Does God have a soul?

...I can't imagine anyone answering 'no,' but I thought some of you who are more learned in the Scriptures than I can help me to crystallize it: Does God have a soul?

Conceiving the soul to be mind and emotions, we know that Jesus showed anger, compassion etc so He had a soul.

Does God the Father have a soul? Well, considering how He spoke to many of the prophets of His anger at Israel, or other instances when He had compassion on them, I think indicate to His having a soul.

How about the Holy *Spirit*? Is He exclusively Spirit and not soul? Any scripture to suggest one way or the other? E.g. is it scriptural to speak of 'grieving the Holy Spirit?' If it is, does that suggest He has a soul?

JESUS was moved with compassion,
touched by our weakness, wept
over Jerusalem and for HIS friend
Lazarus. Yes, GOD has a heart
and soul, and it is breaking over
sin !

Joh 4:23-24 (23) But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

I am not sure we can apply that which is true of man to God in this case. God is spirit. We define the human soul as the center of mind, will and emotions, but that does not mean that God being "soulless" would cease to think, feel, or choose. He is a creator that is outside of and transcendent of His creation. It would be a bit like a pocketwatch thinking that the watchmaker must have gears inside of him or he could not tell time.

I don't believe God has a "soul" but rather that He is Spirit. However when Jesus took on flesh and blood He must have had a soul. It seems that the soul is what results from the body receiving the spirit (See Genesis 2). It makes sense as well since at death the spirit departs the body and what was a human being with mental and emotional capacities becomes once again dust, lifeless. At the resurrection we will once again be a spirit that is inside a body, this time glorified and incorruptible. Can I, apart from my body, think, feel, or choose as a spirit? That is a question I have never encountered scripture to speak to.

E.g. is it scriptural to speak of 'grieving the Holy Spirit?' If it is, does that suggest He has a soul?

Yes, it is scriptural.

Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

But I don't think we can say something to the end that the Holy Spirit has a soul "in Himself". Since God is one, grieving the Holy Spirit is the same as grieving God in all His fullness.

While we are also described as three in one, namely body, soul and spirit...

1 Thessalonians 5:23
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

...the exact same understanding does not necessarily have to apply to God. We reflect His image, not the other way around.

If you do a search on the word "soul" it shows up as God possessing a soul about three times in the OT. Here is one of them but offhand I do not know where the others are

Judges 10:16
And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

Anyway.......

Every spirit has a soul and God is spirit. In Isa 11.2 you see the Spirit of the Lord (1) and then the six attributes of the soul that all together add up to seven that is the fulness of God

The soul is essentially the mind and Christians start off with the Holy Spirit but they still have the mind(soul) of man and need to obtain the mind (soul) of Christ

Doug

Lesserlight is on the right track.

The controversy seems to revolve around the opinion of whether or not the Soul is synonymous to Spirit. I am of the leaning that Soul and Spirit are more or less two different aspects of the same thing. And the Scriptures seem to liberally use the terms interchangeably, just like it does with Mind and Heart.

The particular verse often used to disassociate the two as distinct and separate entities is Hebrews 4:12.

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

The general concept for holding to this perspective is the typical formation of man as a triune-being. Personally, I think this an excessive interpretation to the meaning of man being made in the "image of God."

Moreover, those who use this verse to support the triune-man doctrine usually completely overlook that there are three symmetrical pairs.

1) soul and spirit
2) joints and marrow
3) thoughts and intentions of the heart

I am no doctor, so I am not altogether certain why the writer of Hebrews (I say Paul) should think to contrast bone joints to bone marrow. And what in the world does it really mean to divide them? If a joint is a joint, made of either fibrous or cartilaginous material joining the bones together; and marrow is marrow, made of fatty tissue, contained within the bones; then it seems to me they are already distinctly divided. However, it should immediately appear that a linking characteristic exists, they both deal with the same substance: bones.

As for the third pair, I can see two ways of classifying these terms. Either abstractly, which is to say, it is true that thoughts are not always intentions, yet intentions are always thoughts; or, by definition, as taken from Strong's,

Gr: enthymēsis ("thoughts"): "a thinking, consideration"
Gr: ennoia ("intentions"): "the act of thinking, consideration, meditation"

Either way, we are still dealing with the same thing: the mind.

