The Use of Psuche in
the New
Testament.
This Is Appendix
110 From The Companion Bible.
| psuche is the only word translated
"soul" in the New Testament. It occurs 105 times, and
is rendered "soul" 58 times, "life" 40
times, "mind" 3 times, and "heart",
"heartly", "us", and "you"
once each. |
| To ascertain its meaning, it is useless to go to heathen
authors. The Greek philosophers were at variance among themselves.
ARNOBIOUS, a Christian
writer of the latter part of the third century, in his work
Adversus Gentes, speaking of the speculations of the
heathen of his day, says: "In exactly the same way (as the
creation and the gods) is the condition of souls discussed. For this
one thinks they are both immortal, and survive the end of our
earthly life; that one believes that they do not survive, but perish
with the bodies themselves; the opinion of another, however, is that
they suffer nothing immediatley, but that, after the [form of] man
has been laid aside, they are allowed to live a little longer, and
then come under the power of death." 1
|
| We must, therefore, let Scripture be its own interpreter.
Psuche exactly corresponds to the Hebrew
Nephesh (Appendix
13), as will be seen from the following passages: Mark
12:29,
30, compared with Deuteronomy 6:4, 5; Acts
2:27 with Psalm
16:10; Romans
11:3 with
1 Kings
19:10;
1 Corinthians
15:45 with Genesis
2:7. In all
these places, psuche in the New Testament represents
nephesh in the Old. |
| The following are the occurrences of the word :-
|
| I. psuche, used of the lower animals
twice, is rendered |
| 1.
"life" : |
Revelation 8:9. |
1 |
| 2.
"soul" : |
Revelation 16:3. |
1 |
| |
|
__ |
| |
|
2 |
| |
|
== |
| II. psuche, used of man as an
individual (just as we speak of a ship going down with every soul on
board, or of so many lives being lost in a railway accident), occurs
14 times, and is rendered |
| "soul" |
Acts 2:41, 43;
3:23;
7:14;
27:37. Romans
2:9;
13:1.
1 Corinthians 15:45. James
5:20.
1 Peter
3:20.
2 Peter
2:14. Revelation
6:9;
18:13;
20:4. |
14 |
| |
|
== |
| III. psuche, used of the life of man,
which can be lost, destroyed, saved, laid down, etc., occurs 58
times and is rendered
| |
| 1.
"life": |
Matthew 2:20;
6:25,
25; 10:39, 39;
16:25,
25; 20:28. Mark
3:4;
8:35,
35; 10:45. Luke
6:9;
9:24,
24, 56; 12:22, 23;
14:26;
17:33
2. John
10:11,
15, 17; 12:25, 25;
13:37,
38; 15:13. Acts
15:26;
20:10,
24; 27:10, 22. Romans
11:3;
16:4. Philippians
2:30.
1 John
3:16,
16. Revelation 12:11. |
39 |
| 2.
"soul": |
Matthew 10:28, 28;
16:26,
26. Mark 8:36, 37. Luke
12:20;
21:19.
1
Thessalonians 2:8;
5:23. Hebrews
4:12;
6:19;
10:39;
13:17. James
1:21.
1 Peter
1:9;
2:11,
25; 4:19. |
19 |
| |
|
58 |
| |
|
== |
| IV. psuche, used to emphasize the
pronoun, as we use "self" (for example, "my
soul" = "myself"), occurs 21 times, and is
rendered |
| 1.
"soul": |
Matthew 11:29;
12:18;
26:38. Mark
14:34. Luke
1:46;
12:19,
19. John 12:27, 31;
14:22;
15:24.
2 Corinthians
1:23. Hebrews
10:38.
1 Peter
1:22.
2 Peter
2:8. Revelation
18:14. |
17 |
| 2.
"mind" : |
Acts 14:2. Hebrews
12:3. |
2 |
| 3.
"us" : |
John 10:24. |
1 |
| 4.
"you" : |
2 Corinthians
12:15 (see
margin). |
1 |
| |
|
__ |
| |
|
21 |
| |
|
== |
| V. psuche, used with intensive force,
to express all the powers of one's being, occurs 10 times, and is
rendered |
| 1.
"soul" : |
Matthew 22:37. Mark
12:30,
33. Luke 2:35;
10:27. Acts
4:32.
3 John
:2.
|
7 |
| 2.
"heart" : |
Ephesians 6:6. |
1 |
| 3.
"mind" : |
Philippians 1:27. |
1 |
| 4.
"heartily" : |
Colossians 3:23. |
1 |
| |
|
== |
| |
|
10 |
| |
|
== |
| |
|
Total 105 |
| |
|
=== |
| NOTES |
| 1 Clark's
Ante-Nicene Christian Library, volume xix, page 125.
|
| 2 In this
verse "life" occurs twice in the English, but
psuche only once in the Greek.
|
|