📖 Biblical Definition
Hebrew nefesh, one of the most semantically loaded terms in the OT lexicon. The basic sense is breath or throat (the seat of breathing); from that physical anchor, the term expands to life, soul, self, person, appetite, desire. Nefesh appears in foundational anthropological passages: Genesis 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 — nefesh chayyah); the great Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5, thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, nafshecha); Psalm 42:1-2 (As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God); Psalm 103:1 (Bless the LORD, O my soul). The term covers both the human inner life and the animal life (Genesis 1:20-21 uses nefesh chayyah of sea creatures and birds). Hebrew anthropology resists the body-soul dualism of later Greek thought; nefesh is the whole living person, not a separable spiritual substance temporarily housed in a body. The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers this integrated biblical anthropology against both Greek-Platonic dualism and modern materialist reductionism: the human creature is a unified nefesh chayyah, embodied soul or ensouled body, destined for the resurrection of the body in Christ.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Hebrew nefesh (H5315), soul / life / breath / person / self / appetite; the inner life, the unified embodied-ensouled person; Genesis 2:7 the foundational anthropological text.
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NEFESH, Hebrew noun (H5315; soul, life, breath, person, self, appetite) Basic sense: breath or throat. Expanded to life, soul, self, person, desire. Foundational anthropological text: Genesis 2:7 (man became a living soul, nefesh chayyah). Great Shema: Deuteronomy 6:5 (love the LORD... with all thy soul). Psalm 42:1-2 (the soul panteth after God). Hebrew anthropology resists Greek body-soul dualism; nefesh is the whole living person, the unified embodied-ensouled creature. Reformed-confessional recovery: integrated biblical anthropology against both Greek-Platonic dualism and modern materialist reductionism.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 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."
Deuteronomy 6:5 — "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
Psalm 42:1-2 — "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God."
Psalm 103:1 — "Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern translations of nefesh as soul in the Greek-Platonic sense (separable spiritual substance) misrepresent the integrated Hebrew anthropology; modern materialism denies the soul altogether.
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The principal modern handling of nefesh errs in two directions. The first error reads nefesh through Greek-Platonic categories as a separable immaterial soul-substance temporarily housed in a body, destined for disembodied eternity; this is the inheritance of medieval-Catholic and pop-evangelical eschatology. The second error denies the soul altogether, reducing the human creature to a complex biological organism with no enduring spiritual reality; this is modern materialism. Both are wrong. Hebrew nefesh is the integrated living person, the unified embodied-ensouled creature, destined for the resurrection of the body in Christ. The Reformed-confessional recovery (Westminster Confession XXXII on the state of man after death; XXXII on the resurrection of the body) holds together the intermediate-state soul (conscious in the presence of the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8) with the ultimate resurrection-body destiny (1 Corinthians 15).
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H5315; breath, throat, soul, life, person, self, appetite; Genesis 2:7; integrated biblical anthropology.
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['Hebrew', 'H5315', 'nefesh', 'soul, life, breath, person, self, appetite']
['Greek', 'G5590', 'psuche', 'soul, life, mind (NT equivalent)']
['Hebrew', 'H7307', 'ruach', 'spirit, breath, wind (related anthropological term)']
Usage
"Nefesh: the integrated living person; not a separable Platonic soul."
"Foundational text: man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7)."
"Hebrew anthropology resists both Greek dualism and modern materialism."