Preachers often talk about how many souls were saved at a recent evangelistic meeting. But is that accurate? Does the Bible speak of regeneration as the saving of one’s soul?
The word soul, Greek psyche, is the basis for many words in English: psychology, psychiatry, psychic, psyche out, psychosomatic, psychotherapy, psychotic, etc.
Psyche occurs 105 times in the NT, making it a very common word that is well known by first year Greek students. Well, they know it means soul, but that’s about it. They do not know that it often simply refers to life or to one’s inner self.
The expression the saving of the soul occurs ten times in the NT: Matt 16:25 (and parallels in Mark 8:35 and Luke 9:24; 17:33); Mark 3:4 (and parallel in Luke 6:9); Heb 10:39; Jas 1:21; 5:20; 1 Pet 3:20. We will look at them later. But for now, let me say that the saving of the soul does not refer to regeneration, the new birth.
Did you know that Jesus lost His soul [psyche] when He died on the cross: “By this we know love, because He laid down His life [psyche] for us” (1 John 3:16a). And did you know that we are to lose our souls [psyche] for others: “And we also ought to lay down our lives [psyche) for the brethren” (1 John 3:16b).
Let’s look at three texts that speak of the saving of the psyche.
1 Peter 3:20: “when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” Noah and his family were not regenerated by getting in the ark. They were saved from physical death. Saving the psyche is saving the life.
Matthew 16:25-26: “For whoever desires to save his life [psyche] will lose it, but whoever loses his life [psyche] for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul [psyche]? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul [psyche]? It is unfortunate that most translations translate psyche different in back-to-back verses.
The NET Bible has this footnote at Matt 16:25:
The Greek word translated life can refer to both earthly, physical life and inner, transcendent life (one’s “soul”). In the context, if a person is not willing to suffer the world’s rejection and persecution in order to follow Jesus but instead seeks to retain his physical life, then that person will lose both physical life and inner, transcendent life (at the judgment). On the other hand, the one who willingly gives up earthly, physical life to follow Jesus (“loses his life because of me”) will ultimately find one’s “soul” (note that the parallel in John’s Gospel speaks of “guarding one’s ‘soul’ for eternal life” (John 12:25).
That is sadly quite confusing. Many people wrongly think that the saving of the psyche is being saved from eternal condemnation. But that makes Matt 16:25-26 contradict John 3:16. The Matthew 16 passage is a discipleship passage (“if anyone wishes to come after Me…Matt 16:24), not an evangelistic passage.
James 1:21. “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
The context is clear that James is talking about saving the lives of born-again people (“my beloved brethren,” vv 16, 19).i It is salvation from God’s judgment in this life. All five uses of the word save in James refer to salvation of believers from God’s judgment.
Hodges comments:
The meaning which the data supports—“to save your lives”—is precisely the meaning most suited to this context. The readers are already born again (v 18) and are in no need of being saved from hell. Moreover, James has just spoken of the death-dealing consequences of sin (vv 14–15). In this light the meaning of v 21 is transparent: although sin can culminate in physical death, the Word of God, properly received, can preserve physical life (cf. Prov 10:27; 11:19; 12:28; 13:14; 19:16) (“James” in TGNTC, p. 1109).
The bottom line is that there is not a single verse in the Bible that indicates that when a person believes in Jesus his soul is saved. In the Bible, the saving of one’s soul/psyche refers to the saving of one’s life from premature physical death.
Remember this distinction in order to keep grace in focus.
i Verse 18 also says that they were brought forth by the word of truth, a clear reference to their new birth.