Where Does Our Soul Come From? (When Can The Fetus Be Aborted?)

 

            The Bible uses the word ‘soul’ (Hebrew nephesh; Greek: psuche) in at least four different ways:¹

            1. As a synonym for a person (Exodus 1:5; Deuteronomy 10:22; Acts 2:41).

            2. The form of life man possesses in common with animals, which ceases to exist at death (Genesis 1:20,24; Psalm 78:50; Matthew 6:25; Luke 14:26).

            3. Emotions or inner thoughts of a man (Deuteronomy 13:3; Psalm 139:14; Matthew 22:37).

            4. The immortal part of a man that never dies (Genesis 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21; Matthew 10:28).

            The soul is the immortal part of our body.

            With regards to the origin of the soul, William Lane Craig explains that it is more plausible that God creates the soul for every human being that HE creates:² [Emphasis Mine]

...there have been traditionally three competing views as to the origin of the soul. One would be Creationism. This would be the view that God immediately creates the soul...The second view is Traducianism. This is the view that the soul is produced by the souls of the parents...So the soul is not specially created by God ex nihilo or out of nothing. Rather just as the parents’ bodies engender the body of their offspring, so their souls engender the soul of their offspring. One soul is produced or generated by the parents’ souls. The third view would be the Preexistence view which is the view that souls preexisted their embodiment in human bodies...This was a Platonic view that there is a realm of souls that exist prior to their incarnation in the world, and then God puts these souls in particular bodies.

Which of these views is the most plausible? Well, again, I think apart from the Preexistence view (which I think is clearly unbiblical), biblically there really is no way to tell whether you should be a Traducian or Creationist. But it seems to me that Creationism is more plausible than Traducianism...

            So the soul is created by God. But, at what point does HE create the soul?

            This question is relevant because it concerns the issue of abortion.

            Consider these two verses from the Bible: [Emphasis Mine]

            Jeremiah 1:5: ““Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...”” (ESV)

            Psalm 139:16a: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance...” (ESV)

            It is rather plausible to infer from these verses that God knows every human being from the time of their conception – even before they were formed in the womb. Ergo, God places the soul at conception.³

            Herein we should realize that abortion, at any time, is a sin against God because at the time of conception, the soul is placed, so when the soul is placed, the fetus should be considered as a fully human person.

Endnotes:

¹https://apologeticspress.org/pdfs/courses_pdf/hsc0207.pdf

²https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-1/s1-the-doctrine-of-man/the-doctrine-of-man-part-8/

³https://apologeticspress.org/pdfs/courses_pdf/hsc0207.pdf

&

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-1/s1-the-doctrine-of-man/the-doctrine-of-man-part-8/

Websites last accessed on 30^th July 2021.