Is the Soul Immortal?—No. 2.
By C. W. Stone
“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.” Gen. 2 : 7. The first step naturally to be taken in the study of the nature of man is to inquire into his analysis, to consider his parts. Of what is he composed? Is there any element of his composition that makes the whole immortal? Is there any element of his composition that is immortal itself? and if so is that element the principle of thought, the rational part, the part that hears, sees, tastes, smells, and feels? In short, is that element the soul? The history of the creation of the world, of the living creatures which inhabit it, and the plants which adorn it, is very brief; and in only one case is mention made of the materials out of which the work of His hands was made, and that is in the creation of man. Here, as if to prevent the rising of that very pride, which leads frail man to assume the attribute of immortality, which belongs to God alone (1 Tim. 6 : 16), inspiration has revealed the fact that man was formed from the dust of the ground. Now let us examine our texts closely. “And the Lord God formed man, . . .” The word form means to construct, to make. Then God made man. Take the Bible just as it reads. It does not say that God formed a house or frame or body for man to dwell in; but that God formed man. That which God formed out of the dust was man. There we have man all made in every sense of the word, a man. Do you discover anything in the material which would seem to be immortal? No, but you say no one claims the body to be immortal—it is the soul that God puts into it. Wait a moment. Does your Bible say that God put any soul into that body? Mine does not; it reads like this: “And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This very man that God had formed began to live, became a living soul. There was no addition of a soul to the body. The man was made. Every organ of his system was perfect. The organs of thought, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling, were all made; and when God set the man at breathing, every organ began its work; the brain began to think and man became a living soul. I make the word living emphatic because the antithesis is most certainly between that word and the adjective that would describe man before God breathed into him the breath of life. What kind of a soul was man before that act? Evidently a dead soul—dead in the sense of lifeless, unanimated. [See Webster.] Do not start at the expression “dead soul;” for the Scriptures employ the same. See Numbers 6 : 6. “He shall come at no dead body,” on which Cruden says, “in Hebrew, dead soul.” The breath of life that was added was not a living soul; neither did it become such, for it is distinctly stated that it was the other part, the man that was made out of dust, that became the living soul. We have now sufficiently analyzed man to arrive at the following conclusions: 1. The body, that which God formed from the dust, is of no use without the breath of life; for it is inanimate, cannot move, cannot think; and is subject to decay as we all know. Therefore, when a man dies, when the breath of life no longer remains, the organs of all the senses ceasing to act, his thoughts perish. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146 : 4. 2. The breath of life which leaves man at death is not the man; it is what God breathed into man’s nostrils. “God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils [man’s nostrils] the breath of life.” It is not the soul, for the man formed of dust was the soul, which animated by God’s power became the living soul. It is an irrational thing, cannot reason nor think, has no organs of thought. It can no more be a rational thing than can the fruit of the tree of life, or the water of the river of life. We fail to find any immortal part in man, or any part that can exist to any purpose separate from the rest. In order that man should be immortal, the breath of life must not depart from the body. As long as a man can breathe he will live. We have a very slender hold upon the breath of life. Isa. says (chap. 2 : 22): “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?” We are not disappointed in finding no immortal part in man; for we are told that only God hath immortality. 1 Tim. 6 : 16. The apostle would not speak of seeking immortality if we had it already, nor will God be able to bestow eternal life upon us if we already possessed a “never-dying soul;” but Paul says that God will render eternal life to them, who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honor, and immortality. See Rom. 2 : 7. C. W. STONE.