Anthropology Discussion Board 1

[pastorderrick]

Write an essay showing the different theological views on the origin of the human soul pointing out what view(s) you agree or disagree with and why.

Paste the same submission from the previous step here by clicking on the REPLY link just above. Your submission should be made by Wednesday the 17th of April 2024.

Then scroll down to see your peer submission and click reply to comment on their submissions. You MUST comment on at least one post with a minimum of 200 words by 11:59 p.m. (WAT) on Friday the 19th of April 2024. Your comments will also be graded.

[Paulpraze]

THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL
There are two main schools of thought or views concerning the origin of the soul in Christianity (Creationism and Traducianism) but there are three views generally.

CREATIONISM.
This school of thought believe, that the soul of every human being is an immediate creation of God. In other words, God creates each soul ex nihilo, and incarnates it or fuses the created soul with the body of the human that has been formed by his or her parents at conception. Hence, every person’s soul comes directly from God and has nothing to do with the parents involves. They believe, that such Scriptures as Numbers 16:22, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Isaiah 42:5, 57:16, Jeremiah 1:5, Zechariah 12:1 and Hebrews 12:9, can only be interpreted as meaning or implying a direct and immediate creation of the soul by God.

Some Arguments for Creationism
1. This concept is more consistent with the original account of creation as seen in Genesis 2:7. We see from this account that the body and the soul are made separately, first the body without life and then the soul coming into being, the body taken from the earth, and the soul coming directly from God.
2. It is also more consistent with the immaterial and spiritual nature of man’s soul. This nature of the soul means that it is indivisible and can therefore, not be a product of separation or division of essence according to traducianism.
Some Arguments against Creationism
1. According to the creationist, the parents of a child are only responsible for the formation of the body of the child and not its soul. This implies, that Creationism does not therefore, account for the resemblance not just of physical appearance of a child and its parents but of mental and moral traits. It is unable to explain how a child, whose soul has nothing to do with its parents, can have such resemblance with them mentally and morally.
2. If the soul is a direct and immediate creation of God, and the depravity of man is acknowledged, this would mean therefore, that God is responsible for depravity in man, it makes God the source of moral evil. It has neither answer nor explanation therefore for original sin.
3. It is not consistent with God’s present relationship to the world. God is no longer involved in the immediate and direct creation of anything. His work of creation is now done through secondary causes.

TRADUCIANISM
This is the belief that God is the Creator of the soul, but through the media of the parents. It holds, that the soul, along with the body, is formed at conception. Each soul is therefore, a product of the action of human parents as God’s channel of creation. This school of thought holds, that God rested from his work of creation. Genesis 2:1-3, 46:26-27, Exodus 1:5, Psalm 51:5, Romans 5:12-13, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Hebrews 7:9-10.

Some Arguments for Traducianism
1. The Scriptures referred to above by creationists as meaning a direct and immediate creative work of God may not be a true argument. This is because, whether God creates immediately and directly or creates through secondary causes, God is still the Creator. Hence, the fact that these Scriptures talk about spirit and soul as being created by God should not and cannot be taken as authoritatively meaning a direct and immediate creative work of God. The fact that the body is a product of the parents does not mean that it was not created by God. Plants and animals produce after their own, yet, this does not mean that God is not their creator. The propagation of the human race became man’s responsibility after our first parents were created directly by God. Genesis 1:26-28.
2. According to passages like Genesis 46:26 and Hebrews 7:9-10, descendants are in the loins of their fathers. Not just the body, but the person. These passages say nothing about descendants being in the loins of their mothers.
3. Original sin or moral and spiritual depravity is explained. It is inherited through the father of the descendant and not the mother, hence the need for Jesus’s virgin birth by Mary. This is the logical follow-up from the previous point.
4. The inheritance of family traits and moral similarities is also an argument for the traducianist point of view here.

