“If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” (Job 14:14)
The “afterlife”. Christianity as well as most Pagan religions believe in a so-called “afterlife”. Oddly, the word “afterlife” implies that there is a state of being when life ends. However, most Christians, Pagans, and New Age Spiritists, believe that life never truly ends. Thus, there is nothing really after life; it just merely continues in another form.
For the purposes of this article, “afterlife” will mean (as it is commonly understood) the intervening time beginning at death. Also, for the purposes of this article, discussion of the afterlife, death, and resurrection will be limited to the scope of two areas of concern. First, what is the primary teaching of Christianity on death, the afterlife, and resurrection? Secondly, we want to investigate what the scriptures say about these three topics. Are Christianity and its creeds in agreement with the scriptures of both the Old and New Testament? It is my contention that what we believe about death is vitally important to belief in the gospel. Below are two separate passages of scripture which capture the essence of the gospel. See below:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Cor. 15:3-4)
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18-19)
At the cornerstone of belief in Christ Jesus and what He did, is the belief that He died and was resurrected. In fact, it is so essential, that following Paul’s referencing of His death, he follows it with “according to the scriptures” and uses that phrase again immediately following “He rose again the third day”. This tells me that what we believe about these two events should be “according to the scriptures”. In that respect, we need to make sure that what we believe happens at death is in accord with what the scriptures say happens at death. If the realization that what actually happens at death is at odds with the doctrinal statement of a church or the creeds of Christianity, we should be prepared to side with scripture and renounce any statement or creed which contradicts.
When studying life and death, it is important to go to the beginning. What do the scriptures say about life, about death, the soul, the spirit, etc.? Are “spirit” and “soul” distinctions without a difference, or is there very much a distinction; crucial distinction which must be understood to rightly understand what happens at death?
“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. “ Gen. 2:7)
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Gen. 3:19)
When God took the man from the soil of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, he became (did not “receive”) “a living soul”. Spirit (the breath of life) is the life-giving force that God breathes into any living thing (human or animal). This is what animates the body, making the person (or animal) a living soul. Some Christian theologians, preachers, and teachers will say things like, “Having a soul is what separates people from the animals.” They will say that “We have an immortal soul.” And that “When we die, we live on in either Heaven or Hell.”
None of these statements, however; are scripturally correct. First, when it comes to animals, you will find the Hebrew word “nephesh” (soul) used of animals. The first occurrence of the Hebrew word for soul is in regards to animals, but the translators chose to render the word as “creature” instead of “soul”. See below how the word is handled in the KJV, and then in the Concordant Literal Translation:
“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. (Gen. 1:20 KJV)
“And saying is the Elohim, "Roam shall the water with the roaming, living soul, and the flyer shall fly over the earth on the face of the atmosphere of the heavens." And coming is it to be so.” (Gen. 1:20 CLT)
To help understand what Genesis 2:7 (cited earlier) is demonstrating when a person and spirit are joined; creating a soul, it may be helpful to imagine the example of a TV. When a TV sits unplugged, it is like the body without spirit. When you plug in the TV, allowing electricity (spirit) to run through it and we have a picture, sound, etc. (living soul). When the TV. is unplugged, where does the picture/sound (soul) go?? It disappears. The soul isn’t a 3rd component of a living person or animal. Two components (spirit and body) are joined to make a living person; a living soul.
Death is a return. As we read in Genesis 3:19 (cited earlier) God told Adam that he was taken from the dirt of the ground and to the ground he (not just his “body”) would return. What about the spirit (breath of life) which animates a living person? According to Ecclesiastes 12:7, the spirit returns to God, when a person dies. When Jesus Christ was about to die, He said “Father, into Thy hands, I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46).
At death, the spirit which animates a person returns to God. The body, if formally buried or entombed, eventually decays and returns to dust. Death, being a return, there is no consciousness for the dead person. The person, not just “the body” is truly and really dead; not alive in another form. This is not the teaching of the majority of Christianity. With the exception of a couple of Christian denominations, Christians do not believe in death. Instead, they believe the first lie recorded in the scriptures, “Ye shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4). Believing this lie, rather than the truth and commonsensical conclusion that death is the absence of life and consciousness is the bedrock of almost every false doctrine in Christianity.
