PRE-EXISTENCE OF SOULS.—The only hint in NT of a belief in the
existence of human souls prior to birth is in Jn 9:2, where the disciples of
Jesus put the question, ‘Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?’ The primâ facie
interpretation of this passage certainly is that the disciples believed it
possible that the soul of this man had sinned before the man was born. Many
commentators, as, e.g., Dr. David
Brown, hold this to be untenable, because ‘the Jews did not believe in the
pre-existence of souls.’ If by this is meant that this belief did not form part
of the older Jewish religion, that would be correct, for the tenor of OT
teaching is distinctly traducian. In Gn 2:7 we are taught that the soul of the
first man was due to the Divine in-breathing; and Gn 5:3 tells that ‘Adam begat
a son, after his image.’ But to affirm that Jews in Christ’s time did not
believe in pre-existence, is simply inaccurate. The disciples of Jesus had at
all events some points of affinity
with the Essenes; and Josephus expressly states that the Essenes believe that
the souls of men are immortal, and dwell in the subtlest ether, but, being
drawn down by physical passion, they are united with bodies, as it were in
prisons (BJ ii. viii. 11). In Wis
8:11 the doctrine is clearly taught: ‘A good soul fell to my lot: nay rather,
being good I came into a body that was undefiled.’ Philo also believed in a
realm of incorporeal souls, which may be arranged in two ranks: some have
descended into mortal bodies and been released after a time; others have
maintained their purity, and kept aloft close to the ether itself (Drummond, Philo Judæus, i. 336). In the Talmud and
Midrash, pre-existence is constantly taught. The abode of souls is called Guph, or the Treasury (אוֹצִד),
where they have dwelt since they were created in the beginning. The angel
Lilith receives instruction from God as to which soul shall inhabit each body.
The soul is taken to heaven and then to hell, and afterwards enters the womb
and vivifies the fœtus. (Weber, Lehren
des Talmud, 204, 217 ff. [Jüd. Theologie auf Grund des Talmud2, etc. 212, 225 ff.]).
Whence did Judaism derive a creed
so much at variance with its earlier faith? Most probably from Plato. There are
some scholars, however, who find support for the doctrine even in the OT: e.g. Job 1:21 ‘Naked came I from my
mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither.’ To find pre-existence here,
one must suppose the mother’s womb to be the abode of souls, and ‘I’ to be the
naked soul. Sir 40:1 seems to be explaining the word ‘thither’ in Job 1:21,
when it says, ‘Great travail is created for every man, from the day they go
forth from their mother’s womb to the day of their return to the mother of all living.’ Again, in Ps
139:13–15 some scholars find an account of the origin, first, of the body, then
of the soul: ‘Thou hast woven me in the womb of my mother. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was formed in
the secret place, when I was wrought in the deeps of the earth.’ Since the doctrine of pre-existence is not in the line of
Revelation, most divines are reluctant to admit that it is taught in these
passages. Dr. Davidson on Job 1:21 says, ‘The words “my mother’s womb” must be
taken literally; and “return thither” somewhat inexactly, to describe a
condition similar to that which preceded entrance upon life and light.’ And as
for Ps 139:15, Oehler, Dillmann, and Schultz prefer to interpret it of the
formation of the body in a place as
dark and mysterious as the depths of the earth. The passage in Jn 9:2 simply
represents the earlier creed of the disciples. There is no evidence that it
formed part of their mature Christian faith. (John Turner Marshall,
“PRE-EXISTENCE OF SOULS,” in A Dictionary
of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents Including the
Biblical Theology, ed. James Hastings et al. 5 vols. [New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1911–1912], 4:63)
