The meaning of "Soul" in Hebrew (Shema 05)

During this series we’re breaking down the Shema, looking at the specific words and their meaning. The Shema is a prayer found in Deuteronomy 6. It’s a prayer that declares one’s devotion to God, it highlights God’s character, and it shows us how to respond to him.

• Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

In this part of the series, we’re looking at how this prayer calls us to love God. It uses three words that describe aspects of who we are. Last week we looked at the word “heart.” Today we’re following this with the word “soul”. The word is “nephesh” in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. 

Your Soul Is the Essence of Who You Are

Last week, we saw that the “heart” is your inner person. It doesn’t just mean your emotions, but every aspect of your inner being: what we might call mind, will, and emotions. This week, the word “soul” refers to the whole person. There is some overlap between these words. In English, we have a lot of words for our inner reality (like consciousness, psyche, etc.), and they all share some common meaning. The same is true of the Hebrew words we’re exploring.

In English, the soul is the non-material essence of a human, the part that survives after death. But that idea is foreign to the authors of the Old Testament. Biblically, people don’t HAVE a soul; they ARE a soul. In Hebrew, “nephesh” is a living, breathing, physical being. In fact, this word is often just a synonym for the words “me” or “I”.

• Psalm 119:175 Let me live so I can praise you, and may your regulations help me.
• Literally: Let my nephesh live so it can praise you…

What the author is emphasizing here is not just the inner part of himself, but his entire being. He’s saying, “My whole person, my inner and outer self, offers praise to God.” So “soul” in the Bible means your entire life, your personality, your whole self, your identity - the core you.

Now that we understand the word “soul” as our whole person, I want to talk about three ways we can love the Lord. These three elements provide a circle that defines what a mature Christian life looks like. As you adopt each element in turn, you go "full circle" in your relationship with God.

You Love the Lord with All Your Soul by Putting Your Trust in Him

Let's put Deuteronomy 6 into the context of the whole Bible. Whether it’s in the Old or the New Testament, people are invited into a relationship with our Creator. That begins when we put our faith in him, meaning a complete trust in him for our life and our eternity.

Think about the people the Shema was originally addressed to. God had called this people - Israel - to be his people. He had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the borders of the promised land. In Deuteronomy, this is like a coach’s pregame speech. Moses is getting them ready for the game. He is reminding them who they are. He is going over everything he has taught them, so they can go into the promised land and succeed.

But in order to have this kind of relationship with Israel, God had to set up a way to deal with their sin - because sin always creates a barrier before a holy God. So right after the people had escaped from Egypt, God instituted a system of sacrifices. When someone sinned, they offered a sacrifice to cover that sin, to allow them to remain in a relationship with a holy God. That’s the heart of all the religious rituals we read about in the Old Testament, involving all the priests and ceremonies and the temple. It was a repetitive process, because people kept on sinning. 

We learn, when Jesus comes, all of that was temporary. The whole system looked forward to him and found its fulfillment in him. On the cross, Jesus paid for our sin once and for all, so no more animal sacrifices or repetitive rituals were required. So all those who trust in him and what he did have their sins forgiven and are right with God.

• Romans 3:22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

The point is this: you can’t love God with your whole soul until first you are in a relationship with God. That can’t happen until your sin is dealt with. So it all begins when you trust in Jesus, and what he did for you on the cross. When your sins are forgiven and you become part of his people, we can talk about loving God with your whole soul, as a response to God’s character and God’s mercy.

That relationship with God impacts every aspect of your everyday life. So let’s look at two more ways to love God with all your soul…. 

Love for God Takes Shape As You Live to Honor Him in All You Do

It will help us to look at the verses that come just after the Shema. because they give us an idea of what the Shema looks like in practice. What does it actually mean to love God with all your soul?  

• Deuteronomy 6:6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.

In other words, loving God looks like doing what God says. We saw two episodes ago that “love” has an active element. It’s not just affection or emotion, but involves commitment and action. Jesus said the same thing to his followers:

• John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Jesus sets forth the real test of whether a person truly loves God or not. If you say you love God, then you are willing to do what he says. 

So: how do we “keep his commandments”? First, we read what pleases God in his word, the Bible. Then, as we make an effort to understand what God wants, we adjust our choices and our lifestyle accordingly. 

But it's not just checking the boxes on a list. The Shema goes beyond that when it speaks to the whole soul. It’s saying: everything about you as a person is to declare that God is Lord. Everything about us is to give honor to God. That includes the way we think and act and breathe, our entire “nephesh”, our whole being. Let me show you how the New Testament puts this:

• 1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

In context, I Corinthians is talking about the choices we make - even simple choices - and the impact or consequences they have. So whatever your daily behavior is, this is our motive: we want it to bring glory and honor to God. That is loving God with our desires, motives, perceptions, and thoughts. But also honoring him with how we talk, what we do with our hands, how we utilize our talents, how we react to challenges. Our entire being is to display that God is first! 

So it starts when you trust in Jesus, which leads to a life that honors God. The circle has one more element, another way to describe what it means to love God with our entire soul….

Love for God Means Intentionally Helping Others Pursue Him.

Let’s go back to Deuteronomy 6, and continue looking at the verses that follow the Shema. As we look at verses 7-9, you’re going to see: loving God with your whole soul is not just a private matter.  It’s not just a relationship between you and God, but it involves other people as well. Verse 6 talked about keeping God’s commandments. Then…

• Deuteronomy 6:7-9 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Moses told Israel: if you love God, you point your children toward him. You tell your family about him and his ways. You make it a seamless part of the fabric of your daily life, from the time you get until you go to bed.

In that world, Israel was not commanded to convert the pagans, but they were commanded to reach the next generation. But since Jesus came, God has opened the doors of faith to everyone - not just one chosen nation. So it’s fair to apply these verses beyond just the family. As you commit yourself to love God with your whole self, then it’s natural that you would invite your neighbors to commit to him also. That you would invite your co-workers into a relationship with him, and tell your friends so they can know him. In the New Testament context, this means: we tell the world! We love the Lord with all our soul by incorporating him into all our relationships.

Jesus expanded the Shema in a very similar way. He was asked to identify the greatest commandment in the Old Testament:  

• Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God will all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

So commandment #1a is "Love God with all your soul." And commandment #1b is "Love your neighbor as yourself." These two issues cannot be separated. What starts with “Love the Lord your God” flows over into “Love your neighbor.” 

There are many ways to love your neighbors. But the greatest way is to help them pursue God. This applies to your neighbor who is a Christian. That’s why we mentor others: to help them become fully mature Christ-followers. This applies to your neighbor who is not yet a Christian. That’s why we invest in relationships with people outside of our Christian bubble, why we invite people to join us at church on Sundays, or to go through The Pursuit together. It’s so people will have an opportunity to discover a life-giving relationship with God for themselves.

The Takeaway

Again, your “nephesh” is your whole self, your whole being. Is that how you are loving God right now in your life? Or are you holding back some element of your life? Maybe something small, like a habit or an attitude. Or something bigger, like a key relationship. 

Here’s one simple thought to end with today: You can trust God with your whole life. Sometimes we hold part of ourselves back, wondering: if I give it all over to God, am I going to be okay? Is God really going to come through? I want to assure you that God can be trusted. He loves you so much! He only wants the best for you! It is safe to give everything you are to him.