THE SOUL

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 47.

1. THE word "soul" in the Old Testament is translated from the Hebrew neh-phesh. This word is translated "life" in Gen. 1:20, 30. In both of these texts it is applied to all kinds of living creatures, and in the margin it reads "soul." It is translated "life" and "lives" more than a hundred times.

2. The same word, neh-phesh, is translated "person" in Gen. 14:21, and in twenty-eight other texts, meaning the whole being. It is also rendered "mind" in Gen. 23:8, and in fourteen other texts. It is translated "heart" in Ex. 29:9, and in fourteen other places. It is also translated "body" and "dead body" eleven times, one instance being Num. 6:6. Also, "will," as in Ps. 27:12; "appetite," as in Prov. 23:2; "thing," in Lev. 11:10; and "lust," in Ps. 78:18. In all, this original word for "soul" is translated by forty-seven words, each conveying a different thought.

3. In the New Testament the original word for "soul" is psuche, which is also rendered "life," "mind," and "heart."

4. In no instance in the Bible is the soul spoken of as immortal. All the human souls in the world excepting eight, and nearly all the lower order of souls, were drowned in the Deluge. 1 Peter 3:20. The Israelites slew many souls with the sword. Joshua 10:28-39. Souls go into the grave. Ps. 49:14, 15. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4, 20; also Rev. 16:3. Both soul and body are subject to destruction. Matt. 10:28.

5. The human soul is saved from death only by faith in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:9), and he that is the means of converting a sinner "shall save a soul from death." James 5:20.

6. The salvation of a soul is identical with the gaining of eternal life. John 3:16, 36; 17:3; 1 John 5:11, 12.