortality; soul and spirit are not one and the same.

Let's see what the scripture actually says about the body, soul, spirit, and immortality.

*Man is a Living Soul*

nm80» In the Bible the word soul is translated from the Hebrew word /nephesh/ (*vpn*) and from the Greek word /psuche/ (*yuch~/j*).

From Genesis we see what a soul is:

* "And Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils breath of life; and man became a living soul."

[Gen 2:7]

With the help of God man became a living soul.

Man was formed from the dirt of the ground.

Man is earthly.

Then Jehovah [YHWH] breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soul.

In context with the other scriptures in Genesis, chapters l and 2, we see that Jehovah first made man's body, and second he made man a living soul when and because Jehovah breathed into him.

It took the breath of Jehovah to make man a living soul.

The living soul is not just a body: it is a body with God's breath in it.

*God has a Soul*

nm81» Although theologians call it anthropopathy even God has a soul according to God's own words:

* DBY Lev 26:11 And I will set my habitation among you; and *my soul* shall not abhor you;

* DBY Lev 26:30 And I will lay waste your high places, and cut down your sun-pillars, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols; and *my soul* shall abhor you.

* DBY Isa 42:1 Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect {in whom} *my soul* delighteth!

I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations.

[Compare with Matt 12:18.]

* DBY Jer 5:9 Shall I not visit for these things?

saith Jehovah, and shall not *my soul* be avenged on such a nation as this?

* DBY Jer 6:8 Be thou instructed, Jerusalem, lest *my soul* be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.

* DBY Ezek 23:18 And she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness; and *my soul* was alienated from her, like as *my soul* was alienated from her sister.

* DBY Zech 11:8 And I destroyed three shepherds in one month; and *my soul* was vexed with them, and their soul also loathed me.

* DBY Matt 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom *my soul* has found its delight.

I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall shew forth judgment to the nations.

[Compare with Isa 42:1.]

* DBY Heb 10:38 But the just shall live by faith; and, if he draw back, *my soul* does not take pleasure in him.

(Lev 26:11,30; Isa 42:1; Jer 5:9, 6:8; Ezek 23:18; Zech 11:8; Matt 12:18; Heb 10:38)

Jesus became or was the soul of God (Matt 12:18; see /God Papers/).

*Animals also have Souls*

nm82» Not only does mankind, and God, have souls, so do animals.

The following verses in Hebrew show that animals have a soul (/nephesh/ or /psuche/) also:

* DBY Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living *souls*, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens.

* DBY Gen 1:21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living *soul* that moves with which the waters swarm, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

* DBY Gen 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living *souls* after their kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after their kind.

And it was so.

* DBY Gen 1:30 and to every animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth on the earth, in which is a living *soul*, every green herb for food.

And it was so.

* DBY Gen 2:19 And out of the ground Jehovah Elohim had formed every animal of the field and all fowl of the heavens, and brought {them} to Man, to see what he would call them; and whatever Man called each living *soul*, that was its name.

* DBY Gen 9:10 and with every living *soul* which is with you, fowl as well as cattle, and all the animals of the earth with you, of all that has gone out of the ark -- every animal of the earth.

* DBY Gen 9:12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant that I set between me and you and every living *soul* that is with you, for everlasting generations:

* DBY Gen 9:15 and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living *soul* of all flesh; and the waters shall not henceforth become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living *soul* of all flesh that is upon the earth.

* DBY Lev 11:10 but all that have not fins and scales in seas and in rivers, of all that swarm in the waters, and of every living *soul* which is in the waters -- they shall be an abomination unto you.

* DBY Rev 8:9 and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea which had life [*soul*] died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

(Gen 1:20-21,24,30, 2:19, 9:10,12,15-16; Lev 11:10; Rev 8:9; etc.)

Many English Bibles have translated "creature" or "life" for soul or /nephesh/ or /psuche/.

In the /BeComingOne Bible/ we have translated /nephesh/ or /psuche/ into soul consistently.]

*Souls Can Die*

nm83» According to the official Catholic view the soul is immortal:

/Lateran Council of 1513/

"Whereas some have dared to assert concerning the nature of the reasonable soul that it is mortal, we, with the approbation of the sacred council do condemn and reprobate all those who assert that the intellectual soul is mortal, seeing, according to the canon of Pope Clement V, that the soul is [...] immortal [...] and we decree that all who adhere to like erroneous assertions shall be shunned and punished as heretics."

But contrary to the Catholic view, scripture indicates that souls can die.

The following verses indicate that souls are destructible:

* DBY Gen 17:14 And the uncircumcised male who hath not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that *soul* shall be cut off from his peoples: he hath broken my covenant.

* DBY Gen 37:21 And Reuben heard {it}, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life [*soul*].

* DBY Exod 12:15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread: on the very first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day -- that *soul* shall be cut off from Israel.