"Whosoever
toucheth the dead body (nephesh)
of any man that is dead, and purifieth not
himself ... shall be cut off"
Numbers 19:13.
To the average person, the word
"soul" carries the meaning of an undying, immaterial essence that
continues in conscious existence after death. This conception is accepted
without thought or examination.
As soon as we start to look into the
question, however, we begin to make very interesting discoveries. We find,
first of all, that the BIBLE meaning of soul is ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT from this,
and immediately the question arises:
How can the commonly accepted religious
conception of soul be entirely different from the soul of the Bible, seeing that
the beliefs of Christendom are supposed to be based upon the Bible?
GOD
HIDES THE TRUTH FROM ALL BUT A FEW
The Scriptures themselves give the answer.
They tell us that the Truth is hidden from all except those few whose minds and
hearts please God (2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 13:11-15; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; 1 Cor.
2:14; Isa. 55:8; Matt. 7:13-14; 20:16; 22:14; Matt. 24:12-13; Luke 13;23-24;
18:8; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21). Divine truth is not a common
thing to be probed by every curious scholar (I Cor. 1:17-29; 2:1-16; 3:18-20).
Unless a man sets his heart to seek God and sets his life to conform to God's
will, he can no more find the truth of the Scriptures (Deut, 4:29; 1 Chron.
28:9; 2 Chron. 15:2; 31:21; Prov. 28:5; Isa. 55:6; Jer. 29:13; Amos 5:14; Matt.
6:33; 7:7; Luke 11:9; 12:31; 13:24; Acts 17:27; Heb. 11:6; Rom. 12:1-2) than
the men of Sodom could find the door of Lot's house (Gen. 19:11).
God has said that He will send a strong
delusion upon all those who receive not the LOVE of the Truth that they should
believe a lie (2 Thess. 2:10-11).
CHRISTENDOM
ADMITS "IMMORTAL SOUL"
UNBIBLICAL, AND BASED ON GREEK PHILOSOPHY
When we turn to works of reference by the
learned expositors of the immortal soul theory, we see how this "believing
a lie" works out quite naturally. Most of them make no attempt to conceal
the fact that scriptural teaching and popular theology are very different
regarding the meaning of "soul." They are in fact, proud that they
have developed many "improvements" upon what they consider the
partial and hazy conceptions voiced by the "Holy men of God who spake as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21).
We soon find that we are forced to choose
between Scripture teaching and orthodox Christianity. It is very fortunate for us
that the issue is so clear-cut, and that the leading exponents of the immortal
soul theory are so frank in admission of its non-Biblical origin.
Webster's Dictionary says:
"The Christian conception of the soul
derives from the Greek, especially as modified by the mystery cults, as well as
from the Bible..."
"The more exact determination of the
Christian conception was reserved for the Church Fathers, especially Saint
Augustine, who taught that it is simple, immaterial and spiritual, devoid of
quality and spatial extension. He argued its immortality from the fact that it
is the repository of Imperishable truth."
Funk & Wagnall Dictionary is even
more to the point:
"Among the ancient Hebrews 'soul' was
the equivalent of the principle of life as embodied in living creatures, and
this meaning is continued throughout the Bible ...
"It was Augustine especially who, in
part on religious grounds and in part as the disciple of the later Greek
Philosophy, taught the simple, immaterial and spiritual nature of the human
soul view which has remained that of the scholastic philosophy and of Christian
theologians down to the present time."
Hasting's well-known Bible
Dictionary freely admits:
"Soul is throughout a great part of the
Bible simply the equivalent of 'life' embodied in living creature. In the
earlier usage of the Old Testament it has no reference to the later
philosophical meaning the animating principle still less to the idea of an
'immaterial nature' which will survive the body."
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says:
"Soul has various shades of meaning in
the Old Testament, which may be summarized as follows: Soul, living being,
life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion and passion.
"Nephesh or soul, can only denote the
individual life with a material organization or body.
"In the New Testament 'psuche' appears
under more or less similar conditions as in the Old Testa ment."
Young's Concordance defines both nephesh and psuche as "animal soul."
Strong's Concordance defines nephesh as, "A breathing
creature, an animal; or, abstractly, vitality." Psuche it likewise defines
as "The animal, sentient principle."
