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Where Does the Soul Come From? Part 3

Where does the soul come from? In previous weeks we have talked about the ideas of Traducianism and pre-existence. The last theory to discuss is that of creationism. Creationism, sometimes referred to as special creationism, is the belief that every soul is created by God sometime at or after conception and is placed into the human fetus.

Special Creationism

In an effort to avoid confusion between this idea and the more common definition of creationism – that God created the universe – we will refer to it as special creationism. Why should you care? What you believe about the origin of the soul impacts the way you look at social issues and defend the faith.

Scripture used to Support Special Creationism

  • Ecclesiastes 12:7
  • Isaiah 57:16
  • Zechariah 12:1
  • Psalm 139:13-14
  • Jeremiah 1:5

Challenges of Special Creationism

  • The special creationist is faced with the question of exactly when the soul is created. Is it at conception, or days/weeks later? In both pre-existence and special creationism, there may be a point at which the fetus has not had its soul infused into its body. If that is the case, the special creationist is faced with the possibility that the fetus at some point is not a human being and therefore lacks any intrinsic rights. The implications of this within the right to life movement are obvious.
  • Special creationism has limited explanatory power when it comes to the transmission of our sinful nature. It almost forces a view that sinfulness is centralized within the body, a view that can easily lead to Gnosticism or other negative views of the material world.
  • Special creationism potentially places God in the awkward position of actively creating fallen souls or creating perfect souls knowing that they will immediately be fallen once placed into a body. This view appears to make God responsible for the continued sinfulness of mankind.
  • The Scripture used to support special creationism could just as easily be used to explain God’s creation of the original human soul (see traducianism).

Proponents of Special Creationism

This is not an exhaustive list but merely a quick reference of others who have supported the idea of special creationism.

 

Special Creationism versus Traducianism – Undecided

Since Scripture does not give enough clear information to make a perfect case for either special creationism or Traducianism, there are many who have decided not to take a stance on the issue either way.

Hugh of St. Victor (c. 1096 – 1141) (leaned toward creationism)

Alexander of Hales (c. 1185 – 1245) (leaned toward creationism)

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)

Wayne Grudem (1948 – ) “Even if we say that God is the Father of spirits and the Creator of every human soul, just as he is the Maker and Creator of each of us, we must still also affirm that God carries out this creative activity through the amazing process of human procreation. Whether God involves the human mother and father to some degree in the process of the creation of a soul as well as of a physical body, is impossible for us to say. It is something that occurs in the invisible realm of the spirit, which we do not have information about except from Scripture. And on this point Scripture simply does not give us enough information to decide.”[1]

 

Now that you have a small introduction to these three ideas on the origin of the soul, you probably have more information than you thought you ever needed. No matter which of these ideas you hold, you should be able to confidently tell your children and those who ask, “God is the author of the human soul.”

[1] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1994), 484-485.

July 15, 2015 by
Articles, Creation

Where Does the Soul Come From? Part 2

In Part 1 of our “Where Does the Soul Come From?” series, I addressed the theory of pre-existence. The idea we will look at today is Traducianism. It is important to note that, beyond affirming that God is the ultimate author of our souls, this is not an essential Christian doctrine. During the next two installments, we will discuss the Scriptural support for Traducianism and creationism as well as some of their strengths and weaknesses.

originofthesoul-traducianism1

Traducianism

Traducianism is the belief that the soul is propagated – transmitted from the parent(s) to the child. This view is sometimes referred to as Generationism; though, at times the two can be slightly different ways of viewing how the propagation of the soul takes place.
The argument of Traducianism is that once God created man, He completed the creation process and rested (Genesis 2:3). He created both animals and man to reproduce according to their own kind and we see in Genesis 5:4 that Adam begot a son in his own likeness. As a result of the fall, sin is now passed down from generation to generation through the soul.

 

Kenneth Samples, a senior research scholar at Reasons to Believe gives the following biblical and theological support for Traducianism.

  1. God’s breathing into man the breath of life is not said to have been repeated after Adam (Genesis 2:7).
  2. Scripture seems to convey the idea that descendants are in some sense in the loins of their fathers (Genesis 46:26; Hebrew 7:9–10).
  3. Since the Bible teaches man is a unity of body and soul (Matthew 10:28), it seems reasonable to conclude that both component elements of man had a simultaneous beginning.
  4. From a biblical perspective begetting involves passing on the image of God, therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that the immaterial aspect of man is passed on in this act (Genesis 5:3).
  5. Since it can be argued God has ceased creating (Genesis 2:2), it can thus be concluded that no new souls are being created by God but rather are passed on through this natural–spiritual generation.
  6. Traducianism appears to be the superior explanatory model in terms of explaining how sin is transmitted to all of humanity.

 

Challenges to Traducianism

The best challenge to Traducianism is found in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Traducianism may have difficulty explaining the sinlessness of Jesus if both his body and soul were passed from Mary. An easy way to explain this however is that the incarnation of Jesus is an unprecedented miracle. It is not difficult to say that the generation of His soul was also outside the standard method.

 

Proponents of Traducianism:

This is not an exhaustive list but merely a quick reference of others who have supported the idea of Traducianism.

 

Why is it important?

Again, this discussion is not essential to the Christian faith. It is not a matter upon which salvation hinges. However, the way you think about this can impact other areas of your theology and Christian walk.

It seems to me the Traducianism best defends the value of the human fetus because at no time would a fetus be less than human. In both pre-existence and creationism, there may be a point at which the fetus has not had its soul infused with its body. Furthermore, Traducianism avoids the issue of God creating fallen souls, or creating perfect souls knowing that they will immediately be fallen once placed into a body, and instead, the fallen soul is passed on by the parents.

In Part 3 we will look at creationism and how it may explain the origin of the soul.

[1] Tertullian, De Anima.

[2] Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology, (Philadelphia: The Griffith & Rowland Press, 1912), 494.

[3] Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol 3 Sin, Salvation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 2004), 44.

[4] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1998), 570.

[5] Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998).

June 22, 2015 by