Let us have a short Bible study on creation and the soul, where the Bible and the Bible alone is the teacher and interpreter.

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

This is the recipe of man: dust + breath = living soul.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1

Here, “In the beginning” is used as a definite article, meaning that there was a definite beginning, a definite starting time, to the creation of the heaven and the earth. The start of creation is a date which could be marked on a calendar. There is no everlasting, immortality inherent in man, for man was created at a set start-point. We will see affirmation of this soon, when we discuss the false teaching of the immortality of the soul.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

But here, “In the beginning” is used as an indefinite article, meaning that the Word has no definite starting point. The Word, being Jesus Christ, is from before creation, before the start of time, and is eternal, everlasting, and immortal (John 5:26; 10:17, 1 Timothy 1:17).

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:26-27

The word used here for God is Elohiym: specifically used in the plural thus, especially with the article, of the supreme God. When it comes to creation, the plural Elohiym is used. In the book of Genesis, Elohiym is used thirty times, and is only used in the plural.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Genesis 2:24

The word for “one” is ehad: expresses and contains the thought of unity; at least two, but one in thought, action, and expression. Created in the image of God are individual persons who are to be of one accord in thought, action, and expression.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth: And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Genesis 1:27; 5:3, Romans 9:29, 1 Corinthians 15:22

Being in the image of God, humanity has a noble origin. However, after the fall of Adam, only the image of Adam could be inherited. Since humanity is now corporately in Adam, so too is humanity corporate in the fallen nature of Adam. But through Jesus Christ, Adam, and therefore all of humanity, still have corporate access to the perfect image of God:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Genesis 3:15, Luke 8:11, John 1:14, 1 Peter 1:23

Here is a quick explanation of corporate identity, or having a representative:

And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. Hebrews 7:9-10

Humanity was left a Seed, a Representative, to restore humanity to the noble origins of creation: the Seed left for humanity, being Jesus Christ, gives an opportunity for each person to be restored in the image of God.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. Galatians 3:16

This is a starting point for reading and understanding the plan of salvation. For this study, let us continue to seek an answer to the condition of the living soul, and find what answers the Bible gives us when talking of death:

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: Genesis 3:4

The immortality of the soul is a doctrine of the devil which today permeates the entire world, so let us be sure that the Bible presents man as a living soul, and death as its sleep.

His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Psalm 146:4, Isaiah 38:18, Psalms 6:5, Job 7:9-10, Psalms 115:17, Genesis 3:19, Job 14:12, John 11:10-14

Death is the return of the breathe of life to the Breather of life. Only God has immortality, and only God has life to give. Man, formed as a living soul comprised of dust and a breathe, returns to dust as the last breath is returned to its Breather. To us, death may seem frightful and permanent, but in the Lord, death only need be a short sleep.

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Genesis 2:7, Ecclesiastes 9:5-6; 3:19; Job 27:3, Ecclesiastes 12:7

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. 1 Timothy 4:1, Isaiah 8:19, Psalm 103:14-18

What about the eating of the flesh, and the drinking of the blood?

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. Colossians 3:3-4, John 5:26; 6:53; 10:18

Even the Jewish of the time knew that the eating and drinking was not literal, so where does the modern day practice come from?

The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? John 6:52

Mithraism, the religious structure of roman catholicism, practiced theophagy. In Mithraic theophagy, followers would eat the flesh, and drink the blood, of a bull, which represented the flesh and blood of Mithra slaying a bull. When consumed, they believed it would grant salvation to those who partook of the sacrificial meal. An inscription in a Mithraeum, a temple of initiation into the Mithraic priesthood, under the Church of Santa Prisca in Rome, refers to Mithra saving men by “shedding the eternal blood of the bull”. Today, the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica stands on the very spot on which the last Taurobolium, the sacrifice of the Mithraic bull, took place.

Biblically, to eat the flesh is to internalize the Word; to study and understand the Bible as it stands:

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. John 6:51, Psalm 119:103104, Ezekiel 3:1-4

To drink the blood is to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit; to have a co-habitation with the Spirit, allowing Him to work through the living soul as proof of understanding that which was internalized:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Leviticus 17:11, John 6:63

Let us always strive to learn of Him who only hath life to give:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:25-26

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 1 John 5:12, Romans 6:23, Lamentations 3:22, Titus 3:5-6, Acts 4:12