If there is any verse in the Bible which teaches that the body and soul are separate entities, it must be Matthew 10:28. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28 BEREAN). It is perfectly understandable why most Christians see this verse as evidence, if not proof, that the soul and body are two distinct things. Because church teaching about the soul has been influenced more by Plato than the Bible, it is no wonder that we can’t see the verse teaching anything else!
Was Jesus really communicating that the soul and body are two different things? Or do we interpret it this way because our immersion in the Greek paradigm prevents us from considering that He could have meant something else? The fact is that Greek Platonic thought regarding the human constitution has so dominated our religious and secular culture that we do not even question whether there might be other ways to think about this topic.
Two interpretive approaches to Matthew 10:28
Previous articles have shown that biblical teachings do not support the concept of the soul as a separate entity from the body. So, we have two choices when interpreting Matthew 10:28. We can interpret the passage in light of what the Old and New Testaments communicate on this topic. Alternatively, we can look to sources outside the Bible to interpret Jesus’s words.
Simply put, we can let Scripture interpret Scripture, or we can continue to march with the church fathers, whom Greek philosophy influenced more than the Bible. The latter is what most people do, but to paraphrase Fudge, they do not realize that it is Plato who is leading the parade.1 To put it bluntly, we cannot correctly understand what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 without a scriptural definition of the word “soul.”
Context of Matthew 10:28
At the beginning of Matthew 10, Jesus told His disciples that their preaching of the good news would be met with resistance and persecution. He then assured them in vv. 26-28 not to fear these threats. Jesus’s encouragement took on an eternal perspective: the worst men could do was kill them. This harm was only temporary because God would eventually raise them from the dead at the resurrection.
The point is that they should fear God’s judgment more than human persecutors, as men could only terminate life temporarily. Instead, they should fear God, who has the power to enact a final and complete destruction of the whole person from which there is no return.
To put it bluntly, we cannot correctly understand what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 without a scriptural definition of the word “soul.”
What Jesus did not say in Matthew 10:28
Let’s begin by noticing a couple of things that Jesus did not say in this passage. Firstly, He did not say that the body and soul are fundamentally separate entities that exist independently of each other. This would be an interpretation of what He said based on Greek dualism. Secondly, He did not assert that the soul inherently possesses immortality and cannot experience destruction. Again, this is an interpretation of what He said based on the pagan idea of an immortal soul which lives eternally surviving the death of the body.
What Jesus did say in Matthew 10:28
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt. 10:28 BEREAN)
To understand what Jesus communicated, we must set aside the paradigm of Greek dualism and replace it with the overarching biblical context. The biblical narrative describes death as sleep. This is because, as Jesus implies in v. 28, the first death is temporary. Since God will resurrect everyone, the Bible portrays death as sleep – a transitory period of unconsciousness. Eventually we “will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2 BEREAN).
Obviously, men can kill the body. What men cannot do is destroy the entire being – the soul. When men kill the body, the breath of life returns to God who gave it (Eccl 12:7). God can, and will, return our breath to our physical bodies at the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection could even be thought of as another Genesis 2:7 event! God will somehow reconstitute our bodies and return to them the breath of life resulting in us becoming living souls once again. According to Jesus, there is absolutely nothing that men can do to prevent God from doing this. While they can kill the body, they cannot prevent us from being resurrected.
Jesus’s point in this verse is to point out the contrast between what men can do versus what God can do. Namely, death inflicted by men is temporary; a decree of death from God is eternal.
The soul can be destroyed?
Jesus’s emphasis in the second half of v. 28 is not primarily on the soul’s potential mortality but on the irreversibility of divine judgment. Nevertheless, the text plainly states that God can destroy both soul and body, which directly contradicts the idea that souls are inherently immortal and indestructible. The Bible is clear that only the faithful will receive the gift of immortality. Ironically, the text often quoted to prove the immortal soul explicitly mentions God’s power to destroy it.
