God created humans in His image as the crowning act of His physical creation. This fact is stressed by poetic language employed for the first time in the Bible: “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27, NIV). The biblical Creation story is unambiguous in its teaching that both man and woman were made in God’s image. They were made equal with different biological functions, as well as created in total dependence on God. Though not immortal, for only God is immortal (1 Tim. 6:16), they nevertheless could live eternally if they stayed in a trusting and loving relationship with their Creator.
Biblical monism teaches that each human being was created as a unit and that no part of a human being can live after a person dies. The expression immortal soul and the teaching that humans are born immortal, or with immortal souls or spirits, is not found in the Bible. Humans or souls are not inherently immortal. Humans have no conscious existence apart from the body. After he or she dies, the consciousness ceases to operate. Human immortality is always, and only, derived from God.
Part II: Commentary
Masterfully Created as Living Souls
The Creation account makes it clear that humans were created by the Lord. Genesis 2:7 describes two of the Creator’s intimate actions. The result of those actions was the creation of the first human being, Adam: “The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground [the first action] and [the second action] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and [the result] the man became a living being [nefesh khayah_]” (Gen. 2:7, NIV). Ontologically speaking, we are a unit (body + spirit = living soul). God created Adam as a living person or a human being, literally, in Hebrew, “a living soul.” The word “soul” means in this context “person,” “being,” “self.” The basis of biblical anthropology is that we are a soul; we do not have a soul. Hans Wolff asks: “What does _nepheš [soul] . . . mean here [in Gen. 2:7]? Certainly not soul [in the traditional dualistic sense]. Nephesh is designed to be seen together with the whole form of man, and especially with his breath; moreover man does not have nephesh, he is nephesh, he lives as nephesh.”—Hans Walter Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1974), p. 10.
God created humans as a vibrant animated body but not as an incarnate soul. Thus, humans were not created with an immortal soul, as an entity within them, per se, but as human beings they are souls. This doctrine is confirmed by later use of this term in Scripture and by other biblical authors. For example, (1) the book of Genesis counts how many “persons” moved into Egypt with Jacob, and these persons are called “souls” (Gen. 46:15, 22, 25, 26, 27); (2) Luke mentions how many people were baptized after Peter’s preaching on the Day of Pentecost: about three thousand people (Acts 2:41; literally, 3,000 souls).
The body, soul, and spirit function in close cooperation, revealing an intensely sympathetic relationship among a person’s spiritual, mental, and educational faculties. To these aspects we also need to add a social dimension because we are created as social beings. Paul elaborates on this multidimensional aspect of human behavior and explains that, as human beings, we need to let God transform us by His grace and Spirit: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23, NIV).
Thus, everything we are and do must be sanctified by God. Within our existence as humans, we experience life on a physical, emotional, mental/intellectual, spiritual, and social level. One cannot separate these aspects. For example, when we engage in physical exercise (whether we jog, work in the garden, or walk), we also engage our feelings; our thoughts; and our mental, spiritual (in the event that we pray or recite biblical text), and social faculties (if we are not alone) during the time of our activity.
Death—Reversal of Life
Death causes a reversal of God’s creative activity, of our existence as living beings. The most important thing to know is that our identity is in God’s hands. Ecclesiastes frames this thought in poetic language: “Remember him [the Creator] before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccles. 12:6, 7, NIV). “Spirit” here means “character” (Ps. 32:2), our identity. We are not forgotten by God, for our names are in the book of life (Phil. 4:3, Rev. 3:5, Rev. 13:8, Rev. 20:15, Rev. 21:27).
Contrary to the common understanding of immortality, the human spirit does not survive death and does not continue in endless conscious existence. The soul as a human being is mortal. The prophet Ezekiel makes it plain that “soul” is mortal when he states: “The one [Hebrew, nephesh, i.e., human person] who sins is the one who will die” (Ezek. 18:4, NIV). A soul (i.e., person) who does not live according to the will of God will perish. It means that a soul (human being) can sin and die. Jesus confirms it: “ ‘Be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell’ ” (Matt. 10:28, NIV). Note that Jesus speaks about the whole person (“soul and body,” internal and external dimensions of our existence) being destroyed in hell (gehenna), in the lake of fire.
The soul does not exist without the body and does not survive the death of the body. Only God is able to kill the soul, which means the soul is not immortal. Soul here means the life of a person, one’s total existence and destiny (it does not refer to an immortal soul or spirit); meanwhile, body represents only a temporary physical existence.
