By the Scripture’s Own Writers
Soul
Definition
A soul, heavenly or earthly, is a living, sentient (or sense-possessing, conscious, intelligent) creature or person. A soul, heavenly or earthly, consists of a body together with the life principle or life force actuating it. An earthly soul is a living, breathing, sentient creature, animal or human. Earthly souls, human and animal, have an organism of flesh kept living by means of blood circulating in their system. (Hebrew, neph’esh; Greek, psy-che’)
Jehovah Is the Greatest Soul, a Heavenly Soul
Matthew 12:18 “Look! My Servant whom I chose, My beloved, whom My soul approved!”
Hebrews 10:38 ” ‘But My righteous one will live by reason of faith,’ and, ‘if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ “
Leviticus 26:11 “And I will set My tabernacle among you: and My soul shall not abhor you.”
Isaiah 1:14 “Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates.”
Judges 10:16 “So they put away the strange gods from among them, and became the Lord’s servants; and His soul was angry because of the sorrows of Israel.”
Earthly, Lower-Animal Souls
Genesis 1:30 “To every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life (or, a living soul), I have given every green herb for food.”
Numbers 31:28 “Levy a tribute unto Jehovah of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the oxen, and of the asses, and of the flocks.”
Revelation 8:9 “And a third of the creatures that are in the sea which have souls [“lives”] died.”
Revelation 16:3 “And the second one poured out his bowl into the sea. And it became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died, yes, the things in the sea.”
A Human Is a Soul. He Does Not Possess a Soul Separate and Distinct from the Body
Genesis 2:7 “And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
1 Corinthians 15:45 “It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
Immortality, Incorruptibility Belong Primarily and Originally to Jehovah
1 Timothy 1:17 “Now to the King of eternity, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Psalm 90:2 “Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
Jeremiah 10:10 “But Jehovah is the true God; He is the living God, and an everlasting King.”
Immortality, Incorruptibility Given as a Reward for Faithfulness to Christ
Romans 6:9 “For we know that Christ, now that He has been raised up from the dead, dies no more.’
1 Timothy 6:14-16 “Our Lord Jesus Christ… He the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, the One alone having immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light.”
Only 144,000 Others, Body Members of Christ, Get Immortality, Incorruptibility
1 Corinthians 9:25 “Now they, of course, do it that they may get a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one.”
1 Corinthians 15:42, 52-54 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption… For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. But when this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and this which is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up forever.’ “
2 Peter 1:4 “Through these things He has freely given us the precious and very grand promises, that through these you may become sharers in divine nature, escaping from the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
1 Peter 1:3, 4, 23 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for according to His great mercy He gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance. It is reserved in the heavens for you. For you have been given a new birth, not by corruptible, but by incorruptible reproductive seed, through the Word of the living and enduring God.”
Romans 2:7 “Everlasting life to those who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibleness by endurance in work that is good.”
2 Timothy 1:10 “But now it has been made clearly evident through the manifestation of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death but has shed light upon life and incorruption through the good news.”
Revelation 14:3, 4; 5:9, 10 “And they are singing as if a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the persons of advanced age; and no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been purchased from the earth.. .. These were purchased from among mankind as a firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” “And they sing a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slaughtered and with Your blood You bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will rule as kings over the earth.’ “
1 John 3:2 “Beloved ones, now we are children of God, but as yet it has not been made manifest what we shall be. We do know that whenever He is made manifest we shall be like Him because we shall see Him just as He is.”
Revelation 20:4, 6 “And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years. Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with Him for the thousand years.”
Immortality Inseparably Linked with the Kingdom of Heaven; Flesh-and-Blood Creatures Cannot Enter It
Matthew 11:11 “Truly I say to you people, Among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater than John the Baptist; but a person that is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he is.”
John 3:3-5 “Jesus said to him: ‘Most truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’.. .’Most truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.’ “
1 Corinthians 15:44, 50 “It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. However, this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.”
