The Doctrine of the Human Soul

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The short and simple differentiation between the human spirit and the human soul is, we relate to other people by means of our human soul (memory, thinking, emotions, norms and standards); and we relate to God by means of our human spirit (doctrinal content). We do not have a functioning human spirit until we are born again, at which point the human spirit is regenerated (made alive). We will talk about the human spirit next after the doctrine of the human soul.

Doctrine of the Human Soul

1.     What the soul is not:

        1)     The soul is not some mysterious, undefinable, ethereal essence.

        2)     The soul is not simply the result of biological, chemical and electrical impulses firing off in our brains, which make us think that we are able to think.

        3)     The soul did not develop by evolution. We were not some grunting heathen with a 10 word vocabulary which evolved into the men that we are today. Various segments of mankind de-evolve; but at almost any time in human history, the full scope of mankind from his best to his worst, from his most primitive to his most advanced exist simultaneously on this earth.

2.     Soul is often used to translate the feminine noun psuchê (ψυχή) [pronounced psoo-KHAY], which means 1) breath; 1a) the breath of life; 1a1) the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing; 1a1a) of animals; 1a1b) of men; 1b) life; 1c) that in which there is life; 1c1) a living being, a living soul; 2) the soul; 2a) the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul etc.). Strong’s #5590. When studying the Bible, we need to understand that, the language of the Greek could be nearly as flexible as the English language. That is, a word can have several different meanings often determined contextually. Sometimes psuchê is used very technically, as defined in this doctrine; and sometimes it is used in a much more general way.

3.     God breathes life into each one of us, and that is the soul. Without this breath-life-soul, we are not alive. Human life is the result of soul life and biological life. After we are born, the electrical signals from the brain indicate a functioning soul. When these signals die, then we are physically dead. Gen. 2:7

4.     The real person is the soul. Gen. 2:7 35:18 46:26–27 Psalm 104:29 Matt. 10:28

5.     God has designed the human body and human soul to intersect in the brain. The electrical activity in the brain is the function of the human soul.

6.     That electrical activity is both soul-life and exceptionally complex circuitry which controls the involuntary functions of the body. For instance, you do not think about maintain your body temperature to 98.5°—it just happens. But it is the circuit board in your brain which makes that happen.

7.     The Essence of the Soul (which is the shadow image of God—Gen. 1:26)

        1)     Self-consciousness. Man is aware of his own existence and is able to relate to both animate life and inanimate objects on earth. Animals have consciousness, but not self-consciousness. 2Sam. 7:18 (And King David came in and sat before Jehovah, and said: Who am I, O Lord Jehovah, and what is my house, that you have brought me to this point?) Psalm 8:4 (What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You interact with him?)

        2)     Mentality. Self-consciousness is no good without mentality (Prov 19:2). This is the thinking part of man and is composed of two parts.

                 (1)    The mind or left lobe of the soul.

                 (2)    The heart or right lobe of the soul contains the frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary and categorical storage, norms and standards, and launching pad for application of knowledge to life.

                 (3)    Knowledge enters into the left lobe (the mind); it is believed and then transferred over to the right lobe (the heart). Knowledge which is true and knowledge which is false can be believed; and that begins a layering in the heart. When this knowledge is true and about God, we experience spiritual growth. When this knowledge is false and a part of the cosmic system (= Satan’s thinking), then we are building up scar tissue of the soul.

                 (4)    Emotion is also a part of the mind; and when it begins making decisions, that is when a person goes into emotional revolt of the soul.

                 (5)    Like much of the technical terminology in Scripture, mind and heart are not used in this technical sense each and every time these words are found. There are times when these words are virtually interchangeable.

        3)     Volition. Man has the ability to be negative or positive to anything in life. Volition is given to man in order to resolve the angelic conflict. Joshua 24:15b (“This day choose whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.") God gives all men true volition.

        4)     Emotion is the appreciator of the soul (Luke 12:19). Emotion responds or reacts to whatever thoughts are in the soul. Ideally speaking, the emotion should be dominated by the right lobe (thinking) of the soul. When emotion controls the soul, there are a variety of negative results: the rejection of the Word of God, the rejection of God, the embracing of liberalism, humanism, etc. In more severe cases, this can result in an emotional and/or mental breakdown. Emotional control of the soul is sometimes described as emotional revolt of the soul.