Some Arguments against Traducianism
1. It is inconsistent with the philosophical doctrine of the simplicity of the soul, in that it suggests a derivation of essence, which is clearly opposed to the indivisible nature of the soul.
2. It is based on the idea that God only now creates in the world through secondary causes. This idea however, gives no explanation for the regeneration of man at salvation.

There is a third school of thought called PRE-EXISTENTIALISM.
This is the belief that souls were created by God even before the earth was created and that God then unites the soul with the body in its mother’s womb at conception. This school of thought has no scriptural support whatsoever and given no serious attention in Christian circles.

In conclusion, both the creationist and traducianist view of the origin of the soul have questions and difficulties that need to be resolved. However, with the knowledge that is available to us at the moment, I am inclined to favour the traducianist view of the origin of the soul. This view appears to me to be more in keeping with Scriptures on the order of creation, a holistic view of all Scriptures involved, the question of original sin as well as family traits and resemblance. The traducianist view seems to me to have better and more satisfactory answers and less difficulties.

[Soton Iselobhor]

Replying to Paulpraze.

It is quite interesting that you have chosen to take a stand with the theory of Traducianism.

The traducianist view on the creation of the human soul suggests that the soul is generated or derived from the parents, along with the physical body, at the moment of conception.

This raises theological questions and challenges related to the nature of the soul and its relationship to God. If the soul is generated by the parents, it raises questions about the origin and ultimate source of the soul. The major question I would like to ask the proponents of traducianism is; If the soul is generated from parents, is God not directly involved in the creation of each individual soul, or was He merely involved in the creation of the first human souls?

Additionally, Traducianism assumes a particular metaphysical framework in which the soul is treated as a material or quasi-material substance that can be generated or transmitted through physical processes. This conflicts with other philosophical and theological frameworks that posit the soul as an immaterial and indivisible entity.

I strongly disagree with this stance as an immaterial part of man cannot be created by physical processes of procreation.

Consider God’s words in Jeremiah 1:5
Stating how He knew Jeremiah BEFORE he entered into his mother’s womb. While parents necessarily play a part in setting the birth a person in motion, the immaterial part of the person in my opinion comes from God.

[Wechie]

Interesting to read that we have same inclination on the origin of man ;
I agree with this view(Traducianism) based on the following Support:
• In Genesis 2:7, God breathed the breath of life into Adam, causing Adam to become a “living soul.” Scripture nowhere records God performing this action again.
• Adam had a son in his own likeness (Genesis 5:3). Adam’s descendants seem to be “living souls” without God breathing into them.
• Genesis 2:2-3 seems to indicate that God ceased His creative work.
• Adam’s sin affects all men—both physically and spiritually—this makes sense if the body and soul both come from the parents. connected.

God was done creating and had set a system of procreation; we see the same principle in Genesis 1:11-13
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

John MacArthur said this in support of the traducian theory:
“While it is true that several verses speak of God making a person’s soul or spirit, that is also true for the body. David stated, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.… My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth” (Ps. 139:13, 15). These statements do not mean that the body is created directly by God apart from natural procreation. God is man’s Creator, but God also ordained human procreation for the filling of the earth (Gen. 1:28). God uses natural means for procreation, yet he is the Ultimate Cause of the process. As a complex unity of body and soul/spirit, our entire being, including the soul, is a result of the God-ordained procreation process.”

[Soton Iselobhor]

Introduction:
Divergent views on the origin of the soul have been a subject of profound theological debate throughout history. While some derive their theories from the bible, others derive theirs from philosophical studies and science.
This situation of diverse views affects the very definition of the word “soul”. According to Mounce’s Complete…. the word soul which translates to “nepes”, in the Old Testament has a wide range of meanings. According to him, “the basic meaning is “breath”, but it can also mean “soul, life, entire being” To my mind, the lack of uniformity in definition is the beginning and root of deviations and disagreements.
Three views on the origin of the soul are explored below.

