What is a soul? In the biblical context, a "living soul" is a living person and not a disincarnated spirit. The Bible clearly teaches that a human being began to live the moment the dust of the ground came together with the breath of life: " And the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7)
The thinking and living human being only appeared when the dust and the divine breath came together. Upon death, God collects His breath of life that the Bible calls the spirit, and the body, made of dust, is buried. Conscience no longer exists from the moment of death onward. When a man dies, he is only asleep until the day of resurrection.
The apostle Paul declared, "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope...For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first" ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 16). This is the blessed hope of Christians. If death has taken a loved one, they are certain that they are only sleeping. His body just returns to earth and the breath of life to God. He just rests in Christ until resurrecction.