Claude Tresmontant correctly asserts: “By applying to the Hebrew Nephesch [soul] . . . the characteristics of the Platonic psyche [soul], . . . we let the real meaning of Nephesch escape us and furthermore, we are left with innumerable pseudo-problems.”—Claude Tresmontant, A Study of Hebrew Thought, translation by Michael Francis Gibson (New York: Desclee Company, 1960), p. 94.
Death is sleep or rest, and to die is to be gathered to God’s people (i.e., put into the grave together with them [Gen. 25:8, 2 Sam. 7:12, 1 Kings 2:10, 1 Kings 22:40, Ps. 13:3, John 11:11–15, Acts 13:36, Rev. 14:13]). The dead know nothing, do not praise the Lord, do not work or plan, or do any other activities in the grave (Job 3:11–13; Ps. 115:17; Ps. 146:4; Eccles. 9:5, 10).
Immortality of the Soul of Pagan Origin
Belief in the immortality of the soul is taken from Greek philosophy. Pythagoras (a younger contemporary of Daniel) based his religious teachings on the tenet of metempsychosis. Metempsychosis posits that the soul never dies but, rather, is destined to a cycle of rebirths until able to free itself from this cycle through the purity of its life. Pythagoras believed in transmigration, or the reincarnation of the soul again and again into the bodies of humans, animals, or vegetables until it became immortal. Pythagoras’s ideas of reincarnation were influenced by ancient Greek religion.
Plato (roughly speaking, a contemporary of Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet) enhanced this Hellenistic teaching, making the belief of the immortal human soul so prevalent that it became a popular view. During the intertestamental period, the teaching of eternal torture (Jth. 16:17) and the practice of praying for the dead (2 Macc. 12:39–45) began to penetrate Judaism (for exceptions to these trends, however, see also Tob. 14:6–8; Sir. 7:17; Sir. 19:2, 3; Sir. 21:9; Sir. 36:7–10; Bar. 4:32–35; 1 Macc. 2:62–64; 2 Macc. 7:9, 14). Flavius Josephus mentions that the Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul (see Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War 2.8.14; Antiquities 18.1.2, 3).
Tertullian (c. 155–220), a Christian apologist, was one of the first among Christians who claimed that humans have an immortal soul: “I may use, therefore, the opinion of a Plato, when he declares, ‘Every soul is immortal.’ ”— Tertullian, “On the Resurrection of the Flesh,” Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 2004), p. 547.
Oscar Cullmann challenges Tertullian’s view and stands in opposition to it. Cullmann wrote a very influential book, and in it he argues that the idea of human immortality is of Greek origin, and theologians cannot have it both ways: a belief in an immortal soul and immortality received as a gift at the time of resurrection (Oscar Cullmann, Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? The Witness of the New Testament [New York: Macmillan Company, 1958]).
Brevard Childs explains: “It has long been noticed that according to the Old Testament man does not have a soul, but is a soul (Gen. 2:7). That is to say, he is a complete entity and not a composite of parts from body, soul and spirit.”—Brevard S. Childs, Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), p. 199.
Some scholars try to defend life after death by simply appealing to common sense because there is no biblical statement regarding it. For example, Stewart Goetz states: “Scripture as a whole does not teach that the soul exists. Scripture simply presupposes the existence of the soul because its existence is affirmed by the common sense of ordinary people.”—Stewart Goetz, “A Substance Dualist Response,” in In Search of the Soul: Perspectives on the Mind-Body Problem—Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem, ed. by Joel B. Green, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010), p. 139. “Common sense” can, however, be very misleading.
Gift of Everlasting Life
Eternal life is God’s gift to those who believe in Christ Jesus as their personal Savior (John 3:16; John 5:24, 25; John 10:27, 28; John 17:3; Rom. 2:7; Rom. 6:22, 23; Gal. 6:8). Immortality is conditional and depends on our positive response to God’s goodness and on our acceptance of the gospel. This immortality is given to believers at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:51–55, 1 Thess. 4:13–18).
Part III: Life Application
What does it mean, relationally and ontologically, to be created in God’s image?
Only Christ through His grace, Spirit, and Word can restore God’s image in humans. How can you live as a person made in the image of God?
If we are created mortal without an immortal soul, explain how we can have everlasting life throughout all eternity.
God put into every human heart a longing for eternity (Eccles. 3:11). How can you help awaken this deep desire in an agnostic or atheistic coworker or neighbor through your actions and during your conversations with them?
Adjust My Preferences
Welcome! Please set your reading preferences below.