The false doctrine which states that the soul (which is unbiblically taught to be a 3rd part of a person) lives on at the death of a person; is called the “immortality of the soul” doctrine. This teaching makes resurrection redundant and unnecessary and completely contradicts the teachings throughout the Bible on the death state. Only one person who has ever died has been made immortal, and that is Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul stated emphatically that He alone, hath immortality. He was given immortality when The Father raised Him from the dead.
“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:16)
The soul, the person, is most assuredly not immortal, regardless of theologians’ and preachers’ comments to the contrary. Ezekiel 18:20 states that “the soul that sinneth shall die”. We read in Romans 5:12-20 that Adam brought the condition of death upon all men. We inherited death. We inherited mortality. 1 Corinthians 15:20 states in part that “in Adam, all die…”
Just as we had no consciousness before we lived, we have no consciousness or awareness in death either. There are plenty of scriptures which testify to this fact. Below, are a few:
“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” (Ecc. 9:5)
“For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” (Psalm 6:5)
“His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” (Psalm 146:4)
“The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.” (Psalm 115:17)
“For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. (Isaiah 38:18)
“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” (John 3:13)
“Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.” (Acts 2:29)
“For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,” (Acts 2:34)
With respect to the verses above, I want to point out a couple of things. I have had some object to the passages in Ecclesiastes and the Psalms, stating something to the effect that these are poetic writings and not literally the truth about death. While they may well be poetic, there is no basis for stating that what the passages teach, do not represent the truth about death. But, for argument’s sake, I chose to include a passage from the prophet Isaiah. Some have further objected, “Well, those are Old Testament passages, and after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, people NOW go straight to heaven or hell upon death. That is why I included Peter’s words from Acts 2, above. Speaking of David, Peter states that David is still, both dead and buried. He also goes on to say that David has not ascended into heaven.
When the scriptures speak of death, you will not find one instance in which the scriptures speak of the body dying, or death of the body, or physical death, or bodily resurrection, or resurrection of the body. Whenever the scriptures speak of death, it speaks explicitly of death of the person. The person dies. The person is dead until the person is resurrected to immortality. That is a key distinction in this discussion of life, death, and resurrection. There were several instances in the scriptures where people were raised (resurrected) from the dead. However, all these were raised to mortality; meaning, they died again. Notably, we have Lazarus who Jesus Christ raised from the dead. We also can verify that he was not raised to immortality because of 1 Timothy 6:16 (cited earlier) and the fact that the chief priests sought to kill Lazarus (John 12:10) after he had been raised from the dead, because his resurrection authenticated the claims of Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.
The soul is sometimes in scripture spoken of figuratively. A living person can sense things, think things, have emotions. In short, the living soul is sensual. This is really the basis for the phrase “soul food” which is common in the south. It is comforting, tasty, appealing to the senses (soulish). Below are examples of “soul” being used figuratively to speak of the senses:
“And make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.” (Genesis 27:4)
“And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.” (Genesis 34:3)
Soul is also sometimes spoken of as life in the scriptures. As a matter of fact, other than “soul”, “being”, and “creature” the King James Version also translated the Hebrew and Greek words for “soul” as “life” at times. In 1 Kings 17:21-22, the story is told of a boy who died and the LORD resurrected the boy when Elijah prayed for him. Some translations use the word “life” coming back to the boy and some say “soul”. Either way, the point being made is that the soul (living being) is coming back to the boy.
Another example of the translators haphazardly and inconsistently translating the Greek word “psuche” for soul is with the famous passage, Matthew 16:25-26 (below). What is interesting is that in verse 25, where “psuche” appears, it is translated as “life” both times, but in the very next verse (26) both times, it is translated as “soul”.
