What Is a Human Being?
What is a human being according to the Bible? A human being is a living soul, formed from the dust of the ground and made alive by God’s breath of life. Humans do not have an immortal soul within them but depend on God for life and for the hope of a future resurrection.
Throughout history, people have held very different ideas about what a human being really is. Many religions teach that humans consist of a mortal body and an immortal soul that continues to live after death. This belief has also come to occupy a central place in traditional Christianity.
But is this how the Bible describes a human being? What happened when God created Adam? Did man receive a soul, or did he become a living soul? And what happens to a person when they die?
To answer these questions, we must begin with the Bible’s own account of the creation of man.
A Human Being Is a Soul
In Genesis 2:7, the creation of the first human being is described in these simple words:
“And Yahweh God formed the man out of dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Interlinear Bible)
Scripture says that a human being is a combination of two things, namely “dust from the ground” and “the breath of life.” The union of these two components produced a living soul, the man Adam. Later, God created a woman for Adam. He caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and while he was sleeping, God took one of his ribs. From this rib he formed a woman (Genesis 2:21–22). The term human being therefore applies to both men and women.
According to Scripture, the human being did not receive a soul; he “became a living soul”—see also 1 Corinthians 15:45.
The Hebrew word for soul, nephesh, is not used only of humans. In Genesis 1:20–21, it is also used of animals. Before humans were created, God said:
“Let the waters swarm with swarmers having a soul of life; and let the birds fly over the earth, on the face of the expanse of the heavens. And God created the great sea animals, and all that creeps, having a living soul, which swarmed the waters, according to its kind; and every bird with wing according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Interlinear Bible)
And Numbers 31:28 also shows very clearly that the Bible uses the word soul of both humans and animals. Here we read:
“And you shall levy a tribute unto Yahweh from the men of war who went out to the battle: one soul out of five hundred, of men, and of the herd, and of the asses, and of the flock.” (Interlinear Bible)
The claim of religious leaders that a human being has an immortal soul and is different from the animals therefore does not agree with what is written in Scripture. The Bible says that both humans and animals are souls. The superiority of humans over the animals comes from being created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26). Human beings were created in God’s image, are the highest creatures on earth, and were given dominion over the animals (Genesis 1:28).
If a human being truly is a soul and does not have a soul, it is important to examine how the Bible uses the word soul. This cannot be determined by tradition or common usage, but must be determined by Scripture’s own use of the word.
The Word Soul—Nephesh
In our Bibles, the word “soul” is used to translate the Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word psychē. The word nephesh occurs 757 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, while psychē occurs 103 times in the Greek Scriptures. With the help of Bible concordances, it is possible to find all the passages in which these words occur.
When examining the 860 occurrences of the words nephesh and psychē, one will discover that nowhere in Scripture are these words associated with immortality or eternal life. Nor is there any passage in the Bible that says that the human soul is immortal.
This is remarkable considering how central the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is to many religious traditions. If this doctrine were truly a fundamental biblical truth, one would expect the Bible to teach it clearly and explicitly. But when we examine Scripture’s use of the words nephesh and psychē, we find no such statements.
On the contrary, the words are used of living humans and animals, of persons, life, and creatures of flesh and blood. The Bible therefore describes the soul as something living and mortal, not as an invisible and immortal part of a human being that continues to live after death. One may therefore wonder why so many religious leaders teach that the soul is immortal. This teaching cannot have come from Scripture.
As serious students of the Bible, we therefore cannot accept the teaching that a human being has an immortal soul.
Readers who wish to examine the subject more closely may consult the following Bible concordances:
- Young’s Analytical Concordance
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
A Human Being Is Mortal
That the human soul is mortal is evident from many passages in the Bible. An immortal soul cannot die, yet Scripture says of a human being:
“Behold, all souls are mine. As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4, Interlinear Bible)
Ezekiel’s words are not an isolated example. On the contrary, the word nephesh is used in many places in the Hebrew Scriptures of humans who can die or be killed. This stands in direct contradiction to the idea that the soul is immortal.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word nephesh (soul) is used at least 54 times of a human being in contexts that clearly show that the soul can be killed. One example is found in Joshua 10:28–39. In these verses, it is stated seven times that souls were killed or destroyed with the sword. Here is an example from verse 28:
“And Joshua captured Makkedah on that day. And he struck it with the edge of the sword and destroyed its king, them and every soul that was in it. He left no survivor. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.” (Joshua 10:28, Interlinear Bible)
It is a fact that all living creatures of flesh and blood have lifeblood in their veins. The prophet Jeremiah said to Israel, which at that time was stained with bloodguilt:
“Also on your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; you did not find them breaking in, but on all these.” (Jeremiah 2:34, Interlinear Bible)
Here it can clearly be seen that the word “souls” is used of creatures of flesh and blood. There are many similar examples in Scripture. The Bible therefore does not use the word soul here of an invisible part of a human being, but of the person himself. When the blood of the poor was shed, it was their souls—their lives—that were taken.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word nephesh is used 243 times in reference to humans as mortal creatures. A soul can, for example, be killed with a sword, as we saw in Joshua 10:28–39. We also find an example of this in the book of Psalms:
“Deliver my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog.” (Psalm 22:20, Interlinear Bible)
In the Greek Scriptures, the word psychē is used in a similar way. Thus, both the Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures testify to the same thing: the soul is described as mortal and dependent on life, not as an immortal part of a human being.
