There are many ways the meaning of a soul has been depicted.
- In song, we have soul through an intense feeling in our voice and a call/response in the words.
- In movies, it can be seen as a ghost or spirit still in the world watching and observing.
- In a religious sense, many people believe that a soul is an aura of energy around you.
So, what is a soul?
If you are a Christian you believe that the soul has a purpose and a destination, so it greatly matters to understand what it is and where it can go. To fully understand the complexity of a soul we must first understand what we fully are as people.
The Bible says we are made up of a body, a soul, and a spirit. (I Thessalonians 5:23)
The Body Created
When God created us, first, He formed a body out of the dirt from the earth. He was the very first artist on earth.
Genesis 2:7a says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.”
That is how He made the first physical being. For the first man, Adam, He shaped his arms, his legs, curved his nose, and gave Him hair. He gave him a body that had never existed before, but that modeled the likeness of God himself.
What an amazing honor we have to be made in the likeness of God! No other creation looks like God, only humans.
The next human being He made was a woman named Eve. He made her by taking out one of Adam’s ribs while he was sleeping.
Then God formed her in the same likeness as He made Adam. He created their physical bodies which would, in turn, create the bodies for the rest of their descendants through God’s amazing biology of reproduction. Both genders were created different, but in complete harmony with each other and made for each other.
The Soul’s Existence
After God created the physical body of Adam, He then put a soul within the body.
The Bible says God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul”.
So, what is a soul? It is our life. The life that God gave to us. An existence that no one can replicate or clone. We are unique, no soul on earth is the same. Not even the souls of Siamese twins.
And we, all of humankind, gained a soul that day since we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. Each new baby is conceived with a brand new soul that is loved by God and given His breath of life.
But once we get to the end of our life and take our last breath, our soul leaves the body. God’s breath of life, our soul has gone back to the one that created it. Our physical body is left, dead, and beginning to rot, starting to become dust once again.
But our soul is more than just our life.
It is also our existence.
Our soul is our personality, our quirks, our desires, our emotions, our reactions to life’s experiences, our will, our preferences, our choices, and our demeanor. It is the embodiment of who we are personally.
But souls are interesting because they can change.
Think about it. Our interests change, our priorities change, our desires change, etc… As time goes on we evolve into a new person because our soul has shifted in a different direction. And which direction we take can be influenced by whether or not we have God’s spirit within us.
The Spirit of God
No soul has its own spirit.
The Spirit is given from God. It is literally Him indwelling within us. Not controlling us, but guiding us in His ways and speaking with us when we talk to Him.
Adam and Eve were created with God’s Spirit already within their soul. But once they sinned and disobeyed God, His Spirit had to leave their bodies. It could not be around sin and they did not have the means to completely rid their lives of sin. The spirit needed a home that was pure.
And every single child that they had, and is still being born, is full of sin. We still hold the curse of our ancestors. And because of this, each baby is born without God’s Spirit. They only have their body and soul.
A SOUL WITHOUT THE SPIRIT
As every human enters the world their soul is created with a sinful nature. Sin is all the bad things that we do. Lying, stealing, murder, hatred, abuse, pouting, jealousy, envy and the list goes on and on. This came to be because Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree that would give them the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 3) This caused them to know what evil was, whereas, before they were perfect, they knew nothing but God’s goodness.
Once they ate of the tree they no longer had God’s spirit which would guide them to do right. They were created by God, for God and thus their souls belonged to God, but Ezekial 18:4 says that the soul that sins is dead. Their disobedience was the first sin. His spirit was gone. Their perfect soul was dead.
Thus, sin became a part of their lives. They now had the desire to do good and bad things. And they got to choose which it would be.
No longer did they have a natural inclination to do God’s will. If they got mad they were right to hit back, if they didn’t like what was said to them they could yell and spew hateful words. Their beliefs were their own truth and everyone had their own truth so the world became lawless.
God mercifully made them leave the garden. You might be wondering how this could possibly be merciful. Well, in the garden there was another tree. A tree that had fruit that would cause you to live forever. Many people have searched for immortal life such as the fountain of youth. But, in reality, it would be the worst life imaginable.
You would see so much death, suffering, slavery, disease, and natural disasters; your life would never end but everyone you ever loved would be dead. Plus, if anyone ever found out you couldn’t die, they might exploit you. They could physically abuse you and it would never end. They could cause you to do impossible tasks just to see what would happen. What a horrible life to live.
But now that Adam and Eve were no longer with God and did not have His spirit within them, they had to work hard towards having communion with Him.
It was no longer natural nor as easy as before.
So, what is a soul like without God’s spirit?
Ever seen a child? They have a hard time balancing their emotions, it is a constant battle to teach them to do right when they really want to do wrong, and selfishness is the norm. If they have siblings then this is seen almost every second of the day.
But don’t be fooled. Adults act like this too.
When we run a red light because our schedule and life are more important than the potential person we might hit. When we put our own desires and career goals before our spouse and family and do not bring them along for the journey. When we only go to church to be entertained and feel good about ourselves without the desire to change.
For everything we do, there is a motivation and reason behind it.
Without God we serve ourselves. We react based on what we think or how we feel. We are our own masters. We live by our soul. What we want to do, we do without wondering about the consequences or if that was the right choice. We have sinfully natural human responses. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. (Prov. 21:2)
A soul without God is selfish. We can lead a good life without God. We can portray kindness, love, generosity, and honesty. But the Bible says that all the good things that we do, without Him, are like filthy rags.
But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our rightneousses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6 NKJV
This verse means that no matter what good thing we do, it is seen as dirty by God because of our sins.