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matt. 16:25-26)
At this point, it would be helpful to speak a bit about two words which were translated as “hell” in most versions of the Bible. Throughout the Old Testament, the Hebrew word translated as “hell” is the word, “sheol”. There is nothing mystical about sheol. It is simply the general term for the grave. Regardless of how a dictionary or concordance defines “sheol” or “hell”; what is important was what the word meant to the writers of the scriptures; not meanings it has taken on over time. A good example of this is the word “gay”. The original usage of that word was a synonym for “happy” or “joyful”. As we all know, the primary meaning of that word has changed. However, if we read the word “gay” in a novel which is speaking in terms of a character being “gay”, we must rely on the context and the word usage when written as to whether we determine the character to be happy, a homosexual, or both. There were two usages and meanings in the original Hebrew for “sheol”. It could mean the grave, generally or it could mean “imperceptible”/”unseen”. This latter meaning fits with what we know about the soul at death. When we die, we cannot perceive anything. We are without consciousness. In death, where does the soul “go”? To the “unseen”/”imperceptible”/”sheol”. This is why King David, when writing in the Psalms stated:
“If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” (Psalm 139:8)
“For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10)
When the word “hell” (sheol) in the Old Testament is studied in all its occurrences, and in context; you will not find one instance that speaks of anyone experiencing anything in “hell”; good or bad. It is simply the grave. What about the New Testament word, “hades”? It is the Greek equivalent of sheol. The proof for this is in Acts 2:27. In that verse, Peter is quoting David’s writing in Psalm 16:10 (above). The Greek word, “hades” means “the grave” just like sheol. It isn’t a separate compartment of sheol or any other such nonsense that many theologians and preachers have tried to assert. They rely more on Pagan philosophy and the writings of Dante, than on the testimony of scripture.
So, there is no sensing, no experiencing, no praise, no devising, and no knowledge in death (see Ecc. 9:5-10). There are three primary objections which I have been confronted with, when it comes to death being death, and not another form of life. These objections are:
1. The rich man and Lazarus.
2. Christ’s words to the thief on the cross.
3. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
First, the story of the rich man and Lazarus is often cited as both proof of the immortality of the soul and eternal torment. However, the story which is actually one part of a 5-part parable; proves neither. The story is a story of satire which Jesus used against the Pharisees. Beginning in Luke 15:3, Luke says, “And he spake this parable unto them, saying…” Jesus Christ starts the 5-part parable with the Parable of the Lost Sheep, followed by the Parable of the Lost Coin, followed by the prodigal son. These 3 parables were meant to contrast God’s view of the sinner to that of the Pharisees, who looked down on sinners. Then, there is a final pair of parables, The Unjust Steward and The Rich Man and Lazarus. These two parables were satirical indictments against the customs and behavior of the Pharisees. If you would like to read a thorough explanation of the Rich Man and Lazarus and the symbolism contained in it, please read my article, “In Torments”, which can be found on this blog site, theDiscerner’sTavern.blogspot.com. The short answer was that the Pharisees did teach an immediate afterlife (not heeding “Moses and the Prophets’/the Old Testament) and even taught that it was good to be poor (although they made themselves rich at the expense of the poor) and that the poor would have their fortunes reversed in the “afterlife”. Jesus simply turned the tables and made the rich man, dressed in “purple and fine linen” (symbolizing the Pharisees and priests) have his fortunes reversed to show the absurdity of the teaching.
“Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise” is probably the second most common objection raised to the scriptural truth of the dead not being alive. The argument goes that if Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today, you will be with me in paradise” then, obviously, the thief was alive in some form and not dead. Before my explanation, I want to cite the entire passage so that we read it as shown in the King James Version.
“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43)
Now, first we need to recognize when the thief asked the Lord to remember him. He asked Him to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. That has not yet happened and will not happen until the Lord returns to this earth. That is when the prophesied kingdom (which the thief referenced) will be established; and it isn’t in heaven, it will be on the earth.
