Category Archives: Life after Death

Refutation of Seventh-Day Adventist doctrine of what happens at death

(The Adventist Symbol courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

By Spencer D Gear

What happens to human beings at death? Do unbelievers go to Hades (“hell” in some translations of the New Testament) and believers go into the presence of the Lord at death? This has been traditionally known as the doctrine of the Intermediate State – where human beings go between death and the final resurrection.[1]

1. John Stott mused over annihilation

The late John Stott, evangelical stalwart from the UK, stated in an interview with Christianity Today,

In Evangelical Essentials, I described as “tentative” my suggestion that “eternal punishment” may mean the ultimate annihilation of the wicked rather than their eternal conscious torment. I would prefer to call myself agnostic on this issue, as are a number of New Testament scholars I know. In my view, the biblical teaching is not plain enough to warrant dogmatism. There are awkward texts on both sides of the debate.

The hallmark of an authentic evangelicalism is not the uncritical repetition of old traditions but the willingness to submit every tradition, however ancient, to fresh biblical scrutiny and, if necessary, reform.[2]

Since Seventh-Day Adventists believe in soul sleep[3] for the believer and annihilation[4] for the wicked, they regularly promote this view on forums on the www. Here I encountered one example on Christian Fellowship Forum (I’m ozspen).

2. An online encounter with a Seventh Day Adventist

Harold is an active Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) who promotes SDA doctrine on this Forum. Here is one example of Harold’s response after I challenged his method of proof-texting. He wrote:

“And you will continue to listen to anyone else who agrees with you instead of reading your own Bible.

Why do you think God gave such a warning about talking to the dead? Why is He so insistant (sic) on staying away from any hint of spiritualism? Simply because He knows that the dead are dead and the only other entities you can talk to are Satan’s angels.

What is wrong with using texts?? Here: refute these:

Ecc. 9:5 “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. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” How dead is dead?

Ecc. 9:10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Isn’t that where we all are going?????

Just try to reinterpret those”.[5]

I responded to him directly[6] when he stated: “And you will continue to listen to anyone else who agrees with you instead of reading your own Bible”.

I am a long-term student of the Scriptures and believe it or not, Harold, I interpret in context and I do not spout forth what your SDA denomination has told you about these verses. You stated:

“What is wrong with using texts?? Here: refute these:
Ecc. 9:5 “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. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” How dead is dead?
Ecc. 9:10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Isn’t that where we all are going?????
Just try to reinterpret those.”

Let’s try an excellent, contemporary translation of these three verses from Ecclesiastes 9:

“⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun…..¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” (English Standard Version)

Of verses 5 & 6 of Ecclesiastes 9, you ask, “How dead is dead?” On the surface these verses could be thought of as saying what you want them to say that there is nothing or annihilation after death. What do these verses say?

We need to remember that the Book of Ecclesiastes is not as Gospel savvy as the Gospel of John. Why? Because the Scriptures teach progressive revelation. Much more is revealed in the NT about salvation and the after-life than the OT. Remember that the Book of Ecclesiastes is written to people “under the sun” (1:3) and is explaining life and death from a human perspective.

Eccl. 9:5 states that “the living know that they will die”. This is nothing profound, but the application is that a living person has a distinct advantage that he/she knows that death is coming and can arrange many things in life to prepare for that event.

But for those who have died, they “know nothing”. So for them, any opportunity to arrange anything for life after death is gone. Their human knowledge has ceased as they are no longer on the earth. From your perspective, you think that this is a flat denial of any conscious existence in the intermediate state. That IS NOT what this verse teaches. This book is written for those “under the sun” (those in this world). It is not a statement about the state of the dead in the intermediate state after they die. It is only expressing the relation of the dead to this world (as is also stated in 9:6). The limitation of knowledge for the dead is based on the limitation expressed by the context of 9:3, “in all that is done under the sun”. 9:6 interprets 9:5 as the love, hate and envy also have perished. The dead are not able to love, hate and envy anybody “under the sun”. And do you know what, Harold? v. 6 says that “forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun”. That’s the interpretation of 9:5 – the “dead know nothing” of what is happening in this world, “under the sun”.

