Reference: Soul
American
The ancients supposed the soul, or rather the animating principle of life, to reside in the breath, that it departed from the body with the breath. Hence the Hebrew and Greek words which, when they refer to man, in our Bibles are translated "soul," are usually rendered "life" or breath" when they refer to animals, Ge 2:7; 7:15; Nu 16:22; Job 12:10; 34:14-15; Ps 104:29; Ec 12:7; Ac 17:25.
But together with this principle of life, which is common to men and brutes, and which in brutes perishes with the body, there is in man a spiritual, reasonable, and immortal soul, the seat of our thoughts, affections, and reasonings, which distinguishes us from the brute creation, and in which chiefly consists our resemblance to God, Ge 1:26. This must be spiritual, because it thinks; it must be immortal, because it is spiritual. Scripture ascribes to man alone understanding, conscience, the knowledge of God, wisdom, immortality, and the hope of future everlasting happiness. It threatens men only with punishment in another life, and with the pains of hell. In some places the Bible seems to distinguish soul from spirit, 1Th 5:23; Heb 4:12: the organ of our sensations, appetites, and passions, allied to the body, form the nobler portion of our nature which most allies man to God. Yet we are to conceive of them as one indivisible and spiritual being, called also the mind and the heart, spoken of variously as living, feeling, understanding, reasoning, willing, etc. Its usual designation is the soul.
The immortality of the soul is a fundamental doctrine of revealed religion. The ancient patriarchs lived and died persuaded of this truth; and it was in the hope of another life that they received the promises. Compare Ge 50:22; Nu 23:10; 1Sa 28:13-15; 2Sa 12:23; Job 19:25-26; Ec 12:7; Heb 11:13-16. In the gospel "life and immortality," and the worth of immortal souls, are fully brought to light, Mt 16:26; 1Co 15:45-57; 2Ti 1:10. To save the souls of men, Christ freely devoted himself to death; and how does it become us to labor and toil and strive, in our respective spheres, to promote the great work for which He bled and died!
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the beasts and over all the earth and over every serpent that moves upon the earth.
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.
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two by two of all flesh in which is the spirit of life.
And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.
And they fell upon their faces and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
Who shall count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the spirit of all flesh of man.
For I know that my redeemer lives and that he shall rise at the latter day over the dust; and afterward from this, my stricken skin and from my own flesh, I must see God:
If he were to set his heart upon man and gather unto himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again unto dust.
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their spirit, they cease to exist and return to their dust.
and the dust returns to the earth as it was before and the spirit returns unto God who gave it.
and the dust returns to the earth as it was before and the spirit returns unto God who gave it.
For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life and breath and all things
And the very God of peace sanctify you completely, that your spirit, soul, and body be preserved whole without reprehension for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For there are many insubordinate and vain talkers and deceivers of souls, especially those of the circumcision,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off and believing them and embracing them and confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those that say such things declare plainly that they seek their native country. read more. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had time to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one; therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Hastings
The use of the term in the OT (Heb. nephesh) for any animated being, whether human or animal (Ge 1:20 'life,' Ge 2:7), must be distinguished from the Greek philosophical use for the immaterial substance which gives life to the body, and from the use in the NT (Gr. psyche) where more stress is laid on individuality (Mt 16:26 Revised Version margin). As the Bible does not contain a scientific psychology, it is vain to dispute whether it teaches that man's nature is bipartite (body and soul or spirit) or tripartite (body and soul and spirit): yet a contrast between soul and spirit (Heb. r
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And God said, Let the waters bring forth great quantities of creatures with living souls and fowl that may fly above the earth upon the face of the firmament of the heavens.
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.
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.
With my soul I desire thee in the night; yea, even as long as the spirit is within me I will seek thee early: for as long as thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Then Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saving Health,
I AM the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave the Spirit.
But the natural man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
it is sown a natural body, it shall be raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving Spirit. read more. Howbeit the spiritual is not first, but the natural; and afterward, that which is spiritual.
Only let your conversation be as is worthy of the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, unanimous, working together for the faith of the gospel,
For the word of God is alive and efficient and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
This wisdom is not that which descends from above, but is earthly, natural, diabolical.
These are those who make divisions, and are as animals, not having the Spirit.
Watsons
SOUL, that immortal, immaterial, active substance or principle in man, whereby he perceives, remembers, reasons, and wills. See MATERIALISM.