Tag: soul

Pre-existence of the Soul

Pre-existence of the Soul

I was asked an interesting question thing morning: “What evidence would you use to disprove the Mormon belief in the pre-existence of the soul?”  I really didn’t have an answer, so I thought I’d look into it.  Here is what I found: 

  •  Genesis 2:7 (ESV)   then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Adam became a living being at that moment.  Humans begin life when God forms them physically, and not before.  The verse does not say Adam’s soul existed before his body but came to exist at the same time as his body.  The order is formation, then breath, then living soul, not a pre-existing entering the body.  This suggests the soul begins when God gives life to the body.

  • Zech. 12:1 (ESV)  The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him:

God forms a human’s spirit within his body not before the body is created.

  •  Heb. 9:27 (ESV)  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

God’s plan is one earthly life and one judgment.  The Mormon belief is a three-stage life: first, a life as a spirit child, then an earthly life, then again life in the heavens.  The Bible speaks only of one human life story, not a story before we are born.

  •  John 3:13 (ESV)  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Only Jesus has come from heaven; no one else.  Jesus’ heavenly existence is then human existence is unique.  If all of us had pre-existed, Jesus’ life would not be unique and would not be worth mentioning. 

  • 1 Cor. 15:45 (ESV)  45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

So, a man became a living being not a spirit became a man.  The living being did not exist without the man – without the physical body, but the human physical body became a living being.

  • The Bible never mentions a pre-mortal council or spirit children.  Christian apologists argue that such a major doctrine would appear clearly in Scripture if it were true.
  • Key Mormon proof texts do not require pre-existence:

Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Foreknowledge is not necessarily pre-existence

Eph. 1:4 (ESV)  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

This refers to God’s knowledge and plan, not a literal prior life.

Why is this important?

So, humans become living souls when God gives life (Gen. 2:7.  The spirit is formed within the person (Zech. 12:1).  Humans live one earthly life before judgment (Heb. 9:27).  Jesus alone came from heaven (John 3:13).  The first man became a living being not a living being became a man (1 Cor. 15:45)