QUESTION BOX

Question: Jesus taught that we should not fear those who can kill our bodies, but rather fear Him who can also kill our souls (Mt. 10:28). Surely this is teaching us that our souls do not die when we physically die?"

Answer; Jesus says (Mt. 10:28) that He can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. So, the soul is destructible... not inherently immortal. I don't see that His words mean that our soul lives on; He is saying that persecution can only kill our body, but not the soul. That's not necessarily the same as saying that the soul lives on. Problem is that 'soul' / nephesh / psuche has a very wide meaning in Hebrew, Greek and English. It can at times refer to the body [tho’ clearly not here in Mt.
10:28]. At times it means simply the person. At other times it appears very similar in meaning to 'the spirit'- although not always [soul and spirit can be sundered apart in Heb. 4:12]. In English, "Save our souls" refers to natural life; "she's a troubled soul" refers to internal life, the real self of a person. And this kind of breadth of meaning is also found in the Hebrew and Greek usages of the word.

Very often it is true that the soul refers to the body, and very many references to the "soul" in the Bible are to souls dying or being mortal. The word "soul" does indeed in some places refer to the body. But not always. Whilst we do not consciously survive death, our spirit
returns to God and He is aware of us, holding each of His children in some kind of active memory; so that we read in Rev. 6:9-11 of souls crying out to God for justice, the souls of those who have been slain by persecution. In God's mind and feelings, they are still there with Him,
just as the memory of those we love abides with us after they are dead, they live on in our hearts. And far more so in the heart of God our Creator and Father. So whilst death is the cessation of existence for the one who fell asleep in Christ, they live on in the mind of God.
 From a human viewpoint it is the end, for the time being; but from God's viewpoint, "all live unto Him", He sees those things which are not yet as if they are, and hence He "is" still the God of Abraham etc. to this day.

So in Mt 10:28 I'd say that it is God and Jesus who have the power to destroy permanently our real, essential selves. All men can do is slay the body. They have no control over how God sees things and whether or not He will obliterate a person's soul / real self / essential being from His memory and heart.

Duncan Heaster