When you proof-text on this Forum, you do yourself a disservice in your own attempts to accurately interpret a verse. But even worse, you force this false interpretation onto others who don’t agree with you. Eccl. 9:5 & 6 DO NOT teach what you want them to say. A good course in hermeneutics would teach contextual biblical interpretation, which you have not done. Instead, you want to proof-text and take verses in isolation from the context.

Taking isolated verses from Ecclesiastes as you do (and with other OT passages on Christian Fellowship Forum) and pushing them to the limits of what you think they mean, is not satisfactory exegesis of the text, especially when there are hefty statements like Eccl. 12:7 that contradict what you want to say about life after death, “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (ESV).

Because the Bible gives a non-contradictory message throughout, your interpretation of Eccl. 9:5-6, 10 MUST agree with Eccl. 12:7. Your teaching does not cause this to happen. Why? Because your SDA presuppositions are being imposed on the text and making it say what it does not say. You stated,

So, I have refuted your views no Eccl. 9:5-6. Please don’t ever get back to me and say that I don’t take seriously the verses you give.
Now to Eccl. 9:10. You ask: “Isn’t that where we all are going?????”

Verse 10 states, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going” (ESV).

This verse makes these emphases:

It affirms what nobody should question that during this life there are certain things available to us with certain results. When this life is over and death comes, have a guess what? There is no way that you, I or anybody else could make up for what we did not do in this life?
Jesus affirmed this in John 9:4, “We must work the works of him who sent us while it is day; night is coming when no one can work” (ESV).
Eccl. 9:10 and John 9:4 both confirm that earthly activities, what is done “under the sun”, cannot continue into the intermediate state when we die.
There is no attempt to describe from all angles what will happen after death with a person’s experience in Sheol. So, for you to use this verse to attempt to prove annihilation or soul sleep is completely outside of what Eccl. 9:10 is saying.

What is Sheol? Bob Deffinbaugh in, “A Hell to Shun“, accurately states that, “ Sheol seems to refer primarily to the abode of the dead, righteous or wicked, leaving the matter of their bliss or torment largely unspoken in most instances”.[7] He states:

In the Old Testament, the principle word employed for the abode of the dead is Sheol. Unfortunately, of its 65 occurrences in the Old Testament, the King James Version translates Sheol “hell” 31 times, “grave” 31 times, and “pit” 3 times. The result is that Old Testament saints, who had a sure hope of life beyond the grave (cf. Hebrews 11), seemed to fear or experience hell:

The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me (2 Samuel 22:6).

If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there (Psalm 139:8).

… and he said, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I called for help from the depth of Sheol. Thou didst hear my voice” (Jonah 2:2).

On the other hand, Sheol was also the place where the wicked would go:

The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God (Psalm 9:17).

Let death come deceitfully upon them; Let them go down alive to Sheol, For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst (Psalm 55:15).

The translation “hell” seems inaccurate and unfortunate in most, if not all, of the Old Testament passages where the word Sheol is encountered. Sheol seems to refer primarily to the abode of the dead, righteous or wicked, leaving the matter of their bliss or torment largely unspoken in most instances. Occasions of imminent danger are sometimes described as though death were certain, and thus they were facing Sheol (e.g. 2 Samuel 22:6).

This does not mean, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses maintain, that the Old Testament did not speak of judgment after death. It simply was not described by the term Sheol.

Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits (Isaiah 26:19).[8]

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).

We must conclude, then, that in the Old Testament the term “hell” was a poor choice of words with which to render the Hebrew term Sheol.

So for you, Harold, to ask, “How dead is dead?” of vv. 5-6 and to ask of v. 10, “Isn’t that where we all are going?????”, you want to make it mean that there is no knowledge in the afterlife. You want Eccl. 9:5-6, 10 to teach your view of deadness after death and that there is no knowledge where the dead are. This is absolutely false teaching. Your view is NOT what these verses mean.

