The Bible's view of the soul?

Question

According to Genesis 2:7 does man have a soul or is he a soul? (Please read scripture before answering)

Evidently, many of you are not reading the scripture. Try again. It doesn NOT say God gave Adam a soul. It says Adam became a soul.

Answer 1

Man is a soul(1Corinthians15:45 Animals are also called souls in the Bible(Numbers31:28;Revelation16:3;Leviticus24:18

Answer 2

That man both has a soul and IS a soul is confusing and often misunderstood, leading to many doctrinal errors. That the soul is the ‘meeting place’ of the body and the spirit is the teaching of the Scripture. YHVH breathed spirit (life) into the clay of man and it became a living soul. The soul is that part of man which reside the intellect, emotion and will. It is easy to see how much of our modern Christianity is influenced by the soulish natures of our being rather than the spirit alone as it is meant. That psychology has joined the apostate church in reducing man to soul and body while leaving out the essential spirit is not surprising; since the spirit is where all the worship of God, the communication with God through intuition and the workings of the conscience takes place. The soul may be described as our self or ego, but it is the spirit that is born again and communes with God.
To confuse the workings of the spirit and soul or to mix them together is an error of the highest magnitude and has lead us away from YHVH rather than closer. This was the sin of Adam and Eve; choosing their soulish emotion, intellect and will over their childlike simple spirit dependence upon YHVH for all their needs.

A good book to read to help you understand this critical distinction and how it affects the total life of a Christian is Watchman Nees’: “The Normal Christian Life” available free on the net at www.ccel.org.

Answer 3

I like the answer Bill gave. I read the verse you cited, and all I can say this: when you combine the spirit with the physical body, you become a living soul. People often use the words soul and spirit interchangeably in scriptures and in real life. When someone dies, his or her spirit is separated from his or her physical body. When the Resurrection is brought about after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the spirit and the body will be reunited again in a living, immortal soul. This is a free gift to all those who are born on this earth.

Answer 4

The Soul According to the Bible

The Hebrew word translated “soul” is ne′phesh, and it occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. What does ne′phesh mean? According to The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, it “usually refers to the entire living being, to the whole individual.” This is borne out by the Bible’s description of the soul at Genesis 2:7: “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.” Note that the first man “came to be” a soul. That is to say, Adam did not have a soul; he was a soul—just as someone who becomes a doctor is a doctor. The word “soul,” then, here describes the whole person.

The word translated “soul” (psy·khe′) appears more than a hundred times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Like ne′phesh this word often refers to the whole person. For example, consider the following statements: “My soul is troubled.” (John 12:27) “Fear began to fall upon every soul.” (Acts 2:43) “Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities.” (Romans 13:1) “Speak consolingly to the depressed souls.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14) “A few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” (1 Peter 3:20) Clearly, psy·khe′, like ne′phesh, refers to the whole person. According to scholar Nigel Turner, this word “signifies what is characteristically human, the self, the material body having God’s rûaḥ [spirit] breathed into it. . . . The emphasis is on the whole self.”

In the Bible the word “soul” applies not only to humans but also to animals. For example, in describing the creation of sea creatures, Genesis 1:20 says that God commanded: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls.” And on the next creative day, God said: “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.”

The word “soul” as used in the Bible refers to a person or an animal or to the life that a person or an animal enjoys. The Bible’s definition of the soul is simple, consistent, and unencumbered by the complicated philosophies and superstitions of men.

Answer 5

Man is made up of three parts. Body(flesh) Sprit( Mind emotions) Soul (Eternal Existence or what makes you who you are) The three parts are found in Genesis1:26.
Your verse also confirms that as well
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." You could replace the word soul with being as well. The eternal existance of who you are is your soul.

Answer 6

The answer to this question is that the soul lives within us. God breathed into man's nostrils and man became a living soul. So, yes we have a soul. The outer appearance is the flesh.

Answer 7

Adam and Eve were created souls.

We are souls and God is a soul, although he is a spirit, we have his spirit Num.16:22; Eccl.12:7; James 2:26; Spirit belongs to God. Psm.104:29,30;

All souls after them are born in sin to die, spirit belongs to God.

Jesus shows how Luke 8:50,52,54,55;

1Cor.15:22; As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

We are then resurrected souls.

Answer 8

He is a soul, a living soul. He does not have a soul, in a possesive, seperated manner, he is a soul. A soul is he.

Answer 9

man have a soul and the flesh

Answer 10

It says only humans have a soul and that's why I'm agonistic.