What Is the Origin of the Soul?

We received this interesting question from one of our readers: “I wonder whether you could consider doing an article relating to the origin and generation of the soul in man. I have never been able to find any Scriptures which have any real bearing on the subject, and I understand there is a difference between Lutheran and Reformed theologians over whether generation is automatic or the result of God’s direct creation at the time of conception. What scriptural evidence, if any, can be adduced?”

The two most common views on the origin of the soul are known as creationism, the belief that each soul is newly created by God at conception, and traducianism, the belief that the soul is passed on at conception from parent to child. There is a third view, held by the church father, Origen: the pre-existence of souls, that all souls were created before the creation of the world and are distributed by God at conception or birth. That heretical doctrine finds no support in Scripture and is mere philosophical speculation.

The debate concerning the origin of the soul goes back to the early church fathers, Origen among them. Augustine favoured creationism, at least in his early writings, and Tertullian favoured traducianism, though his view of the soul as being corporeal (physical) is wrong. Augustine moved in the direction of traducianism in his debates with Pelagius over depravity and original sin, since traducianism seems to favour the view that depravity and a sinful nature, including a sinful soul, are inherited from Adam through natural generation. These doctrines of total depravity and original sin are an important part of the debate.

Lutheranism, following Luther himself, leans toward traducianism; Reformed theology towards creationism. But there is no consensus in either camp. Today, the debate involves the anti-abortion movement and the use of contraception. That debate produces no clear answers either, since both views, that the soul is created by God and that it is passed on at conception, show the wickedness of murdering unborn infants. Some argue against abortion on the basis of creationism, therefore, and others from the standpoint of traducianism, though many “pro-life” Christians favour traducianism since it clearly teaches that a person has a soul, and is a person with body and soul from conception. Creationism leaves open the question of when God creates the soul, and when a fetus becomes a person with both body and soul—whether at conception, at the third trimester or at birth.

Does the Bible answer this question? As our correspondent indicates, it is difficult to find clear Scripture proof for either view. Passages that seem to favour creationism are Numbers 16:22, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Isaiah 57:16, Zechariah 12:1 and Hebrews 12:9. Some of these passages speak of the spirit, rather than the soul, but there is a close relation between the two, as is evident from a comparison of Ecclesiastes 12:7 with Revelation 20:4. The problem with creationism is that it does not explain how the soul, newly created by God with each human birth, is sinful. Nor does creationism reckon with Genesis 2:2-3 which teach that God ended His creative work on the sixth day.

Passages that appear to favour traducianism are Genesis 5:3, Psalm 51:5 and Hebrews 7:9-10. Traducuianists, however, have difficulty explaining how the immaterial soul can be passed on from parents to children through the natural process of conception and birth, though it could be argued that personality traits are also inherited, no one knowing how. To put it another way, there does not seem to be a gene for humility, for intelligence or for the soul. For these reasons, many favour creationism.

Traducianism seems more in harmony with the doctrine of original sin. The Canons of Dordt say, for example, “Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring. Hence all the posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have derived corruption from their original parent, not by imitation, as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propagation of a vicious nature” (III/IV:2).

This writer believes the question about the origin of the soul is too speculative and that neither creationism nor traducianism answers the question of the origin of the soul. The lack of consensus and the fact that the question has not been satisfactorily answered in two thousand years of the history of the church would indicate this. We, therefore, consign the whole issue to the realm of things that are “unprofitable and vain” (Titus 3:9), and that “minister questions, rather than godly edifying” (I Tim. 1:4). God does not give us enough information about the origin of the soul to come to a definitive conclusion. And, if God does not give us sufficient information, then an answer to the question is not necessary or profitable.

There are some things that must be emphasized, however, for all of the important teachings of Scripture.

(1) God is the Giver of life (Ps. 139:13-16; Ecc. 12:7) and, whether He creates a soul for each person or uses the secondary cause of human generation, the life both of body and soul is His gift. Owing our lives and our redemption to Him, we must use body and soul, every breath and every thought, in His service and must do so in the confidence that our lives are safe with Him.

(2) The life God gives begins at conception (Job 31:15; Ps. 51:5; 139:13-16; Jer. 1:5) and, therefore, abortion is murder of an unborn child. When and how God gives the life of body and soul to a person does not change this.

(3) God’s giving life to all is wonderful and miraculous (Ps. 139:14), and it is not surprising that we do not fully understand all that belongs to the conception and birth of a child, the beginning of life and the origin of the soul. For all their efforts, scientists cannot explain the beginning or origin of life or what life is. Nor can we and it is better to marvel than to speculate. Ecclesiastes 11:5 says, “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.”

(4) The soul, whatever its origin, is part and parcel of man’s existence. Man is not just body but is also a “living soul” (Gen. 2:7). As a rational living soul, he is different from the beasts in that he is able to know and live with God, though by his disobedience he has fallen from his first estate into depravity and sin. Materialism and evolutionism foolishly deny that man has a soul.

(5) Man is depraved in soul as well as body—totally depraved (Eph. 2:1-3). Having a soul and having been created to live with God in blessed friendship, he is now the friend of Satan. All that belongs to his soul, including his emotions and his ability to understand, is depraved and sinful.

(6) This depravity is passed on from parents to their children through the generation and begetting of children (Gen. 5:3), though we may not fully understand how. This is not an excuse for sin, but something that must be acknowledged and confessed to God (Ps. 51:5), and thus shows how utterly lost we are, and how much in need of Christ and His redemptive and renewing work.

(7) Christ took on body and soul through His conception and birth (Matt. 26:38; Heb. 2:16-17), and suffered in body and soul for our sins (Isa. 53:11). Since man sinned against God with both body and soul, both had to be redeemed and so our Saviour was made like unto us in all things except sin.

(8) The redeemed soul (Ps. 86:13) is also delivered from depravity and corruption by the sanctifying work of the Spirit (I Thess. 5:23; Isa. 38:17), though this work of the Spirit is not finished until death. Being holy in body and soul by the grace of the Spirit is more important that knowing how we have a soul.

(9) The soul continues after death (Ecc. 12:7). Death is not the end of either body or soul, but every person, body and soul reunited, must stand before God to be judged for what they have done in body and soul, with the souls of the unredeemed to be consigned to everlasting punishment of body and soul (Matt. 10:28), and the redeemed to enjoy in body and soul the bliss of everlasting life in heaven.

(10) The souls of God’s children enter immediately at death into conscious glory with Christ in heaven (Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:21-23; Rev. 20:4). The Bible does not teach soul sleep at death.

(11) At the general resurrection, soul and body will be reunited, and we will be like Christ in body and soul (I John 3:2-3). The soul’s origin will not matter much then.

These truths enable us to say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Ps. 103:1), without a definitive answer to the question of the origin of the soul. Rev. Ron Hanko