What is the soul according to the Bible?

The body is not the whole man, for he is often said to be in it or absent from it, clothed with it or unclothed. Thus for faith the body is the clothing of the man, and his "tabernacle," which supposes an inhabitant. Paul has a vision of unutterable things, and does not know whether he was in the body or out of the body at the time he saw them. 2. In the language of sense man is identified with the body; for faith, with what dwells in it. The Lord lay in Joseph's tomb, yet confessedly His divine nature did not lie there. 3. Man is spirit and soul and body. 4. Spirit is not an universal principle floating in the atmosphere, but a separate entity in every individual, "spirit of man," "spirits of men." It was formed within him by the Lord, and all his knowledge is ascribed to it This spirit the beast has not. 5. The soul is not the body, but in the body. Beasts have and are living souls, and man is called a soul to distinguish him from the rest of intelligent creatures, who are called "spirits." The soul is the link also between the spirit and the body, the life of the latter while in connection with it; the seat of affection, nay, of appetite, lusts, etc. 6. It thus characterizes the man himself, so as to be identified with him, soul and person being used as the same thing, while in the intermediate disembodied state the general term for him is that he is a spirit. 7. Again the soul is that through which man was seduced and fell, and which characterizes the natural man as led by it. It is thus specially connected in Scripture with will and lust, with sin and with atonement. 8. By the possession of a spirit distinguishing him from beast man is in relationship with God, the Father and God of spirits, and is a moral, responsible being, made for eternity in contrast with the "beasts that perish."

Derived, as Genesis 2:7, informs us, from the inbreathing of the Creator, which raises him far above the beasts, which are said to have “soul” (Gen. 1:30, margin), man is the offspring of God (Acts 17:28), formed to have dominion, in the image and glory of God (1 Cor. 11:7), even though now fallen from his first estate. Man is linked with the inferior creatures by being, as they are, “a living soul,” and distinguished from angels, who are only “spirits” (Heb. 1:7, 14), but not “souls.” While man is alive in the body, he is a “soul” (see Ezek. 18:20 ; Lev. 5:2, 4; 7:20 , where the person—the individual—is clearly meant); when out of the body, he is then called a “spirit” (Heb. 12:23 ). It is the intermediate link between spirit and body, and the life of the latter. To it are ascribed the functions of loving (1 Sam.18:1), hating (2 Sam. 5:8), desiring (Job 23:13 ), longing (Ps. 84:2). Affections, appetites, desires belong to the soul. The soul is said to be the seat or spring of sin—“the sin of the soul” (Mic. 6:7)—for it atonement is said to be made (Lev. 17:11), and as it is by the soul needed, so by it is it made, as we read, “When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isa. 53:10-11).

“The spirit of man which is in him” (1 Cor. 2:11), “formed within him” (Zech. 12:1), a separate entity in each individual, his highest part, linking him with God, who is the “Father of spirits” (Heb. 12:9), and the “God of the spirits of all flesh” (Num. 16:22; 22:16), which is equivalent to saying, of all men (see Gen. 6:12; Luke 3:6), saved and unsaved. This “spirit” which animates and controls the bodily organism is from God Himself, and without it the body is “dead “ (James 2:26 ). At death it returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7). In the case of the believer, it is received by the Lord Jesus (Acts 7:59 ), and exists in consciousness apart from the body (Heb. 12:23 ). To the spirit is ascribed the functions of intelligence, understanding, and judgment. It can “know “(1 Cor. 2:11 ), be “stirred” (Acts 17:16 ), be “provoked” (Ps. 106:33), while by it moral and spiritual qualities may be developed, such as a “right spirit” (Ps. 51:10), a “meek and quiet spirit” (1 Pet. 3:4). “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1: 47) tells of its capability of spiritual joy, while the Spirit of God bearing witness “with our spirit” (Rom. 8:16 ) tells of its capability for intercourse with the Divine.