The noted lexicographer Parkhurst (himself a believer in immortal soulism) says:
"As a noun nephesh hath been supposed
to signify the spiritual part of man, or what we commonly call his soul. I must
for myself confess that I can find no passages where it hath undoubtedly this
meaning.
"Gen. 35:18, 1 Kings 17:21-22 and
Psalms 16:10 seem fairest for this signification. But may not 'nephesh' in the
three former passages be most properly rendered 'breath,' and in the last, 'a
breathing or animal frame'? "
These quotations show clearly that the
immortal soul doctrine is generally admitted by Its supporters to be entirely
different from the BIBLE meaning of soul, and based mainly upon GREEK
PHILOSOPHY.
IS
GOD'S WORD A FINAL, INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY?
The issue then is this: is the Word of God
to be our final authority, or is religious truth something to be gradually
developed by man's speculation on the basis of pagan Greek philosophy?
For nearly 2,000 years, the bulk of
Christendom, beginning with the Church Fathers, have favored the latter, but
there have always been a few who have regarded the Bible as wholly inspired by
God, consistent from beginning to end, and the only possible source of true
knowledge of such things as life, death and the nature and destiny of man.
A Bible that is anything less than this is
NO BIBLE AT ALL. And the Bible itself leaves no room for compromise. It takes a
bold and unequivocal stand throughout as the direct Word of God in every part
(Isa. 8:20; Jer. 36:1-4; 1 Cor. 2:9-13; Gal. 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Heb.
1:1-2; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Rev. 1:1-2). We must accept it as that, or else throw
it away entirely as the most brazen and blasphemous of falsehoods.
Those who take the middle ground are the
Bible's greatest enemies, and this unfortunately includes the vast majority of
professing Christians. They dare not openly deny its divinity, because it is so
obviously divine, but they seek to rob it of all power by spinning an endless
web of theories around it that confuse the mind and distract the attention, and
obscure its plain, clear teaching.
It is impossible in any one consideration to
fully examine the Biblical use and meaning of "soul." But it is
possible to lay the foundation by demonstrating that popular theology on the
subject is admittedly derived from other sources than the Bible, and is at
direct variance with it.
The Bible meaning of "soul" (which
modern writers mention briefly in passing), is regarded by them as a rather
amusing phase of ancient Hebrew speculation, hardly worthy of serious
attention, and which no one laying claim to "modern" learning would
dare allow his name to be associated with.
The following brief outline of the BIBLICAL
use of the term is for those few to whom the Bible is still the one unique Book
among millionsthe wholly inspired divine message to manone verse of which is
worth more than countless volumes of the cloudy, inconclusive speculations of
human philosophy and "modern wisdom." [1 Cor. 1:17; 2:16; 3:18-20].
THE
ORIGINAL WORDS TRANSLATED "SOUL"
In the Old Testament Hebrew, the original
word for soul is nephesh. In the New Testament Greek it is psuche. Both mean
the same thing and are used Interchangeably. One is used to translate the
other.
Nephesh occurs about 750 times. About 500
times it is translated "soul" in the Authorized Version. The other
250 times it is translated by over 40 different English words, as shown on the
chart below.
Psuche occurs about 100 times, and is
translated similarly.
It is quite obvious at the outset that a
word of such broad application, including all the animal kingdom, all its
bodily [and] physical aspects, CANNOT POSSIBLY indicate some immortal essence
in man distinguishing him from the lower creation.
It is clear from the words used to translate
it that it is related throughout to ANIMAL BODIES, includ ing man, and this
will become more and more clear as we consider some of the passages in which it
is used.
It can be readily seen, too, that with such
a range of meaning the translators could do much to color the various passages
by their choice of English wordsusing one set of terms when used of animals and
another when of man.
On the other hand, it is evident that in an
article of this kind, it is impossible to quote sufficient of the 850
occurrences to fully illustrate the word, and that by choosing obscure,
borderline passages, a very distorted picture could be drawn.
Therefore, only a careful, Individual
investigation, seeking divine guidance, can bring solid, du rable conviction
and enlightenment. THERE IS NO SHORT
CUT TO THE ENLIGHTENED FAITH THAT LEADS TO SALVATION.
For instance, soul is used in relation to
God. He says: "My servant in whom MY SOUL delighteth" (Isa. 42:1).
