THE SOUL

The Soul That Sins Shall Die


When the KJV translation was published the vocabulary was much different than today. There have been some minor revisions over the years yet many words were left that are out of date today. There has been much confusion and error created because of the word ‘soul’. When most people think of a soul today, they imagine a part of a person that is spiritual and can be separated from the body. They see that the body dies but the soul continues to live forever. This idea is due to the mistaken teaching about the soul. Many see man as a dualistic being made up of body and soul while others view man as a tripartite made up of spirit, soul and body. What does the Bible say about man?

Genesis 2:7 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

The modern translations have used the word person, creature or being unlike the KJV using the word soul instead. Several other translations use the word soul also. It was common at the time of these translations to call people souls. So it was used to interpret people or a person in the Bible. A more modern and correct translation would be creature or person. What this verse is saying is that the dust of the earth and the breath of God made a living person. The person is not made up of a body and soul but the whole person is called a soul. This cannot be denied if one looks at the text closely.

The Hebrew is nepesh and is used 751 times in the OT. It is translated soul 475, life 117, person 29, mind 15, heart 15, creature 9, body 8 and man 3 times with miscellaneous other translations.

There are a couple of things to notice in Genesis 2:7. The first is the breath of life. God formed man from the ground but he was first an inanimate figure. God breathed the breath of life in him and he became a living soul. It does not say man received a living soul but that he became one. That breath of life brought animation and consciousness to the figure or in other words, it was the life force. This same breath of life was also given to all of the animals.

Genesis 7:21-23 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

Here we see this breath of life that was in all creatures. The same breath that was in man was in all creatures. The life force animated the bodies of clay. Man was formed from the dirt as so were the creatures. This life force is called a spirit and it is that spirit (life force that returns to God when the soul dies). Just as James said.

James 2:26 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Secondly let us look at what man was made of, ‘DUST’.

Genesis 2:7 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

God formed man from the dust of the earth. When God pronounced judgment upon Adam for his sin, it included returning to the dust he came from.

Genesis 3:17-19 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The idea of being created by dust should be somewhat humbling.

Genesis 18:27 27 Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.

Job 10:9 9 Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?

Ecclesiastes 12:7 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Man was set apart from the other creatures in that he was created in the image of God. What that image is has been debatable for centuries and that is not what I want to get into here.

The understanding of the soul can be made simpler without all of the philosophical interpretations added to it. The idea that the soul is something that can be separate from the body comes from pagan philosophy.

“The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, according to this respected encyclopedia, came from pre-Christian Greek philosophers who acquired it from pagan Egypt and Babylon!

Notice what Herodotus, the famous Greek historian who lived in the fifth century before Jesus, admitted:
The Egyptians also were the first who asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is immortal. . . . This opinion, some among the Greeks have at different periods of time adopted as their own. (Euterpe, chapter 123)

It was the Greek Socrates who traveled to Egypt and consulted the Egyptians on this very teaching. After his return to Greece, he imparted the concept to Plato, his most famous pupil. Compare the present-day doctrine of the churches with what Plato wrote in his book, The Phaedo:

The soul whose inseparable attribute is life will never admit of life's opposite, death. Thus the soul is shown to be immortal, and since immortal, indestructible. . . . Do we believe there is such a thing as death? To be sure. And is this anything but the separation of the soul and body? And being dead is the attainment of this separation, when the soul exists in herself and separate from the body, and the body is parted from the soul. That is death. . . . Death is merely the separation of soul and body.
Sounds a lot like ordinary church teaching, does it not?” (From Forerunner Commentary)

Plato did not get his knowledge from God or a prophet of God. Plato’s knowledge was the supreme imagination of man, the pre-historic science fiction of those times. It was so powerful that it was believed upon throughout the ages and even those setup as Christian teachers were deceived by the influence. After years of being taught as truth, it became tradition.

Colossians 2:8 8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

At this point, I would like the reader to consider what is being said in the light of the Holy Bible. This article is an overlap of the last one posted. I feel the ideas need discussion yet most are only willing to ridicule and insult what is being put forth instead of actually proving their point from God’s Word.

I can see the reluctance to try to Biblically disprove the ideas I have been writing down yet those who hold a traditional view of the immortal soul and hell should feel they could support it from the Scriptures to anyone who asks. If some thinks this to be such an important topic, I wonder why so few discuss it and not allow discussion of it. You may notice on many forums the topic of immortal soul or annihilation is not permitted.

With the strong emotional feelings that the traditionalists have about the immortal soul and hell I am surprised more are not speaking up.

The idea of an immortal soul is not Biblical. You will find that nowhere in Holy Writ because it is just a theological term made up by men. The title of this article should raise eyebrows if it is Biblically supported. It is because we find those words in Ezekiel 18.

Ezekiel 18:4 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

The soul that is spoken about here is not separate from the person because it is the person. See how these other translations handle it.

Ezekiel 18:4 (NRSV) 4 Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die.

Ezekiel 18:4 (NCV) 4 Every living thing belongs to me. The life of the parent is mine, and the life of the child is mine. The person who sins is the one who will die.

Ezekiel 18:4 (HCSB) 4 Look, every life belongs to Me. The life of the father is like the life of the son—both belong to Me. The person who sins is the one who will die.

People are not immortal, only God is.

1Timothy 6:16 16 He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

King Solomon makes some interesting observation about the natural man.

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

The “spirit” in these verses is the life force, that ‘breath of life’ God gives to all living.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

I must qualify these verses by saying they do not refer to Christians. Solomon is simply reporting what he sees in mankind generally. The following verse is rather sobering in the sense that it is describing old age and death for the natural man.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

There is really no support in the OT for the idea of a separate immortal soul that most Christians believe in so let us move to the NT to see what that has to say.

The word for soul in the NT is psychē which is rendered in the KJV as soul, life or mind. The KJV uses the word soul thirty nine times. The Greek word “psychē” is found one hundred and five times. The first time the word “psychē” is found in the NT we see it in the verse below.

Matthew 2:20 20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's “life” are dead."

The word “psychē” in this verse is translated life. This is an interesting word study to take through the NT.

The verses below speak about a soul dying and being destroyed.

James 5:20 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Matthew 10:28 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

I first want to point out in these two verses the death of the soul. If the soul is immortal, then how can it die and how can it be destroyed? If a soul is a living person then this makes plain sense.

Now looking at Matthew 10:28 some will say …aha… see the soul is separate from the body. Let’s look at the corresponding verse in Luke.

Luke 12:4-5 4 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom you should fear: fear the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

The point is, do not fear one who can only kill you because God can kill you and never give you life again. You will have eternal death never to live again. This goes along with the promise of eternal life to those who believe in Christ and the gospel.

Romans 2:6-7 6 He will reward each one according to his works: 7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality …

Eternal life is given to those who continue in good works and seek …immortality. If man already has immortality then why seek it?

1 Corinthians 15:50-55 50 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery: we will not all die, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 " Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

Here Paul is speaking about the resurrection and rapture stating that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. That should not be a problem if we had shed our bodies and we were just a soul but Paul is speaking about the body that will inherit the Kingdom. It is the person, a whole person that is saved not just part of them.

It is the body that is changed and the person receives immortality. If we are immortal then why put on immortality?
Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 in 1 Corinthians 15:45.

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 45 So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living person; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit." 46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Again, Adam did not receive a soul he became one and as more people see this it will help open a better understanding of the whole Bible. God does not want to just save a soul apart from the body, He wants to save the whole person. A part of me will not be saved but all of me will.

Fred Robbins April ‘07