The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

III. “Living Soul” Does Not Connote Immortality

Another expression concerning man’s creation, that is likewise often invoked to sustain Immortal-Soulism, is the intriguing term “living soul.” Here is the familiar text cited: “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” (Genesis 2:7). CFF1 34.1

The fact that Scripture declares that man became a “living soul” is persistently cited by some as establishing man’s possession of inherent immortality. But while man became a living soul, he did not thereby automatically become an immortal soul, or being. The same Hebrew term, “living soul,” is applied to the lower animals. In fact, nephesh (soul) is four times applied to the lower animals before it is used of man—in Genesis 1:20, 21, Genesis 1:24, Genesis 1:30. And out of the first thirteen usages in Genesis, nephesh is nine times used of the lower animals. CFF1 34.2

Thus the expression “living soul,” as applied to Adam, does not thereby prove that he was endowed with immortality when he was created. If it does, then the animals were likewise invested with immortality, for they were also called “living souls” (Genesis 1:20)—which all will admit unquestionably goes too far. The obvious difference between a “living soul’” and a lifeless soul is, of course, that the one has life, whereas the other does not. The term “living soul,” then, actually implies mortality, for the word “soul” is also applied to men who are dead. CFF1 34.3

1. LIVING SOUL NOT A SEPARATE ENTITY

Further, God did not take a separately “living soul” and install it in a lifeless body—a tenant, as it were, a separate entity distinct from it. It was by the divine inbreathing of the “breath of life” into the lifeless body that man became a living soul—a single entity, an inseparable unit, a unique individual. ¹ The heart began to beat, the blood to circulate, the brain to think, and all the processes of life sprang into action. In death the process is simply reversed—the life-giving breath is withdrawn, the heart ceases to beat, the circulation of the blood stops, the mind ceases to function, and all the vital processes end. The organism begins to disintegrate, and the body returns to the dust—the same lifeless condition whence it came. The individual is dead. CFF1 34.4

2. INNATE DEATHLESSNESS NOT PART OF ORIGINAL ENDOWMENT

Inasmuch as God declared that after his transgression man was destined to return unto dust (Genesis 3:19), it is crystal clear that not only was he not immortal then but that up to that point immortality had not been assured him. Moreover, that he was not as yet immortal is likewise shown by his expulsion from the Garden—“lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” (Genesis 3:22). The term “living soul” is therefore clearly not to be equated with immortal soul—an expression never once occurring in Scripture. This fact is unassailable. CFF1 35.1

It must be obvious, then, that Genesis 2:7 does not countenance the assumption of innate deathlessness as an original endowment of man’s nature, nor does the creation story as a whole. Adam was simply created a candidate for immortality, which was to be conferred upon him upon the fulfillment of conditions. Hundreds of outstanding Bible students of all faiths, spread over the centuries, attest that there is not a single passage in the Bible in which man, in his earthly life, is spoken of as immortal, either as a whole, or in any part of his being. (These are discussed in volume 2.) CFF1 35.2

But in addition to this negative aspect of omission, the inspired record of creation contains positive evidence of man’s candidacy only for immortality in the original threat of death in case of disobedience, and finally in the doom of death subsequently pronounced in Eden. Man was not created immortal, but only a candidate for immortality. CFF1 35.3