Three Huge Problems with Psuche (Snippets from Chapter in Book)
Psuche Problem #1: Ambiguity
Psuche has been translated into two different English words (life and soul) without a biblical basis for doing so. As a result Jesus' original clear teaching has been replaced with incredibly destructive ambiguity throughout the New Testament.
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The words “life” and “soul” have significantly different meanings to the typical English-speaking person. We have ended up with two distinctly different (divergent) words when in fact, there was originally only a single word - psuche.
Splitting up psuche into these two divergent words (life and soul) has garbled what Jesus originally said, injecting ambiguity and unintended meaning that did not exist in the original Greek texts.
Psuche Problem #2: Immortality
The second problem occurs specifically with the word “soul.” Most English-speaking people believe that the Bible teaches that the soul is immortal. In reality, the Bible never, never teaches this, nor implies this, either directly or indirectly.
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The idea that man has a soul is not biblical. Furthermore, there is not a unique word in the Greek New Testament that specifically means "soul". Yet, in the English translations this is exactly the understanding that we are left with. In truth,
man does not "have" a soul, man is a soul... and this soul is mortal not immortal.
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The resulting influence of this notion of the immortal soul (which did not exist in Jesus teachings) has tragically altered and undermined Jesus' original message, twisting his teaching into something he never would have considered.
Psuche Problem #3: Obscuring Zoe
The problem that occurs with inserting the word “life” for psuche is that it ends up obscuring Jesus’ use of a much more powerful word, which he used extensively throughout his ministry.
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Let me briefly explain. The word zoe is one of the most powerful and influential words in the New Testament, especially and explicitly because of the way Jesus consistently used the word zoe.
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Here is where the problem begins. Zoe is always translated as “life” in English bibles. Psuche is also translated as “life” about half of the time. The obscurity occurs because the English reader never has any idea that Jesus used two very different words in his teaching, often in contrast to one another, because both words have been translated as “life.”
As a result, we end up being totally unaware of the major differences in how Jesus used these two words and their profound impact on the truth of his message.
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This third problem has resulted in severe consequences that extend throughout Christian doctrine, heavily obscuring and distorting the profound truth that Jesus originally taught...
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