But examination will show that this is a very exceptional, isolated use, and is
a figure of speech that has no bearing on the literal meaning of soul. The
expression "my soul" is often used simply as an emphatic term meaning
"myself," because of its undeniable animal basis. Clearly it is in
this secondary sense of emphasis only [that] it is used of God.
CORRESPONDING
WORDS (CHART)
English:
Soul; Hebrew: Nephesh; Greek: Psuche; Latin: Anima
MEANINGS OF NEPHESH
(1)
A breathing body, a living creature
(2)
Animal life, an animal.
(3)
Functions, qualities of human
creatures.
WORDS
USED IN TRANSLATION
(Soul, 472 times All others together, 282)
soul man me deadly heartily beast person
myself mortality appetite creature any self breath mind body one themselves
ghost heart dead he, her they life will fish himself yourselves refresh desire thing
herself own greedy pleasure contented lust
USES
OF NEPHESH
22 times: of animals alone (Gen. 1:21-28)
7 times: of men and animals together (Num. 31:28)
53 times: of individuals, persons (Gen. 2:7)
96 times: of persons doing things (Lev. 5:1, 2, and 4)
22 times: of man: appetites, and animal desires (Prov. 6:30; Gen. 34:3)
231 times: of man: mental faculties, emotions (Gen. 34:3; Num. 21:4)
22 times: souls cut off by God (Psa. 78:50)
32 times: souls killed by man (Josh. 11:11)
242 times: souls subject to DEATH (Eze. 18:4; Psa. 22:29)
13 times: souls actually DEAD (Isa. 53:12)
13 times: souls going to grave (Job 33:22)
(Note: Last 5, over 320 times, souls dead, dying, subject to death)
*******************************************************************
"THE
SCRIPTURES CANNOT BE BROKEN"
As in the case of most other Biblical
subjects, we find ourselves taken back to the opening chapters of Genesis when
we begin to examine the meaning of soul.
There the foundations for many things are
laid, and lost indeed are those poor "modern" thinkers who dismiss
these early books of the Bible as folklore and fairy tales.
Here again, let us courageously face the
consequences of our convictions. Christ put his seal upon the ancient Hebrew
Scriptures as the unbreakable Word of God. He said:
"The SCRIPTURES CANNOT BE BROKEN"
(John 10:35).
And again (John 5:47): "If ye believe
not Moses' writings, how shall ye believe my words?"
If we reject Moses' writings, let us at
least be consistent and reject Christ's too. If we believe in Christ, let us
give those Holy Writings he endorses our full assurance of faith.
NEPHESH: FIRST USED OF ANIMALS
THE FIRST FOUR OCCURRENCES OF THE WORD
"NEPHESH" RELATE EXCLUSIVELY TO ANIMALS. That is a good fact to start
with and to remember. A good foundation. Let us get them firmly in our mind:
Gen. 1:20: 11 And God said, Let the waters
bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life" (The word
"life" here is nepheshsoul) .
Next verse: "And God created great
whales, and every living creature (nepheshsoul) that moveth, which the water
brought forth abundantly."
Verse 24: "The living creature
(nephesh) after his kind, cattle and creeping things."
Verse 30: "Every beast ... every foul
... everything that creepeth, wherein there is life [See center column
reference in your Bible.] (nephesh)."
THEN
USED OF MAN
Then, having prepared our understanding by
applying nephesh four times to every species of living creature on the earth,
the Scriptures' next use of the word is in the record of the creation of man
(Gen. 2:7):
"The Lord God formed man of the dust of
the ground." (and that in itself is a phrase to be well noted when we
consider the nature and composition of man)
"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)."
(EXACTLY THE SAME WORD as four times
already applied to animals, Man, formed of the dust of the ground, became a
living soul (an animal, breathing creature) when God breathed into him the
breath of life.)
Now the usual response at this point from
the immortal soulist is to switch over to the word spirit, and abandon the
argument based on soul. Our present subject, is however, SOUL, and we hope to
thor oughly dispose of that, but in passing it may be mentioned that exactly
the same remarks apply to "spirit." It, too, in these early
foundation chapters of Genesis, is used of animals alone, and also of men and
animals together, and to the same point Solomon says (Eccl. 3:19):
"Man and beasts ...they have all ONE
spirit."
