Does God have a soul?
 

I am often asked, “Does God have a soul? And if He does, what use is it to Him?” (And one person actually managed to add “Does this mean that God goes to a “Super-Heaven when He dies?” but this person is no longer a member of Landover’s blessed congregation.)

Lev 26:11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
Jdg 10:16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
Zec 11:8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.


And from the NT, we have Jesus:
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

Based on these verses, there can be no doubt that God and Jesus have a soul.

God’s soul seems to be concerned with abhorring, grieving and loathing; Jesus’s with sorrowing. As sorrowing and grieving are closely related, we can see that the concept of Trinity is at work here.

In Genesis, we have
Gen 2:7 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.



Now this presents a problem to the less than well-educated. We see from Gen 2:7 that the breath of life is not a soul, and a man made of mud is not a living soul.

This leaves us with the idea that a man made of mud is soul but not a living one.

“Is then a soul made of mud?” I hear you ask, which is a pity because, likewise, the last person to ask that stupid question is no longer a member of Landover’s blessed congregation. Nevertheless, I will answer. “Ahem… No. The phrase “living soul” must be taken as one word – a livingsoul.

So a livingsoul is a human. Yet even this great illumination may not fully help us.

Now the Bible does not say what God made plants or animals of – He just did it – the animals, like the plants, just grew – why or how is a Mystery and always will be:
Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Gen 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

We can now see that humans are not plants or animals because they had a personal service from God and what distinguishes them is that they have a soul.

Armed with this knowledge, we can go back to:
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

When we do that, we can now add our earlier conclusion “So a livingsoul is a human” and add “Which human?” And the answer has to be “Adam”.

Thus, in a very real sense, Adam lives inside us.

I now hear you say, “Does this mean that God had Adam inside Him when He created the earth?” and that is the first intelligent question you have asked.

And the answer is “Of course! But it was Adam’s soul that was inside Him, not Adam himself – who was, after all “mud” although after God “breathed the breath of life into him, he became that livingsoul and thus human with a soul that had “Adam-ness” that had been part of the soul of God.

At this point, the intelligent Christian will be asking, “Well, why would Adam be inside of us and God and Jesus and only go about abhorring, grieving, loathing and sorrowing?”

I do hate having to spoon-feed people… that is why God made women who seem to have been given more patience so as to deal with mental gimps, e.g. children.

Think about it – which Biblical character has more right to abhor, grieve, loath, and sorrow? Obviously Adam, who was tricked by a woman and a talking snake and as a consequence became mortal and had to leave Paradise! It is enough to test the patience of a saint, isn’t it! No wonder that his job is now to abhor, grieve, loath, and sorrow.

So there we have it.

God and Jesus and us – we all have souls. They are part of the original soul of God and the name of (or word for) that soul is “Adam”. And Adam was put in a livingsoul and became the first human and, for want of a better name, the human kept the name “Adam” whilst on earth, and then passed his “Adam-ness” or soul on to his children, and they to theirs when they went around begetting.

Imagine, back in the day someone from The Land of Nod would have seen Adam wandering around with Cain or Able and say “Don’t they all look alike? You can tell Cain has a bit of Adam in him.” And this we can understand as “…You can tell Cain has a bit of the soul of God in him” because we all look like God, don’t we?

I hope this has cleared up the matter.

Re: Does God have a soul?
 

Thank you, Pastor Bathfire, yes, you did clear up the matter.

Um, I a friend of mine (I mean, not really a friend-friend, more of a casual acquaintance) read this article, and she asked: "So did he say that God and Jesus have two different souls? But aren't they supposed to be one and the same - how can they have two separate souls? Is Jesus' soul derived from Adam, or directly from God? Or maybe Jesus' soul is half-and-half, half human, half God - sort of like receiving DNA from both parents, His mom who was human and His Dad Who is God?"

Obviously, I could give an answer to these silly questions, but I know it would be so much clearer if you said something on the subject, Pastor! :innocent:

Re: Does God have a soul?
 

If you your friend can manage to read the article, you will see that The Soul of God and the Soul of Jesus, and my soul are all the same soul, which is taken from an infinite supply of “soul” that exists within God Who is the Trinity. (And surely "The Trinity" is a simple enough concept...)

The soul is rather like unto a poor family who can afford only one Cadillac – the father, the mother and the son all drive it, and when the daughter becomes old enough, she too may drive it. The question cannot be then put, “Is the availability of the Cadillac, the father’s the son’s or the mother’s or the daughter’s?” for the answer is that it is “of all”.

You your friend will then say, “Why are we all different is we have the same soul?” And I will reply, “Well, in the parable of the Cadillac, each driver with use their portion of “availability” differently. The father will be a confident and knowledgeable driver; the son will be a manly and dashing driver, the mother will cause extreme annoyance because of her incompetence, and the daughter will end in a ditch or a river after many fender-benders.”

And so it is with souls: The Bible is the road map for the soul: some cannot read maps, some cannot keep to roads; some accept the map in the way a True Christian will accept the Bible.

I hope this is enough for you your friend.

Re: Does God have a soul?
 

I am not a plant and don't know why or how plants are made but we do know WHEN they were made.

Gen2

4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

The plants were not here when they were made. For them to grow here they'd need to be moved from where they were made to the earth. Once in the ground of their new home they could grow, but they were plants from the day they were made and for all the trip to get here and they're still plants now. The next thing to look at is WHERE they were made.

Re: Does God have a soul?
 

I'd say you're more a fruit...

Did you not read
Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.?
Obviously, grass, herbs and trees are all the some sort of thing just as birds and bats are.

Does nobody speak Jesus’s English nowadays? :angry:

Gen 2:5 And every {plant [of the field before it]} was in the earth, and every [herb {of the field before it}] grew:

{plant [of the field before it]} = {plant [that was associated with the field [that was] in front of it]}

Compare:

He stood before God does not mean He got up onto his feet before God did.

Re: Does God have a soul?
 

Brother Bathfire, the parable of the Cadillac really clears things up. The soul is a delicate thing that should not readily be shared with others - even family members - would you let a random stranger ride your Cadillac? It would likely be returned all scuffed and with a puncture. Fortunately there are exercises one can do to maintain integrity afterwards. But best not to share, which - I think, is the distillation of God's Holy message.