What is the Soul?

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Hi J____,
Thank you for your question.

I used to think that the word ‘soul’ meant only a living physical creature which, when the spirit that gave it life was taken, it became a dead soul. Here is why I thought that:

Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Eze 18:20  The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Since we all sin, it seemed obvious to me that the word ‘soul’ meant ‘a physical creature’ into which God had breathed His spirit to sustain life until it died when He withdrew His spirit.
Then several years ago I noticed what Christ had to say about the soul.

Mat 10:28  And 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 and body in hell.

The word ‘hell’ is of course, gehenna, and gehenna is a type of “the lake of fire” which Christ tells us is “prepared for the devil and his angels.” But if the destruction of the man of sin is his salvation, then the destruction of the soul is also the salvation of the soul.

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

What exactly is prepared for the devil and his messengers?

Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

So the beast, the false prophet and the devil himself, are destroyed in the lake of fire, and through their destruction in fire, they are saved, “Yet so as by fire.”

1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [ that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

We have all “defiled the temple of God… which temple we are”, and yet we will all “be saved… so as by fire.”
Here is a verse which was just sent to me by a brother in Florida.

Psa 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his [ God’s] soul hateth.

It is apparent that God does indeed have a soul, but it is equally apparent that the word ‘soul,’ when we look at the sum of God’s Word, means ‘God’s knowledge of who we are.” It is equally obvious that a “dead soul” is merely a necessary step to becoming a resurrected spiritual soul as is our Saviour.
I hope this is of some help to you.

Mike

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