SOUL
The traditional rendering of the Hebrew word
neʹphesh and the Greek word
psy·kheʹ. In examining the way these terms are used in the Bible, it becomes evident that they basically refer to (1) people, (2) animals, or (3) the life that a person or an animal has. (
Ge 1:20; 2:7; Nu 31:28; 1Pe 3:20; ) In contrast to the way that the term “soul” is used in many religious contexts, the Bible shows that both
neʹphesh and
psy·kheʹ, in connection with earthly creatures, refer to that which is material, tangible, visible, and mortal.
Earth’s First Souls:
The initial occurrences of
neʹphesh are found at
Genesis 1:20-23. On the fifth creative “day” God said: “‘Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls [
neʹphesh] and let flying creatures fly over the earth . . .’ And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul [
neʹphesh] that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind.” Similarly on the sixth creative “day”
neʹphesh is applied to the “domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth” as “living souls.”—
Ge 1:24.
After man’s creation, God’s instruction to him again used the term
neʹphesh with regard to the animal creation, “everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul [literally, in which there is living soul (
neʹphesh)].” (
Ge 1:30) Other examples of animals being so designated are found at
Genesis 2:19; 9:10-16; Leviticus 11:10, 46; 24:18; Numbers 31:28; Ezekiel 47:9. Notably, the Christian Greek Scriptures coincide in applying the Greek
psy·kheʹ to animals, as at
Revelation 8:9; 16:3, where it is used of creatures in the sea.
Thus, the Scriptures clearly show that
neʹphesh and
psy·kheʹ are used to designate the animal creation lower than man. The same terms apply to man.
The Human Soul. Precisely the same Hebrew phrase used of the animal creation, namely,
neʹphesh chai·yahʹ (living soul), is applied to Adam, when, after God formed man out of dust from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, “the man came to be a living soul.” (
Ge 2:7) Man was distinct from the animal creation, but that distinction was not because he was a
neʹphesh (soul) and they were not. Rather, the record shows that it was because man alone was created “in God’s image.” (
Ge 1:26, 27) He was created with moral qualities like those of God, with power and wisdom far superior to the animals; hence he could have in subjection all the lower forms of creature life. (
Ge 1:26, 28) Man’s organism was more complex, as well as more versatile, than that of the animals. (Compare
1Co 15:39.)
It is true that the account says that ‘God proceeded to blow into the man’s nostrils the breath [form of
nesha·mahʹ] of life,’ whereas this is not stated in the account of the animal creation. Clearly, however, the account of the creation of man is much more detailed than that of the creation of animals. Moreover,
Genesis 7:21-23, in describing the Flood’s destruction of “all flesh” outside the ark, lists the animal creatures along with mankind and says: “Everything in which the breath [form of
nesha·mahʹ] of the force of life was active in its nostrils, namely, all that were on the dry ground, died.” Obviously, the breath of life of the animal creatures also originally came from the Creator, Jehovah God.
So, too, the “spirit” (Heb.,
ruʹach; Gr.,
pneuʹma), or life-force, of man is not distinct from the life-force in animals, as is shown by
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, which states that “they all have but one spirit [
weruʹach].”
Soul—A Living Creature. As stated, man “came to be a living soul”; hence man
was a soul, he did not
have a soul as something immaterial, invisible, and intangible residing inside him. The apostle Paul shows that the Christian teaching did not differ from the earlier Hebrew teaching, for he quotes
Genesis 2:7 in saying: “It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul [
psy·khenʹ zoʹsan].’ . . . The first man is out of the earth and made of dust.”—
1Co 15:45-47.
The Genesis account shows that a living soul results from the combination of the earthly body with the breath of life. The expression “breath of the force of life [literally, breath of the spirit, or active force (
ruʹach), of life]” (
Ge 7:22) indicates that it is by breathing air (with its oxygen) that the life-force, or “spirit,” in all creatures, man and animals, is sustained. This life-force is found in every cell of the creature’s body.