What is a Nephesh?

Soul sleep is the belief that the soul is unconscious and "sleeps" in death until the resurrection at Christ's Second Coming. Adherents to soul sleep include the Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Christadelphians, among a few others. They are products of the Restoration Movement and Millerite movement of the 19th century, although the doctrine of soul sleep can be traced back to the third century. It was largely rejected by the early fathers but reemerged during the Reformation. However, it remains a minority view. None of the religious groups in 1st century Judea had any concept of soul sleep. Most believed in an immortal soul, including the Pharisees, Essenes, and early Christians. The Sadducees were the only ones who didn't believe in an immortal soul, but they didn't believe in a resurrection either.

The Bible does refer to death as "sleep" on occasion, as someone dead has the appearance of someone being asleep. Soul sleep proponents would interpret these verses in the strictest literal sense possible. Interpreting scripture literally, however, should not discount the use of symbolism and idioms, which do exist. When the Bible refers to death as "sleep," it does so as a euphemism.

One of their primary arguments is that humans don't have a soul, but that they are souls. This belief is interpreted from Genesis 2:7, when man became a living soul (nephesh in Hebrew):

Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (nephesh).

Nephesh, they say, is the whole living person, and when the body dies, so does the soul. They will point to Ezekiel 18:4 as evidence of this:

“Behold, all souls are Mine;
The soul of the father
As well as the soul of the son is Mine;
The soul (nephesh) who sins shall die.

However, death in the Bible doesn't always imply physical death. It can also imply spiritual death and the second death (Rev 20:14), that is, eternal separation from God. Another one of their favorite verses is Ecclesiastes 9:5, "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten." This is pointed out as proof that the soul can die. However, Ecclesiastes was written from a purely secular human vantage apart from God. From our earthly perspective, death does seem final. But Ecclesiastes is meant to show the limits of human wisdom and lead us to a greater theological realization. It is not intended to be a commentary on the nature of death.

Having or being a nephesh does not exclude the possibility of life after death. Nor does it exclude humans from being more than nephesh. "Nephesh" is translated to "psyche" in the Septuagint and New Testament. If nephesh were strictly biological in nature, they could have used the Greek word "bios," from which we get the English word "biological." By using the word "psyche," it suggests something that includes the physical but is also something more than just physical.

"Nephesh" describes a part of our composition but not the totality of what we are. Scriptures also say we also have a ruach (spirit/breath/wind) and neshamah (breath of life/divine spark), also found in Genesis 2:7. This indicates there are layers to our being. Animals are also composed of nephesh, ruach, and neshamah. If animals and humans are composed of the same things, then having a nephesh alone cannot be the thing that defines us as humans. Therefore, nephesh can only be a part of the picture.

There has to be something more that defines us and makes us distinct. That certain something is that, unlike animals, we are created in the image of God. So, what does that mean? God is neither physical or mortal, so it can't refer to that. It has to refer to His immaterial, eternal attributes. Only God is the uncreated eternal being. But as beings created in His image, we possess immortality derivatively. That means we are endowed with an immortal capacity beyond our physical being.

One objection is that if we are immortal beings that exist eternally, then we could not have been created. Creation implies a beginning, which contradicts eternal existence without origin. The problem is conflating being immortal and being eternal. Only God is eternal, and eternal beings do not have a beginning. But immortal beings can have a beginning. Luke 20:35–36 says angels cannot die; they are immortal, and yet, they are created beings. Therefore, created beings can be immortal.

Aside from that, there are biblical verses that make a distinction between the body and the inner person. That distinction becomes even more pronounced in the New Testament. Such passages would make it difficult to reconcile that we are only nephesh or that nephesh only applies to our physical being and nothing more.