psuche is the only word translated as “soul” in the King James Version of the New Testament.

There is a temptation when evaluating these words and their meanings to turn to contemporary authors, and in the case of Greek, to philosophers and playwrights of the time. However, there are two reasons to abstain from doing so. The first is that the Greek language is not an entirely uniform body; there were numerous dialects and developments within the Greek language over time. The second is that most of the comparative literature that exists was written by non-believers who themselves were inconsistent in their understanding. The Christian writer Arnobius writes in his Adversus Gentes, “In exactly the same way (as the creation and the gods) is the condition of souls discussed. For this one thinks they are both immortal, and survive the end of our earthly life; that one believes that they do not survive, but perish with the bodies themselves; the opinion of another, however, is that they suffer nothing immediately, but that, after the [body of] man has been laid aside, they are allowed to live a little longer, and then come under the power of death.”  Many varieties of the inconsistencies Greek writers had regarding the psuche are at variance with the Scripture. We then have no choice but to let the Scripture itself inform us on the meaning.

Psuche occurs 105 times in the New Testament. It’s translated as “soul” 58 of these, “life” 40 times, “mind” 3 times, and one time each for “heart”, “heartly”, “us”, and “you”. Modern thinkers and psychologists treat psuche (spelled psyche) as the study of the mind only, but we see that the Scripture speaks of it as the soul of a person. In the cases where psuche is used, it corresponds to the Old Testament Hebrew word nephesh.

Mark 12:29 and 30 compare to Deuteronomy 6:4 and 5. Acts 2:27 compares to Psalm 16:10. Romans 11:3 compares to I Kings 19:10. I Corinthians 15:45 compares to Genesis 2:7. All of these show that psuche corresponds very neatly with nephesh.

Throughout the Bible, the word psuche is used in a few contexts.

First, it’s used of individuals as a collective whole, just as we say a plane crash results in the loss of so many souls. This usage occurs 14 times and is translated as “soul”. We see the usage in Acts 2:41 and 43, Acts 3:23, Acts 7:14, Acts 27:37, Romans 2:9, Romans 13:1, I Corinthians 15:45, James 5:20, I Peter 3:20, II Peter 2:14, Revelation 6:9, Revelation 18:13, and Revelation 20:4.

Second, psuche is used for the life of a person, which can be lost, destroyed, saved, laid down, etc. This usage occurs 58 times. Of these, the word is translated as “soul” in Matthew 10:28, Matthew 16:26, Mark 8:37 and 37, Luke 12:20, Luke 21:19, I Thessalonians 2:8, I Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 6:19, Hebrews 10:39, Hebrews 13:7, James 1:21, I Peter 1:9, I Peter 2:11 and 25, and I Peter 4:19. The word is translated to “life” in Matthew 2:20, Matthew 6:25, Matthew 10:39, Matthew 16:25, Matthew 20:28, Mark 3:4, Mark 8:35, Mark 10:45, Luke 6:9, Luke 9:24 and 56, Luke 12:22 and 23, Luke 14:26, Luke 17:33, John 10:11 and 15 and 17, John 12:25, John 13:37 and 38, John 15:13, Acts 15:26, Acts 20:10 and 24, Acts 27:10 and 22, Romans 11:3, Romans 16:4, Philippians 2:30, I John 3:16, and Revelation 12:11.

Third, psuche is used to emphasize the pronoun as in English we say “self”. This usage occurs 21 times. It’s translated as “soul” in Matthew 11:29, Matthew 12:18, Matthew 26:38, Mark 14:34, Luke 1:46, Luke 12:19, John 12:27, Acts 2:27 and 31, Acts 14:22, Acts 15:24, II Corinthians 1:23, Hebrews 10:38, I Peter 1:22, II Peter 2:8, and Revelation 18:14. It’s translated as “mind” in two places: Acts 14:2 and Hebrews 12:3. Psuche is translated as “us” in John 10:24 and “you” in II Corinthians 12:15.

Fourth, the word psuche is used to express the full power of one’s being ten times. It’s translated as “soul” in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30 and 33, Luke 2:35, Luke 10:27, Acts 4:32, and III John 2. Psuche is rendered “heart” in Ephesians 6:6, “mind” in Philippians 1:27, and “heartily” in Colossians 3:23.

Finally, psuche is used of lower animals twice. Once in Revelation 8:9 the word is translated “life” and second in Revelation 16:3 the word is translated as “soul”.