AN IMMORTAL SOUL
OR AN IMMORTAL SPIRIT AN IMMORTAL SOUL
OR
AN IMMORTAL SPIRIT
ARE BOTH IMMORTAL?

William West

 

Soul is used in over 320 passages in the Old Testament where it

 

Can die

 

Can be killed by man

 

)Or)it)is)already)dead) )

 

The first four times soul is used in Genesis 1
It is used in referring to animals
Not to a person

Table Of Contents
The first four times soul is used in Genesis 1, it is used referring to animals, not to a person.
Soul is used in the same verse referring to both animals and a person. IF A SOUL CAN DIE IT CANNOT BE IMMORTAL.

The soul can die or is already dead in over 320 passages in the Old Testament.
SOUL OR SPIRIT? WHICH ONE IS IMMORTAL?
The soul and “eating of blood.”
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What is a man? Is a person born with an immortal soul, or do the saved put on immortality at the resurrection? Is a person a three part being, an animal body with both a soul and a spirit that will live without the body? This is one of the most important questions of all time. It has more influence on our conception of our nature, our view of life in this world and life after death than any other question.

[1] Genesis 1:20 "The moving creature that has life" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals]. Footnote in the King James Version, "The moving creature that has soul." "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures" [soul - nehphesh] (American Standard Version) "The moving creature that has life" (footnote in KJV).

[2] Genesis 1:21 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] "And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature [soul - nehphesh] that moves wherewith the water swarmed.”

[3] Genesis 1:24 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] "And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures [soul nehphesh] after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth."

[4] Genesis 1:30 "life" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] "And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life" [soul nehphesh]. Animals are "a living soul."

ALL FOUR TIMES THAT SOUL [nehphesh] IS USED IN GENESIS ONE, IT IS USED REFERRING TO ANIMALS, NOT TO A PERSON. ANIMALS WERE SOULS, LIVING BEINGS, BEFORE ANY MAN EXISTED. "Then God said, 'Let the waters teem with swarms of LIVING SOULS [soul - nehpheshs], and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.' And God created the great sea monsters, and every LIVING SOUL [soul - nehphesh] that moves with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.' And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth LIVING SOULS [soul - nehpheshs] after their kind: cattle and creeping thing and beasts of the earth after their kind'; and it was so...and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is LIFE [soul nehphesh], I have given every green herb for meat" [Genesis 1:20-30]. “Living creatures" [soul - nehphesh] is used to describe all living things on earth, animals, birds, fish, people; not eternal life or some immaterial invisible part of them that is eternal.

[5] Genesis 2:7 "A living soul" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to a person]. The first time the King James Version translated nehphesh into "soul," most other translations did not agree with it, not even the New King James Version. "Man became a living being" New King James Version.

• “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:20
• “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:21
• “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:24
• “Wherein there is life" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:30
• “A living soul" [nehphesh] Genesis 2:7

o It is obvious that the translators translated according to a preconceived opinion in an attempt keep animals from having souls.

Man became :
• "A living being" New King James Version, New American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Amplified Version, The New American Bible.

• "A living person" New Century Version, The Living Bible, New

Living Translation.
_•"A living creature" The Revised English Bible, Young's Literal
Translation.
• "Life" Contemporary English Version.
The first time nehphesh is used referring to a person, most translations apply it to the living breathing being or person, not to an invisible inter part of a person. ADAM BEING SPOKEN OF AS A "LIVING BEING" [nehphesh] PROVES HE WAS MORTAL, NOT IMMORTAL, JUST AS ALL "LIVING BEINGS" [nehphesh] FISH, BIRDS, ANIMALS, ARE MORTAL, NOT IMMORTAL. HOW CAN THIS BE ONE OF THE PROOF TEXTS USED TO PROVE ADAM WAS MADE WITH AN IMMORTAL SOUL? IF IT PROVES ADAM HAD AN IMMORTAL SOUL, THEN IT PROVES THAT FISH HAVE AN IMMORTAL SOUL THAT CANNOT DIE.
IT IS IMPORTANCE TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS BEING SAID THAT ANIMALS AND MANKIND ARE A SOUL [ARE LIVING BEINGS] NOT THAT ANIMALS OR MANKIND HAVE A SOUL [HAVE A PART, AN IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, NO SUBSTITUTE SOMETHING IN THEM THAT CANNOT DIE]. MANY THINK GENESIS IS SAYING ONLY MANKIND HAS SOULS BUT ANIMALS DO NOT. BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT MOST, WITHOUT REALIZING IT THEY READ INTO THIS THAT ONLY MANKIND HAS A SOUL THAT IS AN IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, NO SUBSTITUTES SOMETHING THAT CANNOT DIE. This causes them to believe that only this immortal part of them self will be saved (more on this at the end of this chapter).
THE BREATH OF LIFE: Some have switched from the soul being the immortal part of a person to the spirit being the immortal part of a person that animals do not have. “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” The phrase “breath of life” that was breathed into man is the same Hebrew “breath of life” in Genesis 7:21-22 that is in the nostrils of birds, cattle, men and beasts. It is not a soul that men have but animals do not have; it does not say that God breathed into Adam an immortal soul; the breathless body that God made from the earth is what became a living breathing being [nshahmah]. God did not tell Adam he had a body that was made from the earth but the real Adam was made of something not from the earth.
• “Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [nshahmah]” man [Genesis 2:7]
• All in whose nostrils was the breath of life [nshahmah]” both man and animals have the same “breath of life [nshahmah]” [Genesis 7:22]
• “Saved alive nothing that breaths [nshahmah]” both men and animals [Deuteronomy 20:16]
• “Utterly destroyed all that breaths [nshahmah]” both men and animals [Joshua 10:40]