In applying both these words, soul AND spirit,
to animals as well as to men, the Scriptures seem to be taking especial care to
protect us from erroneous conceptions, if only we will heed and accept its
divine guidance, and not depend upon the Greek philosophers against whose
teachings the Apostle Paul so bitterly contended and so vehemently warned.
MAN
AND ANIMALS TOGETHER INDISCRIMINATELY
We have considered the first five
occurrences. Of the next eight, SIX are applied to animals. There are seven
places where the word is applied to man and animals together without
distinction. An interesting example is Num. 31:28:
"Levy a tribute ... one SOUL (nephesh)
of 500, both of the persons, of the beeves, Of the asses..."
One, more typical passage of the use of soul
for animals before we go on, Prov. 12:10:
"A righteous man regardeth the life (nephesh
SOUL ) of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."
Surely we can consider it definitely
established, therefore, that there Is no difference between men and animals in
the matter of being or having souls. This IS VERY IMPORTANT. It is one of the
first principles of Scripture. If we have not definitely fixed this in our
minds, let us keep going back over these facts and passages and stick with
them. They are worth more than all the volumes ever written of Greek or modern
philosophy.
ADAM'S
SENTENCE: "DUST THOU ART"
The sentence passed on Adam is in full
accord with the record of his creation from the dust (Gen. 3:19):
"Dust THOU art, and unto dust shalt
THOU return."
The sentence was passed upon the conscious,
thinking, sinning individual the LIVING SOUL, created from dust, and animated
by breath from God. This is in harmony with the general expression of the
dispensation of God's justice, as expressed through Ezekiel: "The soul
that sinneth, IT SHALL DIE" (Ezek. 18:4).
Any attempt to transfer this sentence from
the thinking, responsible Adam to his mere body is such an obviously weak
subterfuge as not to be worthy of serious consideration. And finally, we note,
in passing, very distinctly that in this first pronouncement of the wages of
sin, THERE IS NO MEN TION OF ETERNAL TORTURE but on the contrary, the sentence
is dissolution into original dust.
NEPHESH:
PHYSICAL FUNCTIONS OF FLESHLY CREATURES
Now a few passages to show that
"soul" (Hebrew: nephesh) is not some immaterial essence, but is
applied to the ordinary, natural functions of fleshly creatures:
Prov. 6:30: "Men do not despise a
thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul (nephesh) when he is hungry."
Isa. 29:8: "A hungry man dreameth, and,
behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul (nephesh) is emptya thirsty man
dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh, but he awaketh, and his soul (nephesh) hath
appetite."
Lev. 17:10-11: "I will even set my face
against that soul (nephesh) that eateth blood ... For the life (nepheshsoul) of
the flesh is In the blood..."
Deut. 12:20-23: "Thy soul (nephesh)
longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul (nephesh)
lusteth after... , the blood Is the life (nephesh soul); and thou mayest not
eat the life - (nephesh soul) ...
It is clear that the immortal soulists' only
solution is to do what they have done, and regard the Bible as merely the
speculations of partially enlightened men. They could not possibly agree with
Peter's statement (2 Peter 1:21), that: "Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit."
SOULS SUBJECT TO DEATH
Now we reach what perhaps may be termed the
climax of the subjectthe soul's relation to death. The term "immortal
soul" expresses one side of the argument. "Immortal" means
"not subject to death." That is the stand of Plato and orthodox
Christendom.
Let us look at what GOD says. Now it would
have been quite possible for the Scriptures never to have mentioned soul In connection
with death. Many other terms and expressions could have been used. So that when
we find that in nearly 300 places (one-third of the total uses of the word)
souls are described as being mortal, subject to death, from which they can be
saved and delivered, it is quite clear that God is taking special pains to give
us correct ideas on this subject, and remove all excuse for believing in
"immortal souls" after the manner of the unenlightened heathen.
Examples of this are:
Psa. 22:20: "Deliver my soul (nephesh)
from the sword..."
Jer. 38:17: "If thou wilt assuredly go
forth unto the King of Babylon's princes, then thy soul (nephesh) shall
live..."
1 Sam. 19:11: "If thou save not thy
life (nepheshsoul) tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slain."
