Lesson 11

The co-opted word used by most Christians to bolster the belief they will not die is the word soul. Like the majority of humanity, they believe they have an immortal soul or spirit power that dwells inside of them. This soul is freed from their body when they physically die and goes on to live somewhere else. Most Christians believe they gain this soul at birth or conception. They will claim God made mankind living souls at creation and will use the Bible to prove it by turning to the creation story that clearly says man became a living soul. But what does God say a soul is? What word did God use that was translated into the word soul? Did his word mean what most people believe it means? What do you believe a soul is? Strongs explains the word God used was the Hebrew word נֶפֶשׁ, nepeš (H5315). Strongs list the intended usages for the word as: Any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, × dead(-ly), desire, × (dis-)contented, × fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, × jeopardy of) life (× in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-)self, (them-, your-)selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (× she) will, × would have it. As I bolded in the usages above it is associated with mortal things only. Stongs also supplies a list of definitions for the word נֶפֶש: Properly, a breathing creature, i.e., animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental). As listed, God never intended the word to include immortality. God used his word to define physical life only. Beliefs that go beyond the physical nature of man have been added on to and adopted into the word soul, so much so that now soul is synonymous with an immortal part of man that lives on after their bodies die. Most Christians, along with other religions, believe they have an immortal soul. They chose to ignore that God, by originally using the word nepeš, says they are a living soul. As in “How many souls perished when the ship went down?”. The word soul, as God intended, refers to our physical life alone.

Genesis 2:7 King James Version
7 And 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.

Genesis 1:27 King James Version
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
When God breathed only into Man at creation giving him life, it made his life distinct from the animals. As the image of God, we have intellectual capacity that other life forms do not. Perhaps the translators used the word soul to highlight that difference. The other times when nephesh is translated it may be, life, living being, mind, person, creature, heart, appetite or desire. God did not use נֶפֶשׁ, to mean immortal or eternal.