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Soul, 'Immortality of'
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 2:7  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) We should note that this verse does not say man has a soul, but that he is one. This word in Hebrew, nephesh, is better rendered as "creature" or as the New King James does, "being." Nephesh is also used for animals (Genesis 1:20), dead bodies (Numbers 9:6), even dying (Job 11:20; Jeremiah 15:9). William Gray Taking It Through the Grave

Genesis 2:7  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Man does not have a soul—man is a "soul"! The original Hebrew word for "soul" is nephesh. Bagster's Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon defines it as "breath" and "anything that breathes, an animal." It can also refer to a "person" or even "one dead, a dead body." In Genesis 1:21, 24; 2:19; 9:10, 12, 15, 16 and Leviticus 11:46, the same word nephesh is translated "creature" when referring to animals. And so man is a soul. Notice that the word nephesh is translated as "dead body" or "the dead" in Leviticus 19:28; 21:1; 22:4; Numbers 5:2; 6:11; 9:6-7, 10. The "soul," then, is merely an air-breathing entity that is subject to death and decay. It is not immortal! The soul is composed of the "dust of the ground"—it is material, not spiritual. It is matter. When man breathes, he is a living soul. When man ceases to breathe, he becomes a nonliving or dead soul. That is what the Bible reveals. Just What Is Man?

Genesis 3:1-5  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Earlier, God had informed Adam and Eve that sin exacts a penalty, death—the cessation of life—and, if a person will not repent of sin, this means total death—no chance for eternal life. This threat God has held over mankind's head from the beginning. Notice, however, how the Devil replies: Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (verses 4-5) Here is the lie: "Look, Adam and Eve, you have an immortal soul. God cannot enforce His threat." In its various forms through the centuries, this doctrine of man having eternal life already has appeared time and again. In theological terms, this belief is the basis of the "Doctrine of Eternal Security." What is worse, this heretical doctrine has resurfaced in the church, having been part of the latest apostasy. It cannot stand, however, before the light of God's Word. God has a far superior way of dealing with humanity—both righteous and incorrigible. Richard T. Ritenbaugh Do We Have 'Eternal Security'?

Job 32:8  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) This spirit is not the man—it is something that is in the man. Joined with the physical brain of the man, it forms human mind. It imparts to man's brain his unique powers of intellect and personality—the ability to think rationally and make free will decisions. It imparts the ability to learn mathematics, languages, or any type of philosophical knowledge. But that is all! The spirit that is in man has no consciousness of itself. It is not an "immortal soul." This spirit is not the "man." Because of this spiritual element, the Bible often uses the word "spirit" simply to mean man's mind, intelligence, attitude. To distinguish this kind of spirit in man and the kind of spirit that is God's Holy Spirit from mere physical breath, the book of Job continues in context to use two separate Hebrew words—ruach for spirit, neshamah for breath (Job 33:4; 34:14). Just What Is Man?

Ecclesiastes 9:2-3  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Both the righteous and the wicked—even the animals!—go to the same place at death. All physical creatures are composed of dust and return to dust again. These scriptures make it abundantly clear that no one goes to either heaven or hell at death, and further, no one who is dead has the capacity to feel joy or pain. Earl L. Henn (1934-1997) Basic Doctrines: The Fate of the Wicked

Ecclesiastes 9:5  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Since the Bible states plainly that the dead are not conscious of anything, we can logically conclude that man is not born with an immortal soul that is conscious and aware of things happening around it after death! Just What Is Man?

John 3:6  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Man is composed of flesh—of protoplasm. Jesus plainly says that if one is born of (and therefore composed of) flesh, he cannot also at the same time be born of (composed of) spirit. He must be one or the other! So this verse alone is strong evidence that man is not an immortal, spiritual "soul" in a body of mortal flesh. Just What Is Man?

 

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