Angels Are Mortal, Corruptible, Destructible
Ezekiel 28:16-19 Through all your trading you have become full of violent ways, and have done evil: so I sent you out shamed from the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, o covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because you were beautiful, you made your wisdom evil through your sin: I have cast you to the ground; I have made you low before kings, so that they may see you. By all your sin, even by your evil trading, you have made your holy places unclean; so I will make a fire come out from you, it will devour you, and I will make you as dust on the earth before the eyes of all who see you. All who have knowledge of you among the peoples will be overcome with wonder at you: you have become a terror, and you will never be anymore.
Isaiah 14:9, 15, 19, 20 “Sheol from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming; . .. Yet you shall be brought down to sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit. But you are cast forth away from your sepulchre like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a dead body trodden under foot. You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named for ever.”
Hebrews 2:14 “Therefore since the ‘young children’ are sharers of blood and flesh, He also similarly partook of the same things, that through His death He might destroy the one having the means to cause death, that is, the devil.”
Revelation 20:2, 3, 10, 14 “And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him,. . . until the thousand years were ended. … And [at the end of the thousand years] the devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet already were; and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever… This means the second death, the lake of fire.”
Luke 4:33, 34 “Now in the synagogue there was a man with a spirit, an unclean demon, and he shouted with a loud voice: ‘Ah! what have we to do with You, Jesus you Nazarene? Did You come to destroy us?’ “
Luke 8:30, 31 “Jesus asked him: ‘What is your name?’ He said: ‘Legion,’ because many demons had entered into him. And they kept entreating Him not to order them to go away into the abyss.”
The Creature Soul (Including Human Soul) Is Mortal, Destructible, Corruptible
Matthew 10:28 “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul; but rather be in fear of Him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”
Luke 6:9 “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do injury, to save or to destroy a soul?”
Isaiah 53:12 “He poured out His soul unto death.”
Ezekiel 18:4, 20 “Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.”
Romans 1:23 “And turned the glory of the incorruptible God into something like the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed creatures and creeping things.”
James 5:20 “Let him know that he that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins.”
See also: Matthew 2:20; 25:38; Mark 14:34; Luke 17:33; Revelation 8:9; 12:11
Lower-Animal Souls Not Created to Live Forever
2 Peter 2:12 “But these men, like unreasoning animals born naturally to be caught and destroyed.”
Attributes, Qualities of a Human Soul
Breathes
Joshua 11:11 “They smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword… there was none left that breathed.”
Can be bought
Leviticus 22:11 “If a priest buys any soul,… he shall eat of it.”
Can be bound with a bond
Numbers 30:2 “When a man .. . swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond.”
Can be cut off from his people
Numbers 9:13 “The man that … forbears to keep the passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people.”
Can be destroyed
Leviticus 23:30 “That soul will I destroy from among his people.”
Can be dried away
Numbers 11:6 “Now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all save this manna to look upon.”
Can be endangered by the sword
Psalm 22:20 “Deliver my soul from the sword.”
Can be exposed to danger of death from sickness
Philippians 2:27, 30 “He fell sick nearly to the point of death; … exposing his soul to danger.”
Can go to the pit
Job 33:22 “Yea, his soul draws near unto the pit, and his life to the destroyers.”
Can go to hell, sheol, the grave
Psalm 18:10 “You wilt not leave my soul to sheol.”
Can have earthly things laid up for its enjoyment
Luke 12:19 “I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, enjoy yourself.’ “
Can be in prison
Psalm 142:7 “Bring my soul out of prison.”
Can be lost or killed in the sea
Acts 27:10 “Men, I perceive that navigation is going to be with damage and great loss not only of the cargo and the boat but also of our souls.”
Can be smitten by the sword and destroyed by it
Joshua 10:28-39; 11:11 “Joshua … utterly destroyed them and all the souls that were therein; … he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; … he utterly destroyed it, and all the souls that were therein.” “They smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them.”
Can be torn
Psalm 7:2 “Lest they tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.”
Can be unclean
Numbers 19:22 “The soul that touches it shall be unclean until even.”
Can be drained of life
Job 10:1 “My soul is weary of my life.”
