Truth Seeker
  Soul--Immortal? Animals?
 

1. Are animals souls?

Gen 1:20, And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens. (Darby)

Gen 9:10, and with every living soul that is with you, of birds, of tame-beasts and of all wild-beasts of the earth that are with you,—of all coming forth out of the ark, even to all wild-beasts of the earth.  (Rotherham)

According to the Bible, an animal needs to have blood in its veins to be considered a soul.

French, Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, and as far as I can tell, Dutch Bibles all concur with the following NW English translation. The KJV uses the word life instead of soul. This again backs up Strong's Greek dictionary's definition and showing that the two words have similar meanings in the Bible. 

In Psalms 78:50 quoted later, the phrase using the word soul in KJV with Strong's numbers inserted looks like this, "he spared not their soul <05315> from death."  It is interesting to compare that phrase with the word life Gen 9:4 KJV, 4But flesh with the life <05315> thereof."

The above scriptures also determine that It may therefore be understood that prior translations are justified in using the word "soul" in their translations; further, it is also clear that the word soul is used in one sense as meaning life. 'soul' refers to the entire being. The translators acknowledge quite evidently by means of their translations. Below, a scripture shows how the life of an organism is symbolized by means of its blood. Here this symbol of life is called soul.

Gen 9:4
(German Elderfelber) "Nur das Fleisch mit seiner Seele, seinem Blute, sollt ihr nicht essen."
Translation: Only the flesh with its soul, its blood, should you not eat.
Only flesh with its soul -- its blood -- YOU must not eat. (NW)
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (KJV)

2. Is the human soul immortal?

Please verify that the following scripture in Isaiah only can refer to Christ! The whole chapter is good reading and gives ample information about Christ.
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (KJV)

Numbers 23:10 . . . can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his! (Darby)

Psalm 78:50, He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence. (KJV)

Psalm 89:48, What man is he who shall live and not see death, who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. (ASV)

Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I assign him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong: because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and was reckoned with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Darby)

Ezekiel 18:4 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 18:20 The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of a righteous man shall be upon him, and the wickedness of a wicked man shall be upon him. (ACV)
It is obvious to anyone reading the above scriptures that the soul is mortal. The word is used to refer to the life of a person, and also to the entire being itself.  This is why a few scriptures say that the soul went out -- thereby stating that the soul died when the life of that being left.

Link to: What is the Soul?

Immortal Souls

The discussion above concerned humans.  Here, the subject is about heavenly beings.  The book of Hebrews contains this interesting scripture:
Hebrews 10:38, But my just man liveth by faith; but if he withdraw himself, he shall not please my soul.  (DRC)
The point here made concerns God's soul.  God is immortal, thus God and the glorified Jesus also, are immortal souls.  God's angels are not immortal but may be assumed to have eternal life, and their souls are correspondingly that.  Since soul refers to human and animal beings in their entirety, it is no great surprise that it also refers to God's and other spirit beings.   Let's remind all that the resurrected glorified Saints also receive immortality and are immortal souls once they are resurrected.
I Timothy 6:15, Which in his times he shall shew who is the Blessed and only Mighty, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16Who only hath immortality, and inhabiteth light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and empire everlasting. Amen.  (DRC)
At the time Paul wrote this, only one, Paul said, had immortality.  From this we may conclude that angels are not immortal.
 
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