You do what many false teachers do. You make verses state what they don’t say. You proof-text without interpreting in context. I believe in careful exegesis in context. I have done that for you here and the verses you quote do not mean what your SDA teaching forces them to say.

3. Appendix A

How did Harold respond to the above refutation of his doctrine?[9]

3.1 We need to remember that the Book of Ecclesiastes is not as Gospel savvy as the Gospel of John.

Spencer, are you saying that what you say is more important than what Paul says? “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ” That does not say, “some scripture”.

My response:

This is what happens when you don’t quote the context of what I said. This is exactly what I wrote in context:

“We need to remember that the Book of Ecclesiastes is not as Gospel savvy as the Gospel of John. Why? Because the Scriptures teach progressive revelation. Much more is revealed in the NT about salvation and the after-life than the OT”.

Perhaps you didn’t understand my use of “savvy” (“savvy” is a verb meaning to “know, understand“), but the context of that word clearly states what I meant – we know more clearly what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in the Gospel of John than in the Book of Ecclesiastes. God unfolds more of the specifics of the Gospel in the NT than he does in the OT. This is known as progressive revelation.[10]

You quote the classic Scripture from 2 Tim. 3:16 of the inspiration/authority of Scripture. What I wrote does not in any way deny the authority of Scripture as stated in this verse. Progressive revelation is a fact of what we see in the inspired Scriptures. God tells us more of his unfolding plan of redemption in the NT than he revealed in the OT.

3.2 On the surface these verses could be thought of as saying what you want them to say that there is nothing or annihilation after death.

I don’t think that we are told, anywhere, to read between the lines. Could that be the problem?

My response:

Don’t you know the difference between “on the surface” and “to read between the lines”? I did not say the latter. This is your going off at a tangent! What did I really say in context? This is how I put it: “Of verses 5 & 6 of Ecclesiastes 9, you ask, ‘How dead is dead?’ On the surface these verses could be thought of as saying what you want them to say that there is nothing or annihilation after death. What do these verses say?” Then I provided 4 points of exposition [see above].

You have a very bad habit of pulling a sentence to make it say what you want it to say, but that is not what I stated in context. This is a major problem that you have with biblical interpretation. You are a whiz at pulling a verse here and there to say what you want it to say – on this topic or annihilation or soul sleep. But when it comes to interpreting in context, which I tried to do with Eccl. 9:5-6, 10, you did what you often do with the scriptural interpretation. You create a straw man logical fallacy by making a sentence say what I did not state in context.

3.3 Their human knowledge has ceased as they are no longer on the earth. From your perspective, you think that this is a flat denial of any conscious existence in the intermediate state.

What gives you the idea that there is any consciousness after death? There is only one text that even hints at that, and that text is a parable. I have sent over sixty texts that state, clearly, that the dead are dead. Sleeping is what it says. Jesus said the same thing. Doesn’t what He says count? Study the story of the death of Lazarus. Martha knew where her brother was. She knew about the resurrection. What has happened in the last days? I’ll tell you. Someone has changed the idea so there would be a better reception for spiritualism. What did God say about that? NO. Why? Because the dead are dead and can not talk to anyone.
What would be the point of having a resurrection if you weren’t even dead? Why would all the Bible writers speak of the ‘saints’ sleeping in their graves?

My response:

You stated that the teaching on consciousness after death comes from only one parable and you state that you have over 60 texts to demonstrate that the dead are dead – they are sleeping.

Now let’s check only a sample of Scriptures.

The Old Testament gives us little indication of a glorious hope for life after death and beyond the grave and what will happen to unbelievers after death. We have more comprehensive theology about such in the NT.

However, we do have some pointers in the Old Covenant, one of which you have mentioned.

We do know that the OT teaches life after death. All people, whether believers or unbelievers, went to a place of conscious existence called Sheol (a word in the original Hebrew of the OT. These are examples of the use of Sheol: Unbelievers were there (Psalm 9:17; 31:17; 49:14; Isaiah 5:14), as were the righteous (Genesis 37:35; Job 14:13; Psalm 6:5; 16:10; 88:3; Isaiah 38:10).

