Is The Soul Immortal ?

Two issues come to mind in respect to this question. Is there conscious existence between death and resurrection? And, will the wicked be tormented in flames forever and ever?

If the Apostle Paul is now enjoying a fully conscious existence in heaven as an immortal soul, if he has been in blessed fellowship with his Lord and the saints of ages past for hundreds of years, would not this conflict with his declaration that without the resurrection there is no hope?

He said, "If 'there is no such thing as a resurrection from the dead', then even Christ did not rise...and if Christ did not rise, your faith is futile...More than that: those who have slept the sleep of death in Christ have perished after all" (I Cor. 15:13-18 Moffatt).

Paul does not recognize any future without resurrection, "If, after the manner of men, I were thrown to the wild beasts at Ephesus, what good would come to me, if the dead rise not? If such is the case, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die" (I Cor. 15:32 Lamsa).

It is the fact of the resurrection that allows Paul to speak of death in other terms. "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" (I Thess. 4:14). Those who "sleep in Jesus" will experience a resurrection; they are the "dead in Christ" who shall "rise first". (I Thess. 4:16).

Paul does not concern himself with that time between death and resurrection. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (I Cor. 15:49).

He leaves no doubt as to the time when we shall bear the image of the heavenly. "When this corruption, shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O, death, where where is thy sting? O, grave, where is thy victory?" (I Cor. 15:54-55).

When we "put on immortality" then we shall "bear the image of the heavenly". Our present physical bodies allow us to have a conscious existence in this life. Our future heavenly bodies will allow us to have conscious existence in the life to come. That is what the resurrection is all about. "This mortal must put on immortality" (I Cor. 15:53 NKJV).

"It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2 NKJV).

At this present moment it is, "The King of kings and the Lord of lords; who alone possesses immortality" (I Tim. 6:15-16 NAS). Naturally, there are many different opinions concerning life after death; we will share with you some of the most interesting ones we have found. The following quotations are from the Declaration of Principles of the Advent Christian Church:

"We believe that man was created for immortality, but that he forfeited his Divine birthright; that because of sin, death entered into the world, and passed upon all men; and that only through faith in Jesus Christ, the divinely ordained life-giver, can men become 'partakers of the divine nature', and live forever.

"We believe that death is a condition of unconsciousness to all persons, righteous and wicked; a condition which will remain unchanged until the resurrection at Christ's second coming, at which time the righteous will receive everlasting life while the wicked will be 'punished with everlasting destruction'; suffering complete extinction of being" (p.10 Resurrection His and Ours).

For those not familiar with the Advent Christian Church, "at the first convention of the National Association of Evangelicals the Advent Christian denomination qualified for full membership" (p.157 Resurrection His and Ours).

Also from the same book we read that Martin Luther spoke of the death of the righteous as being a state of "deep, strong, sweet sleep" (p.158). One writer views death as an immediate entrance into the resurrection state: "We have the deep faith therefore that those who have already gone into the resurrection life see their lives and ours in a much truer light than we can" (p.131 Teach Us to Pray).

Those who accept the idea of reincarnation assume that life just continues on after death. The story Jonathan Livingston Seagull teaches that point of view; "Oh, Fletch, come on. Think. If you are talking to me now, then obviously you didn't die, did you? What you did manage to do was change your level of consciousness rather abruptly" (p. 120).

In 1979, a young high school couple drove at high speed into a brick wall to experience that abrupt change! The girl survived. One of the books they had been reading was Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Another bit of wisdom from that book is this advice to the departed, "Find out what you already know" (p.125). Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "Man is immortal and lives by divine authority". Death to her is passing "from one dream to another" (p 75-76 Science and Health).

A Methodist wrote, "Without a body can there be life after death? Actually, we do not hold to the Greek notion that the soul is a separate entity from the body and set free to enter the presence of God. We believe the New Testament affirms that life after death is by resurrection, God giving us a body like Christ's glorious body" (p. 124 Beliefs of a United Methodist Christian).

"Whether the soul is capable of living an independent fully conscious existence away from the body after death is unclear from rabbanic sources" (4.1165 Enclopaedia Judaica).

