Soulless?

The word 'nephesh' in Hebrew is defined as 'breath of life' 'soul' and 'heart' at various times in the Bible. Heart not being the physical heart, but the seat of emotions and will.

Unless 'breath of life' is going to limit the definition to nostrils and lungs, there is no reason I am aware of to say that angels have no soul. They certainly have a will, for a third of them followed Satan. They seem to have emotions, for there is rejoicing in heaven when a sinner turns and repents.

I'd be interested to see if you get other responses to this.

 

We first see 'soul' in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed in man's nostrils the breath of life 'and man became a living soul'.

Hebrews 1:13, 14 speaks of angels as being 'ministerring spirits', not souls.

 

I concur with Helen. I don't see the scriptural concept of the soul being absent from angels. Physical body, yes; soul, no.

 

If angels had souls, would they not be in need of salvation as humans? I seem to remember being taught this, but that was so many years ago....

 

That's all the realm of speculation, PamelaK. We simply weren't intended to know all there is to know about the realm of angels. So all we can do is speculate.

 

You might want to do a little study on what the soul is, and what the spirit is, and what the body is and which needs salvation.

 

Scarlett, are you saying that having a soul REQUIRES you to sin?

 

Just following through a bit and NOT arguing, OK?

Yes a soul can choose to sin. And the angels also, obviously, have had that choice.

But the angels are not limited by bodies and so God is not 'hidden' from them in that way. Knowing and seeing God they way they have since creation, their choice to rebel would be with far more knowledge, and without a sin nature attached -- so how could repentance be possible?

Does the possibility of repentance determine the presence of the soul, or the possibility of disobeying (making a choice) and sinning in the first place?

 

I'm sort of inclined to think the ones that fell have a sin nature NOW! LOL

But no, they cannot experience salvation.

I'm not trying to argue. I'm just sort of thinking my way through something I hadn't really thought about much before.

I've always associated soul with personality and the ability to form bonds with that which is not like you. I don't see angels like a school of fish, in other words, but as individuals.

But then, saying that I haven't 'seen' angels one way or another does seem to imply that I have seen them some way, and I haven't, at least to the best of my knowledge, so ...oh well...

Lots to learn, later, eh?

 

Angels cannot be redeemed. No soul.

 

You know I didn't post this as if the devil and his angels were going to be judged. I was merely trying to emphasize the point I was making which was that belief in Christ alone is not sufficient for salvation.

 

Posted by:StraightAndNarrow: I was merely trying to emphasize the point I was making which was that belief in Christ alone is not sufficient for salvation.

It absoloutly is!!Belief and faith that He can and will do as He said He would.

Our salvation is specific to man and is not necessary for the angels.

Look at man as a tree. Our roots (Adam and Eve)were rotten and diseased. The branches (us) are also rotten and diseased. When our first parents sinned all that came after them would also sin.

The angels were as far as we know created by God without a set of parents. They have no need to pro create. When one of them sinned it didn't effect the next angels ability not to sin. Instead of them coming from a set of common roots, they were all individual trees with their own roots These angels that did fall, did it willingly. There would be no faith for them as they have lived with the Father for who knows how long.

Man was cursed from Adam on. That is why we need the resurrection. We need restoration to our origional form. Without the second Adam the entire species would be doomed.

What Satan and his fallen angels accomplished was the destruction of the human race. We need God's plan of salvation to be a free gift. In our cursed condition we would never be capable of doing anything to truly please God. He knew that. Thats why salvation is free. We are not what we wanna be, not what we're gonna be, but thank God we're not what we were.

 

I agree with you here. I am a trichotomist, and according to trichotomy, humans have a spirit, soul and body. However, angels nowhere in the Bible are said to have souls, though we humans are often said to have them.

Think of all the things that we humans do from our soul that angels evidently cannot do: art, music, literature, love, hate, etc. Angels in the Bible are simply servants of God. They carry messages, they fight against demons, they minister to us humans as they did to Christ in the Garden. However, they never do any of the things that prove us humans to be in the image of God.

If you say that angels have souls, let me tell you, you certainly have to define a soul strangely. If angels have souls, there is little other than our bodies in the Bible to distinguish them from us humans.

 

Animals have souls, Angels don't. Where does that leave us in this discussion?