An age-old hymn states that all within the church will go to heaven “… where the soul of man never dies.”  How many sermons have we heard about the immortality of the soul, that it cannot die and that one’s soul will go either to heaven or hell immediately upon death where it will remain forever, either in paradise or a fiery abyss.    The Biblical Truth of the matter is that man does not HAVE a soul–MAN IS A SOUL.  If every professing Christian in the world read that statement, not more than a few thousand would believe it because “… that is not what I’ve always been taught.”  Same here.

But the Almighty knew that I wanted to know His Truth regardless of the social consequences to myself.  He showed me His Truth relative to the soul, death, heaven, etc.  The consequences can be summed up in one word: rejection–from family, friends and all who know what I preach.  I personally know of only five people who have accepted God’s Words spoken or written by me through this ministry which has been put forward through radio, the internet and newsprint over a number of years.  But I am in good company.  After all Jesus did for tens of thousands of people during His time on earth, only about 120 were standing with Him in the end.  At one point even His mother and siblings turned against Him.

One of the major problems people have with God’s Word concerns man’s soul.  As stated above, man does not HAVE a soul, man IS a soul.  God tells us this in Genesis 2:7: “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.”  Before receiving the breath of life, MAN WAS DEAD SOUL.  Note that before receiving life-giving breath, A CREATED BEING FORMED IN THE SHAPE (“likeness”) OF GOD was A DEAD SOUL–lifeless.  Man (Heb.-Adam) was complete, lacking only life-giving breath.  “Breath” in the Hebrew language is n’sama, meaning spirit, wind, blast, life force.  Notice that the soul is the person him/herself, not something he/she possesses.  God did not cause the created man to receive a soul by breathing life into him.  God’s breath (spirit) entered into “HIS” nostrils and THE DEAD MAN/SOUL BECAME A LIVING MAN/SOUL.  What was before a dead soul became a living soul.  The Prophet Job said that God did the same thing to him.  He has done the same thing to every human soul ever born.  His “breath of life” did not create a soul.  He did that earlier when He fashioned man out of dust.  His breath turned a dead soul into a living soul.

“Soul” in the Hebrew language is “nephesh,” meaning the physical aspect of an animate (moving) creature.  Nephesh is the word used to describe the body of men, animals, birds, fish, rodents, etc.  The difference between man’s soul/nephesh and that of other created entities is that man has been given a personal spirit that enables him to commune with His Creator and to become like Him in character (“image”–Gen. 1:26).  Man was given a mind far superior to that of God’s other creations.  Needing a mate for Adam, God created Eve out of Adam because “there was not found a help-meet for him” among His other creations (Gen. 2:20-22).  With his mind man can reason, invent, etc.  Animals cannot do this.  They operate strictly on instinct which is automatic and unchanging.  Man has a conscience, a will, a personality.  Man has character which he can develop according to his will.  Man learns, plans, adjusts, changes, develops, creates, learns other languages and create languages, etc. which no other of God’s creations can do.  Man, who is created in the form (“likeness”) of God has the spiritual capacity to become like Him (His “image”) in character.  All of this is because of man’s spirit which God gives to him at birth.  Job refers to this spirit as “the spirit that is in man” and “the spirit of God that is in my nostrils” (27:3; 32:8).  Note that the “spirit of God” (32:8) is spelled with a small “s.”  This refers to man’s personal spirit that is given to him by God.  More on man’s spirit later.

Is the soul immortal? God answers the question in Ezekiel 18:4,20: “The soul that sins, that soul dies.”  The soul can sin and, in that sin causes death, the soul can die.  Note that this Truth is stated twice.  If the soul can die, it is not immortal.  We are told in 1 Timothy 6:16 that ONLY CHRIST IS IMMORTAL.  Only His body/nephesh/soul has immortality at this time.  One day, as this series will show, His Very Elect saints will become immortal.  When we, like Christ, are born again–when our physical bodies have become spiritual bodies–we will then be immortal.  As the Holy Bible tells us repeatedly, in order to be like Him then we must live now as He lived while on earth.  In order to be our SAVIOR then, He must be our LORD now.  Carefully and prayerfully study 1 John 2:6; 3:1-9 and Revelation 3:21.  I borrowed a good formula to apply to the soul’s life and death: “Dust of the ground + the breath of life = “A living soul.”  As long as man continues to breathe he will be a living soul/body/nephesh.  Note what happened at the instant Jesus died: “And He gave up His (man’s) spirit (ghost)” –Mat. 27:50.  Like all other human beings, Jesus died when His final breath departed.  When His spirit/breath departed, so did His life.  His life was in His spirit.  As long as He breathed He was a living soul.  Following His final breath He became a dead soul.

In the following segment we will study the Scriptures to learn what happens to the soul/body/nephesh when it dies.  We will also learn what happens to man’s spirit, which most church people call the soul.  If you do not like God’s Truth you will not appreciate the next posting.  I hope that you will approach these teachings with a heart (mind) opened to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Only those who do so will learn God’s will, which is His Word/Law/Truth.  Jesus fulfilled God’s will by living His Law/Word/Truth to the utmost degree.  Because He did, Paul could write that Jesus was the END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  The word “end” in the Greek language is “telos” which means end result, culmination, outcome, goal.  The true saint’s only goal is to emulate the life of Christ so that he can join Him on His throne in the Kingdom of God on earth where they will rule the earth for 1000 years, then the universe forever.  L.J.