Who has a soul?

Answer 1

Answer

EVERYONE! Every man boy and girl. Everyone but animals.

Answer

Animals could have souls. Nobody knows for certain whether or not they do. Nobody even knows for certain whether or not souls exist. Only the dead know what happens after you die.

Answer:

Nowhere in The Bible does it say that anyone or anything "HAS" a "soul."

It says that Adam BECAME a living one - Gen.2:7. The word the translators translated "soul" throughout the Old Testament is "nephesh"... which they translated: "creature" in Gen.1:20.

But, besides soul, "nephesh" is also translated throughout the KJV Bible: "any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, they, thing."

A "soul" is merely a mortal creature that lives by breathing, as Adam began to do in Genesis 2:7. Dogs, cats, skunks and rats are all "souls." Fish, birds, snakes and men are all "souls."

No one "HAS" one.

Another answer:Ezekiel 18:4 - Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.

Mark 8:36, 37 - For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

It should be understood that the Bible presents teachings on the soul from two very different points of view: the physical and the spiritual.

From the purely physical point of view, man "has" a soul - as indicated by Jesus' use of the possessive "his soul" in Mark 8. From the spiritual point of view, the opposite is the case: every human being IS a soulthat "has" a body (2 Corinthians 5)...and both soul and body truly "belong" only to God.

This is by no means a contradiction. Jesus was speaking to an unenlightened crowd in terms that they could grasp (Mark 8:34), while Paul was writing to Christians who had gained a spiritual understanding that Jesus' audience lacked. By showing both points of view, scripture indicates that it doesn't matter which way you look at it as much as it matters what needs to be done about it, which is the same from either viewpoint.

The Bible reveals that the soul of man is an eternal essence that continues on when the physical body dies (Matthew 10:28). Throughout scripture, references to the soul pertain only to mankind, clearly indicating that the soul is unique to humanity by at least one of the multiple definitions of the original words used in both the Old and New Testaments. By its most common usage, the soul is that essence that makes man in God's "image" and "likeness," setting us apart from the rest of creation; indeed, giving us "dominion" over it (Genesis 1:26).

It is because of the eternal nature of the soul that mankind need concern itself with the curse of sin. (Animals know nothing of sin, thus are not "souls" by the predominant biblical usage of the term.)

Whether man is a body in possession of a soul or a soul in passing habitation of a body is a matter of perspective rather than doctrine. It is, however, a mark of maturity to see scriptural matters from the spiritual perspective rather than the physical. Both viewpoints have their value as long as this teaching is clear: the spiritual (the soul) is eternal, making it of far greater concern than the physical (the body), which is temporary.

2 Corinthians 4:18 - while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

[Quotes from NKJV]

Supplementary Answer

To understand who has a soul we could consider the nature of our Creator and see how that throws light on the way he generates living beings.

God is spirit, and he is life (John 4:24, John 5:26, John 6:63). He has his own soul, his own self-aware being with its own private thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:11). Our Creator has personal attributes like self-awareness, intelligence, sentience, creativity, freedom, autonomy and power.

And, we are made in that likeness! We, too, are persons (Genesis 1:27).

In creating man, God breathed a spirit into the inert (dead) body that he had prepared. It then immediately became a living soul or person (Genesis 2:7). The human spirit is thus the life in a man or a woman (Job 33:4, Job 34:14-15, Psalm 146:4, James 2:26).

So you are both at once, a spirit and a body (Malachi 2:15, 1 Peter 4:6). Another way to put that is to say that you are a soul - one conscious, living being (Psalm 26:9, Mark 8:36). This can be further explained with reference to the Bible. My resource: BibleGateway.com

If you were, purely and only, your organic body you would simply rot away to dust. An organic body, dead or alive, is the physical structure and material substance of an animal or plant. That is truly all a body consists of - just so much material substance (Genesis 3:19, Psalm 103:14). The scriptures and secular science both state that the human body is formed only from the raw matter of the earth.

But, of course, life is not found in material stuff. First and foremost, therefore, you are a spirit (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

The spirit is the invisible source of the life of a breathing animal. The spirit is both its organic life (the unconscious functioning of its body systems) and its soul life (the side that is conscious, alert and self-aware).

The body - while it remains viable - is the vehicle and instrument of the spirit. The soul is the ongoing expression, through the organic body, of the conscious life that is in the animal's spirit.

The same applies to human beings (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21). Your soul is the expression of the conscious life in your human spirit, through the means of your physical body. One aspect of your soul is the inner, self-aware, mentally active you. The other aspect of your soul is your live personhood as it is apprehended and experienced by the rest of the world.

God does not need to try to work out who you are by studying the way you present to the world; he is in the privileged position of being able to see directly into your spirit (Proverbs 20:27). Please do not fret, though; no one else can do that! (1 Corinthians 2:11).

In the outward sense you are a soul - a live person. And, in the inward sense, you are a soul - you are your own private, conscious and self-aware mentality.

Is there any spiritual difference between the soul of a human being and the soul of any other type of animal? - Yes, there is; God created man (ultimately) for close fellowship with himself (Leviticus 26:12, Ezekiel 37:27, Romans 8:18-21, Hebrews 2:10-11, Hebrews 12:9, James 4:5, Revelation 21:3). So he deliberately made us men and women in his own likeness (Genesis 5:1).

The human spirit is therefore very different (Job 32:8), reflecting the personal attributes of our Creator - like self-awareness, intelligence, sentience, creativity, freedom, autonomy and power.

We all have spirits and souls, and they reflect the attributes of God's own Spirit and Soul.

Our spirits are limited in power and are largely constrained to find expression through our bodies. (But they can also reach out to God in prayer or to others in consolation or support.) Our powers and freedoms are also limited by the fact that our bodies are of this physical/material universe and are therefore finite.

However, what we absolutely lack in the natural is the utterly good and holy nature of God's own Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23) God's life is eternal life, and the quality of that life is holy and glorious.

He very graciously offers his life to us through Jesus. "And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man." (1 Corinthians 15:35-54)

Another View:

In Genesis, the Hebrew term 'nephesh' is most often used for the English term 'soul.' It simply means 'a breathing creature' according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. In this sense only then, mankind is said to be a 'living soul' (see Genesis 2:7) which is the word 'nephesh.' When describing the creatures of the sea (Genesis 1:21 for 'creature') and the birds (verse 30) and all "creeping" creatures like insects and reptiles (see verse 24) this same term is used in the Hebrew. Therefore, it is correct to say all air-breathing creatures are commonly translated from the Hebrew 'nephesh' to the English 'soul' and are the same in this sense of the word.

Man, however, is unique in God's creation as he is created in the 'image and likeness' of the God-kind (see Genesis 1:26). We are the pinnacle of God's creation with a future promise to become spiritual children of God - just like Him. No animal or angel for that matter was ever given such an honor.

One last point, many improperly interchange the usage of the word 'spirit' from the term 'ruach' with soul. This has let to many false ideas in particular the Greek philosophical one of an 'eternal soul.' All souls die and at the final Judgment, God will destroy the incorrigibly wicked who refuse to repent - its called the 2nd death from Christ in the Lake of Fire (see Revelation 21:8) - it is God who destroys fully the body and soul (see Matthew 10:28).

When a human dies, their body returns to the ground it was originally formed from, while the Spirit in Man (see Job 32:8; 1 Corinthians 2:11, etals) returns to God in Heaven awaiting the Judgment:

Ecclesiastes 12:7

New King James Version (NKJV)

7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,

And the spirit will return to God who gave it.