Does Matthew 10:28 prove that the soul is separate and eternal from the body?
First, let’s look at the Bible text in question:
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
To some, this text appears to indicate that Christ is saying we have an immortal soul that can be separated from the body. However, that is not what Christ is saying at all. In fact, the text clearly states that the soul can be destroyed, and that means that there is no such thing as an immortal soul. Ezekiel confirms this truth:
“The soul who sins shall die….” Ezekiel 18:20
If the soul is a ghostly apparition or an invisibly intelligent life substance of some kind that lives on forever, then why does Scripture refer to it as something that can die or be destroyed? Nowhere in the Bible is the soul referred to as being eternal or immortal. Only God has immortality (1 Timothy 6:14–16).
The clearest biblical definition of the human soul is found in this text (emphasis supplied throughout):
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
Note that the New King James Version (NKJV) of that text says, “…and man became a living being.”
We do not have a soul; however, we are a soul. The soul represents a human being, brought about when God miraculously unites the breath (spirit) of life with the body. The Bible refers to dead souls, because human beings die (Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Matthew 26:38; Isaiah 53:12). Therefore, there is no immortal soul that exists outside the body.
The soul is a representation of our very living existence. That’s why at the end of this world, when the wicked are destroyed in hellfire, the Bible says they will “be as though they had not been” (Obadiah 1:16).