1. Creationism:
This theological view which is held by the Roman Catholics mostly, posits that the human soul is directly created by God at the moment of conception or birth. It teaches that each human soul is an immediate and individual creation by God. This perspective is rooted in the belief that God is the ultimate author of life and imparts a unique, eternal soul.
Paul Enns in his book, The Moody Handbook of Theology, states that there are two reasons for this view which are that, it maintains the purity of Christ, and that parents may propagate a mortal body but only God can produce an immortal soul. With this view, Christ could not inherit a sinful nature from his mother.
While I may be tempted to agree with the concept of Creationism for its correlation to the Bible’s truths and accounts. Chief among these is the fact that Mary, even though she gave birth to Jesus could not transmit the sin nature to Jesus because of birth. In Jeremiah 1:5, the prophet states that before God formed him, He knew him.
However, Paul Enns posits that this view has some problems in that it necessitates an individual fall by each person as God can only create perfection. It does not account for the problem of why all men sin. James 1:21 talks about the salvation of our souls. The soul which has been described as the centre of activity and constitutes the mind has a natural state which the bible describes as “desperately wicked”. The question posed here is that if God creates the soul, then at what point does the soul get corrupted? As God could not have created a corrupted soul.

2. Traducianism:
This view suggests that the human soul is inherited from one’s parents. That the soul as well as the body is generated by the parents. According to this perspective, the soul is transmitted in a manner similar to physical traits passed down through genetic inheritance. Traducianism proposes that the soul is propagated alongside the physical body, establishing a connection between generations.
This view may be supported as it confirms the biblical truth of Adam’s transmission of both physical and spiritual aspects to his descendants.
I however agree with Paul Enns, to disagree with this view because human beings cannot pass on their soul which is immaterial. To believe this view is to believe that Jesus must have partaken of the sinful nature of Mary and this is not true. Everyone’s soul is unique to them and it is impossible to inherit a soul. The mind again which is part of the soul is not a physical entity.

3. Pre-existence:
This view advocates that the human soul has existed previously and is taught in Hinduism and was also held by Plato, Philo and Origen. The theory teaches that in a previous experience, men were angelic spirits, and as punishment and discipline for sin, they were sent to indwell human bodies. Proponents of this view argue that the soul is eternal and pre-exists in a spiritual realm before entering the physical world. Pre-existence posits that the soul is on a journey of growth and development, and its embodiment on Earth is part of its spiritual progression.
The compelling problem with this view is that no scripture supports it even though the disciples in John 9:2 seemed to suggest a possibility of the blind man having sinned before he was born leading to his being born blind. In addition, no one has any recollection of such an existence.

Conclusion:
Conclusively, the views on the origin of the human soul are diverse, encompassing perspectives of religion, science and personal beliefs. Each viewpoint holds its unique position on the nature of the soul and its origin. It is essential to recognize that discussions on the origin of the human soul lie at the intersection of faith, philosophy, and personal belief systems.

[Pchris]

MY REPLY TO SOTON
In the case of Jesus Christ, one might ask How is it possible that Christ did not have a sin nature if He recieved His body and soul from His mother? Firstly, The fact that He was kept from having a sin nature must be considered a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit just as His physical birth was . With reference to the book of Luke 1:35 ” And the angel answered and said to her , The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the Power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore also that Holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Secondly, for procreation to take place it requires the union of a man and woman which was not so in the case of Jesus Christ.

[Ben]

To look into the origin of the human soul, one has to acknowledge that the human soul doesn’t exist on its own but is part of what makes up a man. In this sense, we begin to look at the various arguments of theologians towards man’s make up. There is a general agreement that man consists of a material part- his physical body and an immaterial part- non physical part of man which is his spirit and soul.
Our focus now, is to tell on the origin of the soul which is a part of the immaterial part of man (an aspect of man that exist but cannot be seen or handled physically).

Dichotomists believe that the immaterial part of man cannot be distinguished, for to them, soul and spirit are one. They view any distinction between soul and spirit as merely functional.

Trichotomists, on the other hand, believe that soul and spirit are different and distinguishable, viewing a distinction between spirit and soul as substantial. Perlman states, “ both groups cannot be declared as totally wrong because one may say that though the spirit and soul are separate, they are not separable. Krama says apparently, then the relationship may be thus summed up. Body and spirit may be separated. Spirit and soul can only be distinguished.