I Kings 19:10: "...they seek my life
(nephesh) to take it."
Esther 7:7: "Haman stood up to make
request for his life (nephesh)..."
Psa. 22:29: "...none can keep alive his
own soul (nephesh)."
One out of every three occurrences of the
word are of this characterreferring to its mortality and liability to death.
How could the immortal soul theory be more strikingly disproved? The most promi
nent fact regarding the soul that is forced upon our attention throughout is
its frailty and danger of destruction. Upon this is based the one great lesson
of Scripture:
"Hear, and your soul (nephesh) shall
live" (Isa. 55:3).
SOULS
KILLED
Let us go further. In 32 passages, souls
(nephesh) are spoken of as being KILLED BY MAN. Ex amples are:
Josh. 10:28: "Joshua took Makkedah, and
smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed,
and all the souls (nephesh) that were therein..."
This is repeated in verses 30, 32, 35, 37
and 39.
Deut. 27:25: "Cursed be he that taketh
reward to slay an innocent person (nephesh -soul)."
Let us look particularly at Lev. 24:17-18.
The Authorized Version reads:
"...he that killeth any man shall
surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast
for beast."
In the original, nephesh occurs here four
times, as follows:
"He that smiteth the nephesh (soul) of
a man, shall surely be put to death. And he that smiteth the nephesh (soul) of
a beast shall make it good; nephesh for nephesh."
Here again the translators have, by
inconsistent and biased translation, obscured another clear divine lesson in
the meaning of nephesh, or "soul."
SOULS
DEAD
One more step, and then we are as far away
from the immortal soul theory as it is possible to bein 13 places souls
(nephesh) are said to be actually DEAD.
Examples are:
Num. 6:6: "... he shall come at no dead
body (nephesh).
Lev. 21:11: "Neither shall he go in to
any dead body (nephesh)..."
These are parts of the Mosaic regulations
concerning uncleanness and defilement by contact with corpses.
NEW
AND OLD TESTAMENTS IN HARMONY
All references quoted so far have been from
the Old Testament. That is the foundation of the New, and the word
"soul" occurs in the Old seven times as often as in the New. It is
ignoring the foundation work of the Old Testament that has prevented so many
from understanding the New.
The Bible is one single, indivisible unit.
It cannot be broken up and a part cast aside, Only when it is regarded as one
equally inspired and equally divine book can it be properly understood. God has
varied His commands at different times to different people, but statements of
FACT and TRUTH never change from beginning to and.
"Soul" in the New Testament cannot
be considered apart from soul in the Old. Considering them together, we find
them in complete harmony. As in the Old, so in the New, "soul" is
used of animals; it is spoken of as dying; it is used for the mind, the heart,
the appetite and the emotions.
"LIVING
SOUL" EQUALS "NATURAL BODY"
Whenever speakers in the New Testament quote
from passages in the Old containing the Hebrew word nephesh, they use the Greek
word psuche. One outstanding example will illustrate this. In 1 Cor. 159
beginning at verse 42, Paul makes a contrast between corruption and
incorruption, weakness and power, mortality and immortality. Then (verse 44) he
says: "There is a natural body and there is spiritual body."
The word "natural" here is psuchikos
soulish, from psuche soul. He continues, verse 45: "And so it is written,
The first man Adam was made a living soul (psuche)..."
He is quoting Gen. 2:7 which we have
considered. In verse 46, he calls this living soul, "that which is
natural.' In verse 47, he calls it "of the earth, earthy." In verse
50, he calls it "flesh and blood" and "corruption." Paul's
conception of "soul" fits perfectly with what we have already
discovered.
Similarly souls are applied to animals,
and souls die, in the New Testament just as in the Old . In Rev. 8:9, we read: "And the third part of
the creatures which were in the sea, and had life (psuche soul), died..."
Rev. 16:3: .,every living soul (psuche) died
in the sea."
And "soul' is used for natural life and
function, as in the Old. In Matt. 6:25, Jesus says:
"...Take NO THOUGHT for your life
(psuche soul), what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink..."
The soul here is clearly that which is
supported by eating and drinking. Acts 15:25-26 we read:
'...Our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that
have hazarded their lives (psuche) for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In faithfully serving Christ, they certainly
could not have been hazarding immortal souls, but they WERE hazarding their
scriptural soulstheir natural lives and bodies.