The beast on the other hand is, and has, a soul. In the margin of Gen. 1:30 you may read as to the lower creatures, "everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul." The animal life is one of sense, emotion, instinct, often very wonderful, and in its results sometimes apparently superior to reason itself. But even this shows the difference. If there is no defect, there is no improvement. A bird builds its nest from the first just as it builds its last. The economy of a bee-hive or an ant-hill, with all its marvels of architecture and political combination, never alters in the least. They fill the place God has given them without exhibiting any traces of a fall, of an imperfect condition such as man's work so constantly exhibits: incapable of a place with God such as could admit of a fall at all. Yet these are souls — "living souls" — not immortal, of course, nor human souls, but not merely perfect organisms either; not merely material machines, or automata. Materialism is as far as possible from getting any countenance from Scripture.

And man's soul, as the link between his spirit and his body, is that which though, as immaterial, connected with the spirit (and like it, immortal, surely), is on the other hand that which animates the body, so much so that the same word is used in Scripture for soul and life. It is looked at as the seat of the senses, as well as the emotions: it loves, it hates, it joys, it sorrows, and it hungers and thirsts also. A brief examination of Scripture will suffice to show how little our current ideas are in accordance as to this with the exact and persistent language of the Word. "Meat to relieve the soul," "to satisfy the soul, when he is hungry," "cold water to the thirsty soul," "the full soul loatheth the honeycomb": these and such like expressions meet us everywhere.

Notice, that the living soul is in the thirtieth verse (margin) distinctly said to be 'in' "every thing that moveth on the earth;" and that while the functions of nutrition and reproduction are by physiologists styled "vegetative functions," the animal ones are those of sensation and voluntary motion. Both are indicated in the "living soul that moveth," with perfect accuracy.

The "soul" in Scripture is the seat of the emotions, love, hate, pity, longing, lust, appetite, and of the life also of the body. It is the sensitive nature, including in man what we usually call the heart. If "knowledge" is also ascribed to it, we can readily understand this, speaking as we do also of knowledge of the heart: but the seat of true intellect is the spirit.

This brief but full exhortation is followed by a beautifully suited prayer. "Now the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful [is] He that calleth, who will also do [it]" (ver. 23, 24). Thus does the apostle commend his beloved children in the faith to the God of peace Himself, after so comprehensively urging their own responsibility; and this both generally and in detail. This is the reason of distinguishing the spirit, the soul, and the body, the entire man inner and outer, and even the inner divided into spirit and soul, that they might look for God to set them apart wholly, and every whit within as well as without to be preserved entire without blame at Christ's coming.

It may be well to add that "the soul" is the seat of personality, "the spirit" is rather the expression of capacity. Hence the soul, with its affections, is the responsible "I;" as the spirit is that higher faculty capable of knowing God, but also of unutterable woe in the rejection of Him. The God of peace Himself claims and sanctifies us wholly. For this should we pray, as the apostle for the saints in Thessalonica, that they might be preserved entire blamelessly, and in every respect, at the coming of our Lord. And for our comfort he adds that, as He who calls us is faithful, so also He will accomplish His purpose. Peace with God, the peace of God, the God of peace; such is the order of the soul's entrance into and experience of the blessing through our Lord Jesus, as the Holy Ghost is the person who effectuates this wonderful purpose of our Father whether now in measure, or absolutely and perfectly at Christ's coming, a hope never separated in Scripture from any part of Christian life.

Man's constitution is defined in 1 Thess. 5:23 as "spirit, and soul, and body." (Observe the order, for careless folk frequently reverse it when making use of this text). Our English word "spirit" represents the Hebrew word "Ruach," and the Greek word "Pneuma." The spirit of man is the seat of his intelligence and judgement, and for this reason "Ruach" is sometimes rendered "mind and understanding." "What man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" (1 Cor. 2:11). These words show plainly the proper quality and functions of the human spirit. Our English word "soul" is the translation of the Hebrew word "Nephesh," and the Greek word "Psuche." The soul, as distinguished from the spirit, is the seat of the affections and desires. Various Scripture passages show that the soul loves, hates, and lusts. The body is, of course, the outer vessel by means of which the spirit and the soul manifest themselves. The word "mortal" is frequently applied in the Scriptures to the body (Rom. 8:11; 2 Cor. 4:11, etc.); but the body is the only part of men to which the term is ever applied by God. What is the significance of the divine inbreathing recorded in Gen. 2:7? The birds, fishes, and beasts were called into being by the word of God, but when the moment came for the creation of the man, something very different appears. "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."