Hebrews 4:12, tells us that only the word of God has the supernatural ability to bring about a division between soul and spirit.

So the human soul, is an immaterial part of man, the possession of the human spirit and could be termed as the inner man (because it is not visible to the physical eyes but is real).

The origin or creation of the human soul has thus been explained or argued by certain theories:

1. The Preexistence Theory. This view teaches that God originally created a number of souls and some are joined to human bodies at conception. Obviously, there is no clear statement in Scripture that supports this view.

2. Creation Theory.
Creation theory teaches that the human body is transferred from the parents, but the soul, since it is immaterial, comes from God. At conception, God creates a soul and places that soul in the forming baby (Ps 139:13). Support for this is found in the fact that after creating Adam, God breathed life into his body—giving him a soul (Gen 2:7).

3. Traducian Theory. This theory teaches that both the body and soul come from the parents. It is argued that God’s direct creation—making things out of nothing—stopped on the sixth day of creation, as proved by the fact that God rested on the seventh day. Certainly, God is still involved with the creation of the body and the soul in humans, but he does that through secondary means—human parents. This view takes this stand so as to exclude God from the sin nature present in each new born child. Holding the belief of hereditary traits which includes the sin nature that affects the inner man to come from parents passed unto their children.

However, Pearlman suggests a cooperation between Creator and parents as the solution. He says, “ in the beginning of a new life, a divine Creator and a creative use of means work together “. Man begets man in cooperation with the Father of spirits. Therefore, the normal process of human reproduction set in motion those divine laws of life which cause a human with an inner man to be born into the world.

I would totally agree with Pearlman’s view on the origin of the human soul. Which is hinged on the cooperation of a divine Creator and man to birth a human being from whence we have the origin of a soul. My reasons would be thus:

1. The human soul is an immaterial part of man. The human soul originates from God who is Spirit. Genesis 2:7, tells us that God breathed into man from himself (the substance of life) and man became a living being. So the origin of the human soul is from God.

2. God is the Father of spirits but man the means to begets another man. Hebrews 12:9. In other words, just as we see also in Genesis 2:7, the soul of man can only be created by God’s creative ability and in that state, his creation is perfect (without sin). However, the human soul isn’t created in thousands and stored up for a body to assume them. It therefore means, that the laws of procreation which must be triggered by man as designed by God must take place for a soul to exist. It is through this means that a human soul can be created. That the human soul takes on a sin nature from birth is a function of the means set by divine laws which is already condemned.

In summary, man in himself cannot create a human soul and God though he has the creative ability to make a soul, has put forth divine laws that would require the cooperation of man with him to birth one. Man, becomes hence the means for a possible existence of a human soul as designed by God.

[Pchris]

MY REPLY TO BEN
In agreement to your summary which seem to be in agreement to the traducian theory, According to John Macarthur – who said this in support of the traducian view: while it is true that several verses speak of God making a person’s soul or spirit, it is also true for the body . David stated in the book of Psalm 139: 13, 15 ( For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother’s womb . My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth). These statements do not mean that the body is created directly by God apart from natural procreation. God is man’s creator , but God also ordained human procreation for the filling of the earth ( Gen 1:28).
God uses natural means for procreation yet He is the ultimate cause of the process. As a complex unity of body soul and spirit, our entire being including the soul, is a result of the God ordained procreation process.

[Paulpraze]

MY REPLY TO BEN

I particularly like the quote from Pearlman that you used as the basis for your stand on the matter.
It is my belief, that the idea that souls may come from parents does not necessarily mean that God is not their Creator.
So yes, God creates every soul but through the agency of parents.
Pearlman’s suggestion of a cooperation between God and parents makes the most sense to me as well.