The same applies to Paul's words in Acts
20:24:
... neither count I my life (psuche) dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy..."
And Jesus' words (John 10:15): "...I
lay down my life (psuche) for the sheep."
And Phil. 2:30: "...for the work of
Christ he was nigh unto death, NOT REGARDING his life (psuche)..."
In all these, psuche is used In the common
sense of natural life, and cannot be harmonized with the immortal soul idea.
NOT
ABLE TO KILL THE SOUL"
Now, as in the old [Testament], so in the
New [Testament], there are a few passages where the use of the word could
possibly be made to fit with the immortal soul idea. There are none, of course,
that prove or even support this ideathat would be impossible as we can see from
the basic meaning and general use of the wordbut there are some where It could
be read in if the rest is ignored.
The passage most frequently quoted is Matt.
10:28: "...fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear Him which is able to DESTROY both soul and body in
Gehenna."
Now it is rather peculiar at the outset that
the one passage most quoted to support the indestructible soul theory is the
very one that speaks of the soul being DESTROYED, but, we find that these
people do not regard "destroyed" as meaning destroyed, but the
opposite eternally preserved.
And we find further that they do not regard
"death" as meaning death, but "eternal LIFE in misery." We
can see that with definitions such as this we could make anything prove
anything.
We have seen that according to the
Scriptures elsewhere, a man can and DOES kill the soul. We have looked at
several passages to this effect, and there are many others. The first use of
the word in the New Testament (Matt. 2:20) speaks of Herod "seeking the
young child's life" (psuche - soul). The first appearance in the gospel of
Mark is similar. Jesus says (Mark 3:4):
"...is it lawful ... on the Sabbath
...to save life (psuche), or to kill? ... "
Paul in Rom. 11:3 quotes Elijah as saying:
"...I am left alone, and they seek my life (psuche)."
What is meant here by saying that man cannot
kill the soul? Are the Scriptures contradictory? Of course they are not. We
must use wisdom to discern them properly. There is no difficulty in under
standing what Christ means, if we sincerely seek a scriptural solution. Man can
kill the body, but this has no permanent effect on our ultimate existence. To
the faithful, this is but a brief sleep (Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 9:24;
27:52; Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52; John 11:11-14; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51;
1 Thess, 4:13-15; 5:10; 2 Peter 3:4; Deut. 31:16; 2 Sam, 7:12; 1 Kings 1:21;
Job 7:21; 14:12; Psa. 13:3; Jer. 51:39, 57; Acts 13:36; 1 Kings 2:10; 11:21,
43; 14:20 ,31; 15:8, 24; 16:6, 28; 22:40, 50; 2 Kings 8:24, 10:35; 13:9, 13;
14:16, 22, 29; 15:7, 22, 38; 16:20; 20:21; 21:18; 24:6; 2 Chron. 9:31; 12:16;
14:1; 16:13; 21:1; 26:2, 23; 27:9; 28:27; 32:33; 33:20; Job 3:13; Matt. 25:5).
In this sense, the ultimate, eternal sense, man can not kill the soul, or life.
But God on the other hand is able to blot us out of existence forever and make
all our memory to perish (Deut. 32:39;1 Sam. 2:6; Ecc. 9:4-6; Psa, 31:12; 88:5;
Isa. 26:14; Ecc. 8:10).
SUMMARY
Now, to sum up the points that have been
covered:
1. We have
seen that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is admittedly traced to
heathen Greek philosophers, and its followers are quite willing to concede that
the Bible meaning of soul is something very different.
2. The issue is clear and there is no middle ground we must choose between
Bible teaching and human speculation.
3.
The words nephesh and psuche, translated "soul," occur 850
times in the Bible and in not one case is there any suggestion of immortality.
4.
The translators have used over 40 words in translation and a glance at
this list shows how far different the Bible soul is from the orthodox one.
5.
The word is first used of ANIMALS.
6. One-third
of all its occurrences speak of it in terms indicating its mortality and
subjection to death.
7. It is
often spoken of as being killed by man, and it is several times spoken of as
actually being dead, and being handled and touched in a dead state.
ANYTHING
MORE DIFFERENT
FROM THE IMMORTAL SOUL THEORY
IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE.