Reverend Tony Zekveld

In the original languages of the Holy Bible, there are two basic words for soul: "nephesh" (Hebrew Old Testament) and "psyche" (Greek New Testament). Both "nephesh" and "psyche" mean "life" or "self."

But this meaning also has a wide range of connotations in the Bible, such as "living being," "someone," "breath," "power of life," "person," "desire," "appetite," "emotion," "heart," or "mind."

Man, therefore, is a soul but he also has a soul. The presupposition of the Bible (and therefore my presupposition in our discussion of soul) is that man is a unity, body and soul. The idea that the body is the "prison-house" of the soul does not originate in the Bible or in Christendom but in Greek philosophy. The Bible teaches that the body of the Christian "is the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19). G. C. Berkower, in his book Man: The Image of God writes,

"no part of man is emphasized as independent of other parts, not because the various parts are not important, but because the Word of God is concerned precisely with the whole man in relation to God (200) (emphasis mine)."

In our discussion of soul, my purpose in this article is to compare two different views of the soul: the Sikh view and the Christian view. I also want to let you, the reader, know before hand, that in this article I also presuppose a distinction between humans and all other living beings. The Bible distinguishes man and woman from all other life forms in that man is created in the image of God. The Bible says, "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). All other living creatures, such as animals, are not created in His image. The uniqueness of man is that God created man and woman to relate with Him, to walk and talk with Him, in other words, to be in covenant with Him. This is what makes a person, a person!

In light of the above purpose, I want to focus on three aspects: 1) the origin of the soul, 2) the journey of the soul, 3) the destiny of the soul.

1. The Origin of the Soul in Each Person

In contrast to the Sikh view, the Christian view is that the soul (atman) in each person is not eternal and it is not part of the world soul (parmatman). The Sri Guru Granth Sahib says that "the entire universe is the manifestation of one God" (803) and that the "Lord himself is everything. There is no other, no second . . ." (54). Moreover, Guru Gobind Singh writes, "when the Creator projected himself all creatures of the earth assumed various shapes. But when you draw creation into yourself, O Lord, all embodied beings are absorbed in you."

The Sikh view, as I understand it, presupposes that all creation, including the soul in each individual, emanates from God (parmatman). Hence, the soul is a part of or a spark of the divine. If I may be somewhat crude in my analogy: as a spider emits the thread from itself and draws it back into itself so the universe was emitted by God and will be reabsorbed into God.

The Bible, however, says differently. When God created the world, He gave the world a separate existence (Genesis 1). The creation is distinct from His own Being. Therefore, the universe cannot be regarded as itself God or even a part of God. Certainly the universe is dependent on Him and God upholds the universe by His almighty power. But the universe is not an emanation from God. The creation is a distinct creation of God. Fundamental to the Christian world view, and therefore to our discussion of soul, is the Creator-creature distinction.

With respect to the origin of the soul, then, the Bible teaches that while God is eternal, man as soul is not eternal. Man is a created being.. He has a beginning, body and soul. In the Bible's account of the creation of man, we read from Genesis 2:7: "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 (nephesh) ." We see two aspects of man's being: the physical ("dust of the ground") and the spiritual (breath). We are told here that man received life-breath by a direct act of God's creative power. This life-breath is not a part of God or an emanation of God (just as the dust is not). Yet it is a life-breath unique to human beings, in distinction from all other forms of life. This is consistent with man being created in God's image.. Note here that man is called "a living soul" or "a living being."

Genesis 2:7 describes for us the origin of the soul in our first parents, Adam and Eve. But the question is asked: what is the origin of the soul in their descendants, in you and me? We are not made in the same way that God made our first parents. We will deal with this matter in connection with our second point: the journey of the soul.

2. The Journey Of Each Individual Soul: One Body or Many Bodies?

In contrast to the Sikh view, the Christian view is that the soul (atman) does not travel through many bodies. Man is a unity -- body and soul knit together --- therefore, he has one life on earth. As the Bible says, "it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. . ." (Hebrews 9:27) (emphasis mine)

The Sikh view, as I understand it, is that the "atman" travels from body to body. Or to put it in different words, the soul or atman keeps on changing its body or its clothes. There are 84 lakh rebirths in the form of many different species, depending on one's karma. For example, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib says, "they wander in eighty-four lakhs (8,400,000) of species and in their roaming and rambling become miserable. They act in accordance with the preordained writ which none is able to erase" (27). Elsewhere it says, "their birth and death cease not. They come and go again and again" (68).

According to the Bible, however, the soul is unique to each person. My soul never belonged to any life form previous to my birth and it will never assume another life form after I die. The journey of my soul on earth is relatively a short one: 70 years and if I have the strength, 80 years (Psalm 90:10). So how did my soul come to me? Among many Christians, it is generally presupposed that each individual soul is a direct creation of God at the time he/she is conceived in his/her mother's womb.. At the same time, family traits and peculiarities are inherited as well as the sinful corruption of our first parents.. This view that the individual soul is a direct creation of God is favored from the following passages in the Bible:

Ecclesiastes 12:7: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."