So-called "out of body" experiences convince some that conscious existence continues on after death.

One out "out of the body" experience related in the book "Beyond and Back" includes pain! "I left my body and stood at the foot of the operating table with the doctor...I felt the knife cut me. The pain was excruciating...I watched the whole proceedings...I came back into my own body the next day...they say, Oh well, that sometimes happens when you take Pentothal,' But that is not true...I left my body" (p.40-42).

If her immortal soul was actually out of her body, how could her immortal soul feel pain?

Several who believe they have had an "out of the body" experience saw what they assume to be heaven. They all didn't see the same thing! "In amazement I could see though my body...stately grasses, each blade perfect and erect, were interspersed with ultra white, four petal flowers on stems two feet tall with touches of gold in the center. Each was totally alike..." (p.203-204 Caught Up to Paradise).

"We came to a wide river separating us from that beautiful land. I looked on the other side and saw green grass, flowers of every color..." (p.87 Beyond and Back).

"I was walking on green grass...each blade was perhaps an inch long..." (p.84-85 My Glimpse of Eternity).

"For a while I stood in the waist-high grass..." (p.101 Journey to the Other Side).

"The flowers were everywhere...it had to be heaven. I was in the field of my desires" (p.103 Journey to the Other Side).

In the article The Amniotic Universe, Carl Sagan wrote, "Near-death' epiphanies ("godlike figures") have been experienced not only by people of conventional western religiosity but also by Hindus and Buddhists and skeptics.

"...We know that similar experience can be induced with fair regularity, cross-culturally, by psychedelic drugs. Out-of-body experiences are induced by anesthetics such as the ketamines. The illusion of flying is induced by atropine and other belladonna alkaloids. LSD induces a sense of union with the universe, as in the identification of Brahman with Atman in Hindu religious belief" (March 1980, Reader's Digest).

The Bible ought to be the final arbitrator on this subject, yet even there we are limited to our own understanding of it or - someone else's! Seven Scriptures which are often used to teach that we have an immortal soul were not intended for that purpose. We will examine all seven.

1. Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus

Six days before this event, Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Matt. 16:28 RSV).

" After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart, and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him...a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him"

Later, after they came down the mountain, Jesus said to them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead" (Matt. 17:1-9 RSV).

Jesus was giving his disciples a preview, a vision of the resurrection day when he will return in power and glory. Peter wrote, "We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased', we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with him in the holy mountain" (II Peter 1:16-18 RSV).

What was this all about? It was about the coming of Jesus! Jesus had said to his disciples "There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom". And some of them did see his coming in that vision! This was a preview of his coming in power and glory!

The rest of the Disciples will have to wait for the resurrection before they see what Peter, James and John saw on that holy mountain. This vision had nothing to do with what takes place during the time between death and resurrection. Not one of the three disciples who were there used that experience to teach the immortality of the soul.

2. "God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living" (Matt. 22:32) This Scripture has been use to teach the immortality of the soul; however, Jesus was speaking about the resurrection. "The Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection...said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there was with us seven brothers" (Matt. 22:23-25 NKJV).

You can guess the rest, one brother after another died and finally the wife died as well. The Sadducees then asked Jesus, "In the resurrection whose wife...will she be"? (Matt. 22:28).

Jesus explained that "In the resurrection" no one will be married for they will all be like the Angels of God in heaven. (Matt. 22:30). Then Jesus makes a very important statement, "Concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Matt. 22:31-32 NKJV). Luke adds, "For all live unto him" (Luke 20:38).

Because of the certainty of the resurrection, "all live unto him". He is "The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17 NIV).

Our hope lies in the promise of a resurrection of the dead, not whether or not we possess an immortal soul.

3. Where The Worm Does Not Die - Mark 9:48

In the King James Version Mark 9:44,46 and 48 all have this statement, "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched". Some versions leave out verses 44 and 46, which does't change the message.

But what is the message? If even worms do not die, does this mean every living thing possesses an immortal soul? Can a disembodied immortal soul have worms?

