The complexity and beauty of the human body staggers the imagination.  While the physical structure and function of its component parts are observable, there is more to mankind than the material aspects of his biological life.  Man possesses a soul which distinguishes him from all other living creatures.   

Scripture notes that distinction in the Genesis account of creation … “And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the fifth day.  And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:20-25 NIV).  

However, a noticeable act, unique from the other created beings, occurs on the sixth day.  “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:26-27 NIV).  

Like God, man would have a soul, with invisible attributes.  That soul would be aware of one’s own existence (self-consciousness), possess the ability to think (mentality), make choices (volition), and develop moral standards and boundaries for living. The totality of  those characteristics, as evidenced in outward action, reveal the true nature of the individual. The Divine purpose in creating the soul is for the glorification of God as expressed by the prophet Isaiah … “whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”  The Shorter Westminster catechism written by English and Scottish theologians affirmed that truth in 1647 …  “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”  

While that is the divine intent, yet without coercion, man was given the freedom to choose or reject that for which he was created.  Man, possessing a sin nature acquired when Adam sinned, would have to exercise in his soul the God-given freedom to either accept or reject the means by which God would be glorified.  It would be a personal decision, directed toward the One the Heavenly Father declared … “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him” (Matt 17:5 NIV)!   “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Lk 19:10 NIV).  The Apostle John would write … “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26 NIV).  “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12 NIV).  

The soul must possess God’s kind of life in order to have relationship with Him.  Jesus said … “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV).  The Apostle Paul gave the positive response that brings eternal life to the soul of any individual.  “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NIV).