Do animals have souls and or spirits?

Will there be animals in the New Heavens and New Earth is a different question than will my pets be resurrected into heaven.

Animals certainly do communicate with each other.
But no, I don’t believe in the resurrection of animals, soul, spirit or not.

Christ did not die for Fido.


Rob

 

Why do animals die?


because of this, even as through one man the sin did enter into the world, and through the sin the death; and thus to all men the death did pass through, for that all did sin;

 

Animals do not sin.

 

Humm… have you never owned a dog?

Rob

 

What command did God ever give to animals to disobey as was given to Adam?

For the record, I have 16 dogs during my lifetime and currently have 3.

 

Hence, you agree that Christ did not die for Fido.

Without jest, taking the topic any further would be speculation.
The Scriptures concern God’s relationship with mankind.

Rob

 

'...even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from the masters' table.'

Christian Theology., 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 958.

I haven't opened Erickson's ST text in quite a while. It's a good one!

Our theology will consist of various types of theological statements that can be classified on the basis of their derivation. It is important to attribute to each type of statement an appropriate degree of authority. ...
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology., 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 83.
​

Rob

 

So Salty, you started this by asking a serious question…and I turned it into a bit of a joke.
I apologize.

A source of the problem is found in Genesis 1:20,21 where God creates and purposes the “living creatures”.

[I’m doing this from memory so forgive any missteps (my wife kicked me off the computer to do some business).]

The Hebrew words are NEPHESH HYHA. It is translated “living creature” in most versions.
But NEPHESH is a rather plastic word with 10 or 12 various meanings, eg. neck, throat, living being, breath, human, dead person, and SOUL (among some others).

Some take this to mean living, breathing creatures have a soul.

Rob

 

Well, when Christ returns and sets up the new heavens and earth, the saints will know if there are animals on the new earth. If there are, they won't be eating each other and the saints won't be afraid of any of them and none of them will be afraid the saints.

 

AV1732 Baskett Bible

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the ||moving †creature that hath life, …
NOTES:
|| Or, creeping
† Heb. soul. Esdr. 6.47. See ver. 21,24,30. & ch. 2.7, 19. & 9.10, 12,15,16

Genesis 1:20 (BHS)
20 וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יִשְׁרְצ֣וּ הַמַּ֔יִם שֶׁ֖רֶץ נֶ֣פֶשׁ חַיָּ֑ה וְעֹוף֙ יְעֹופֵ֣ף עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ עַל־פְּנֵ֖י רְקִ֥יעַ הַשָּׁמָֽיִםa‬׃

נֶפֶשׁ חָיָה (nephesh hayah)

נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh) (ca. 750 ×): נָֽפֶשׁ, sf. נַפְשִׁי, נַפְשֶֽׁךָ, נַפְשֵׁנוּ (נַפְשֵׁינוּ La 5:9); pl. נְפָשֹׁ(וֹ)ת, cs. נַפְשׁוֹת, sf.
1. throat Is 5:14;—
2. neck Ps 105:18;—
3. breath Jb 41:13, what makes man & animals living beings Gn 1:20, ‘soul’ (to be sharply distinguished fm. Greek idea of soul) whose seat is the blood Gn 9:4f;—
4. living being nefeš ḥayyâ Gn 1:20 (= animals), 2:7 (man);—
5. man, men, person, people: a) nefeš ʾādām man —
6. personality, individuality —
7. life (of a person, a single life): nefeš hāʾādām —
8. ‘soul’ as seat & support of feelings & sensations: a) desire (even inordinate desire): (of love) SS 1:7; nāśāʾ nefeš ʾel have desire for Ho 4:8; maśśāʾ nefeš desire Ez 24:25; baʿal nefeš greedy (for food) Pr 23:2, reḥab nefeš greedy (for possessions) 28:25; nefeš is never satisfied Ec 6:3, never quieted Ps 35:25; b) mood, state of mind: of gēr Ex 23:9, of cattle Pr 12:10; c) feeling, taste Nu 21:5; d) will: yēš ʾet-nafšekem you are willing Gn 23:8;—
9. someone dead, a dead person, corpse: śereṭ lannefeš a slash because of the dead Lv 19:28; nefeš mēt dead body Nu 6:6, > nefeš (w/o mēt)

William Lee Holladay and Ludwig Köhler, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 242-3.

 

What does your dog have to do with you going to heaven? I'm assuming you omitted the apostrophe, of course.