There ought to be a better message, and there is. The majority of our Bible scholars today are firmly tied to what they call the original Greek manuscripts. However, even they would agree that Jesus spoke Aramaic which is a close cousin of Hebrew. Now there is a church which still uses the Aramaic. The George M. Lamsa translation from an Aramaic Bible clears up this problem.

In it we read, "Where the embers do not die, and the fire does not go out" (Mark 9:44,46 and 48 Lamsa).

Consider this. Since Jesus spoke Aramaic, if those who heard him wrote his words down in Greek, wouldn't that be a translation from one language to another? The western world owes a great debt to this Church which has kept the words of Jesus in the same language in which they were spoken.

This is the message which Jesus was giving in Mark 9:42-50. It had to do with judgment: a judgment so great that it would be better to cut off your hands, or your feet or take out your eyes and live as an invalid in order to escape that place where the ember never dies.

Jesus remarks ended with these words, "For everything will be salted on the fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt" (Mark 9:49 Lamsa). Why salt? Salt preserves, it speaks of permanence. In Judges 9:44-45 after Abimeleck distroyed Shechem and killed everyone who lived there, he sowed the ruins with salt! Why? So that nothing would grow there anymore.

Those who do not turn to the Lord to receive his grace and mercy will receive "everlasting destruction" instead! (II Thess. 1:9).

4. The Rich Man And Lazarus - Luke 16:19-31

This is a favorite passage to those who see a conscious existence between death and resurrection. It is a discource by Jesus about a poor beggar named Lazarus who lay often at the gate of a rich man. Both of them die. The beggar is carried by angels to Abraham's bosom where he is comforted; but the rich man is taken to the flames of Hades.

The rich man begs Abraham to send someone to warn his five brothers about this place of torment, that they might repent. But Abraham answers, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (v. 31). This was a message for the sceptical Pharisees who were listening to him. In another place Jesus said to them, "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me" (John 5:46 NKJV).

Was this a true story or a parable? According to the Encyclopedia Judaica the term "Abraham's bosom" expresses a popular Jewish belief about Abraham as a warden of Paradise. the expression "Abraham's bosom" occurs first in the Aggadah which includes fairy tales, legends of popular heroes and other stories designed to stimulate interest in a sermon.

Again, according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, no objective truth should be sought in the Aggadah.

Josephus had this conception of Hades: a great gulf separates the righteous from the wicked; angels conduct the souls of the departed to their appointed places. He believed the wicked are close to the lake of fire and tormented by its flames; they are also tormented by the sight of the righteous enjoying themselves over byond the great gulf. He wrote, "We call this place the Bosom of Abraham" (Josephus, Whiston, p. 637-638). How can this be a true story? Abraham had been dead about 1800 years, even an immortal soul would get very tired of listening to the pleas of those in flames. The rich man cries out to Abraham saying, "Send Lazarus, that he may dip his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:24 KJV).

Does an immortal soul have a finger? Does an immortal soul have a tongue? What good would a wet finger do for some thirsty soul? The key words in Jesus' message was to hear (believe) and repent. Faith and repentance were always a part of Jesus' message. In his story the (dead) rich man is hoping that his brothers will listen and repent. (Luke 16:30).

Jesus was not teaching a class on the immortality of the soul. This story speaks to all of us about repentance and faith and getting right with God before we die.

5. (II Cor.5:1-10) What do these verses teach?

Are they speaking of resurrection or the immortality of the soul? "We know that if our earthly house were destroyed, we still have a building made by God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heaven. We also weary over this earthly house, earnestly longing to use our house which is from heaven" (II Cor. 5:1-2 Lamsa).

The word house, or tent as some versions have it, is simply a reference to our bodies, whether they are earthly or heavenly. We leave our earthly bodies at death, but we do not receive our heavenly bodies until the resurrection.

Paul, who wrote the verses above, wrote, "There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another...So also is the resurrection of the dead...just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly...this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality" (I Cor. 15:40,42,49,53 NAS).

Why would we need to put on immortality if we already have an immortal soul? It has been nearly 2000 years since Paul departed his earthly body, but since the resurrection has not yet occurred, he is still among those who sleep in Jesus. Not asleep in the grave, asleep in Jesus! Not asleep in death, asleep in Jesus!