So then, why should the Soul and Spirit deal with different things? If the Soul and Spirit are merely aspects of the same substance then there is no trouble or confusion about God possessing a Soul; as Lesserlight pointed out with Judges 10:16.

Other OT passages include:

Job 23:13. Job spake concerning the Lord God: "He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desires, even that He does."

Psalms 11:5. "The LORD tries the righteous: but the wicked and him that loves violence His soul hates."

Soul (Hebrew: nephesh): "soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion."

--- Quote ---
I think spirit and soul are separate. Thessalonians shows us that.

1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
--- End Quote ---

Using this same logic:

Matthew 22:37. "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."

Are we also to understand the Mind, Heart, and Soul to be all separate? The bare mention of multiple terms is not sufficient to prove that they are separate entities.

You also said, "Being former Catholic, they believe soul and spirit are the same. It serves their theology well."

I can make a similar argument concerning various implications from the triune-man doctrine. It is also irrelevant how other religions might interpret and explicate their own similar doctrine. Catholics share plenty of true beliefs with orthodox Christians.

I need to get to sleep at the moment but I wanted to throw this consideration out there for now.

Hebrews 4:12. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

It just occurred to me that this expression "of both joints and marrow" does not imply physically separating joints FROM marrow. Rather it appears to be a strict metaphor that the sword can divide the joints and also it can divide the marrow. So I am now inclined to consider this expression as actually implying that both the joints and the marrow can be separated, not from each other, but from the bone itself.

I will have to get back to this thought sometime later tonight.

Thanks everyone. Clearly the subject has various interpretations in different camps.

I am happy to hold that man reflects God and not the other way round; so, God (Spirit) feels, and His soul delights and so on, and man reflects these attributes. As for man, it is easier (but not perfectly clear to me) that we can understand him as a triune being.

I don't necessarily expect to be led to a self-contained neat answer. The opposing views tell of the abstract complexity of the subject and I'm prepared to embrace that for now. Thanks.

Mt 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
Mt 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Mr 14:34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

God has created a body to contain his soul and spirit, son's of God.

The Holy Spirit is in every aspect of teaching our soul who Christ in us is.

Jesus Christ is the Spirit of life, now linked with our spirit as ONE.

"Let us create man in Our image" "in the image of God created He them." Our soul is the image that links us to the Soul of God.

In Christ: Phillip

Flesh+Spirit=Soul
If you read the first few chapters of Genesis you will see that God created man in his image.

He first created the spirit of man then the flesh, only then did man become a living soul.

That is according to my understanding at least.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (no spirit as yet)

Genesis 2:19-20 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. (still no spirit)

Genesis 2:21-23 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (still no spirit)

Now comes a spirit being, a created spirit being.

Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

This is where the living soul of Adam and Eve took on spirit, because in whom you believe you will serve. The living soul of Adam and Eve now have a spirit. It is a created spirit, not being birthed by God but a created spirit that is now in the heart of Man. This is not a life giving Spirit, but a death blow to the spirit that Adam and Eve believed and took of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Now dying the flesh because of Adam and Eve's choice was passed on to all man for all have sinned.

So Now Without Christ's Spirit in man, man is dead to God because of the spirit of Satan in man.

When the birth of the Spirit of Christ in the believer by the Father's Incorruptable Seed, whom the Father chooses to birth, "Born Again", now the Man has a life giving spirit in Him, not a death giving spirit.

So Adam was formed and given a soul, but Adam chose the spirit whom he would serve, and was possessed by the spirit of that choice, and protected by this evil, man cannot choose to serve the living God. That is why God must kill the old man, Gal 2:20(spirit) and give birth to the Spirit of His son in the now believing regenerated soul that now possesses the Spirit of Christ and can now choose to serve the living God. The old man "first Adam", (Satan) out, the New Man, "last Adam", Christ in. (Incorruptable Seed of the Father) 1 Peter 1:23, the life giving Spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:45-48 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

Romans 8:9-11 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Flesh plus soul equals life. Spirit is either death, separation from God, or life in Christs Life giving Spirit.

In Christ by His Spirit in me: Phillip