Dies
Ezekiel 18:4, 20 “The soul that sins, it shall die.”
Eats
Leviticus 7:18 “Any of the flesh of the sacrifice … the soul that eats of it shall bear his iniquity.”
Leviticus 17:12 “No soul of you shall eat blood.”
Grieves
1 Samuel 30:6 “The soul of all the people was grieved.”
Is grieved
Judges 16:16 “His soul was vexed unto death.”
Can be disgusted
Numbers 21:5 “Our soul loathes this light bread.”
Longs to eat
Deuteronomy 12:20 “When . . . you shall say, I will eat flesh, because your soul desires to eat flesh; you may eat flesh.”
Sins
Numbers 15:28 “And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sins ignorantly, when he sins by ignorance.”
Strangles
Job 7:15 “My soul chooses strangling, and death.”
Swears
Leviticus 5:4 “If any one [Hebrew, neph’esh, “soul”] swears rashly.”
Touches things
Numbers 19:22 “The soul that touches it shall be unclean until even.”
Human Souls Were Created to Live Forever if Obedient
Genesis 2:9, 16, 17; 3:17-19 “And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree .. . good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.” “Unto Adam He said, Because you have… eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: … in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.”
Romans 5:12-19 “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin… by one man’s trespass many died… the judgment resulted in condemnation from one trespass… by the trespass of the one man death ruled as king through that one, … through one trespass the result to men of all kinds was condemnation, . . . through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners.”
Earth the Proper and Only Dwelling Place for Human Souls
Isaiah 45:12, 18 “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded. For thus says Jehovah who created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, who established it and created it not a waste, who formed it to be inhabited.”
Psalm 115:18 “The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah; but the earth He has given to the children of men.”
Psalm 37:29 “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.”
Proverbs 2:21, 22 “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.”
Proverbs 10:30 “The righteous shall never be removed; but the wicked shall not dwell in the land.”
Human Souls Were Not Created in Heaven and Brought Down into Bodies on Earth
(Genesis 2:5, misapplied, which reads: “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”)
Genesis 2:5-7 “And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground…. And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath [Hebrew, resha-mah’, “a puff, wind”] of life; and man became a living soul [Hebrew, neph’esh, “soul”].”
Ecclesiastes 4:3 “Yea, better than them both did I esteem him that has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 6:3-5 “If a [man’s] … soul be not filled with good,… an untimely birth is better than he: for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness; moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it [“neither had any knowledge”]; this has rest rather than the other [“it is better with this than with the other.”]
God Does Not “Put a Soul” into Each Baby at Birth; He Is Not Responsible for Birth of Great Mass of Mankind
Genesis 6:5-7 “And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; … for it repents Me that I have made them.”
Deuteronomy 32:4, 5 (mar.) “The Rock, His work is perfect; … a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is He. They have corrupted themselves, they are not His children, it is their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation.”
Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Ephesians 2:1 “It is you God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses and sins.”
Luke 20:38 “He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living.”
Matthew 23:33 “Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna?”
John 8:44 “You are from your father the devil.”
1 Corinthians 7:14 “The unbelieving husband is sanctified in relation to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in relation to the brother; otherwise, your children would really be unclean, but now they are holy.”
Ezekiel 9:6 “Slay utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark.”
(Also the examples of Dathan and Abiram, the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, where children were slain with their parents who brought them forth.)
Power of Human Souls to Reproduce Other Human Souls in Their Own Likeness Put There at Creation; God Not Involved at Each Birth
Genesis 5:3 “Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.”
Exodus 1:5 “All the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls.”
Genesis 12:5 “Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son… and the souls [servants] that they had gotten in Haran.”
Expression “Dead Soul” Used to Describe That Which Was Once a Living Soul, or That Which Remains of a Soul
Numbers 6:6 “He shall not come near to a dead body [Hebrew, neph’esh, “soul”].”
Numbers 9:6, 7, 10 “There were certain men, who were unclean by reason of the dead body of a man.”
Numbers 19:13 “Whosoever touches a dead person [also verses 11, 16], the body of a man that has died.”