"We do not want you, to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do those who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God, will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus" (I Thess. 4:13-14 NAS). "We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus to life, will also raise us up with Jesus and take us, together with you, into his presence" (II Cor. 4: 14 GN).

The truth that we all enter into his presence at the same time is very important. "These also , one and all, are commemorated for their faith; and yet they did not enter upon the promised inheritance, because, with us in mind God had made a better plan, that only in company with us should they reach their perfection" (Heb. 11:39-40 NEB).

The words "absent from the body and present with the Lord" must be understood by the light of those scriptures which glorify and magnify the resurrection from the dead. Unless Jesus comes first, we will all die, but our hope for the future is not based on the idea that we all have immortal souls, but rather on the certainty of the resurrection which God who cannot lie has promised us.

6. The thief on the cross

Two thieves were crucified with Jesus; one of them mocked Jesus but the other one said to Him, "Remember me, my Lord, when you come in your kingdom. Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:39-43 Lamsa).

The footnote for verse forty three in the Lamsa Bible has "Ancient texts were not punctuated. The comma could come before or after today". When the comma is before the word today, it appears to say that he would be in Paradise with Jesus that very day. Now Jesus did not return to his heavenly home until at least forty days after his resurrection. (Acts 1:3). With the comma after the word today it reads this way, "I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise".

Rather than making a strong theological statement, placing the comma after the word today changes Jesus' words into a wonderful promise unfettered with theolgical overtones.

Where is paradise? "To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God" (Rev. 2:7 NAS). What is the "tree of life" ? After Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, God said, "The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden...After he drove him out, he placed...a flaming sword...to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen. 3:22-24 NIV).

The tree of life was the promise of immortality! After sin entered our world access to that tree has been denied to every single one that has been born into this world, to this very day!

Remember where the tree of life is; it is in the Paradise of God. The Apostle John had tremendous visions of the future, He saw, "A new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea" (Rev. 21:1 NKJV).

"And he showd me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal. gushing out of he throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the city, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life...and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the peoples...and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. 22:1-5 Lamsa).

What was lost in Eden will be gained back in glory, in Paradise, in His presence! "Dear friends, now we are the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (I John 3: 2 NIV). Jesus said, in prayer to his heavenly father, "I want those you have given me to be with me where I am" (John 17:24 NIV).

Our hope for the future is not whether or not we have an immortal soul but whether or not we know the Lord Jesus Christ to be our savior and Lord. This is the only way we will ever see the paradise of God.

7. The Spirits In Prison. I Peter 3:18-20

Did Jesus preach to the dead while he was in the grave? If he did would this prove that there is conscious existence after death? If all that were true, does this mean that there is yet hope for those who are already dead? Could they still repent?

"Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water" (I Peter 3:18-20 NAS).

Notice, "Alive in the spirit; in which He went and made proclamation (preached) to the spirits now in prison".

The Berkeley Version has this footnote, "Christ preaching to them through Noah". Noah is called "A preacher of righteousness" in II Peter 2:5. "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith" (Heb. 11:7 NIV).

Those who were given an opportunity to repent and turn to the lord as this very large ship was being built, became the souls "in prison". They had their chance when they were still alive. Jesus was there in the spirit through Noah while the ark was being built. They will have no excuse. We must all make our peace with God before we die!

"Just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after their death, the judgment; So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Heb. 9:27-28 Lamsa).

In conclusion

We have now examined seven Scriptures which have been used to teach that we all have immortal souls, in spite of the fact that Paul said, "This mortal must put on immortality" (I Cor. 15:53 NKJV).

If we believe that the soul is immortal then we must believe it cannot die, but Jesus said, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body" (Matt. 10:28 NKJV).

Why should we fear Him? "Watch now,' The Lord of Hosts declares, 'the day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. The proud and wicked will be burned like straw; like a tree, they will be consumed - roots and all. But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings" (Malachi 4:1-2 LB).

Our only guarantee of life after death is the resurrection. In Jewish tradition "the wicked are considered dead while still alive, and the righteous even in death are called living" (Encyclopaedia Judaica 5:1425). The Apostle Paul agreed, he wrote of, "The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17 NIV).