[Paulpraze]

MY REPLY TO SOTON

Two major observations I’d like to make here.
First, I would have loved to know more of your thoughts on how the variety of meanings of the word soul is partly responsible for the divergent views on the origin of the soul.
Secondly, you did not take a stand or position on the matter of the origin of the soul.

[femionas]

I quite agree with your point that, God is the Father of spirits but man is the means to beget another man. You also said the soul of man can only be created by God’s creative ability and in that state, his creation is perfect. It is also true that the human soul isn’t created in thousands and stored up for a body to assume them. that the laws of procreation which must be triggered by man as designed by God must take place for a soul to exist. You said It is through this means that a human soul can be created. That the human soul takes on a sinful nature from birth is a function of the means set by divine laws which are already condemned.
I want to add that, according to Genesis 2:7, God did not make a body and put a soul into it like a letter into a white or brown envelope. God formed man’s body from the dust and breathed divine breath into it. God made the body of dust to live the dust did not embody a soul, but it became a soul.
Although some argue that a living soul begins when the human embryo first begins development before birth. It is worth noting that the bible does not support any of these positions.

[Pchris]

Man is a threefold being which means , man is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body. My focus in this essay is on the soul. There are different views on the origin of the soul but for this purpose , I am going to be looking at the three (3) major theological views on the origin of the soul and they include :
1) SOUL CREATIONISM
Soul creationism is a theological view held by some christians which states that God creates a soul for each body that is generated. It goes further to state that the origin of the soul cannot be by spiritual generation from the souls of parents because human souls, been essentially and integrally simple and indivisible, can give forth no spiritual germs or reproductive elements. I disagree with this view as it is a conjecture to the origin of the soul.
The Word of God says in Genesis 2:2 ( ” And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.) NKJV.
If I have to agree with the view of soul creationism that for each body, God creates separately a new soul when he/she is born , then I do not herein affirm that He makes anything which He had already made. God had already made man after His own image on the sixth day and this work of His is unquestionably to be understood with reference to the rational soul of man.
I believe this view originated from John 5:17 ( My Father is at work until now , so I am at work) . This theory has difficulties because , how is the sin nature transferred if God gives everyone a soul apart from the parents ? Does He give them souls that are prone to sin from birth unlike how He created Adam? Because this seems unlikely. It is true on one hand ,that God rested from creating things which previously did not exist and equally true on the other hand that He continues still to work, however not only in governing what He has made, but in multiplying what already existed.

2) TRADUCIANISM
The word traducian come from the Latin word tradux which means ” branch of a vine ” . This means that every human being is a branch off of his / her parents.
This is a theological view that states that both soul and body are generated by father and mother. This is in opposition to the creationist view that says God creates every new soul directly. I agree with this view because God gave man the dominion mandate and in order to do so, man must procreate his own kind. Gen 1:28 (Then God blessed them and God said to them , ” Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.) Because of the dominion mandate given to man to multiply his own kind , the traducian view holds that the parents are only the instrumental cause of the new human soul. To strike a balance with this view, I will rightly state that God is still the efficient cause.
A strength of traducian theory is that it best explains human depravity. In reference to Paul Enns : (If the parents pass on the non material nature , then it explains the propagation of the sin nature and the tendency from birth of every human being to sin. The sin nature cannot be explained if God creates each soul directly.)
In considering the transfer of the sin nature of man , Romans 5:12 says ” Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world , and death through sin and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Also in Psalm 51:5 ” Behold , I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin may mother conceived me.
A strength of this view is the hereditary factor. Not only are we like our parents physically, but also commonly in personality, intelligence and emotions which are components of a soul. If God directly transmitted the souls apart from the parents , then these traits would not be as prevalent.
3) PREEXISTENCE THEORY
This view teaches that God originally created a number of souls and some are joined to human bodies at conception or sometime later. I disagree with this view as there is no clear statement in the scripture that supports this view.

IN CONCLUSION
God is the creator of man . Man was made in His image as a direct , special creation . God formed man from the dust and breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living soul (Gen 2:7) . However after God ceased His creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them, He commonly creates now through secondary process which He developed in the original creation.

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