You can access this panel later by clicking the
preference icon
in the top right of the page.
Key Texts: Genesis 1:27, 28; Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Part I: Overview
God created humans in His image as the crowning act of His physical creation. This fact is stressed by poetic language employed for the first time in the Bible: “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27, NIV). The biblical Creation story is unambiguous in its teaching that both man and woman were made in God’s image. They were made equal with different biological functions, as well as created in total dependence on God. Though not immortal, for only God is immortal (1 Tim. 6:16), they nevertheless could live eternally if they stayed in a trusting and loving relationship with their Creator.
Biblical monism teaches that each human being was created as a unit and that no part of a human being can live after a person dies. The expression immortal soul and the teaching that humans are born immortal, or with immortal souls or spirits, is not found in the Bible. Humans or souls are not inherently immortal. Humans have no conscious existence apart from the body. After he or she dies, the consciousness ceases to operate. Human immortality is always, and only, derived from God.
Part II: Commentary
Masterfully Created as Living Souls
The Creation account makes it clear that humans were created by the Lord. Genesis 2:7 describes two of the Creator’s intimate actions. The result of those actions was the creation of the first human being, Adam: “The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground [the first action] and [the second action] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and [the result] the man became a living being [nefesh khayah_]” (Gen. 2:7, NIV). Ontologically speaking, we are a unit (body + spirit = living soul). God created Adam as a living person or a human being, literally, in Hebrew, “a living soul.” The word “soul” means in this context “person,” “being,” “self.” The basis of biblical anthropology is that we are a soul; we do not have a soul. Hans Wolff asks: “What does _nepheš [soul] . . . mean here [in Gen. 2:7]? Certainly not soul [in the traditional dualistic sense]. Nephesh is designed to be seen together with the whole form of man, and especially with his breath; moreover man does not have nephesh, he is nephesh, he lives as nephesh.”—Hans Walter Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1974), p. 10.
God created humans as a vibrant animated body but not as an incarnate soul. Thus, humans were not created with an immortal soul, as an entity within them, per se, but as human beings they are souls. This doctrine is confirmed by later use of this term in Scripture and by other biblical authors. For example, (1) the book of Genesis counts how many “persons” moved into Egypt with Jacob, and these persons are called “souls” (Gen. 46:15, 22, 25, 26, 27); (2) Luke mentions how many people were baptized after Peter’s preaching on the Day of Pentecost: about three thousand people (Acts 2:41; literally, 3,000 souls).
The body, soul, and spirit function in close cooperation, revealing an intensely sympathetic relationship among a person’s spiritual, mental, and educational faculties. To these aspects we also need to add a social dimension because we are created as social beings. Paul elaborates on this multidimensional aspect of human behavior and explains that, as human beings, we need to let God transform us by His grace and Spirit: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23, NIV).
Thus, everything we are and do must be sanctified by God. Within our existence as humans, we experience life on a physical, emotional, mental/intellectual, spiritual, and social level. One cannot separate these aspects. For example, when we engage in physical exercise (whether we jog, work in the garden, or walk), we also engage our feelings; our thoughts; and our mental, spiritual (in the event that we pray or recite biblical text), and social faculties (if we are not alone) during the time of our activity.
Death—Reversal of Life
Death causes a reversal of God’s creative activity, of our existence as living beings. The most important thing to know is that our identity is in God’s hands. Ecclesiastes frames this thought in poetic language: “Remember him [the Creator] before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccles. 12:6, 7, NIV). “Spirit” here means “character” (Ps. 32:2), our identity. We are not forgotten by God, for our names are in the book of life (Phil. 4:3, Rev. 3:5, Rev. 13:8, Rev. 20:15, Rev. 21:27).
Contrary to the common understanding of immortality, the human spirit does not survive death and does not continue in endless conscious existence. The soul as a human being is mortal. The prophet Ezekiel makes it plain that “soul” is mortal when he states: “The one [Hebrew, nephesh, i.e., human person] who sins is the one who will die” (Ezek. 18:4, NIV). A soul (i.e., person) who does not live according to the will of God will perish. It means that a soul (human being) can sin and die. Jesus confirms it: “ ‘Be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell’ ” (Matt. 10:28, NIV). Note that Jesus speaks about the whole person (“soul and body,” internal and external dimensions of our existence) being destroyed in hell (gehenna), in the lake of fire.
The soul does not exist without the body and does not survive the death of the body. Only God is able to kill the soul, which means the soul is not immortal. Soul here means the life of a person, one’s total existence and destiny (it does not refer to an immortal soul or spirit); meanwhile, body represents only a temporary physical existence.