“[T]he Bible contains no definition of the soul’s constitution that implies its indestructibility. Indeed some would find in Matthew 10:28 (‘Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell’) the implication that the soul is ‘destructible’. … What Matthew 10:28 emphasizes is not the potential mortality of the soul but the irreversibility of the divine judgment.”2
In Matthew 10:28, Jesus emphasizes that ultimate authority over human life belongs to God, not to humans. He reassures His followers that while people can kill the body, they cannot permanently destroy the soul – the entirety of a person’s being. Jesus denied the notion of an inherently immortal soul by affirming that God has the power to destroy the soul (the entire constitution of a person’s being) in hell. A soul is not immortal if it can be destroyed. Jesus’s message is a call to fear God’s judgment rather than human threats.
Objections
“Body” and “soul” suggest dualism
Objection: Jesus explicitly mentions both “body” and “soul” in Matthew 10:28. This suggests a clear distinction and implies that two separable parts compose humans.
Answer: Within the premise that “soul” (nephesh/psuche) refers to the whole living person (body and inner being), Jesus was simply using “body” to refer to the physical components, and “soul” to refer to the totality of a person’s essential nature – both physical and non-physical aspects.
So, to kill the body would be to end biological life. However, only God can permanently destroy the soul. According to the Bible, the soul is the entire identity/being (including the body) which is appointed for resurrection and judgment. The contrast does not lie between a disembodied soul and its inhabited body. Instead, the contrast is between what man can do and what God can do.
In addition, Jesus may have been using hendiadys. Hendiadys is a rhetorical device in which two words joined by a conjunction (usually “and”) express a single idea, often creating a more vivid or impactful image. “Two words employed, but only one thing, or idea, intended.”3 For example, the phrase “nice and warm” uses hendiadys to express the idea of being pleasantly warm.
If Jesus was using a hendiadys in Matthew 10:28, he would be using the phrase “soul and body” together to comprehensively refer to the totality of a person – the physical dimensions referenced by “body,” and the non-physical aspects like mind, will, etc. referenced by “soul.”
Jesus is not affirming the Greek philosophical concept of the soul as an immaterial entity separable from the body. He’s simply making a distinction between ending biological life now, and God’s power over the everlasting destiny of each person.
The non-physical aspect of man is the soul
Objection: To admit that there is both a physical and a non-physical aspect to man is the same as saying that the soul is the non-physical part which will survive the body.
Answer: When I refer to the non-physical aspects of a person’s soul, I am not suggesting an immaterial entity which can separate from the body. Rather, I am referring to the mental, emotional, and volitional dimensions of our being that are not purely physical/biological in nature yet are fully integrated with our physical existence.
The biblical “soul” refers to people as unified wholes, not divisible into separable components. So the non-physical characteristics I mentioned would still be inseparable aspects of our integral self/soul, not a disembodied entity. Jesus’s words highlight that persecutors can destroy the physical body, but they cannot annihilate the reality of a person’s identity (a.k.a., “soul”) which God appoints for resurrection and judgment.
The “soul” Jesus refers to is biblically understood as the whole indivisible person including the physical body and the mental, emotional, and volitional dimensions of our being. Biblically speaking, a soul encompasses both physical and non-physical dimensions without being reducible to separate parts.
“Destroy” means eternal suffering, not annihilation
Objection: When Jesus says God can “destroy” both soul and body in hell, He does not mean the soul ceases to exist. Rather, “destroy” refers to eternal conscious suffering. The soul is ruined and condemned forever, not eliminated.
Answer: The Greek word translated “destroy” here is apollumi (ἀπόλλυμι). While apollumi can carry the sense of ruin or loss in some contexts, Jesus uses it here in direct contrast to what men can do. Men can kill the body temporarily; God can destroy the whole person permanently and completely. The contrast is between temporary and permanent, not between physical death and conscious torment. Additionally, if “destroy” simply means eternal conscious suffering, then the soul is not truly destroyed at all, it continues indefinitely. That reading drains the word of its plain meaning and requires importing a concept the text does not contain.
