This is John from the Bible Project, and today on this episode of the podcast, we're going

to continue a conversation that we began in our last episode.

We're talking about the Hebrew word nefesh, and how this word is often translated in

the Bible as soul.

Now what do you think of when you think of a soul?

Well, if you're like me, you probably think of some sort of eternal, disembodied existence,

some part of you that continues on after death.

People often assume that the idea of an eternal, non-physical existence, humans living on

after death, apart from their bodies, disembodied souls forever and ever.

Many people assume that that's a really important idea in the Bible or a main teaching

of the Bible.

And I certainly thought that, and then as I learned more, I realized what most people

mean by the word soul is actually hardly ever the meaning of soul in the Bible.

So that's a pretty wild claim that might be coming out of left field for you, in which

case you could go back and listen to us unpack that idea in the first half of this conversation

in the last episode.

But if you don't want to do that, here's what you need to know.

The story of the Bible isn't about becoming a disembodied soul.

The story of the Bible is about becoming resurrected people in a new creation.

Now this doesn't mean that the Bible doesn't talk about life after death and what happens

before the resurrection.

It's just that it rarely talks about it.

...