Soul Cannot Take Anything with It at Death
Ecclesiasts 5:15, 16 “As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand…. just as he came, so shall he go.”
1 Timothy 6:7 “We have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out.”
Spirit Is the Life Principle or Life Force That Actuates the Soul; Applies to Man and Beast
Psalm 31:5 “Into Your hand I commend my spirit [Hebrew, ru’ahh].”
Luke 23:46 “And Jesus called with a loud voice and said: ‘Father, into Your hands I entrust My spirit [Greek, pneu’ma].’ “
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 “That which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath [“spirit”]; and man has no pre-eminence above the beasts: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?”
Ecclesiastes 8:8 “There is no man that has power over the spirit [“wind”] to retain the spirit [“wind”].”
Ecclesiasts 12:7 “The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit [Hebrew, ru’ahh] returns unto God who gave it.”
Genesis 6:17; 7:1-5 “I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath [Hebrew, ru’ahh, “spirit”] of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall die.” “And they went in unto Noah [cattle, birds, etc., and humans] into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath [Hebrew, ru’ahh, “spirit”] of life.”
Psalm 104:29 “You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath [Hebrew, ru’ahh, “spirit”], they die, and return to their dust.”
Soul Distinguished from Spirit
1 Thessalonians 5:23 “With soundness in every part may the spirit and soul and body of you brothers be preserved.”
Hebrews 4:12 “The Word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and their marrow.”
Philippians 1:27 “You are standing firm in one spirit, with one soul fighting side by side.”
Principle of Life; Circulating Blood Is the Food or Life Stream for the Body
Leviticus 17:11, 14 “The life [“soul”] of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life [“soul”]. For as to the life of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life thereof: . . . the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eats it shall be cut off.”
Jeremiah 2:34 “In your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor.”
Soul Sometimes Used with Reference to Life as an Intelligent Person, Whether Present or Future
Genesis 35:18 “It came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni.”
1 Kings 17:21 “He stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah my God, I pray You, let this child’s soul come into him again.”
Matthew 6:25 “Stop being anxious about your souls . . . Does not the soul mean more than food?”
Mark 8:36 “Really, of what benefit is it for a man to gain the whole world and to lose his soul?”
John 10:15 “I surrender My soul in behalf of the sheep.”
Hebrews 6:19 “This hope we have as an anchor for the soul.”
1 John 3:16 “That One surrendered His soul for us.”
Soul Sometimes Used to Denote Every Fiber of One’s Existence
Deuteronomy 4:29 “You shall seek Jehovah your God,… with all your heart and with all your soul.”
1 Samuel 1:15 “I poured out my soul before Jehovah.”
Psalm 84:2 “My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of Jehovah.”
Soul, Life Pattern or Personality, Not Same Body, Resurrected
Acts 2:27 “You will not forsake my soul in hades, neither will You grant Your Holy One to see corruption.”
Luke 21:19 “By endurance on your part you will acquire your souls.”
1 Peter 4:19 “Let those who are suffering in harmony with the will of God keep on commending their souls to a faithful Creator while they are doing good.”
Revelation 20:4 “I saw the souls of those executed . .. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years.”
1 Corinthians 15:35-38 “Someone will say: ‘How are the dead to be raised up? Yes, with what kind of body are they coming?’ You unreasonable person! What you sow is not made alive unless first it dies; and as for what you sow, you sow, not the body that will develop, but a bare grain, it may be, of wheat or any one of the rest; but God gives it a body just as it has pleased Him, and to each of the seeds its own body.”
Preaching of Jehovah’s Established Kingdom Now the Only Soul-saving Work
Proverbs 14:25 “A true witness delivers souls.”
Matthew 24:14 “This good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.”
Matthew 6:33 “Keep on, then, seeking first the Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.”
John 17:3 “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of You, the only true God, and of the One whom You sent forth, Jesus Christ.”
Hebrews 11:7 “Noah . . . showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household.”
1 Timothy 4:16 “Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.”
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone saying to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of My Father who is in the heavens will.”
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