The word "soul" (Hebrew nepes and Greek psyche) apparently has three primary meanings in the Bible:
(1) A human person (Genesis 2:7).
(2) An animal.
(3) The life enjoyed by a person or animal (Genesis 9:3-5).
Genesis 2:7 describes Adam becoming a "living being" (Amplified Bible) or a "living soul" (New World Translation 1984). The Apostle Paul invokes this account when reproving some in the Corinthian ecclesia (1 Cor. 15:45). Furthermore, the Bible calls animals "souls" in Numbers 31:28; Ezekiel 47:9; Revelation 8:9; 16:3. For an example of psyche denoting "life," see Matthew 16:25; 20:28.
Technically, I do not believe there is a metaphysical dichotomy between the body and the soul in the OT or NT. A number of biblical commentators have noted this point:
"The Jewish origin of the word [psyche] is determinative: Nephesh is the living quality of the flesh. The soul belongs to man's earthly existence. It does not exist without physical life. It is not, say, freed by death, then to live its untrammelled purity. Death is its end. The word psyche can also mean the person, and this is related to SWMA, SARX and PNEUMA (Rom. 16:4: hUPER THS YUXHS MOU 'For my life')" (An Outline of the Theology of the New Testament. Hans Conzelmann. 179).
Notice where the "souls" are located in Rev. 6:9; they are "at the foot of the altar" (Amplified Bible), and this description reminds one of Lev. 4:7 where the Aaronic priest is commanded to pour out the blood of a bull at the "base of the altar" (Amplified Bible). Why was the priest to pour out blood at the foot of the altar? Because the life ("soul") of the flesh was in the blood (Lev. 17:14). That's why there is no remission of sins unless blood is poured out (Heb. 9:22ff).
What bearing does this information have on Rev. 6:9? Well in that verse the blood of martyrs is symbolically envisioned at God's heavenly "altar." The blood is not poured out to forgive sins within that context: it has been spilled by God's enemies. Therefore, the blood ("souls") in Rev. 6:9 does not cry for mercy, but for vengeance. The same thing happened when Abel's blood was shed (Gen. 4:10,11; Heb. 12:24). His blood also cried from the ground. Did this mean that Abel's blood was a living thing? Or was this simply a personification of an inanimate thing because of what blood symbolizes in the Bible? Please note that James 5:4 exclaims that "wages" held back from poor workers cried out in the first century. Surely "wages" are not living, sentient things, are they? I hope this discussion will give some insight into why I do not believe that Rev. 6:9 teaches the soul is immortal (cf. Rev. 18:11-13). Nor do other scriptural verses.
2 comments:
Dear Edgar,
As regards the “souls” under the altar, I think that there is a possibility of an alternative understanding as well, which does not exclude the understanding based on the “blood of Abel” that demands justice in God’s righteous heart, since reward and punishment has not been given yet. While the word “soul” is feminine in Greek, the participle and the pronoun that follows referring to the “souls of the slaughtered ones” is in masculine gender.
εἶδον ὑποκάτω τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἐσφαγμένων
ἔκραξαν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ λέγοντες
καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς ἑκάστῳ στολὴ λευκή,
καὶ ἐῤῥέθη αὐτοῖς ἵνα ἀναπαύσωνται ἔτι χρόνον μικρόν, ἕως πληρώσωσι καὶ οἱ σύνδουλοι αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶν οἱ μέλλοντες ἀποκτέννεσθαι ὡς καὶ αὐτοί.
This construction seems to mean that “soul of the slaughtered ones” merely means “slaughtered ones”, or “corpses”. This makes sense, since in this word picture they are given robes to wear, something that could not be said for mere blood.
In every case, these “souls of the slaughter ones” are “made alive”, or “resurrected”, at the future time of their reward, as it is described in Revelation 20:4 (with the same syntactical pattern), a text which functions as intercontext in this case.
Καὶ εἶδον θρόνους, καὶ ἐκάθησαν ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς, καὶ κρῖμα ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν πεπελεκισμένων […] καὶ ἔζησαν καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν μετὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ χίλια ἔτη
If I remember well, E. Bullinger had a similar understanding.
Thank you for your time on this
Thanks, you make some good points. One dissertation also mentions the slaughtered souls (ones) and it explains that they're not disembodied. See https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2824&context=dissertations
Here's an article on Revelation's "barbarisms/solecisms" too:
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/b9789004290822_004
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