Part 3 - The Second Level of Life - Soul Life

The first level of human life that carries an eternal attribute is the "soul" level of life.  This is represented in the New Testament by the Greek word "psuche."  Psuche is used some 40 times in the New Testament in reference to human life.  This same word is used 58 times to refer directly to the soul.  This word is the root of the English word Psychology and refers to the part of us that we commonly call our personality.  Our soul is the seat of our mind, will and emotions.  It is the soul part of us that makes us the unique individuals we are.  These attributes of the human soul are seen in one of the colorations of the Greek word "psuche":  "the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions".^[1]  The soul portion of our human life is the part of us that results in our ability to reason (think), have and express emotions and exercise free will.  This part of our life is very important to our functioning in the plan of God.  This importance can be seen in that our soul was implanted in us by the Father at the creation:  "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."   (Genesis 2:7, KJV).  The biblical account of life considers having a soul as being synonymous with being alive as a human being.  In this we can see that the Father considers our soul to be quite important to our living.  The soul-life part of our human existence differs from the biological portion in two important ways.  The first of these differences is that the soul-life portion of our existence is non-physical.  While we can clearly see the evidence of the existence of our personalities, we cannot dissect the soul.  You will never be able to isolate the soul in the laboratory.  Yet, few if any of us would deny the existence of the human soul. The second difference between the body and the soul is in the area of endurance.  The Bible is very clear that the human soul is eternal.  We note in Matthew 10:28 that no person can touch anyone else's soul.  The human soul is, from a physical standpoint, indestructible.  In the use of the word 'psuche' itself this point is also made.  Another connotation of this word in the Greek is "the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death (distinguished from the other parts of the body)."^[2]

The term used in Matthew 10:28 for 'destroy' does not speak of causing something to cease to exist.  This word (apollumi) rather refers to consigning something to eternal misery in hell.  Many people hold to the mistaken idea that we have no part that is eternal for this very reason.  The unredeemed person would rather cease to exist than to face the fate the Bible warns will come to all those who will not turn to God.