Isaiah 42:5: "Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it."

Zechariah 12:1: "Thus says the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him."

Hebrews 12:9: "Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?"

The journey of each individual soul on earth, however, concludes with a violent rupture or separation of body and soul. This is called death. Death is not normal in the sense that God did not create man to die. God created man to live in relationship with Him forever on earth as whole persons, body and soul. In His covenant with our first parents, God said, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat" (Genesis 2:16). But God also said to man, "but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die " (Genesis 2:17; emphasis mine). Genesis 3 tells us about man breaking covenant with God. And man died.

The question is: what died? The answer: man as living soul died, first spiritually and then physically. The broken relationship with God (spiritual) is seen today in the violent rupture of body and soul at death. Death is God's righteous judgment upon man because he turned his back on God. The Bible confirms this in Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..." (Romans 5:12; emphasis mine). Man is sinful, both body and soul, and he inherits this sin nature from his first parents. As the Bible says, "the soul [meaning man, body and soul] who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).

However, this is not the end of the matter. God, in His grace, made a new covenant with our first parents in Christ. And while the journey of man's soul on earth is brief, the journey of His church remains from generation to generation. God's work of reclaiming man, body and soul, continues. From the beginning of history, God continues to gather for himself souls from every tribe, language, and country. So we read, for example, in Acts 2:41, "then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them (to the church)." For sinful souls, Christ, Who alone is without sin, gave His life as a perfect sacrifice on the cross to purchase souls from every nation.

So we read in Isaiah 53:10, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him (Christ); He has put Him to grief, when you make His soul an offering for sin" (emphasis mine). In this passage, His "soul" means His "life -- body and soul." He gave Himself as a perfect offering to God for Adam's helpless race. Isaiah 53:12 says, "Because He poured out His soul [His life] unto death." He gave His life, body and soul, so that He might redeem us, body and soul. The journey of my soul on earth may be a short journey but Christ will make me whole person, once again.

This brings us to our final aspect of the soul.

3. The Destiny of the Soul In Each Person

In contrast to the Sikh view, the Christian view does not presuppose that the soul (atman) merges with the Parmatman. His soul is not eventually lost in the bigger cosmic soul once he has been delivered from the cycle of rebirths.. For example, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib says, "Once merged with God, man is never separated from him again and his light merges into the supreme light" (1247).

For the Christian, however, after he dies he lives forever in the presence of God, as a distinct creature. The apostle Paul speaks about this in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4:

For we know that if our earthly house (the body), this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

Simply put, Paul describes his body as his earthly house, his tent. The body is weak, subject to corruption, sickness and destruction. The body will die. But Paul also says that God will clothe him again with a new body in heaven. The Bible tells us that when Jesus returns at the end of the world, all the dead whoever lived in the world will be raised again from the dead. Their bodies will be reunited with their souls, to which it properly belongs. The difference, however, is that this new body will never die. The Bible says, "so also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power" (1 Corinthians 15:42,43). In the meantime, at the time of death, the soul becomes naked. It is without a body, says Paul. It is unclothed, yet conscious in the presence of Christ. But one day, Christ will raise my mortal body, the body which died, and will become immortal. ("be swallowed up by life").

What is the ground or justification for this belief? The very ground for this belief is Jesus' own resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28). Because of Jesus' resurrection from the dead, His supernatural work is twofold: 1) He grants new life to the sinful corrupt souls of all those who believe on Him. This is called the inner or spiritual life. This is what Jesus means when He says: "unless one is born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God. . . you must be born again" (John 3:3,7). He means now, in this short life that you have on earth, your soul needs the new life. 2) Christ's resurrection also guarantees the resurrection of my body from the dead. This is called the physical life. He will give me a new body that will never die. I will be a complete person once again -- body and soul -- as God intended from the beginning.

Those who do not believe on Christ, will also be raised from the dead. Whether the body is cremated, or buried in the bottom of the ocean or in the ground, makes no difference. The body will be raised. Jesus says, "Do not marvel as this; for the hour is coming in which all in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good (ie; those who have believed on Christ), to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil (ie. those who have not believed on Christ), to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28-29). The destiny is either eternal glory in the presence of God, or eternal agony in the presence of Satan.

Hence the Christian view of immortality contrasts the Sikh view. For the Sikh, immortality is the endless existence of the soul (the immaterial part of man) and eventually absorption into the divine. For the Christian, however, immortality is imperishable salvation for both body and soul.