Jesus Poured Out His Soul to Death
Isaiah chapter 53, which contains the prophecy concerning the sufferings of the Messiah, provides some very clear examples of the Bible’s use of the word “soul.”
“… If his soul is made a guilt offering, he shall see offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand… Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and with the strong he shall divide the spoil, because he poured out his soul to death…” (Isaiah 53:10–12, Interlinear Bible)
If Jesus had been an immortal soul, he could not have given his life as a ransom. It was precisely because he was a real human being that he could die on behalf of mankind.
The teaching of redemption shows that it was a soul (Adam) who sinned, and that a corresponding soul (a human being) had to be sacrificed in order for mankind to be redeemed. Because Jesus “poured out his soul to death,” he provided the ransom payment for Adam and all his children. From this statement in the Bible, it is clear that the man Christ Jesus was also mortal. He did not have an immortal soul. Jesus, the human soul, died.
In Matthew 10:28, we have an example of how the word “soul” is used in the sense of future life as a soul:
“And do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Interlinear Bible)
This verse often plays a central role when some try to prove that the soul is immortal. What these words actually say is that we should fear God because he can destroy not only our present human body, but also the possibility of future life. Destruction in Gehenna is the second death, from which there is no resurrection to future life as a soul (Revelation 21:8).
Here, then, we have an example of why individual verses should not be isolated and why doctrines should not be built upon them. This is how errors arise. The patterns of the text, the context, and the meaning of words throughout Scripture are essential to a proper understanding. When all the statements of Scripture are considered together, the conclusion becomes clear: the soul is mortal. The doctrine of the immortal soul is not based on the overall testimony of the Bible, but on interpretations of individual verses removed from their context.
A Human Being Must Die
Since a human being is a sinful and mortal creature, death is his natural fate. God gave the perfect man Adam this command:
“And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, you may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16–17, Interlinear Bible)
Adam disobeyed God’s command and thereby brought the sentence of death upon himself and his descendants. If the perfect Adam had not sinned, it would have been possible for him to live forever on earth, even though he was mortal. He would also have been able to pass life on to his children. In Genesis 2:17, God stated the sentence of death very clearly. He said: “You shall surely die.”
There is absolutely nothing to indicate that God meant that the sinner Adam would only appear to die. God did not say to Adam: “Your body will die, but your soul will live forever.” The only place in the Bible where it is said that disobedient humans would not die is in Genesis 3:4:
“And the serpent said to the woman: ‘You shall surely not die.’” (Interlinear Bible)
Here God’s words and the serpent’s words stand in direct opposition to each other. God said: “You shall surely die.” The serpent said: “You shall surely not die.” Humans must therefore decide who was telling the truth.
It was not the serpent itself that spoke to Eve, but Satan used a serpent to speak to her. From this we can understand that Satan is the one who originated the teaching that humans do not die, and thus also the teaching of the immortality of the soul. It is one of the lies that Satan and his demons use to deceive humans and lead them away from the truth. It was also the first lie uttered in the world, which is why Satan is also called the father of lies (John 8:44).
When religious leaders teach that humans have an immortal soul, everyone should therefore examine for themselves whether this teaching comes from Scripture or from another source.
Humans and Animals Die in the Same Way
The Bible says that humans and animals die in the same way. They have the same breath of life. We read in Ecclesiastes 3:19–20:
“For what happens to the sons of men and what happens to the animals is the same event for them. As the one dies, so dies the other. They all have one breath of life; and man has no advantage over the animal, for all is vanity. All go to one place; all came from the dust, and all return to the dust.” (Interlinear Bible)
These words emphasize that both humans and animals depend on the same breath of life from God. When the breath of life leaves them, life ceases, and they return to the dust.
Psalm 146:4 says of a human being at death:
“His breath goes out; he returns to the earth; on that day his thoughts perish.” (Interlinear Bible)
When a human being dies, life ceases and the body returns to the dust, just as God said to Adam. The Bible does not describe death as a transition to conscious life somewhere else, but as a state without thought, consciousness, or activity. Like the animals, humans lose the breath of life and return to the earth. But the Bible does not end with death. There is hope for mankind—the resurrection that God has promised through Jesus Christ.
The Bible Gives Us a Glorious Hope
The Bible thus shows us that the fate of sinful humans is death. But the Bible also gives us a glorious hope. Romans 6:23 says:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Interlinear Bible)
“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear his voice. And they will come out, the ones having done good into a resurrection of life; and the ones having practiced evil into a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28–29, Interlinear Bible)
These words explain in brief what the true hope consists of. If a human being turns to the only true God in faith in Jesus Christ and seeks righteousness through him, he can attain eternal life (John 17:3).
The Bible’s answer to the question “What is a human being?” is simple, logical, and in harmony with the rest of Scripture. A human being is a living soul, formed from the dust of the ground and made alive by God’s breath of life. When a human being dies, he returns to the dust and awaits the resurrection.
The Bible points forward to God’s promise of eternal life for those who seek him. Death, therefore, is not the final destination in God’s purpose for mankind. Through the resurrection, God will restore life to those who rest in the graves. This is the hope that Yahweh has given through his Son, Jesus Christ.
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