The Human Soul
Would you have a hard time doing that? How would you begin? Would you talk about the physical traits of humans, such as how they have two arms, two legs, a head, eyes, ears, and things like that? But, if you talked about the human body, you would only be talking about one part of what a human is. If a person loses an arm, that person is not “less human.” When we think about it, we know that all humans are more than just a physical body.
One of the most special parts about being a human is the fact that God creates every human with a soul. This soul is different from the physical body. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus said: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Jesus is saying that even though a person’s physical body may die, that does not mean the person’s soul dies. There is a good illustration of this fact in the Old Testament. In 1 Kings 17, we read about a young boy who died. Soon after he died, his body was put in an upper room where Elijah the prophet often stayed. Elijah prayed to God: “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” After this prayer, the Bible says: “Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived” (1 Kings 17:21-22). We can see that even though the boy’s physical body was dead, his soul was still alive.
We also understand more about the soul when we think about Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, His soul left His physical body. We learn that His soul went to the spiritual place called Paradise, where He was with the soul of the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). Jesus’ soul did not stay in Paradise. Three days after He died, He came back to Earth and entered His dead body, causing it to live again.
And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
—Luke 23:43
Seeing what happened to Jesus’ soul helps us understand something else about the human soul. Human bodies grow old and die, but not the human soul. The apostle Paul once said, “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Paul was explaining that our soul, the inward man, does not get old like our physical body does. That is because our soul is immortal, which means that after God creates a soul, it will never go out of existence. Your soul will always exist from now on, long after your physical body dies.
Another very important thing about the human soul is that every person’s soul is extremely valuable. Jesus once said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul” (Mark 8:36). Jesus was explaining that all the physical material in the entire Universe is worth less than one human soul. Think about that. If a person owned every ounce of gold in the whole world, it would not be enough to “buy” a soul. You see, one day, when Jesus comes again, the Bible tells us that “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with a fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10). All the physical matter in the whole world will be destroyed, but since human souls are not physical, they will not be destroyed. They are immortal and will live on for eternity. Isn’t it amazing to think that your soul is worth more than every material thing in the whole Universe?
Now we need to talk about something sad that happens to souls. When God creates a soul and places it in the body of a human, that soul is pure and clean. That means that there is no sin in that soul. Each human soul comes into the world perfect and without any blemish. That is why when Jesus was talking about who was the greatest in heaven, He put a small child in the middle of His disciples. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). When little children are conceived and born, they are innocent and pure, and are members of the kingdom of Heaven. As humans get older, however, they are tempted to sin. At some point, everyone who lives long enough, gives in to temptation and sins. Jesus was the only human Who grew old enough to sin, but He always resisted temptation and never sinned. Sin is what happens when a person does not do what God wants that person to do. When people sin, that sin “sticks” to their souls. There is nothing that any person can do on their own to “fix” the sin on their soul. And, if that sin stays there, the person’s soul will be separated from God. The prophet Ezekiel once said: “The soul who sins shall die” (18:20). That means any soul that has sinned will be separated from God.
When a person sins, it may not affect that person’s body. For instance, if a person tells a lie, there is no mark left on that person’s body. No one can tell by looking at another person that the person lied three days ago. But, when someone sins, it does affect the soul, even though we cannot see it.
We know that each soul is very valuable. And sin causes a soul to be separated from God. And humans cannot get sin off of their souls by themselves. So, what can be done to fix the problem? Before God created the first human soul, He had a plan in His mind to make a way to wash sins off of sinful souls. When Jesus died on the cross, He offered His body as the perfect sacrifice for sins. Because He never sinned, and His soul was always perfect, His sacrifice has the power to forgive sins. The apostle Peter wrote: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just [Jesus who never sinned] for the unjust [all the people who have sinned], that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).” Jesus’ blood has the power to wash all the sins off our souls.
How do we get this forgiveness from our sins? When Peter was writing to Christians, he said, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth” (1 Peter 1:22). When we obey God’s plan of salvation that we read about in the New Testament, our sins are washed away. The apostle John wrote that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Your soul is the most valuable part of you. Sadly, many people rarely even think about their souls. Jesus once told a story about a very rich man. He had spent his life gathering money and wealth. He was planning to build even bigger places to store all of his wealth. After that, he was planning to live for many years in luxury. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’” (Luke 12:16-21). The rich man was so distracted by his physical wealth that he did not think about his most valuable treasure—his immortal soul.
Jesus told the story about the rich man to warn us. Let us all learn the lesson that the most important thing we can ever do in this life is to obey the truth and have our souls washed clean of sins, so that we can live forever in heaven with Jesus.
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