I Am Hugh
Researcher
From a strictly Biblical perspective the term soul is a somewhat problematic translation due to the origin of the English word soul itself. It is derived from the Old English words sawol and sawel as found in the 8th century poem Beowulf and Vespasian Psalter. From the Germanic sailian and Old English selian meaning to bind, which was the ritualistic practice of binding a corpse of the dead in the grave in order to prevent a return as a ghost, and this brings us to the difficulty. The Bible teaches that once you die you are simply dead until a possible resurrection from the grave. The combination of the pagan superstitious and the more practical Biblical understanding of death would naturally mix, obscuring the real meaning of the Bible.
As the Encyclopaedia Judaica states: "Only in the post-biblical period, did a clear and firm belief in the immortality of the soul take hold . . . and become one of the cornerstones of the Jewish and Christian faiths."
In 322 BCE Alexander the Great's conquest of the Middle East brought him eventually to Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the Jews. Greek culture and philosophy began then to influence Jewish thinking, including the idea of the immortal soul. Philo of Alexandria, for example, was a Jewish philosopher of the first century CE and a great admirer of Plato, who's Dialogues explained the soul as "immortal and imperishable, and our souls will truly exist in another world!" Greek philosophy having influenced Jewish thinking would, of course, naturally do the same with Christian thinking, but the writers of the Bible had an entirely different perspective on the soul.
The difficulty of translation in a Biblical sense probably first occurred to Ulfilas, Christian missionary and Bible translator to the Goths of the 4th century. This was a period of time when pagan influence began to heavily infiltrate Christian thinking. Ulfilas translated the Bible from the Greek into Goth, even devising the Gothic alphabet. He would have translated the Greek psyche into the Gothic saiwala. It was, not unlike the difficulties later raised in the translation into English, a difficult task since the word that comes closest has a similar meaning of being animated, but also has the superstitious attachment.
The Greek Psykhe
The Greek psykhe, according to Greek English lexicons, means "life, the conscious self or personality as the center of emotions, desires and affections. A living being." Even Greek philosophers were not entirely consistent in their application of psykhe, to Plato it had three parts, the intelligible being immortal and the other two being mortal. One divine, one immortal and one mortal. Psykhe was also applied to the butterfly or moth, due to its metamorphosis, thought to be similar to the immortal soul rising from the dead.
The Greek psykhe can also be used as a personal pronoun, for example at John 10:24 / 2 Corinthians 12:15 / Hebrews 10:38. Matthew 10:28; 26:38 are examples of the mortality of the Greek psykhe.
The Hebrew Nephesh
The Hebrew nephesh comes from a root word meaning to "breath." In the literal sense a soul is "a breather." Any living creature that breathes air is a soul. Since the blood carries the air we breathe throughout the body the soul is, in effect, the blood of any breathing creature. Genesis 9:4 confirms this by the dietary restriction against eating blood. So it was that when preparing meat for food the blood had to be poured onto the ground rather than eaten, out of respect for the creator's gift of life. (Leviticus 17:3; Acts 15:20)
Notice that by comparing various translations the Hebrew Nephesh is sometimes translated as life, as well as soul.
When the Jewish Publication Society of America produced their translation of the Torah, H.M. Orlinsky, then editor in chief of the Hebrew Union College pointed out that the word soul had been eliminated: "Other translators have interpreted it to mean 'soul,' which is completely inaccurate. The Bible does not say we have a soul. 'Nefesh' is the person himself, his need for food, the very blood in his veins, his being." - The New York Times, October 12, 1962.
The Soul Is Mortal
Jehovah God created life (Psalm 36:9) so the soul, being the blood, belonged to him. (Ezekiel 18:4) He gave man the permission to take the life of animals to eat after the flood, but only if they poured the blood of the animal out on the ground as an indication that life, the soul or blood was His and sacred. (Genesis 9:1-6)
When Abel was murdered God told Cain his brother's blood cried out, meaning that something sacred, Abel's soul, his blood was wrongfully taken and that demanded retribution. (Genesis 4:10) The blood of a murdered person defiles the earth. (Numbers 35:33; Genesis 9:5-6) A residential area where a murdered person was found, and it was not known who killed the person in order to pay soul for soul, or blood for blood, was defiled until a blood sacrifice was made. (Deuteronomy 21:1-9) Sacrifice for the atonement of sins was the only acceptable use for blood with God, thus for the death to mankind Adam's sin brought only the blood of Christ could atone. (Leviticus 17:10-11; Hebrews 12:24)
The term dead soul is used in the Bible simply meaning a dead person. No longer breathing, no blood pumping through the body, no longer animated. (Leviticus 19:28; 21:1, 11; 22:4; Numbers 5:2; 6:6; Haggai 2:13)
References
"There is no dichotomy of body and soul in the O T. The Israelite saw things concretely, in their totality, and thus he considered men as persons and not as composites. The term nepes [nephesh], though translated by our word soul, never means soul as distinct from the body or the individual person . . . . The term psykhe is the N T word corresponding with nepes. It can mean the principle of life, life itself, or the living being." - New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), Vol. XIII, pp. 449, 450.
"Immortality of the soul is a Greek notion formed in ancient mystery cults and elaborated by the philosopher Plato." - Presbyterian Life, May 1, 1970, p. 35
Plato, quoting Socrates said: "The soul, . . . if it departs pure, dragging with it nothing of the body, . . . goes away into that which is like itself, into the invisible, divine, immortal, and wise, and when it arrives there it is happy, freed from error and folly and fear . . . and all the other human ills, and . . . lives in truth through all after time with the gods." - Phaedo, 80, D, E; 81, A.
