Answer: The Bible is not perfectly clear as to the nature of the human soul. But from studying the way the word
soul is used in Scripture, we can come to some conclusions. Simply stated, the human soul is the part of a person that is not physical. It is the part of every human being that lasts eternally after the body experiences death.
Genesis 35:18 describes the death of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, saying she named her son “as her soul was departing.” From this we know that the soul is different from the body and that it continues to live after physical death.
The human soul is central to the personhood of a human being. As George MacDonald said, “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” In other words, personhood is not based on having a body. A soul is what is required. Repeatedly in the Bible, people are referred to as “souls” (
Exodus 31:14;
Proverbs 11:30), especially in contexts that focus on the value of human life and personhood or on the concept of a “whole being” (
Psalm 16:9-10;
Ezekiel 18:4;
Acts 2:41;
Revelation 18:13).
The human soul is distinct from the heart (Deuteronomy 26:16; 30:6) and the spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12) and the mind (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). The human soul is created by God (
Jeremiah 38:16). It can be strong or unsteady (
2 Peter 2:14); it can be lost or saved (
James 1:21;
Ezekiel 18:4). We know that the human soul needs atonement (
Leviticus 17:11) and is the part of us that is purified and protected by the truth and the work of the Holy Spirit (
1 Peter 1:22). Jesus is the great Shepherd of souls (
1 Peter 2:25).
https://www.gotquestions.org/human-soul.html