It has polluted our good works because of the nature we were born with. We need Christ to rid us of the sin in our hearts so God’s spirit can come into our bodies once more and change the direction of our souls.
The final destination for a soul without God’s spirit is one of torment and anguish.
Now a soul cannot be destroyed, nor killed by anything or anyone on earth. But a soul without God will be destroyed by God when we physically die. It will be sent somewhere it was never supposed to go…to hell. Hell was meant only for Satan and his fallen angels, but once sin entered the world, God had to find a place to get rid of the sin, for sin cannot be in heaven. And if a person never rids their body of its sin, through the blood of Christ, then they cannot go to heaven.
If you would like more information on how to get to heaven or how to get rid of your sin read more here.
The Bible wants us to ponder a question from Mark 8:36. It asks if you were to own the entire world and everything in it, would it be worth it if you lost your soul? You are now the richest person in the world, the leader of every person in the world, but when you die your soul is dead. Your soul is lost in a lake of fire for the rest of eternity. Was it worth it? Which is more important: Momentary pleasure and success or forever peace and joy?
A SOUL WITH GOD’S SPIRIT
Once a person has become a Christian (click here to find out how) or “a follower of Christ” your soul changes.
You are no longer your own master, God is. You are no longer in control of your emotions, your desires, your will, or your personality, God is. Not because we have to but because our soul has a new desire and a new will. We made the choice ourselves.
As we pray with Him and as we read His Word, the Bible, then changes our soul’s personality, and that is caused by our new relationship with God. (Psalm 19:7)
It might sound crazy to give our life to someone else, but is it really? Many people wrap their lives around their children. Where they live, what they do, or how much money they need to earn to take care of them. Others live for a specific cause such as animal rescue, ladder-climbing career, social work, communism, religion, or maybe just to survive.
There is a sense of relief when you give your life over to God.
- He is loving and knows what’s right for us.
- He will never leave us, nor forsake us.
- He knows the future.
- He knows our past and why our soul reacts the way that it does.
- He is patient and kind.
- He knows what we can handle and what we cannot.
Thankfully, He lets us take our time changing. He does not rush us or expect us to be perfect right away. We can learn one biblical principle at a time and keep increasing our knowledge which will in turn change our soul’s responses.
Once saved we are a new creation. We are a soul with God’s spirit within us again. His Spirit, which is called the Holy Spirit, helps our souls to connect and communicate with God. A new soul that is to love God with our entire being. Matthew says that we are to love him with our entire heart, soul, and mind.
Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Matthew 22:37
Our heart is in charge of our emotions, our mind is in charge of our will and our soul is in charge of our reactions and decisions. Everything that we are should love God. Psalm 63:1 says our soul should thirst for God.
After I go for a long run, my throat gets incredibly dry and dehydrated.
My entire body craves nothing more than a cool drink of water. Before I think about food, going to the bathroom, or sitting down to rest, I go in search of my bottle and chug it all down.
Once done there is a difference within me. I feel refreshed and satisfied.
Our soul is like this as well.
After being without God’s spirit for so long we finally long for Him again. Nothing will satisfy but being together with Him.
When we come to Him our soul is restored. (Psalm 23:3) We feel the same refreshing feeling as drinking cool water after a run. We feel alive again. We have the motivation and encouragement to live another day, fight another battle, or do the next right thing.
We are rejuvenated.
There are days when I feel fine, absolutely nothing wrong with me. I just do my bible devotions to learn more, not because I need God at that moment. But then I’ll do my Bible reading and prayer for a while and it’s like I’m a whole new person.
My mind is more clearly focused, I can see the decisions I have to make, and my heart is more centered on staying on track with Christ. I come to that time looking to learn, but I leave being transformed.
The more we grow in our faith, the more we will understand God and His ways. (Psalm 139:13-14)
King David was a man after God’s own heart. He loved God more than anything. He was musing in Psalm 139 about God’s perfect designs while children are forming in their mothers. How they are made in such a way, we cannot fathom to copy.
The science, the biology, and the mysteries that surround it are becoming more understood, and yet we could never recreate it. It is wonderfully done.
In this Psalm, David says that his soul knows of God’s works and how marvelous they are. He knows because he can see it and has thought about it. He looks at the simple things in his life, the everyday stuff, and the amazing power of God through it.
But we must be careful not to think that there are souls even God cannot help. People that are too sinful, too stubborn, and too undeserving of God’s grace and love. That is not our place to judge. We are not the judge and jury of that soul. We are just told to tell them of God’s salvation and let them do what they want with their soul.
In Psalm 3:2 David talks about a time when people in Israel were saying that there was no hope for Him in God.
- Did these people know the promise that God gave David to be king?
- Did these people know the great victories David would have in the many battles for Israel?
- Did these people know that he was chosen by God?
- Did they know that he would be called the man after God’s own heart?
They were too quick to judge and thought they knew this man’s entire life based on the little part of it they saw. God desires for every soul to have communion with Him. If you ask for God and you seek Him, then He will be found. (Matthew 7:7-8)
CONCLUSION
So long story short, what is a soul?
You.
You are a soul.
You are seen and you are heard by God. And you are greatly loved. Some people reject His love. Some people are too busy to see the love. Some embrace the love but remain silent.
For me, I’m tired of being quiet. That is why I started this blog. I want to shout from the rooftops to everyone who is abused or lost.
To those who are searching for just someone to be there with them through the hard times. To fill hearts with joy that can only be given through God. To save a soul from a horrible eternity that they could have avoided.
What do you want to do with your soul?
You have two choices: a soul that lives and dies with the Holy Spirit, or a soul who lives and dies without.
