April 21st: The Origin of the Soul
Speaker: Duncan WyncollI
Is the mysterious soul of man, which makes him unique in the world, derived from his parents or directly from God?
Theology – the knowledge of God & man
- Today - no understanding of either; Secularism denies the existence of the soul
- Freud determined to owe nothing to the past, or wisdom of past generations, & certainly not Bible
- “We’re just higher animals” – so our personality is a product of evolution
- Psychology is the so-called ‘study of personality’; But… It’s plunged society into darkness & foolishness & it produces its own patients
- God our Creator has explained our makeup, the components, how we work; He knows us far better than we do ourselves
Jer 17.9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, & desperately wicked: who can know it?” This is a study of man's makeup
1. Man is Unique on Earth
Gen 2.7 “& the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, & breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; & man became a living soul.”
§ Different from animals: Gen 1.24 “The earth brought forth living creatures.”
§ No mention of a soul
§ Man is not simply superior to the animals; he’s unique & here’s the reason
Gen 1.26 “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
God is spirit & invisible. So “in our image” cannot refer to the body
§ Man has an invisible part – the soul
§ It shares faintly some of the (reflected/communicable) attributes of God
Also
§ Whereas the body is made from pre-existing matter – soul is directly from God
Gen 2.7 “…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…”
§ Not simply life such as an animal has, for God only breathed a soul into man
§ Not a 'bit' of God, but something God forms
Zech 12.1 “The Lord … formeth the spirit of man within him.”
2. Attributes of Man’s SOUL
a. Soul can exist without the body
Rev 6.9 “…I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain”
§ But designed to be united with a body – in that respect we’re unlike the angels
Complex, mysterious interface between body & soul
§ Soul has features that are exclusive to man – reason, free will, elevated emotions, awareness of right & wrong; not true of animals
§ These are the things which God says are “after his likeness” - communicable attributes
b. God's law is written in man’s constitution
Rom 2.15 “which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness”
§ Soul's faculties include speech, which emanates from the mind
§ Evolutionists waste time trying to find animals that can speak, trying to explain where language came from!
§ Babies learn to speak – it’s fascinating...
§ Nobody teaches them syntax (arrangement of words – rules, principles), they just speak
§ They listen & understand – don't just copy like a parrot
c. Soul is unable to be satisfied with material things like animals
§ If man grasped just this much, he’d see why he’s restless, never satisfied, depressed, angry
§ Soul is unique to me
§ Twins may be strikingly similar, but they remain two unique individuals
§ The soul can’t be divided. We’re all conscious, we are individuals
d. Soul is Eternal - vastly more important than the body
Matt 16.26 “For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his own soul?”
§ Body just like a tent, temporary, limited value
2 Cor 5.1 “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”
Soul is in mysterious union with body – it governs & drives it
§ Body grinds to a halt when there is no spirit left in a person (Illus: brain death)
3. Is there a difference between SOUL & SPIRIT?
§ Some think the Bible teaches that we’re made up of three parts: body/soul/spirit (Trichotomists)
§ Numerous texts that teach man has a spirit, & man has a soul
§ It’s clear they’re the same thing – interchangeable terms
§ Sometimes we’re described as having body & soul, sometimes body & spirit
Matt 10.28 “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul & body in hell.”
2 Cor 7.1 “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh & spirit”.
§ In the creation of man we saw – “man became a living soul.”
At death
Eccl 12.7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, & the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
§ But there’s a difference
In the Greek:
Spirit. Pneuma = breath (English “pneumatic”). It is always used of God, angels
§ Thus Holy Spirit, not Holy Soul, for He is not in a body
§ In the Bible, “spirit” is what God creates & bestows
§ The vital principle by which the body is animated
Soul. Psuche = breath (English “psyche”). “Soul” is the spirit resident in a body – so “man became a living soul.”
§ & at death “the [disembodied] spirit shall return to God”.
Spirit is used when we relate to God. When the part of the soul that can communicate with God is inactive, we say the person is ‘spiritually dead’
§ So man does not have a soul & a spirit
Only twice does NT say something that appears to contradict this:
1 Thess 5.23 “& I pray God your whole spirit & soul & body be preserved blameless.”
§ 2 phrases in the Gk: “May your spirit be blameless, & may your soul-&-body be preserved.”
§ Spirit refers chiefly to the part of the soul that grasps divine things
§ Soul-&-body is the seat of affections & desires
Heb 4.12 Word of God “piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul & spirit, & of the joints & marrow, & is a discerner of the thoughts & intents of the heart.”
§ The Word of God discerns what’s happening in the soul
§ Pierces, penetrates, dissects “the soul even the spirit” (Gk)
§ No more different than “thoughts & intents” are different
All reformed confessions are Dichotomist – teach just soul & body
BCF 4.2 “After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male & female, with reasoning & immortal souls, rendering them fit to live that life for which they were created.”
BCF 31.1 “The bodies of men after death return to dust, & undergo corruption, but their souls, which neither die nor sleep … immediately return to God who made them.”
4. The Origin of ‘our SOULS’
We’ve seen God created Adam & breathed into him a soul. What about us?
§ Some say we derive our souls from Adam by propagation – Traducianists
§ Others say God directly creates a soul in each person – Creationists
A. Traducianists (e.g. Luther)
§ Soul is derived by descent from our parents
§ God, they say, has stopped creating – it just happens by propagation
§ Appears to explain being born in sin, family traits, mannerisms – even if parents die early
PROBLEM - Soul is immaterial & hence cannot be divided; we are each unique, twins included
Zech 12.1 “The Lord … formeth the spirit of man within him.”
B. Creationists (Calvin & almost all reformed thinkers since)
§ Body created by propagation, but the soul created directly by God who forms it in each person individually
Heb 12.9 “The Father of spirits” – not man - He continues to create
§ Soul direct from God
PROBLEM - What about family traits? Don't they show our personalities derive from parents?
No. We derive our brains from our parents, & the soul expresses itself through the brain
5. What does it mean the ‘IMAGE OF GOD’?
We are: Rational
Individuals
Morally consciousness – conscience is the “lamp of the Lord” (Prov 20.27).
Immortal
Designed by God to know, love, serve him
Life is ultimately pointless & meaningless until we return to him
Quotations from Matthew Henry:
MH: “The soul does not fall asleep at death, nor is deprived of thought & perception … the soul is killed when it is separated from God.”
“Thought is the first & only immediate product of the soul … who can declare the generation of thought in the soul?”