• “There was not any left to breaths [nshahmah]” both men and animals [Joshua 11:11]
• “Neither left they any to breaths [nshahmah]” both men and animals [Joshua 11:14]
o Why was one word [nshahmah] translated with three words [“breath of life”], then with only one word [“breaths”]? [6] Genesis 2:19 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals], "Every beast...every bird...whatsoever the man called every living creature [soul - nshahmah], that was the name thereof"
[7] Genesis 9:4 "life" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] [8] Genesis 9:5 "lives" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to man] [9] Genesis 9:5 "life" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to man] [10] Genesis 9:10 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals]
[11] Genesis 9:12 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals]
[12] Genesis 9:15 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to man and animals]
[13] Genesis 9:16 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to man and animals]
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A bird’s eye view of the translation of nehphesh in the first nine chapters.
1. “Moving creature that has life" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:20 animals
2. “A living creature"" animals
3. “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:24 animals
4. “Wherein there is life" [soul - nehphesh] Genesis 1:30 animals
5. “A living soul" [nehphesh] Genesis 2:7 - man
6. “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 2:19 – animals
7. “Life" [nehphesh] Genesis 9:4 animals
8. “Lives” [nehphesh] Genesis 9:5 - man
9. “Life" [nehphesh] Genesis 9:5 - man
10.“Living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 9:10 animals
11.“Living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 9:12 animals
12.“Living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 9:15 - man and animals
13.“Living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 9:16 - man and animals
This is an example of men attempting to cover up the truth when it is contradictory to their theology. It takes a lot of preconceived theology to make nehphesh be an immaterial invisible no substance part of a man that is now immortal that is not in animals when it is not deliberately hid as it is in the King James Version.
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IN GENESIS 9:4-16 THE SAME WORD IS USED FOR BOTH
MAN AND ANIMALS SEVEN TIMES IN THE SAME PASSAGE.
To animals five times, to man four times
• THREE TIMES TO ANIMALS ALONE
• TWO TIMES TO ANIMALS AND MAN TOGETHER
• TWO TIMES TO MAN ALONE
"But flesh with the LIFE [#1. Soul - nehphesh, used referring to
animals] thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat. And surely
your blood, the blood of your LIVES [#2. soul - nehphesh, used referring to
man], will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it: and at the
hand of men, even at the hand of every man's brother, will I require the
LIFE [#3. soul - nehphesh, used referring to man] of man. Whoso sheds
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made
He men. And you, be you fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the
earth, and multiply therein. And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with
him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your
seed after you; And every LIVING CREATURE [#4. soul - nehphesh, used
referring to animals] that is with you, of the fowl, and the cattle, and of
every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every
beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall
the waters of a flood cut off all flesh be any more; neither shall there any
more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the
covenant which I make between me and you and every LIVING
CREATURE [#5. soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] that is with
you, for perpetual generation: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a
token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass,
when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every
LIVING CREATURE [#6. soul - nehphesh, used referring to man and
animals] of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to
destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it,
that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
LIVING CREATURE [#7. soul - nehphesh, used referring to man and
animals] of all flesh that is upon the earth."
All four times that soul [nehphesh] is used in Genesis 1; it is referring
to animals, not to a person. IN TEN OF THE FIRST THIRTEEN
TIMES SOUL [NEHPHESH] IS USED IT IS USED REFERRING TO
ANIMALS, but the King James Version hides this by using different
words, and most who read the King James Version never know it.