However, we do not need to go only to the OT to determine the nature of life after death (the intermediate state) for both believers and unbelievers under the Old Covenant. We do need to remain under the OT dispensation to know the fate of saints and sinners. The NT also has details.

The NT equivalent of Sheol is Hades. In the OT era, prior to Christ’s death and resurrection, we know from Luke 16:19-31 (the story of the rich man and Lazarus) that Hades is divided into two places. Lazarus, the poor man, was in a place of comfort (Luke 16:22-23) called “Abraham’s bosom/side” (Lk. 16:22). The rich man was in a place of torment in Hades. The word hell (some translations) in Lk. 16:23 is not “Gehenna” (place of eternal torment) but “Hades” (place of the dead). But it is important to notice that Lazarus’s place of comfort is elsewhere called Paradise (Luke 23:43). Between these two districts of Hades is “a great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:26).

We know from Luke 16:23, the unbelieving rich man was in Sheol/Hades, “being in torment” (ESV) and there is no way, after death, to be able to move from Abraham’s bosom/side to the torment side of Hades occupied by unbelievers. For unbelievers in Hades we do know that it is a place of “anguish in this flame” (Lk. 16:24). “Anguish” is also the word used in v. 25. Since this is a parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the “flame” is a metaphor to give a pointed description of the seriousness of punishment in Hades for the unbeliever.

There are a few points (based on Hendriksen 1978:874-785) to note about this parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31):

Even though it is a parable, it does teach clear truth about the afterlife and what happens at death.
Some of the language may not be taken literally, but it nonetheless teaches truth about the afterlife. Let’s look at some specifics:
The popular view that Hades is the place of the dead for both believers and non-believers is incorrect according to the Gospels, and this parable speaks of Hades as the place of torments and flame (hell, if you like) for the unbelieving rich man. In Matt. 11:23 and Luke 10:15, Hades is sharply contrasted with heaven.
What happens at death. In this parable, truths are communicated that the departed at death are not asleep (the opposite of soul sleep) but are very much alive. Also, some are saved and others are suffering.
Once a person dies and his/her soul is separated from the body, the condition of being blessed or doomed is forever. It is fixed and there is never any second chance.
The rich man is in torment and in the flame. Is this literal or metaphorical? We know that hell is a place of fire or the flame in other passages from OT and NT: Isa. 33:14; 66:24; Matt. 3:12; 5:22; 13:40, 42, 50; 18:8, 9; 25:41; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 3:17; Jude 7; Rev. 14:10 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; and 21:8. This fire is unquenchable and devours forever. We know that this is figurative language because …
The abode of unbelievers at death also is described as “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). Evil spirits are kept there “in everlasting chains under darkness” (Jude 6; cf. Jude 13).
If Hades is a contrasting place of light (fire) and darkness, we are talking metaphorically of what it is like. We know this kind of distinction on the human level when we hear of people who have been seriously burned by a certain kind of radiation even though they were in a dark room when they received it. Hendriksen recommends not speculating on how this happens – torment in flames and darkness.
We also know that the everlasting fire is prepared “for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41) who are spirits. This should be enough to convince us that the language of fire, darkness and torment for unbelievers at death should not be taken literally. However, the truth should be very clear. For unbelievers at death, these pictures indicate “the terrors of the lost in the place [Hades] from which there is no return” (Hendriksen 1978:785).

The Scriptures, although not detailed, are clear that at death a person’s spirit “returned to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7 ESV) – I’ll give more on the interpretation of this verse below. According to John 11:17-26, to live and believe is followed by never dying. Jesus was crystal clear that everyone who lives and believes in Him shall never ever die ultimately. Death for the believer does not interrupt this eternal life that began at the point of commitment to Christ while on earth.

Paul stated that “we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). To the thief on the cross, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

The SDAs & JWs want to shift the comma to say, “Truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise,” meaning that Jesus said it to the thief on that very day and that it had nothing to do with the thief being with Jesus in Paradise on that very day.

