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Soul Brothers

I can’t look at the Christian view of the soul without touching briefly on why Christianity (in my opinion) is true. There are several reasons, all of which could be extensively elaborated. They are:

the amazing number of ancient prophecies of his coming, life, death and resurrection
his own statements about who he was, why he had come and about his death (and the manner it happened) and that he would rise to new life again
the wealth of historically checked detail that confirms the accuracy of 2 above
the behaviour of his disciples after he had risen and later ascended to heaven
the nature, witness and spread of the early church and its members actions and teachings
personal experience of ‘new life’ through faith in Jesus and the stories of many others whose lives have been enhanced or transformed by faith in Jesus.

Here are a few of Jesus’ most relevant sayings.

No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven… I have spoken… of earthly things and you (Nicodemus, a Pharisee) do not believed me… how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? (John’s gospel ch3 v12 and 13, reordered). If Jesus did not have a soul, how could he have existed in a spiritual realm like heaven? And how, after his body died, could he have continued to exist?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father [God] John ch 14 v8. To say things like this, Jesus was either mad and bad, or he really was God. If Jesus was God, his view of the soul would be indisputable.

For how does a person benefit if they gain the whole world and yet lose their own soul? (Mark’s gospel, ch8 v36, modern English). We may not be part of the trinity/Godhead, as Jesus was, but he clearly taught that everyone has a soul.

Jesus said: Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One [God] who can destroy both soul and body… (Matthews gospel, ch 10 v28). So not only do we each have a soul, but it is not necessarily on an ever-improving course!

In his talk with Nicodemus , referred to above, Jesus said: I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again… of water (baptism in Jesus’ name) and of the (Holy) Spirit. Our physical bodies are like seeds; the soul within is like the life within a seed. The seed can fall to the ground, get blown about and washed around and be buried - but unless it germinates it will, eventually, die. Its inner strength will be exhausted. So it is with us. We need to be buried in God (baptism is symbolic burial) and to germinate (receive ‘new birth’) by our soul (spirit) living in the compost of God’s Holy Spirit. Only then will our soul receive the essential nutrients it needs to enter everlasting life -life with God, now and forever, in heaven.

Jesus said: People are like seed(s)… some hear (God’s) word but the worries of life… wealth… and the desire for things…come in and choke them. Others are sown in good soil (Christian faith). They grow well and bear lots of good fruit. (Mark’s gospel ch4 v20, paraphrased). There was an occasion when Jesus’ blood family though he was mentally disturbed. They stood outside the house where he was teaching, wanting to take him home and keep him quiet! Jesus said to those who were taking in his teachings: ‘Look! Here are my (real) mother and brothers… Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants them to do is my brother, my sister and my mother.’ (Matt ch 12 v49 and 50). Jesus had a soul, we all have souls and when we accept Jesus into our lives by faith we become ‘Soul Brothers’. Wonderful, amazing, hallelujah!

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