Secondly, Jesus denied the thief a place in the kingdom. That’s right. Jesus told thief that he would be with Him in “paradise”. Paradise existed on earth prior to sin entering through Adam and the earth being cursed for that sake. Paradise (Eden restored) will exist once again, after the kingdom era and after the Great White Throne judgment. This eon or age of time is known in scripture as “The New Heavens and New Earth”. When studying the scriptures, we can identify a former heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1 and Peter) which became a “vacant and chaos” and was remade into this present heavens and earth which has existed from the time to Genesis 1:2 till now (see Peter). Finally, after the events of (Peter) we will have the third heavens and earth (The New Heavens and Earth). This will be when the “paradise” which Jesus Christ promised the thief will be a reality.
Thirdly, is the issue of the grammar in verse 43. There was no comma or other punctuation in the original Greek, which this scripture was written in. Punctuation in the English translation was at the discretion of the translator. The comma in the KJV is misplaced. It ignores a common Hebrew idiom. In fact, this same idiom is found 42 times in the book of Deuteronomy. Jesus was saying very solemnly, “Verily I say to thee this day, shalt thou be with me in paradise”. He wasn’t saying “Today, you will be with me in paradise”. He was emphatically saying today (this day) “You will be with me in paradise”. In the South, we have a similar idiom, “I’ll tell you right now.” My son may say to me, “Dad, I want to go to the beach.” I could reply, “I’ll tell you right now, we’re going to the beach.” I didn’t say that right now, we’re going to the beach; I was emphatically stating that we will go.
Finally, the most common objection which I have heard made is “Well what about, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”? In this instance, two things are at play. First, when one recites this from memory, they almost always shorten the verse and change one very key word. Secondly, the context of this verse and the entire chapterholds the key to understanding what the verse is truly saying. Below is how the famous and often misstated verse actually reads:
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8)
The apostle here, is stating that we should be willing and rather to be absent from the body (which body?) and to be present with the Lord. The context, beginning in verse 1 is the contrast between this temporary, earthly body and the heavenly, permanent body we will have from God. And, an intervening event must happen for the change from the earthly body to the heavenly body; resurrection. The immortality of the soul teaching makes resurrection unnecessary. The scriptures however, make resurrection the only way for one who dies to live again. Immortality is only mentioned a handful of times in the scriptures, but when it is, it is in connection with resurrection. Resurrection and the promise of resurrection and what it implies is a theme of hope throughout the New Testament. However, it has really been brushed aside and made irrelevant by the false teaching of the immortal soul.
The great theologian, E.W. Bullinger, wrote about that very thing and said, “So effectually has Satan’s lie succeeded and accomplished its purpose, that though the Lord Jesus said, “I will come again and receive you unto myself,” Christendom says with one voice, “No! Lord. Thou needest not to come for me: I will die and come to Thee.” Thus the Blessed hope of resurrection and the coming of the Lord have been well-nigh blotted out from the belief of the churches, and the promises of the Lord have been made of none effect by the ravages of tradition.”
No, we do not go anywhere when we die, except the grave. All those who have died, await resurrection to live again. This article began with the question posed by scripture, “If a man die, shall he live again?” The question posed from pulpits is the unscriptural question, “When you die, where will you spend eternity?”
Earlier in this article, I cited (in part) 1 Corinthians 15:22, “in Adam all die”. The whole verse and the ensuing passage, through verse 28 states the following:
“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”
I have been asked, “Will we see our loved ones who died as unbelievers?” This is the outcome of the promise of the gospel, the undoing of Adam. All, not just a few will be made alive, eventually. Yes, there is judgment in the scriptures. Yes, thousands of years are likely to come and go before all are finally made alive and reconciled to God. But, it will happen. Death will be abolished. The above passage looks further into the future than any other passage in scripture, even beyond the 22nd chapter of The Revelation. The last enemy to be abolished is death. At that point, the only death which is remaining is the second death, the lake of fire. In order for death to be abolished, all death must be abolished and the way God will abolish death is to replace it completely and entirely with life. That is the promise of resurrection to immortality of which Jesus Christ was the first fruits. At the consummation of the eons of time, evil, sin, and death will be no more. All replaced with good, love, and life.