There were no punctuation marks, breaks between words, or clearly defined sentences (as we understand them in English) in the original Greek of the NT. Therefore, how do we interpret this statement? Greek scholars have called the SDA/JW interpretation various things, including “grammatically senseless” (Lutzer 1997:49) because it was obvious that Jesus was speaking to the thief on that very day. Jesus could not have been saying it in the past or in the future. Christ was giving assurance to the thief that on that very day they would both meet in Paradise.

Why is the final destiny of the redeemed variously described in the NT as heaven (Col. 1:5), Paradise (Luke 23:43), and Abraham’s bosom/side (Luke 16:22)?

We have no difficulty referring to a house as a residence, mansion, dwelling, and perhaps a palace for some. God has no difficulty referring to heaven by these various designations that mean the same place (see also 2 Cor. 12).

There is a need in the church for clear teaching on the nature of heaven and hell, but your view is contrary to Scripture, even though you want to believe otherwise.

3.3.1 What about the souls of unbelievers at death?

Jesus stated in the story (parable) of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 that the rich man, the unbeliever, went to “Hades, being in torment” (v. 23). The “wicked servant” will go to the place where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 24:51).

3.3.2 What is the conclusion?

For believers and unbelievers, when they die, the soul and body are separated. The souls go to their respective places and are alive. For believers, they go immediately into the presence of the Lord.

Immortality means the eternal, continuous, conscious existence of the soul after the death of the body (Lorraine Boettner).

3.4 When you do proof-texting on this Forum, you do yourself a disservice in your own attempts to accurately interpret a verse.

I don’t interpret a verse. I post it. When the Bible says that the dead are sleeping in their graves, I do not try to change anything. Why would I? Nobody has taught me a thing about the Bible. I started reading it at about 55 years of age. I didn’t ask anyone what it said. I comparred text with text until it became clear what the Word was telling me. I will not back down from that. The Bible is full of clear texts that state what happens to you when you die. You can post all sorts of statements from someone else, but if it does not agree with what the Bible says, I will ignore it.

My response:

Harold, you are kidding yourself when you say, “I don’t interpret a verse. I post it”. On this forum you have continuously interpreted verses to support your theology of annihilation and soul sleep.

Your idea of people sleeping in the grave at death is taking a metaphor for what the body looks like at death and making it relate to what happens in the intermediate state – between death and the final resurrection at Christ’s second coming. God’s word tells us something quite different from your interpreted conclusions. Please don’t try to deceive us that you don’t interpret verses. You do and you need to be truthful and own up to it.

3.5 That’s the interpretation of [Ecclesiastes] 9:5 – the “dead know nothing” of what is happening in this world, “under the sun”.

Where else would they be? They are dead.

My response: Again, your presuppositions are driving you. Your SDA view of what happens at death (annihilation for the wicked and soul sleep for the believers) is driving your view of “they are dead”. I showed you the meaning of Eccl. 9:5 with this statement:

Eccl. 9:5 states that “the living know that they will die”. This is nothing profound, but the application is that a living person has a distinct advantage that he/she knows that death is coming and can arrange many things in life to prepare for that event.
But for those who have died, they “know nothing”. So for them, any opportunity to arrange anything for life after death is gone. Their human knowledge has ceased as they are no longer on the earth. From your perspective, you think that this is a flat denial of any conscious existence in the intermediate state. That IS NOT what this verse teaches. This book is written for those “under the sun” (those in this world). It is not a statement about the state of the dead in the intermediate state after they die. It is only expressing the relation of the dead to this world (as is also stated in 9:6). The limitation of knowledge for the dead is based on the limitation expressed by the context of 9:3, “in all that is done under the sun”. 9:6 interprets 9:5 as the love, hate and envy also have perished. The dead are not able to love, hate and envy anybody “under the sun”. And do you know what, Harold? v. 6 says that “forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun”. That’s the interpretation of 9:5 – the “dead know nothing” of what is happening in this world, “under the sun”.

You don’t refute this, but you give me your presuppositions again, “They are dead”, reinforcing your understanding of “the dead are dead”. I provided an exposition of these relevant passages in Eccl. 9 but you have not refuted these.

