נפש

Nephesh- soul, self, life, living being

Nephesh is perhaps one of the most difficult words in all of scripture to translate. Our English word, soul, barely scratches the surface of the depth and width that nephesh represents, at least in the vernacular understanding.

The word, soul, is loaded with connotations that frankly are not as biblical as we think. Much of our Western cultural framework for this word has been handed down to us from the Greeks and Romans and their various philosophical and religious traditions. Although many nuances exist, the main difference between the Greek soul and the Hebrew nephesh boils down to their relationships with the body and the physical realm.

Many Christians today influenced by the Greek tradition would perhaps say that a person’s soul is not physical in any way and is simply housed within a person’s body. In the Hebraic tradition, a person’s nephesh means more than their spiritual essence by itself. It includes a person’s body, mind, emotions, desires, and will – every aspect of them that makes them a living creature made in the image of God.

In the Greek tradition, you are a person and you have a soul. In the Hebraic tradition, you are a person, which means you are a soul (nephesh).

Everything that makes a person a person is their nephesh. It is their whole life and all of its thinking, feeling, doing, loving, and desiring components wrapped together. The English phrase “every fiber of your being” sums it up quite nicely.

Suddenly, with this framework, some famous passages of scripture start to make sense in a new way:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (nephesh) and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul (nephesh) thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2 My soul (nephesh) longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. (Psalm 84:1-2)

How might this redefinition of our souls change the way we think about the Christian life? Do things suddenly become much more significant for you?

Instead of worshiping and following God with just a part of ourselves, we give him every part of our life. We worship with our bodies, our hands, our feet, and our mouths. Not just as an outward expression of an inward feeling, but as a unified act of devotion with heart, body, and mind as the embodied creatures God made us to be.

Instead of viewing salvation as just a ghost of ourselves going to a faraway place, God is restoring each component of what makes each of us, and cultivating us for an eternity of worship and holiness.

And when we read that Jesus says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” we actually believe he has suffered and grieved just as we do. (Matthew 26:38)

At the thought of all this, what can we say but:

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. (Psalm 103:1)

Questions to Consider:

1. What does it mean for me to love God with all my soul?
2. What parts of my life have I been withholding from God? How can I begin to open them up to him?
3. What habits in my life damage my soul? What should I begin to do to let God heal them?