The Bible certainly says so. The Bible uses the word soul in many places in the New Testament. Based on the evidence of the New Testament, then, we definitely have a soul.

But this is where the difficulties kick in. Grab a Bible dictionary, and it will tell you that for the word “soul,” there are at least four different meanings at play. And as for the traditional view of the soul that most of us have–that it is distinct from the body and survives the body after death (often called “substance dualism”)–there are just a handful of verses that seem to clearly support it; in fact, only one or two.

The truth is that the traditional view of the soul derives more clearly from ancient philosophy–for example, in the writings of the Greek philosopher Socrates–than the Bible. All one has to do is read one of Plato’s dialogues to see this; and Plato’s dialogues, of course, predate the New Testament by several hundred years. Does this mean, then, that the traditional view of the soul is wrong or unbiblical? Certainly not. As I said, there appears to be some support for this view of things in the New Testament. Obviously, however, this view raises some fascinating and even troubling questions. For example, how can we have an immaterial part of us in the first place? How might this be joined to our bodies or influence them? How might it relate to our minds and mental processes? And how indeed might it separate from the body after death, and “travel” to another realm? And on we could go.

Some theologians point out that there may be a different view of things lurking in the New Testament, particularly in the theology of Paul, who seems to indicate in such passages as I Corinthians 15 that there are only two versions of us, the present natural one (flesh and blood), and a future spiritual one, which will be raised up by God. Paul doesn’t seem to see in us a separate immaterial entity that will survive death on its own. Of course, there are nuances in this discussion, but it does raise some interesting questions. It is also important to point out that there have been different views of the soul throughout Christian history as well, including those influenced not by Plato, but by Aristotle.

My personal view is that we can at least agree on certain things. 1) We will be alive immediately after death. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Here the Bible is clear. 2) In whatever form we might exist apart from our present bodies, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are ever without a body. In fact, this seems to be the sense of 2 Corinthians 5, where Paul says that we long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (body). 3) Finally, whether the traditional view of the soul is true or not, it seems clear that God is involved in the process after we die.

So is the Bible conclusive on this issue? Again, in a sense, yes. The word soul refers to something definite in the Bible. But whether this really explains all that much is another matter altogether. I think the evidence for 1-3 above is clear and comforting; whether this amounts to a view similar to the one held by ancient Greek philosophers remains to be seen.