What is the human soul technically?

[tonychanyt]

The Hebrew word "nephesh" (soul), the Greek words "psyche" (soul) and "pneumatic" (spirit), and the English word 'soul" are polysemantic. Their lexical meanings overlap. For precision and argumentation, I define spirit as a non-baryonic (invisible) substance that houses a person's conscience. I define the soul as the collective faculties of volition, emotion, intellect, and memory. These definitions are based on Watchman Nee's The Spiritual Man. They correspond to the functions of the frontal lobe. Let me use a computer analogy.

English Revised Version, Genesis 2:

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,

i.e., the hardware

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;

i.e., animation power to give Adam conscience, and he became conscious

and man became a living soul.

When the breath of life contacted the physical body, Adam's soul was formed, and he became aware. His soul grew gradually in terms of subroutines and memories daily. Our brain's programs/codes/neural networks change and develop dynamically based on our experiences/inputs. Our soul uniquely identifies you. It is your personality.

A person's volition faculty uniquely identifies him. That's the minimal identification of him. No other person has your volition organ. Ultimately, his volition makes his decisions. The volition is like the helm of a ship.

His conscience, emotion, intellect, memory, and spirit are closely associated with his volition. These faculties grow and develop, supplying input to the volition that allows the person to make decisions.

Let me compare a human to a computer robot. The body is analogous to the physical hardware. The soul is the software code plus the data. The non-physical spirit provides the electricity supply.

The human soul + the human spirit = the inner man

Berean Literal Bible Ephesians 3:

16 that He might give you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man

What happens when a person dies?

Hezekiah likened death to oblivion in (BSB) Isaiah 38:

17b but Your love has delivered me [H5315 my soul] from the pit of oblivion.

Job likened death to sleep in 14:

12 so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

Daniel 12:

2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

What happens when the human spirit departs?

Acts 7:

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

When Stephen's spirit left his body, it went to Jesus' care. His soul was deactivated, and his body died. His soul was zipped up and stored or saved (pardon the computer pun) in the Lord's memory. 2 Corinthians 5:

8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

The soul has a definite temporal beginning. Its animation life (consciousness) depends on the breath of God. It develops from its life experience. Its life can be suspended. Without the breath of God, it becomes unconscious until the last day, John 6:

40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Your body will be reconstructed on the last day based on your stored soul data and genetic information.

When a person's spirit departs, he dies, he is no longer conscious, and his soul is stored in a secure place. He no longer experiences the passage of time.

See also Where was Jesus between his death and resurrection?

 

[TahitiRun]

The Hebrew word "nephesh" (soul), the Greek words "psyche" (soul) and "pneumatic" (spirit), and the English word 'soul" are polysemantic. Their lexical meanings overlap. For precision and argumentation, I define spirit as a non-baryonic (invisible) substance that houses a person's conscience. I define the soul as the collective faculties of volition, emotion, intellect, and memory. These definitions are based on Watchman Nee's The Spiritual Man.

Perhaps the best way for myself to understand the Hebrew term "nephesh" is how scripture presents it in the Genesis account that you started with:

Gen 2:7 Then 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.

My own understanding of this text is that man does not "have" a soul, but rather man "became" a living soul, or perhaps better yet: a living being.

And that soul, or living being, consists of a body formed from the dust of the earth, united with the breath of God, that God breathed into the nostrils of that body. And, the uniting of those two elements "became" a living being, or soul "nephesh".

Regarding the spirit of man: Job gives us some insight as to what the breath of God is, by using poetry or Hebrew parallelism, shown here:

Job 27:3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

Job 32:8 But it is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty, that giveth them understanding.

Job 33:4 The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty given me life.

Job 34:14 If He set His heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself his spirit and his breath;

From Job's perspective, and as stated in scripture, Job's own spirit/breath is the very breath and spirit of God. Which I find to be an amazing concept too lofty for my simple mind to comprehend...lol. From this perspective, God is already in each person that walks the earth.

Man's spirit is none other than the very spirit and breath of God within us.

On the other hand, man's humble but wonderfully formed body is really just dust of the earth, to which it returns to the earth when the soul is divided (body from spirit) at death.

Ecc 12:7 And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.

A simple way to understand the term "soul" is to think of it as a compound consisting of two elements that are joined together. Those two elements of the soul being Body + Spirit.

An analogy to further this idea would be to consider common table salt or water.

Table salt is a compound of sodium + chloride. The elements by themselves are not salt but when joined together they "become" salt. And when the two elements are divided, the salt as we knew it ceases to exist.

In similar fashion, water is also a compound consisting of hydrogen and oxygen, though the elements are used in different proportions. When joined together, they become drinkable water, and when they're divided the drinkable water ceases to exist.

Understanding the soul from this perspective will also have a major impact on how one understands the rest of scripture from Gen 2:7 going forward. This, in my mind, is the Hebrew way of understanding the "soul".

The Greek/Hellenistic/Augustinian views of the soul that are generally accepted by most Christian denominations are decidedly different and consequently will yield different interpretations of scripture.

 

[tonychanyt]

My own understanding of this text is that man does not "have" a soul, but rather man "became" a living soul, or perhaps better yet: a living being.

See You don’t have a soul; you are a soul? and follow up there

 

[KevinT]

Based on your stored soul data and genetic information, your body will be reconstructed on the last day. When a person dies, his soul is stored in a secure place.

See also Where was Jesus between his death and resurrection?

I fully agree. I have used a very similar analogy with others as well -- with tepid results unfortunately. I try to explain that just like when I turn my computer off, the running programs don't "go" anywhere. They just aren't running on the hardware anymore. Most smile politely and seem to effect charitable view on my crazy, nerdy speculations. Ha!

 

[Diamond7]

I try to explain that just like when I turn my computer off, the running programs don't "go" anywhere.

If you turn off the computer the program is turned off and you have to restart it. You must be talking about sleep mode.

Sleep mode is a power saving state that stops all actions on the computer. Any open documents and applications are moved to the system memory (RAM) and the computer goes to a low-power state. This is similar to pausing a movie DVD. The computer is still powered on, but uses less power.

 

[tonychanyt]

You essentially defined it, in this link ("it becomes unconscious"

Well, when one sleeps, he does not lose his consciousness completely. I rather not use the term soul sleep. Soul zip is different.

 

[Grip Docility]

Well, when one sleeps, he does not lose his consciousness completely. I rather not use the term soul sleep. Soul zip is different.

I respect the wording, but the inference appears to be the same. The actual doctrine goes by another name. Do you currently agree with this?
Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is "sleeping" after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the intermediate state.

 

[tonychanyt]

I respect the wording, but the inference appears to be the same. The actual doctrine goes by another name. Do you currently agree with this?
Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is "sleeping" after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the intermediate state.

Sure, I agree. However, I would try to avoid terms like Christian motalism and intermediate state as much as possible. I prefer to stick to words in the Bible when I can.