THE NATURE OF THE SOUL

What precisely is the soul? It designates the life force of living creatures. In Genesis 2:4 we have the description of how it started: "In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens 2:5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth (no activity yet) and no herb of the field had yet sprang up -for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 2:6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground- 2:7 then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

Far from referring simply to one aspect of a person, "soul" refers to the whole being. It is the seat of the emotions. The center of both the joy of life in God and the desire of evil in a wicked heart.

Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the East; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

In the parable of the rich young fool in Luke 12:16-20 we see clearly how Jesus make a clear explanation of the life force.

Luke 12: 16"The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 12:17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 12:18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be marry.' 12:20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night  your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 12:21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." 9:25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the world and loses or forfeits himself? 12:4 "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 12:5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed the body, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him! 

As to the immortality of souls, the clearest biblical example is found in Revelation 20: 4-6 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.