According to the Bible, do animals have souls?

Question

Randy Alcorn claims in his book Heaven (page 374) that animals have souls, though not necessarily like humans. Is there any Biblical support for this?

Answer 1

In the Bible, the word for "spirit" is the same as "breathe." But there is ultimately a difference between the life of humans and the life in animals.

In Genesis 2:7, God breathes into the nostrils of man and gives him life, but all land animals have this same breath as well. "And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life." (Genesis 7:15 (KJV))

However, the distinction between the two types of spirits is apparent in the following verses:

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah. Psa 49:12-15 (KJV)

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. Ecc. 3:21 (KJV)

It is clear that God does care for the animals. In many passages, God shows compassion for the beast or bird, whether by the law, or other means. Though they do not have eternal souls, they are part of God's creation, and they give Him His due worship.

Answer 2

I think the fundamental difference between the animals and humans is not the soul, but the presence of a spirit. I think that distinction can be derived from Genesis 1 (KJV):

²⁴And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

In verses 24-25, God describes his creation of the animals...that he made the animals "according to their kind". In verses 26-27, God describes his creation of man, and clearly delineates that man was made after HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS. The likeness of God is that of an eternal being with a spirit, the Holy Spirit.

This distinction is made clearer in other passages, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV):

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Where the spirit is described separately from the soul. The spirit is also described in 1 Corinthians 2 (KJV):

¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³ which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. ¹⁴But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. ¹⁵But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

Which brings clarity to the purpose of a healthy, living spirit... It is the spirit that is rejuvenated or given to us when we are born again. It is our spirit that gives us the ability to commune with God via his Holy Spirit. It is the part of our being that, because it is in the likeness of God, allows us to commune with him. There are differences between different translations of the bible, and some seem to indicate that unsaved man does not have a spirit, while saved man does. I am unsure what that means, or which translations are accurate. However it is an intriguing state, one which may beg the question...are we no better than animals until we accept salvation from God? Are we simply more intelligent beings with a soul until the day we repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness and eternal life in heaven? I am not educated in the word or its language roots enough to answer that question myself, so hopefully someone more versed than I am will come along and provide a more definitive answer.

Regarding animals, there is no reference to them having a spirit in the bible. It is intriguing to note, however, that animals are referenced at least once in Revelation (that I can think of):

Revelation 19:14 (KJV):

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

I do believe God cared for the animals, despite the difference between them and man. He gave mankind, the beings he created in his own image and likeness, his most cherished creation, dominion over the animals and the earth, so he must have cared for the animals. I cannot say for sure what the passage from revelation means, however it seems that there will be animals in heaven as well. Whether they are the resurrected/eternal souls of animals on earth, or new creations, I cannot say.

Answer 3

Any Biblical support? Yes; the writer of Ecclesiastes takes it as a given (Ecclesiastes 3:21, ESV quoted):

Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

Also, the book of Revelation appears to refer to creatures in the sea as living souls - some translations do say living things, but the Greek word is ψυχή "breath, soul, spirit" (Revelation 16:3, KJV quoted):

And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

Either way, if animals do have souls, your author is right that they may differ in important ways from human souls.

What effect are you trying to observe when you ask whether animals have souls? Or what properties associated with the English word "soul" are you looking to find in animals? A better directed question will help quell the quibbles about definitions appearing in every other answer here.

Answer 4

Hebrews 4:12 indicates that the word of God is able to divide the soul and the spirit. From the Bible, we understand that humans are, if I may use the word, little "trinities". We have 1) a body, 2) a soul, and 3) a spirit. This is part of the way in which mankind is made "in the image of God."

It is the spiritual part of us that distinguishes us from the animals, so animals would only have a body and a soul, with the soul being the personality.

Lastly, plants are distinguished from animals, I believe, in that there is no soul. They only have the physical aspect of existence--the body.

Answer 5

For example, in the book of Numbers, the donkey of Balaam spoke (22:28) for the power of YHWH. So, and through the OT, the animals were conceived as food, as transportation or sacrifice. The term "animal" comes from "anima":

From Latin anima (“a current of air, wind, air, breath, the vital principle, life, soul”), sometimes equivalent to animus (“mind”), both from Proto-Indo-European *ane- (“to breathe, blow”); see animus. Cognate with Greek άνεμος (ánemos, “wind”), Old English anda (“anger, envy, zeal”). More at onde.

Answer 6

The problem here is the basic assumption of the question itself. The concept of "soul" in the bible is far different than what we modern Christians are usually taught and learn.

God breathed the Spirit of life into Adam and he became a living soul. He did not "have" a soul. He "was" a living soul as are all living humans and animals.

Our traditions and culture unfortunately lean on our Greek intellectual heritage more than our Biblical heritage; and we have mistakenly learned that our soul is something both immortal and invisible that has taken up residence in our fleshly bodies at conception or birth and flies away to heaven or hell or limbo even at the moment of death. The Bible, despite our foolish reliance on and misunderstanding of one verse in one letter of St. Paul teaches no such thing.When we die we are dead. We have/own no soul. We feel and know nothing. Our life/soul ceases to exist.

Our/breath/spirit is returned to God who gave it and will do so again. Until the trumpet sounds when we are resurrected to eternal life or judgment, we "exist"/"sleep" only in the memory and will of the Father, whence he is nonetheless faithful to return us.

Answer 7

The word soul takes it full meaning when only used within it's context of a sentence. Many use this word speaking about different ideas being communicated. I looked this up a long time ago among many resources for valid resolution. It comes down to "Open you heart, speak to God yourself, listen and here him for yourself". I know that God loves us, he is actually in us, and if we love our animals..I think he would care enough for us to let them be with us where we journey throughout eternity. The bible was written through God's spirit (active communication line and energy tied to us) and he personally translates it to you on a personal level if you ask him to and are open to his will and not your own. Being OPEN TO HIS WILL is the key to truly hearing his answers. I trust God will do the right thing for my dog who is about to die, because I trust God and see and feel his love all around me every day, bad or good days. I have a lot of bad days, but it is not God's doing. He only lifts me up when I fall and gives me the unconditional love I have always craved throughout my life.

I think (Anthony J. Nania) has the right thought. Our bodies turn to dust, and our spirits go to God for safe keeping to rise again in the form he has planned out. From past research the soul is defined in the Bible as a living being. Over the years the word has been turned into slang for our eternal spirit/life/energy/connection etc. with God. The word is just miss understood and used however with best intentions. I can't really say much more until I do some refreshing research on the animal part first. Hell is a great topic too, I dove deeply into that once, quite an eye opener. Fire really doesn't have to be considered torture. Torture can be referred to as you loose your relationship with God, his gift of eternity and you simply end dust to dust. That is a "Hell" of gift to loose. God ways are not our ways and he/she/whatever has higher thoughts than we as humans can even begin to understand until it is chosen so.