{"id":103959,"date":"2026-11-04T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T08:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=103959"},"modified":"2026-11-03T13:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T21:44:52","slug":"immortal-soul-or-soul-and-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/doctrine\/immortal-soul-or-soul-and-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Immortal Soul or Soul and Spirit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

What is a soul? Can it die?<\/p>\n

Here is something the Church of God published last century as written by the late Garner Ted Armstrong:<\/p>\n

Most people do not realize what a man really is, believe it or not. Yet God plainly tells us the answer. “And the Eternal God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7).<\/p>\n

There is the answer! Man became a living soul; that is what man is \u2014 a soul. Notice there is no mention that man has a soul, but that man is a soul.<\/p>\n

When God placed Adam and Eve, who were two living souls, in the garden, He issued a command: “And the Eternal God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God was speaking to the man, who was a soul!<\/p>\n

When God said Adam would surely die for taking of the wrong fruit, He was directly informing man of the penalty for sin. The inspired Apostle Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).<\/p>\n

Ezekiel was directed by the Holy Spirit to write, “The soul that sinneth, it [the soul] shall die”! (Ezek. 18:4, 20.)<\/p>\n

Death is the absence of life, the cessation of life \u2014 not the continuation of life under different circumstances. Notice the two opposite states given in Romans 6:23. God tells us the wages of sin is death, but, on the other hand, the gift of God (not something you were born with) is eternal life through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

If eternal life is the gift of God, and comes only through Christ, how is it that humans have assumed they already possess eternal life in the form of an “immortal soul”? Ezekiel said the “soul” that sinneth shall die! Since man is a soul, and since man can die, and a soul can die, it is obvious that man and soul are one and the same thing! (Armstrong GT. Do you have an immortal soul? WCG Booklet, 1973)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Earlier this week, one in the Continuing<\/em> Church of God sent the following in an email:<\/p>\n

Dear Dr. Thiel,<\/p>\n

Today, All Souls’ Day celebration by the catholic world and even some of the protestant groups.<\/p>\n

I find this appropriate time to ask you this very confusing subject regarding the soul which even debated by many disagreeing religious groups.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Church of God taught the mortality of the soul which is strongly confirmed in the scripture like Ezek. 18:4; 18:20; & Matt. 10:28.<\/p>\n

But somehow in some other verses, like Ezekel 37 where soul was not mentioned which is supposed to be there, as bones, sinews and flesh and breath were.<\/p>\n

I was confronted with a question by one Roman catholic who believed soul is immortal. And I reasoned out employing the above-mentioned verses.<\/p>\n

I explained to him that the sinews, flesh, and\u00a0 bones were the composition of the soul, only that it’s a dead soul. And the breath (spirit) from God made them the living soul.<\/p>\n

But then again I faced the question that the soul isn’t the body that dies but only the mere body of the dead boy that God put back again the soul thus the boy revived.<\/p>\n

I noticed here the absence of the word spirit which could seemed to have substituted by the word soul.<\/p>\n

Please Dr. Thiel, explain to me this complexity that baffles the minds even perhaps to many theologians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is what I responded with:<\/p>\n

Thank you for your thoughtful question. This is an important subject because the traditional teaching of an immortal soul has influenced much of professing Christianity, including the observance of All Souls’ Day.<\/p>\n

I believe the apparent difficulty can be resolved by understanding what the Bible actually means by the word\u00a0soul<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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  1. What is a soul?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first place to begin is Genesis 2:7:<\/p>\n

    “But 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 being” (Genesis 2:7, NKJV).<\/p>\n

    The Hebrew expression translated “living being” is\u00a0nephesh chayyah<\/em>, literally a living soul.<\/p>\n

    Notice what the verse actually says. It does not say that God placed an immortal soul inside Adam. Rather, Adam BECAME a living soul when God gave him the breath of life.<\/p>\n

    In other words:<\/p>\n