The Whole Picture

John Spilsbury was a British engraver and cartographer who wanted to create an educational tool to teach geography. So he took a world map, affixed it to wood, then carved out each country to create a puzzle—the first puzzle of this sort ever made. The year was 1766, and people loved what he called “Dissected Maps.” Eventually these puzzles were created using a jigsaw; thus, they became known as jigsaw puzzles.

When a jigsaw puzzle is taken apart and put back in the box, the picture is gone. That’s somewhat like the nature of humanity. Though made up of different entities, people are an organic unity. “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 being” (Genesis 2:7).

The words for “living being” are often translated as “living soul” and come from the Hebrew word nephesh. Used in this way, nephesh is not a part of a person—like an individual piece in a jigsaw puzzle—but is the whole person (Genesis 14:21).

Sometimes the expression “my soul” or “your soul” is simply referring to the pronoun “I” or “you.” For example, “Many are they who say of me [nephesh], ‘There is no help for him in God’ ” (Psalm 3:2). Other times nephesh refers to the desires or appetites of a person (Proverbs 23:2).

The Greek word psuche in the New Testament is similar to the word nephesh and is often translated as “life.” It even refers to animal life (Revelation 16:3). It also can refer to the emotions, the mind, or the heart— and it can be destroyed (Matthew 10:28).

Like a jigsaw puzzle, when the breath of life separates from the body at death, the person is no longer. But thank God for the resurrection, when we will be restored to wholeness in Christ.

Apply It:

Assemble a jigsaw puzzle this week and remember how God has created you as a whole being.

Dig Deeper:

1 Samuel 19:5; Job 33:4; Luke 12:4

Key Bible Texts

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. (Luke 12:4 KJV)