"The Hebrew term for 'soul' (nefesh) was used by Moses . . . . signifying an 'animated being' and applicable equally to nonhuman beings. . . . New Testament usage of psyche ('soul') was comparable to nefesh." - The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1976), Macropædia, Vol. 15, p. 152.
"The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture." - The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. VI, p. 564.
As the Encyclopaedia Judaica states: "Only in the post-biblical period, did a clear and firm belief in the immortality of the soul take hold . . . and become one of the cornerstones of the Jewish and Christian faiths."
In 322 BCE Alexander the Great's conquest of the Middle East brought him eventually to Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the Jews. Greek culture and philosophy began then to influence Jewish thinking, including the idea of the immortal soul. Philo of Alexandria, for example, was a Jewish philosopher of the first century CE and a great admirer of Plato, who's Dialogues explained the soul as "immortal and imperishable, and our souls will truly exist in another world!" Greek philosophy having influenced Jewish thinking would, of course, naturally do the same with Christian thinking, but the writers of the Bible had an entirely different perspective on the soul.
The difficulty of translation in a Biblical sense probably first occurred to Ulfilas, Christian missionary and Bible translator to the Goths of the 4th century. This was a period of time when pagan influence began to heavily infiltrate Christian thinking. Ulfilas translated the Bible from the Greek into Goth, even devising the Gothic alphabet. He would have translated the Greek psyche into the Gothic saiwala. It was, not unlike the difficulties later raised in the translation into English, a difficult task since the word that comes closest has a similar meaning of being animated, but also has the superstitious attachment.
The Greek Psykhe
The Greek psykhe, according to Greek English lexicons, means "life, the conscious self or personality as the center of emotions, desires and affections. A living being." Even Greek philosophers were not entirely consistent in their application of psykhe, to Plato it had three parts, the intelligible being immortal and the other two being mortal. One divine, one immortal and one mortal. Psykhe was also applied to the butterfly or moth, due to its metamorphosis, thought to be similar to the immortal soul rising from the dead.
The Greek psykhe can also be used as a personal pronoun, for example at John 10:24 / 2 Corinthians 12:15 / Hebrews 10:38. Matthew 10:28; 26:38 are examples of the mortality of the Greek psykhe.
The Hebrew Nephesh
The Hebrew nephesh comes from a root word meaning to "breath." In the literal sense a soul is "a breather." Any living creature that breathes air is a soul. Since the blood carries the air we breathe throughout the body the soul is, in effect, the blood of any breathing creature. Genesis 9:4 confirms this by the dietary restriction against eating blood. So it was that when preparing meat for food the blood had to be poured onto the ground rather than eaten, out of respect for the creator's gift of life. (Leviticus 17:3; Acts 15:20)
Notice that by comparing various translations the Hebrew Nephesh is sometimes translated as life, as well as soul.
When the Jewish Publication Society of America produced their translation of the Torah, H.M. Orlinsky, then editor in chief of the Hebrew Union College pointed out that the word soul had been eliminated: "Other translators have interpreted it to mean 'soul,' which is completely inaccurate. The Bible does not say we have a soul. 'Nefesh' is the person himself, his need for food, the very blood in his veins, his being." - The New York Times, October 12, 1962.
The Soul Is Mortal
Jehovah God created life (Psalm 36:9) so the soul, being the blood, belonged to him. (Ezekiel 18:4) He gave man the permission to take the life of animals to eat after the flood, but only if they poured the blood of the animal out on the ground as an indication that life, the soul or blood was His and sacred. (Genesis 9:1-6)
When Abel was murdered God told Cain his brother's blood cried out, meaning that something sacred, Abel's soul, his blood was wrongfully taken and that demanded retribution. (Genesis 4:10) The blood of a murdered person defiles the earth. (Numbers 35:33; Genesis 9:5-6) A residential area where a murdered person was found, and it was not known who killed the person in order to pay soul for soul, or blood for blood, was defiled until a blood sacrifice was made. (Deuteronomy 21:1-9) Sacrifice for the atonement of sins was the only acceptable use for blood with God, thus for the death to mankind Adam's sin brought only the blood of Christ could atone. (Leviticus 17:10-11; Hebrews 12:24)
The term dead soul is used in the Bible simply meaning a dead person. No longer breathing, no blood pumping through the body, no longer animated. (Leviticus 19:28; 21:1, 11; 22:4; Numbers 5:2; 6:6; Haggai 2:13)
References
"There is no dichotomy of body and soul in the O T. The Israelite saw things concretely, in their totality, and thus he considered men as persons and not as composites. The term nepes [nephesh], though translated by our word soul, never means soul as distinct from the body or the individual person . . . . The term psykhe is the N T word corresponding with nepes. It can mean the principle of life, life itself, or the living being." - New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), Vol. XIII, pp. 449, 450.
"Immortality of the soul is a Greek notion formed in ancient mystery cults and elaborated by the philosopher Plato." - Presbyterian Life, May 1, 1970, p. 35
Plato, quoting Socrates said: "The soul, . . . if it departs pure, dragging with it nothing of the body, . . . goes away into that which is like itself, into the invisible, divine, immortal, and wise, and when it arrives there it is happy, freed from error and folly and fear . . . and all the other human ills, and . . . lives in truth through all after time with the gods." - Phaedo, 80, D, E; 81, A.
"The Hebrew term for 'soul' (nefesh) was used by Moses . . . . signifying an 'animated being' and applicable equally to nonhuman beings. . . . New Testament usage of psyche ('soul') was comparable to nefesh." - The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1976), Macropædia, Vol. 15, p. 152.
"The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture." - The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. VI, p. 564.
