What does the Bible say about the immortal soul?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible teaches that human life is God-given and accountable to him, and that immortality belongs properly to God and is granted to his people through Christ rather than possessed independently by every soul. Genesis 2:7 describes man as a living creature, while Genesis 3:19 stresses bodily death and return to dust. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says the spirit returns to God who gave it, yet Ecclesiastes 9:5 emphasizes the deathly end of earthly activity. God alone has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16), and believers seek eternal life through perseverance (Romans 2:7). Christ warns that God can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28), while Romans 6:23 contrasts sin’s death with God’s gift of eternal life in Christ.
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Matthew 10:28
Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
- Genesis 2:7
Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Ezekiel 18:4
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins, he shall die.
- Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
- Ezekiel 18:20
The soul who sins, he shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
And the dust returns to the earth as it was, And the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
- 1 Timothy 6:16
who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
- Romans 2:7
to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life;
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