Additionally, it is significant that Jesus links body and soul together in the same act of destruction. If the soul were an immortal, separable entity, there would be no reason to mention the body at all. God could simply destroy the soul. The fact that Jesus says God destroys both – together – is consistent with the biblical picture of the soul as the whole person, body and inner life inseparably united.
What Jesus meant by the final destruction of the soul in hell is a separate and important question. What is clear is that the text cannot be used to prove the soul’s inherent immortality. Jesus explicitly places it under God’s power to destroy.
The church has been wrong for most of its history?
Objection: Early in church history Christians accepted the doctrine of an immortal soul that survives the body. Are you saying that for the past 1800 years the church has gotten this wrong?
Answer: We must evaluate long-standing traditions against Scripture rather than blindly accepting them as infallible. It is a matter of historical fact that Greek ideas about the soul profoundly influenced early church thinkers. These men openly acknowledged that they borrowed ideas from both Socrates and Plato!4 5 6 7 8 Over time, these Greek ideas about the soul crystallized into church doctrine and are still with us to the present day.
Working from the biblical premise which defines the soul as the inseparable unity of the whole person (body and inner life), then yes, the church is guilty of a serious blunder by adopting this pagan concept. The Greek idea of an immaterial soul separating from the body does not comport with Scripture. The church, for the most part, has colored outside the biblical lines for the past 1800 years. Longevity of a doctrine is not necessarily an indicator of correct biblical interpretation.
Progressive revelation
Objection: This is an example of progressive revelation. Jesus was simply revealing another truth about the soul that God had not previously made known.
Answer: It is true that God gradually revealed His truths, not all at once, but bit by bit. Arguing that Matthew 10:28 introduced the idea of the soul’s immortality and separability from the body is an admission that the Old Testament doesn’t teach this! Additionally, new revelations complemented rather than contradicted earlier ones. Progressive revelation provided a fuller understanding of established truths, not a contradiction of them.
Treating Matthew 10:28 as progressive revelation would create a contradiction with the Old Testament, which does not teach that the soul is immortal or separable from the body. Jesus’s teachings were always consistent with Old Testament truths, so He could not have revealed an aspect of the soul that contradicted previous revelation.
What Jesus really meant
When we study Matthew 10:28, it’s vital to see it in the context of the Bible’s overall message rather than through ideas from Greek philosophy. We must shape our understanding based on what the Bible says rather than ideas from Socrates and Plato.
Jesus tells his followers not to fear those who can only harm the body, but to fear God, who has power over both body and soul in the final judgment. This shows that God’s authority covers our whole selves, not just a hypothetical separable soul. The Bible teaches that the soul is the complete person—both the material body and inner life together. Edward Fudge summarizes Matthew 10:28 rather nicely:
“Man’s power to kill stops with the body and the horizons of the present age. The death that humans inflict is not final, for God will call forth the dead from the earth and give the righteous immortality. By contrast, God’s ability to kill and destroy is limitless. It reaches deeper than the physical and extends beyond the present. God can kill both soul and body, both now and hereafter.”9
References
- Fudge, Edward William. The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition (p. 31). Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
- Harris, Murray J. “Resurrection and Immortality: Eight Theses.” Themelios 1, no. 2 (1976): 53.
- Bullinger, E. W. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible: Explained and Illustrated. 16. print. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Book House, 1991. 657.
- González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (pp. 22-24). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
- https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8092-immortality-of-the-soul.
- Fudge, Edward William. The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition (p. 20). Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
- Tertullian, Resurrection of the Flesh, 3.
- Inwagen, Peter van. “Dualism And Materialism: Athens And Jerusalem?” Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers 12, no. 4 (October 1, 1995): 475–88.
- Fudge, Edward William. The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition (p. 123). Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.