NEPHESH, the Hebrew word for soul, is derived from the verb nephesh, which means to breathe. Nephesh in the English version is translated breath, also life, creature, or animal life. It is rendered breath in Job 4:21; Eccl. 3:19; creature, in Gen. 1:2; 2:19. "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 [nephesh]." Gen. 2:7. We read (Eccl. 3:19) that they have all (animals as well as man) one breath. Man was made alive by being made to breathe. Animals were made alive by the breath of life; have they therefore immortal souls? When nephesh is rendered creature, as it is in many texts, it may with the same propriety be rendered soul. Thus the text we have quoted may rightly read: "Man became a living creature," or being. The idea of life, or existence, is all that the original implies. There is nothing from which we may even draw the inference that, because God made man a living soul, creature, or being, he must therefore have a never-ending existence, or an immortal soul.
We will now quote some of the texts in which nephesh is rendered life (fearing that some readers will not turn to them). "At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life [nephesh] of man." Gen. 9:5. "Shall give life [nephesh] for life." Ex. 21:23. "All that a man hath will he give for his life." Job 2:4. "In whose hand is the soul [nephesh, margin, life] of every living thing." Job 12:10. In this text every living thing is said to have a soul; is the word therefore to be taken in a "never-dying" sense? "A righteous man regardeth the life [nephesh] of his beast." Prov. 12:10. "Let us not perish for this man's life [nephesh]." Jonah 1:14.
It is not in the province of this article to define spirit, but as its meaning is quite similar to that of soul in certain texts, we will notice it briefly and prove that according to its meaning in the Hebrew there is no more immortality in it than in the word "soul."
Spirit in the Old Testament is from the two Hebrew words n'shah-mah and ruahh. Both of these words are primarily defined as breath, or breath of life. N'shah-mah is defined as the mind, the intellect, and ruahh as the rational soul, mind, spirit, etc.
Buck, in his theological dictionary, defines soul as follows: "That vital, immaterial, active substance, or principle, in man, whereby he perceives, remembers, reasons, and wills." He also defines spirit as "an incorporeal being or intelligence." Incorporeal is defined by Webster as "not consisting of matter, not material," and it is on account of its immateriality that most theologians attempt to prove its immortality. Buck says: "The immortality of the soul may be argued from its vast capacities." He does not attempt to prove it (nor can any other theologian) from its meaning in Hebrew and the Greek.
But to prove more fully that we should determine the meaning of the word "soul" by the context and the sense (to which we have alluded) we can not better close this article than to quote from "Man's Nature and Destiny," pages 63, 64, as follows: "Thus, when we read in Gen. 2:7, that Adam became a living soul, the sense demands, and the meaning of the word 'soul' will warrant, that we then apply it to the whole person; Adam, as a complete being, was a living soul. But when we read in Gen. 35:18, 'And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, for she died,' we give the word according to another of its definitions, a more limited signification, and apply it, with Parkhurst, to the breath of life.
"But some have met us here in this manner: 'Materialists tells us that "soul" means the whole man;' then let us see how it will read in Gen. 35:18: 'And it came to pass, as the whole man was in departing; for she died.' Or they will say, 'Materialists tell us that "soul" means the breath;' then let us try it in Gen. 2:7: 'And Adam became a living breath.'
"Such a course, while it is no credit to their mental acumen, is utterly disastrous to all their claims to candor and honesty in their treatment of this important subject. While we are not at liberty to go beyond the latitude of meaning which is attached to the words 'soul' and 'spirit,' we are at liberty to use whatever definition the circumstances of the case require, varying, of course, in different passages. But in the whole list of definitions, and in the entire use of words, we find nothing answering to that immaterial, independent, immortal part, capable of a conscious, intelligent, active existence out of the body as well as in, of which the popular religious teachers of the day endeavor to make these words the vehicle. It will be noticed, also, that some of the definitions are determined by the theological views extant upon this subject; as, for instance, when psuche is defined to mean the 'immaterial soul,' and Matt. 10:28 is quoted to prove it. We shall find, when we come to an examination of that passage, that no such 'immaterial' thing can be there referred to. But let it be marked that in all the definitions of the word 'soul' and 'spirit,' and in all the instances of their use in the Scriptures, they are never once described or referred to as existing, or capable of existing, without a body."