We have a soul and body today but were we just a soul beforehand?
It's generally understood that we have
"souls" because we are here in this life,
because we have been embodied into these natural bodies. The soul is thought to come into existence when God puts spirit into a natural human body.
Here's a typical explanation that is the mainstream Christian view:
What Is the Difference Between a Soul and a Spirit?
Let me add to this pretty good article that it's helpful to have some additional verses or more extensive bible reading than only a few select verses.
For instance, after that article, it helps to consider facts such as the fact that God already knew us before we were even conceived in the womb(!) --
Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
(But that
doesn't mean we lived some kind of life somewhere else before this life!)
Here's another verse I think is helpful to know, in this deep topic:
(6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,)
7 and the dust [mortal body] returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Of course, this says very clearly that God gave us our individual spirits.
So, knowing some of these key verses can be helpful. Also, we notice that our individual spirit is
returning to God (we learn here). The spirit is
not just an aspect of the physical natural body. It is not an outcome of the body (so it's already different than the soul in that way). One explanation I've read (long ago) is that the 'soul' is the
outcome (or created by the act of) of the individual's God-given spirit being placed/embodied into a natural human body.