“Humans have no soul. We are simply machines made of matter. This is the view that dominates contemporary neuroscience. While most people believe in an immaterial soul, many scientists agree that humans don’t have a soul: we just have brains and that’s it.
For example, an article in the New York Times says: “Neuroscientists have stopped looking for the seat of the soul, but are looking for what might be special about the human brain, what it is that provides a basis for a level of self-awareness and complex emotions unlike those of other animals.”
This view—that all we are is matter—is often called reductive materialism. According to this perspective, your identity, your will, your memories, your ambitions, your joys, and everything about you can be reduced to an arrangement of nerve cells in your skull; a collection we call the brain.
The Bible teaches that such a belief must be rejected. We are not just biological machines. If we were, then there would be no room for transcendence with God. If this is the point of view that Christians deny, what do we believe about it? More importantly, what is the biblical view of the soul?
Views on the soul
Christianity teaches that humans have material and immaterial parts. Christians have believed that we have two parts (body and soul) or three (body, soul, and spirit).
Those who think we have three parts rely on passages like 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12. Those who think so, however, make up the bulk of the Christian tradition. This view points out that although the Bible speaks of “soul” and “spirit”, the Scriptures often use these words interchangeably (cf. Mt. 10:28; 1 Cor. 7:34, James 2: 25).
The Bible emphasizes that we are physical beings, made of matter, but it does not support the idea that we are only physical beings.
However, there is a third point of view that is increasingly common among some theologians. This point of view is called non-reductionist physicalism. He teaches that physicalism is true (that we are only matter) but that the behaviors of the soul—which he prefers to call the mind—cannot be reduced to descriptions of neurological states. Rather, there are external factors that affect brain states and therefore the mind. As you can imagine, this position is very complicated and has generated a lot of philosophical debate. But one thing is clear: according to its proponents, we are made only of matter. They believe that this teaching aligns better with contemporary neuroscience.
However, the Bible affirms that not everything in us can be reduced to a material reality. Consciousness, freedom, and responsibility depend on our material parts, but they are not strictly the same as our brain processes. The Bible emphasizes that we are physical beings, made of matter, but it does not support the idea that only we are physical beings.
Biblical terms for the soul
The Old Testament uses several words that are translated as “soul” or “spirit.” For example, the Hebrew term nephesh, which is usually translated as “soul,” but can literally mean “throat” or “neck” (Ps. 105:18). John Cooper, professor of philosophical theology, explains that this word often means the whole person and not just the immaterial part. It can be used to refer to the “life force” of the person, which gives life to an inanimate body. It can also refer to that part of the person that survives after he stops breathing (1 Kings 17:21-22).
Similarly, the Hebrew term ruach it is associated with moving air or breathing (Jb. 34:14). It also refers to the “life force” of creatures, both humans and beasts. Theologian JP Moreland explains that ruach it is used with reference to the center of consciousness, volition (Jer. 51:11), cognition (Is. 29:24), emotion (1 Kings 21:4), and spiritual disposition (Prov. 18:14).
In the New Testament, the Greek word psyche it is often translated as “soul” (Rev. 6:9). As in the Old Testament, New Testament authors sometimes use this word to speak of the “life force” that makes the difference between a mere corpse and a living human being. It is also the aspect of the human that allows someone to exist even though his body has passed away (Mt. 10:28).
The soul, in biblical terms, is the life force of the person and what allows him to exist in the state between death and the final resurrection. In fact, the notion of such should lead us to believe that we are made of body and soul.
The soul and the intermediate state
What happens to people between death and the final resurrection? The Old Testament teaches that life after death is a diminished, yet conscious, disembodied state. For example, Job 3:13 and Psalm 88:10-12 indicate that the dead exist in a lethargic, inactive manner that resembles something like a coma. The dead in Sheol are also described as family members, awake and active (Is. 14:9-10). Psalm 49:15, furthermore, teaches that the nephesh He goes to God when he dies. The most natural way to interpret these passages is that the soul survives physical death, albeit in a diminished state, and will eventually be reunited with the resurrected body.
Understanding that we are a unity of body and soul is important to how we serve others.
If the Old Testament makes a case for the immaterial, incorporeal existence of people between death and resurrection, the New Testament makes an even stronger case. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, for example, Paul says that he wants to live to see the second coming of Christ because then his earthly body would be immediately replaced by his resurrection body and therefore he would not have to go through the condition of the incorporeal intermediate state. In verse 8, Paul explicitly states that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. For this statement to be true, it would require that Paul be able to exist in a disembodied and immaterial state. Without a soul, this is impossible.
Finally, the biblical teaching about Christ pushes us to believe in an immaterial soul. Consider what happened between the Lord’s death and resurrection. He continued to exist as the God-Man between his death and his resurrection. Without believing in a soul that allows an intermediate state of existence, we are forced to say that Jesus Christ ceased to exist for a time. However, this is an opinion in conflict with Christianity.
the faculties of the soul
Christianity further teaches that the soul has some “faculties.” It might seem strange to talk about them. Usually, when we think of “faculties,” we think of departments or groups of professors at a university. So what does a “faculty” have to do with the soul?
Theologians have used the term “faculty of the soul” to speak of various capacities of the soul that can be grouped together. More than any other Christian theologian, Thomas Aquinas developed the concept of the “faculties of the soul” that would be used by Christians of all traditions, including the Reformed tradition.
What are these faculties? Although one can find different lists of faculties, it is common to talk about…
- The sensory faculties, such as sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing (Rom. 1:19-20; 1 Pet. 2:11)
- The will, that is, the ability to choose (Dt. 30:15-20)
- Emotional faculties such as the ability to experience fear or love (1 Sam. 18:1, Ps. 94:19)
- And reason (Rom. 1:21-22; 2 Pet. 2:12).
Sometimes theologians also speak of memory and consciousness as faculties of the soul. However, what is fascinating about all these faculties is how they are related to our bodies. Damage to the brain, for example, can affect consciousness and our emotional or sensory abilities. A stroke or serious accident can impact our decision making, our sensory processes, and our ability to emotionally relate to other people.
Preaching the gospel is most important, but we cannot ignore the physical needs of those God has placed before us.
This shows us that we are not only bodies and we are not only souls. Instead we are bodies Y souls.
What difference does it make to believe all this?
How should knowing that we are made of two parts affect our lives? On the one hand, it means that we are more than our bodies. The state of our body does not define us. At the same time, we are not just souls. The body is not a “prison” for us, for God made us to be incarnate creatures. When the Word became incarnate, He affirmed the value of the body (Jn. 1:14). His body was extremely important to what God was doing in the world. And our bodies matter too! In fact, bodies are so important that God promises to give us redeemed bodies one day.
Understanding that we are a unity of body and soul is important to how we serve others. The Lausanne Covenant, affirmed by leading evangelicals such as John Stott, Samuel Escobar, Billy Graham, and René Padilla, gives us an example of holistic ministry that addresses both soul and body. It affirms the paramount importance of ministry to the soul, for example, proclaiming the forgiveness of sins through the death of Christ and calling people to follow Him. However, it also affirms the importance of ministry to the body: for example, concern for social problems and consider the physical needs of people who suffer.
Preaching the gospel is most important, but we cannot ignore the physical needs of those God has placed before us. The Christian who takes seriously the biblical teaching on the body and the soul will always attend to the matters of the soul because they are of the utmost importance, but he will never neglect the matters of the body as if they did not matter.
Sandra Blakeselee, “Humanity? Maybe It’s All in the Wiring,” New York TimesDecember 9, 2003, F1.