Stumper Questions for Jehovah’s Witnesses, #27
If the soul is the body, why does Jesus make a distinction between the body and the soul in Mt 10:28?
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not teach that the soul and body are the same things. The biblical usage of the word soul encompasses much more than just the body. The soul is the whole person, their mind, emotions, their memories, and even their future existence. Apparently, the questioner is not even familiar with the basic teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In Hebrew the word Nephesh, which is translated as soul, literally means a breather. Animals are referred to as souls, because they too are breathers. For example, in Genesis, we read: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls and let flying creatures fly over the earth . . .And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul [nephesh] that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind.”
But soul may also mean life or the life that one has as a breather. Thus, to lose one’s soul means to lose one’s life.
Here’s a link to a Watchtower article in answer to the question: Do You Have an Immortal Soul?