Of the soul (nephesh) we read that it departs from the body at death (Gen. 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21-22), as we have seen the spirit does in Eccles. 12:7; that it blesses (Gen. 27:4, 19, 25, 31; Ps. 103:1-2), it loves (Gen. 34:3, 8; Cant. 1:7, Cant. 3:1-4), knows anguish (Gen. 42:21), has appetites or tastes (Lev. 7:18, 20; Num. 21:5; Deut. 12:15, 20, 21; Job 6:7, 33:20; Ps. 78:18), has lusts or desires (Deut. 14:26; 1 Sam. 20:4; 1 Kings 11:37; Ps. 42:2, Ps. 84:2), hates (2 Sam. 5:8), abhors (Lev. 26:43; Zech. 11:8), thinks (Esther 4:13), sorrows (Lev. 26:16), is vexed (2 Kings 4:27; Job 19:2), is bowed down (Ps. 57:6), is troubled (Ps. 88:3), faints (Ps. 107:5, 26; Jonah 2:7), is relieved (Lam. 1:11, 16, 19), is in bitterness (Job 10:1; Isa. 38:15), is weary (Jer. 31:25), sins (Micah 6:7), and therefore needs atonement (Ex. 30:15-16; Lev. 17:11; Num. 15:25), has to be afflicted while it is made (Lev. 16:29, 31), so also it needs redemption (2 Sam. 4:9; Ps. 34:22, Ps. 49:8, 15, Ps. 71:23), salvation (Ps. 35:3), and conversion (Ps. 19:7.) These lists, which are not exhaustive, may serve to illustrate what, in chief, is attached to, or emanates from, both soul and spirit.

Genesis 2:7. The creation of man is here more particularly described, and his distinction from the rest of the animated creation is still further developed. His body, it seems, was first formed of the dust, and without life. Then, into the nostrils of the frame thus constituted, the Lord God breathed the breath of life: and man became a living soul. He consists, therefore, of two parts — a body formed out of the dust, and now, in consequence of sin, to return to the dust whence it was taken, and a soul — a living soul — received from God Himself, and which, when separated from the body, returns to God who gave it. This soul, capable of receiving the knowledge of God, endowed with understanding, memory, affections, and will, is what renders man a responsible being. He is not inanimate, like a stone — insensitive, like a plant — irrational, and blindly governed by instinct, like an animal, but, unlike all these, capable of observation, recollection, judgment, decision; he is the subject of hope, fear, love, hatred, joy, sorrow, confidence, distrust, and, above all, he is susceptible of knowing the One who has so formed and constituted him, and of finding in Him the object of the suited exercise of all these wondrous faculties.

Man is composed of soul and body, though in certain cases the term 'spirit' is added. Both soul and spirit are put in contrast to the body, as signifying the incorporeal part of man; but there is a distinction between soul and spirit. Soul is often employed to express the moral undying part of man's being, and it is used sometimes to signify the person: as "all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt," Gen. 46:26; "eight souls" were saved in the ark. 1 Peter 3:20. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezek. 18:4, 20.

Let us now briefly consider the human soul. The Hebrew word for ‘soul' in the Old Testament is Nephesh and the Greek equivalent in the New Testament is Psuche (often translated ‘life'). We find that the word Soul does not always allow such a clearly defined meaning as in the case of the word Spirit. Often it is used to indicate the middle part of man between the body and the spirit, but at other times it is used to describe the whole incorporeal part, i.e., soul and spirit together. Sometimes the term includes the whole individual—body, soul, and spirit. This corresponds with popular usage in which man is usually regarded as dual — body and soul — the spirit being included in the term ‘soul'.