Claude Tresmontant correctly asserts: “By applying to the Hebrew Nephesch [soul] . . . the characteristics of the Platonic psyche [soul], . . . we let the real meaning of Nephesch escape us and furthermore, we are left with innumerable pseudo-problems.”—Claude Tresmontant, A Study of Hebrew Thought, translation by Michael Francis Gibson (New York: Desclee Company, 1960), p. 94.
Death is sleep or rest, and to die is to be gathered to God’s people (i.e., put into the grave together with them [Gen. 25:8, 2 Sam. 7:12, 1 Kings 2:10, 1 Kings 22:40, Ps. 13:3, John 11:11–15, Acts 13:36, Rev. 14:13]). The dead know nothing, do not praise the Lord, do not work or plan, or do any other activities in the grave (Job 3:11–13; Ps. 115:17; Ps. 146:4; Eccles. 9:5, 10).
Immortality of the Soul of Pagan Origin
Belief in the immortality of the soul is taken from Greek philosophy. Pythagoras (a younger contemporary of Daniel) based his religious teachings on the tenet of metempsychosis. Metempsychosis posits that the soul never dies but, rather, is destined to a cycle of rebirths until able to free itself from this cycle through the purity of its life. Pythagoras believed in transmigration, or the reincarnation of the soul again and again into the bodies of humans, animals, or vegetables until it became immortal. Pythagoras’s ideas of reincarnation were influenced by ancient Greek religion.
Plato (roughly speaking, a contemporary of Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet) enhanced this Hellenistic teaching, making the belief of the immortal human soul so prevalent that it became a popular view. During the intertestamental period, the teaching of eternal torture (Jth. 16:17) and the practice of praying for the dead (2 Macc. 12:39–45) began to penetrate Judaism (for exceptions to these trends, however, see also Tob. 14:6–8; Sir. 7:17; Sir. 19:2, 3; Sir. 21:9; Sir. 36:7–10; Bar. 4:32–35; 1 Macc. 2:62–64; 2 Macc. 7:9, 14). Flavius Josephus mentions that the Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul (see Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War 2.8.14; Antiquities 18.1.2, 3).
Tertullian (c. 155–220), a Christian apologist, was one of the first among Christians who claimed that humans have an immortal soul: “I may use, therefore, the opinion of a Plato, when he declares, ‘Every soul is immortal.’ ”— Tertullian, “On the Resurrection of the Flesh,” Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 2004), p. 547.
Oscar Cullmann challenges Tertullian’s view and stands in opposition to it. Cullmann wrote a very influential book, and in it he argues that the idea of human immortality is of Greek origin, and theologians cannot have it both ways: a belief in an immortal soul and immortality received as a gift at the time of resurrection (Oscar Cullmann, Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? The Witness of the New Testament [New York: Macmillan Company, 1958]).
Brevard Childs explains: “It has long been noticed that according to the Old Testament man does not have a soul, but is a soul (Gen. 2:7). That is to say, he is a complete entity and not a composite of parts from body, soul and spirit.”—Brevard S. Childs, Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), p. 199.
Some scholars try to defend life after death by simply appealing to common sense because there is no biblical statement regarding it. For example, Stewart Goetz states: “Scripture as a whole does not teach that the soul exists. Scripture simply presupposes the existence of the soul because its existence is affirmed by the common sense of ordinary people.”—Stewart Goetz, “A Substance Dualist Response,” in In Search of the Soul: Perspectives on the Mind-Body Problem—Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem, ed. by Joel B. Green, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010), p. 139. “Common sense” can, however, be very misleading.
Gift of Everlasting Life
Eternal life is God’s gift to those who believe in Christ Jesus as their personal Savior (John 3:16; John 5:24, 25; John 10:27, 28; John 17:3; Rom. 2:7; Rom. 6:22, 23; Gal. 6:8). Immortality is conditional and depends on our positive response to God’s goodness and on our acceptance of the gospel. This immortality is given to believers at the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:51–55, 1 Thess. 4:13–18).
Part III: Life Application
What does it mean, relationally and ontologically, to be created in God’s image?
Only Christ through His grace, Spirit, and Word can restore God’s image in humans. How can you live as a person made in the image of God?
If we are created mortal without an immortal soul, explain how we can have everlasting life throughout all eternity.
God put into every human heart a longing for eternity (Eccles. 3:11). How can you help awaken this deep desire in an agnostic or atheistic coworker or neighbor through your actions and during your conversations with them?