        5)     Conscience. This is the evaluator of the soul. It contains the norms and standards. Acts 24:16

        6)     The old sin nature is genetically formed in every cell of the human body. It battles for control of the soul through sin, human good (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) and evil. Because we have an old sin nature, we are said to be totally depraved. Without Bible doctrine in the soul, you tend to run loose with your old sin nature's area of strength and link this activity with pride. You set up your system of standards and compare yourself to others to further your pride.

8.     The soul must be distinguished from the human spirit.

        1)     Heb. 4:12a reads: The word of God [is] alive and powerful; sharper than any double-edged sword, and it penetrates deeply enough to effect the division of both the soul and spirit… Originally man was trichotomous, having a body, soul, and spirit. Y^ehowah God formed the man out of the dust from the ground [= the body] and breathed the breath [= spirit] of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living soul. (Gen 2:7)

        2)     After the fall, man is born dichotomous, having only a body and soul. The spirit of man is short-circuited by the sin nature. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God [= Bible doctrine; information about God], for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know these things, because they are spiritually discerned. (1Cor. 2:14). And the natural man simply lacks the human spirit in which to store this information and classify it. At the last time there will be scoffing skeptics following after their ungodly lusts. In this, they distinguish themselves, being like animals, not having a [human] spirit. (Jude 18b–19)

        3)     The believer in Jesus Christ, however, is said to have a body, soul, and spirit (1Thess. 5:23). The human spirit is regenerated by God the Holy Spirit at salvation. It is the human spirit that is born again; it is the human spirit where we store Bible doctrine.

9.     Only the soul, not the body, is saved at the point of regeneration. Psalm. 19:7 34:22 Mark 8:36-37 1Peter 1:9 Heb. 10:39

        1)     Therefore, there is no "healing in the atonement." The body is not saved because the old sin nature resides there. In eternity the soul is given a perfect body minus an old sin nature and minus human good. The only reason that we can have eternal fellowship with God is because we will not have a sin nature and we will not retain or produce human good.

        2)     Those in eternity who glorify God forever will be those who had maximum Bible doctrine in the soul during their time on earth.

10.   Only the soul, not the body, was made in the image of God. Gen 1:26-27and Gen 2:7. God is not material but spiritual.

11.   The soul is the source of all basic sin. It is the battleground between the old sin nature and the Holy Spirit. Matt. 10:28 Rom 1:20–22 Eph. 4:17–19 Psalm 143

12.   The soul is the area of the worst sins which are mental attitude sins. Job 21:25 Zech 11:8.

        1)     The content of the soul is seen when a person speaks. What you truly are is only revealed when you speak.

        2)     Sins of the tongue reveal mental attitude sins. If you are guilty, arrogant, bitter, or full of revenge, you will talk a certain way—that reveals this content of your soul.

13.   In physical death, the soul departs from the body. Job 27:8 Psalm 16:10 2Cor. 5:8

14.   However, the soul does not die. Gen. 35:18 1Kings 17:21 1Sam. 28:14-19 2Cor. 5:8 Luke 16 Matt. 17:23 Rev. 6:9-11

15.   The soul will be reunited with some kind of a body in the end times—for the believer, this will be a resurrection body (something which we will discuss at a later date).

Much of this doctrine was taken from http://dikaosune.com/documents/DoctrineoftheSoul.pdf and edited (accessed December 17, 2013).

Also used:

http://gracebiblechurchwichita.org/?page_id=549 accessed April 2, 2014.

Wenstrom’s Doctrine of the Human Soul accessed April 2, 2014.

This doctrine is one reason why there is such a push to get you to believe in evolution. God saves the soul; so the idea of evolution is, we really do not have a soul; but we simply have all of these electrical impulses shooting off in our brain, awash with a variety of chemicals, which cause us to do the things which we do. The idea is, this separates us from the notion of a Creator-God and, at the same time, lessens our own personal responsibility for the things that we do (after all, if these are just chemical reactions and the function of various chemicals, then how much of a choice do we really have?).

Such beliefs lead to both moral relativism as well as belief in the cheapness of human life (survival of the fittest).

The Abbreviated Doctrine of

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