Spiritual Meaning of
Spiritual Meaning of |
|
Back to Words index | Back to Religious words index |
By soul in the Word is meant every living thing, and it is attributed also to animals but soul is properly predicated of man, and when of man, the term is used in various senses. Man himself is called a soul, because his life in general is so called, also specifically his intellectual life, or understanding, and likewise his voluntary life, or will.
[2] But in the spiritual sense by soul is meant the life of the truth which is of faith, and of the good which is of charity, and in general the man himself as to his spirit which lives after death, in which sense it is used in these passages:--
Be not afraid of those who are able to kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul (Matt. 10:28).
What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what price shall a man give sufficient for the redemption of his soul? (Matt. 16:26).
The Son of man is not come to destroy men's souls, but to save them (Luke 9:56).
Ye have profaned Me among My people, to slay the souls that ought not to die, and to make the souls to live that ought not to live (Ezek. 13:19).
In these passages the soul denotes the spiritual life of man, which life is that of his spirit after death. To kill the soul, to lose the soul, to destroy the soul, denote to die spiritually, that is, to be damned.
from AC 7021
Back to Words index, Back to Religious words index
| Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). | Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. | www.BibleMeanings.info |