and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”​—Romans 5:12.

Having forfeited perfection, Adam could not pass it on to his offspring. From the start his children were born with weaknesses. The outworkings of sin in his body made it impossible for him to father offspring without limitations and weaknesses. This harmonizes with the Bible’s statement at Job 14:4: “Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean? There is not one.” Hence, the aging and death of humans today can be traced initially to the sin inherited from Adam. As his offspring, they are receiving the wages that sin pays​—death.​—Romans 6:23.

What does that really mean? Does death mark the end of all one’s life processes, or is there some part of man that lives on? Does conscious existence continue after the death of the body?

Chapter 5

What Is This Thing Called “Soul”?

WHAT are you? Are you, in effect, two persons in one​—a human body with a brain, heart, eyes, ears, tongue, and so forth, but also having within you an invisible spiritual person completely separate from your fleshly organism and that is called the “soul”? If so, what happens when you die? Does just your body die, while the soul continues living? How can you know for sure?

Nearly all religions teach that, in the case of humans, death is not the end of all existence. This is the case, not just in so-called Christian lands of North and South America, Europe and Australia, but also in non-Christian countries of Asia and Africa. Notes the book Funeral Customs the World Over: “People of most cultures believe that at death something which leaves the body has ongoing life.”

Belief in the immortality of the soul is very prominent among non-Christian religions. For example, the most esteemed of sacred Hindu writings, The Bhagavad Gita, specifically refers to the soul as deathless. It presents this as justification for killing in war, saying:

“These bodies come to an end,

It is declared, of the eternal embodied (soul),

Which is indestructible and unfathomable.

Therefore fight, son of Bharata!

Who believes him a slayer,

And who thinks him slain,

Both these understand not:

He slays not, is not slain.

He is not born, nor does he ever die;

Nor, having come to be, will he over more come not to be.

Unborn, eternal, everlasting, this ancient one

Is not slain when the body is slain.”

​—The Bhagavad Gita, II, 18-20.

But what is the soul here spoken of? Though strong believers in the immortality of the human soul, Hindus describe its nature in vague terms. Says the publication Hinduism, by Swami Vivekananda:

“The Hindu believes that every soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere, though its centre is located in the body; and that death only means the change of this centre from one body to another. Nor is the soul bound by the conditions of matter. In its very essence, it is free, unbounded, holy, pure, and perfect. But somehow or other it finds itself bound down by matter, and thinks of itself as matter.”

What, then, is the general belief among members of Christendom’s churches? Professor Cullmann (Theological faculty of the University of Basel and of the Sorbonne in Paris) states:

“If we were to ask an ordinary Christian today (whether well-read Protestant or Catholic, or not) what he conceived to be the New Testament teaching concerning the fate of man after death, with few exceptions we should get the answer: ‘The immortality of the soul.’”

When asked about the nature of the “soul,” members of Christendom’s churches, too, answer in vague, obscure terms. They have no clearer concept of an immortal soul than do adherents of non-Christian religions. This gives rise to the question, Does the Bible teach that the soul is an immortal part of man?

IS THE SOUL IMMORTAL?

In the Bible the word “soul” appears in many translations as a rendering for the Hebrew word neʹphesh and the Greek word psy·kheʹ. (See, for example, Ezekiel 18:4 and Matthew 10:28 in the Authorized Version, New English Bible, Revised Standard Version and Douay Version.) These same Hebrew and Greek terms have also been translated as “being,” “creature” and “person.” Regardless of whether your Bible consistently renders the original-language words as “soul” (as does the New World Translation), an examination of texts where the words neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ appear will help you to see what these terms meant to God’s people of ancient times. Thus you can determine for yourself the true nature of the soul.

Describing the creation of the first man, Adam, the opening book of the Bible says: “Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul [neʹphesh].” (Genesis 2:7) We may note that the Bible does not say that ‘man received a soul,’ but that “man came to be a living soul.”

Did first-century Christian teaching differ from this concept of “soul”? No. In what is commonly called the “New Testament,” the statement about Adam’s creation is quoted as fact: “It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.”’ (1 Corinthians 15:45) In the original language of this text the word for “soul,” psy·kheʹ, appears. Accordingly, in this scripture the Greek word psy·kheʹ, like the Hebrew word neʹphesh, designates, not some invisible spirit residing in man, but man himself. Rightly, then, certain Bible translators have chosen to use such words as “being,” “creature” and “person” in their renderings of Genesis 2:7 and 1 Corinthians 15:45.​—New English Bible, Young’s Literal Translation, Revised Standard Version; compare The Bible in Living English, which uses “person” at Genesis 2:7 but “soul” at 1 Corinthians 15:45.

It is also noteworthy that the terms neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ are applied to animals. Concerning the creation of sea and land creatures, the Bible says: “God went on to say: ‘Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls [“creatures,” New English Bible] and let flying creatures fly over the earth’ . . . God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about . . . ‘Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.’”​—Genesis 1:20-24.

Such references to animals as being souls are not limited to the opening book of the Bible. From the first book of the Holy Scriptures to the very last book, animals continue to be designated as souls. It is written: “Take away from the men of war who went out on the expedition one soul [neʹphesh] out of five hundred, of humankind and of the herd and of the asses and of the flock.” (Numbers 31:28) “The righteous one is caring for the soul [neʹphesh] of his domestic animal.” (Proverbs 12:10) “Every living soul [psy·kheʹ] died, yes, the things in the sea.”​—Revelation 16:3.

The application of the word “soul” to animals is very appropriate. It is in agreement with what is thought to be the basic meaning of the Hebrew term neʹphesh. This word is understood to be derived from a root meaning “to breathe.” Hence, in a literal sense, a soul is a “breather,” and animals are indeed breathers. They are living, breathing creatures.

As to their application to humans, the words neʹphesh and psy·kheʹ are repeatedly used in such a way as to mean the entire person. We read in the Bible that the human soul is born. (Genesis 46:18) It can eat or fast. (Leviticus 7:20; Psalm 35:13) It can weep and faint. (Jeremiah 13:17; Jonah 2:7) A soul can swear, crave things and give way to fear. (Leviticus 5:4; Deuteronomy 12:20; Acts 2:43) A person might kidnap a soul. (Deuteronomy 24:7) The soul can be pursued and put in irons. (Psalm 7:5; 105:18) Are these not the kind of things done by or to fleshly people?