NEHPHESH IS TRANSLATED "SOUL" ONLY ONE TIME OF THE FIRST THIRTEEN TIMES IT IS USED in the King James Version; but it is not translated "soul" in any of the first thirteen times it is used in the New King James Version, New American Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, or New International Version. Mankind has the same soul [life - nehphesh] as the other "living creatures." He does not differ from other living creatures [soul - nehphesh] by having a soul [nehphesh] that cannot die. His dominion over other living creatures [Other nehpheshs - souls] is not his nehphesh.

Mike Willis said expositors have generally appealed to Genesis 2:7 to prove that all men are born with and now have immortal spirits. However, in 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul has clearly expounded the meaning of the Hebrew words nehphesh, chayyah. "The living soul" of Genesis 2:7 is the natural body of this passage. He said this corresponds with the book of Genesis itself because the same construction is used in Genesis 1:24 to describe animals. When Moses recorded that God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul, what the writer of Genesis was saying was that the dust of the earth began to have animal life and does not prove that a person has an immortal spirit (soul); rather it states that a person has animal life. All men possess animal life through Adam. A Commentary On Paul's First Epistle To the Corinthians, Page 578, 1979. For one who knows the Bible as he does and believes a person has an immortal soul, yet says, the living soul of Genesis 2:7 is the natural body, proves beyond doubt that a living soul is not an immortal inter part of a person.

Guy N. Woods said the first time in Genesis 1:20 the word soul is used is from the Hebrew nehphesh where it is assigned to fish, birds, and creeping things. He said it is clear that the soul in these passages does not refer to anything peculiar to the constitution of man, but it signifies, as its usage denotes, and the lexicons affirm, any creature that breathes. "What Is The Soul Of Man," Gospel Advocate, 1985, Number 21.

Adam Clarke "Nephesh clayyah; a general term to express all creatures endued with animal life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations, from the half reasoning elephant down to the stupid potto, or lower still, to the polype, which seems equally to share the vegetable and animal life."

IN THE FIRST NINE CHAPTERS OF GENESIS SOUL [nehphesh] HAS BEEN USED MORE OFTEN WITH REFERENCE TO ANIMALS THAN IT IS WITH REFERENCE TO PERSONS; IT IS THE ANIMAL LIFE, WHICH BOTH A PERSON AND ANIMALS HAVE IN COMMON. HOW DID THE TRANSLATORS KNOW WHEN IT CHANGED TO AN INVISIBLE INTER IMMORTAL PART OF A PERSON, WHICH ANIMALS DO NOT HAVE?

NOTE: BOTH MAN AND ANIMALS ARE SOULS, LIVING BEINGS. WE ARE A SOUL, NOT HAVE A SOUL. IF WE HAVE A SOUL, HAVE A LIVING BEING IN US, THEN WE ARE ONE LIVING BEING WITH ANOTHER LIVING BEING LIVING IN US, A LIVING BEING LIVING IN ANOTHER LIVING BEING. THE DOCTRINE THAT WE HAVE A SOUL LIVING IN US, AND IT IS THIS IMMORTAL DEATHLESS PART OF US THAT WILL BE SAVED OR TORMENTED FOREVER IS THE FOUNDATION OF MANY OF THE ERRORS THAT HAVE DIVIDED THE CHURCHES. THAT WE ARE A SOUL (WE ARE A LIVING BEING), NOT WE HAVE A SOUL (WE HAVE A LIVING BEING LIVING IN US) IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL AND MOST MISUNDERSTOOD TEACHING IN THE BIBLE.
[14] Genesis 12:5 "And the people [soul - nehphesh] whom they had acquired" New King James Version ["soul" in King James Version]. [15] Genesis 12:13 "That I [soul - nehphesh] may live because of you" New King James Version ["soul" in King James Version].
[16] Genesis 14:21 "Give me the persons [soul - nehphesh] and take the goods" King James Version.
[17] Genesis 17:14 "That person [soul - nehphesh] shall be cut off" New King James Version.
[18] Genesis 19:17 "Escape for your life [soul - nehphesh]" King James Version.
[19] Genesis 19:19 "Saving my life [soul - nehphesh]" King James Version.