Conclusion

A person's soul, according to the Sikh world view is eternal and is a spark of the cosmic energy, the world soul, the Parmatman. The soul emanates from the Parmatman, passes through multiple cycles of rebirths, until it is finally absorbed into the Parmatman.

However, the Bible speaks very differently about the soul. While the soul is immortal, it is not eternal. It has a beginning. In the Bible, the term "soul," at times, refers to the whole person, body and soul. Other times, the term "soul" refers to the spiritual dimension of man. God created man as a living soul. Because of God's punishment upon man, there is now the tearing apart of man into two at death. However, God, in His love, gave Christ! Through faith in Christ, who poured out His soul (His life) unto death, He redeems man body and soul. At the end of the world, He will return in grace and in judgment.. Body and soul will be reunited -- some will enter into everlasting glory and all others will enter into everlasting perdition.

Appendix: The Relationship Between "Soul" and "Spirit"

In this connection, I would like to touch briefly on the relationship between "soul" and "spirit." There is a school of thought which claims that man consists of three substances: body, soul, and spirit. This idea does not originate in Christendom, but in Greek philosophy. The idea is that there is a need for some intermediary, for some bridge between the two worlds of body and spirit. This need is met in the soul which is the bridge between body and spirit. It is argued that through the soul, the unity of human nature could be arrived at.

However, the term "soul" and "spirit", according to Berkhof in his Manual of Christian Doctrine, "do not denote two different elements in man, but serve to designate the one spiritual substance of man" (pg.122). While "soul" may refer to the whole person (but not always), "spirit" never refers to the whole person, but only to the spiritual aspect of man. We can say man is a soul but he has a spirit. Yet, in the Bible we often see the two terms "soul" and "spirit" used interchangeably. A few examples will suffice.

Example 1: death is sometimes described as the giving up of the soul.

"And so it was as her soul was departing (for she died) that she called his name Ben-Oni but his father called him Benjamin" (Genesis 35:18).

"And he stretched himself on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, 'O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him" (1 Kings 17:21). Death is sometimes described as giving up the spirit. For example,

"And when Jesus cried out with a loud voice, He said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46);

"And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:58).

Example 2: The immaterial element of the dead is sometimes called soul:

"Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God..." (Revelation 20:4)

But the immaterial element of the dead is at times called the spirit:

"by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:19)

"to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect..." (Hebrews 12:23).

Example 3: We also see the parallel usage of "soul" and "spirit" in the Bible:

"With my soul I have desired you in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek you early" (Isaiah 26:9)

"And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour" (Luke 1:46-47).

Example 4: At times, the Bible speaks of man consisting of "body and soul":

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell" (10:28).

At other times, the Bible speaks of man consisting of "body and spirit":

"Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

" but . . . deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Corinthians 5:5).

From the foregoing (and many more examples could be given), we hear that the Bible presupposes the unity of man (body and soul) not a trinity of man (body, soul, and spirit). Some appeal to the following line from the Bible to defend the tripartite nature of man: "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:23) Did Paul therefore, believe that man consists of three parts? No.

Here Paul is stressing "the wholeness and totality of human existence, not its metaphysical divisibility." If this passage teaches the tripartite (three part) nature of man, then one can also argue that man consists of four parts, even five. For example, Jesus says: "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). Including the body, there are five parts! Here, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the emphasis is on the whole man and all his various dimensions relating to his spiritual and physical existence.

Others turn to Hebrews 4:12 which reads, "For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The meaning of "division" however is not "division between" but "division within." "Division within" implies one thing -- a division within the one spiritual aspect of man. The reference to "joints and marrow" confirms this meaning. These are not next to each other so as to require a sword to separate it. The text does not speak of bones and marrow, but joints and marrow as it does of thought and intents. The intent of Hebrews 4:12 is to show the power of the Word of God and how it can divide the seemingly indivisible!

The conclusion, then, is that "soul" and "spirit" are often used interchangeably in the Bible underscoring the unity of man -- body and soul or body and spirit.

SOURCES

Berkhof, Louis Manual of Christian Doctrine Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1933, Reprinted 1973.

Berkouwer, G.C. Studies in Dogmatics: MAN: THE IMAGE OF GOD Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI 1962; Reprinted 1981

Lake, D.M. "Soul" from The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia Of The Bible Vol. 5 , General Editor, Merrill C. Tenny, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI 1976.

Sir Guru Granth Sahib:English and Punjabi Translation, Translated by Manmohan Singh, Published by: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, 1996.

Sproul, R.C. Essential Truths Of The Christian Faith, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill. 1992

The Holy Bible (NKJV) Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1994.

Zekveld, Tony "Sikhism and Christianity: A Comparison of Two World Views," A paper prepared in 1999.

Zekveld, Tony "THE BEING OF GOD: A Comparison Between Two Credos: Christianity and Sikhism," A paper prepared in 2002.