Traducianism (The Origin of the Soul)

Traducianism is the belief that the immaterial aspect of a person is transmitted through natural generation along with the body, the material aspect of human beings. That is, an individual's soul is derived from the soul of one or both of the individual's parents. This implies that only the soul of Adam was created directly by God (with Eve's substance, material and immaterial, being taken out of Adam), 

Traducianism was written about initially by Tertullian of Carthage and arguably propagated by Augustine of Hippo, the most influential theologian of the Latin Christian West. It has been endorsed by Church Fathers such as Sts. Gregory of Nyssa, Anastasius Sinaita, Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose of Milan, and other theological figures in the early centuries of the Orthodox Catholic Church. Protestant advocates include various Lutheran churches as well as some modern theologians such as Augustus H. Strong (Baptist), W. G. T. Shedd and Gordon Clark (Presbyterian), Lewis Sperry Chafer, Millard Erickson, H. D. McDonald, Norman L. Geisler, Robert Culver, and Robert L. Reymond. Among 21st century Apostolics we can count Yours Truly.  

Etymology of Traducianism: LL traducianus, believer in this doctrine; tradux, a shoot, lit., that which is brought over: from Church Latin trādūciānus, from trādux transmission: to lead over, transmit. Thus, the word when used in theology for the reproduction of humans means to propagate as by a “shoot brought over” from the parent. One should think of the complete forest being propagated from a shoot brought over from an original.

It is consistent with the belief of the spiritual dimension in sexual intercourse, childbearing, and of child rearing; the child is imaged after the entire being of its parents, body and soul. Traducianism also helps to account for the fall of the entire human race in Adam, with the adamic sin passing through the generations. 

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. -Psalms 51:5 (NIV)

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: …14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, … 15 For if through the offence of one many be dead, …16 for the judgment was by one to condemnation, … 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; … 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; … 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, … 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death,  …   -Romans 5:12-21

Scriptural Support of Traducianism: 

1. Genesis 2:2 “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made;... .” ~ It is intimated, by this text, that the creative acts of God ended on this day, so that there have been no subsequent acts of creation. This being true, those who contend for the soul being preexistent to conception would have to say that all souls were created on the sixth day and await human conception to acquire a body. In this view God made a finite number of souls that are held in a reservoir, or well, of souls. These souls migrate to bodies as the bodies are conceived. The end of time will come (according to this view) when the last soul has migrated to a body. (See the paragraph above on Pre-existence.) Because of the witness of holy Scripture we feel the position of traducianism the most Scriptural.
2. Genesis 5:3 “And Adam... begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image;...” ~ This text is considered to be a coupling with Genesis 1:26-27 where Adam was created in the “image and likeness” of God: which is understood to include both the material and the immaterial being of Adam. Likewise, then, the “image and likeness” of Adam assumedly comprised both the body and soul. In this manner, then, is soul derived from the parents along with the body in the act of begetting. 
3. Genesis 35:11 “...I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.” ~ No mention is made of divine intervention, as required by other views of the origin of the soul, in particular the preexistence and creationist positions. 
4. John 1:13 and 3:6 contrast our natural birth (body and soul) with later spiritual birth from God. Natural birth presumably, then, includes the soul. 
5. Rom 1:3 “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;” (cf 9:5; 2 Tim 2:8 ). ~ Of necessity this would include the body and human soul of Mary’s son.
6. Hebrews 7:9f “And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.”  ~ The writer of the letter to the Hebrews, to establish the superiority of the Gospel over the Law of Moses, declares that Levi was seminally present, body and soul in Abraham. This is a traducian argument. Tithes, it is reasoned, are always paid to a superior. Therefore, Levi, the head of the Levitical priesthood, paid tithes to Melchisedec; thereby, establishing the truth that the Melchisedec priesthood was superior to the Levitical. Jesus, the writer of Hebrews tells us, is forever the high priest of the Mechisedec priesthood. Through this traducian argument, Christ and His church are shown to be superior to the Law of Moses and the temple. 
7. Exodus 1:5 “And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.” ~ Holy Scripture in many places speaks of the human person as a “soul”: As “in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water”. This word references the complete person: the material and the immaterial. The Law of First Mention is an important element in the Art and Science of Scriptural Interpretation. This law states that whatever a word or phrase means when it is first introduced in the Holy Text is to be the assumed meaning of the word of phrase unless the context demands another meaning. The word or idea of “soul” is first introduced into Holy Scripture in Genesis 2:7 where we read:  “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.” Here the “living soul” references the immaterial and immortal element of man. So, then, we return to the text of Exodus 1:5 which states that seventy “souls” came from the loins of Jacob. Now, one would not speak in this manner of creationism. Creationism could say that souls came from the womb of the mother (in that creationism teaches that the soul is created and infused into the human cell made by the conception, at the time of the conception); but creationism could not say that the soul came from the loins of the father. The same is true of pre-existence. Pre-existence could say that the soul came from the womb of the mother (since it teaches that the soul migrates to the womb at some point after conception); but pre-existence could not say that the soul came from the lions of the father. This is language that is particular to traducianism.

Conclusion

From the information that we have, and have presented, it seems obvious to this writer that the only possible option available to the student of holy Scripture for the organ of the human soul is traducianism.

Apostolically Speaking,

☩☩ Jerry L Hayes