IN THE FIRST NINETEEN TIMES NEHPHESH IS USED IT IS TRANSLATED “SOUL”
§ ONLY THREE TIMES IN THE KING JAMES VERSION § NONE IN THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION
§ NONE IN THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION § NONE IN THE NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION § NONE IN THE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

[20] Genesis 19:20 "That my life [soul - nehphesh] may be saved" New American Standard Version [Translated soul for the fourth time in the King James Version and first time in the New King James Version]. [21] Genesis 23:8 "If it be your mind [soul - nehphesh]" King James Version [22] Genesis 27:4 "So that I may bless you before I [soul - nehphesh] die" New Revised Standard Version.

• "So that I [nehphesh] may bless you before I die" Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version

 

_•"So that I [nehphesh] may give you my blessing before I die" New

International Version
• "So that I [nehphesh] may give you my blessing before I die"
Revised English Bible
• "To give you my [nehphesh] blessing before I die" Amplified Bible
_•"That I [nehphesh] may give you my special blessing before I die"
New American Bible
• "Then I [nehphesh] will bless you before I die" New Century
Version
_•"Then I [nehphesh] will pronounce the blessing that belongs to
you, my firstborn son, before I die" New Living Translation
_•"I [nehphesh] want to eat it once more and give you by blessing
before I die" Contemporary English Version
_•"That I [nehphesh] may eat of it, [preparatory] to giving you [as
my first-born] my blessing before I die" Amplified Bible
• "That my soul [nehphesh] may bless thee before I die" King James
Version. How would Isaac's son know if he were blessed by an
"immaterial invisible" no substance part of a person that he could
not see? By this time, hundreds of years after Genesis 1:1, the King
James translators must have been desperate to be able to put "soul"
into the Bible.
UP TO GENESIS 27:4 FOR HUNDERS OF YEARS NEHPHESH IS TRANSLATED SOUL:
_•ONLY FOUR TIMES OUT OF TWENTY-TWO IN THE KING JAMES VERSION
_•ONLY ONE TIME OUT OF TWENTY-TWO IN THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION
• NONE IN MANY OTHERS TRANSLATIONS
Nehphesh has been used 21 times before the New King James Version used "soul" for the first time, but even then the translators of many versions have chosen not to translate it "soul." IN GENESIS "NEHPHESH" IS NOT AN IMMORTAL "IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF MAN," BUT IT IS THE LIFE, LIVING CREATURE, LIVING BEING, ANY LIVING THING, WHETHER ANIMALS, FISH, OR MAN. IF THE
TRANSLATORS HAD CONTINUED TO TRANSLATE NEHPHESH AS LIFE, LIVING CREATURE, LIVING BEING, OR PERSON, AS THEY DID IN THE FIRST TWENTY-ONE TIMES IT IS USED, THERE MAY NOT BE THE DIVISIONS THERE ARE TODAY. WHY DID THEY NOT TRANSLATE NEHPHESH INTO SOUL IN THE FIRST PART OF THE BIBLE THAT COVERD HUNDARDS OF YEARS? MAYBE BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT IT WOULD HAVE MADE ANIMALS HAVE SOULS, AND THEY DID NOT BELIEVE ANIMALS COULD HAVE SOULS. I find it difficult to see how anyone could not call their honesty into question for it is undeniable that they put their belief over the word of God and deliberately hid the truth from their readers; deliberately hid the truth from you.
[23] Genesis 32:30 "My life [soul - nehphesh] is preserved" King James Version. Most translations use "life" in this passage for their soul could not perish and would not need to be preserved.
[24] Genesis 34:3
_•"His heart [soul - nehphesh] was drawn to Dinah" New International Version
• "He was deeply attracted [nehphesh] to Dinah" New American Standard Version
• "His soul [nehphesh] clave unto Dinah" King James Version. If this translation is not saying an immaterial immortal soul clave unto a material mortal being what is it saying?
[25] Genesis 34:8
• "My son Shechem has his heart [nehphesh] on your daughter" New International Version
_•"My son Shechem is in love [nehphesh] with this girl" Revised English Bible
• "The heart [nehphesh] of my son Shechem longs for your daughter" New Revised Standard Version
_• "The soul [nehphesh] of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter" King James Version
[26] Genesis 35:18
• "As she breathed [nehphesh - soul] her last-for she was dying" New International Version.
_•"Then with her last breath, [nehphesh - soul] as she was dying" Revised English Bible