3.6 Eccl. 12:7, “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (ESV). Because the Bible gives a non-contradictory message throughout, your interpretation of Eccl. 9:5-6 MUST agree with Eccl. 12:7.

And it does. WHAT is spirit? BREATH. That is the only thing God gave Adam at creation. “Adam BECAME a living soul.” Period. He didn’t get one. He WAS one.

My response: Why is it that your favourite KJV does not translate it your way? Eccl. 12:7 reads, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (KJV). Other translations read: “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (ESV); “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (NIV).

Not one of these main translations provides a translation of “spirit” as “breath”. Why? Because that is not what the word means in context. You engage in what you claim you don’t do – you interpreted Eccl. 12:7 according to your SDA doctrine of soul sleep/annihilation. You do not want it to mean what it states in context, so you invent what it doesn’t mean, “breath”.

How do we know that “spirit” in Eccl. 12:7 does not mean “breath”? (1) Take a look at the context in Eccl. 12:5 states what is happening at death, “Man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets” (ESV). What happens at death as breath ceases is not what is stated in Eccl. 12. It is referring to human beings going to their “eternal home”, which means at death, “The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (ESV). How do we know?

Eccl. 3:21 asks, “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” (KJV). The implication is that the spirit of beasts perishes with the body (goeth downward to the earth), but the human spirit survives death (as in Eccl. 12:5-7). It is inaccurate contextual interpretation to say that “the breath of man goeth upward”. Why? Because at death, the breath ceases but the person lives on.

Psalm 104:29 also emphasises that the breath ceases at death: “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust” (KJV). Cf. Gen. 3:19; Job 10:9; Ps. 90:3; 103:14; and Eccl. 3:20.

You have a very limited understanding of what God gave Adam at creation. In Gen. 25:8, according to the KJV, the Lord told Abram (he was not yet Abraham) that he would be “gathered to his people” and that he would be buried in a designated cave “old … and full of years”. The phrase, “gathered to his people” means more that simply “going to the grave”. We know from Scripture that the body returns to dust at death and the soul/spirit is “gathered to” a person’s loved ones.

You stated, “‘Adam BECAME a living soul.’ Period. He didn’t get one. He WAS one”.

Gen. 2:7 states, “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 (ESV). The phrase for a human being, “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”, indicates that the Creator provided the vital breath for the first human being and continues to give that breath until the moment of death. You want to emphasise that the distinctive aspect of human beings is “breath” (Eccl. 12:7) but this cannot be maintained consistently in Scripture.

Also, you claim that Adam WAS a living soul and did not become one. We need to remember that in Gen. 2:7, the author of Genesis is reporting that lifeless clay became animate by the breath of God. In Gen. 2:7, the word “soul” or “living being’ is the Hebrew nephesh because the nephesh is the animate thing in a human being. “God’s Spirit animates the soul, though in a higher sense than it the case with the soul of beasts…. Koenig correctly defines: ‘According to 2:7 the soul is that portion of the spirit which is breathed into man”” (Leupold 1942:117).

3.7 Eccl. 9:10 and John 9:4 both confirm that earthly activities, what is done “under the sun”, cannot continue into the intermediate state when we die.

Who fed you that word, “intermediate”?? It isn’t in MY Bible.

My response: You are being hypocritical here, Harold. Who fed your denomination the words, “Investigative Judgment”? The words, “investigative judgement” are not in the Bible. They are the words of one of your founders, Ellen White. For a refutation of investigative judgment, see, “Seventh Day Adventism profile“.

I have very briefly explained the biblical doctrine of the intermediate state above.

3.8 There is no attempt to describe from all angles what will happen after death with a person’s experience in Sheol.

Of course there isn’t. Small wonder. You are dead. There are no experiences.

Now. Everything you have posted, I have answered. Does it make any difference? Probably not. YOu are sold on the immortality of the soul, not taught in any Bible, and you will probably go on believing that lie. I don’t know what to do about it. If you don’t believe Jesus, then who can you believe?

John 3:”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” There are dead people and there are people who receive eternal life. You can NOT have it both ways. Somebody in there perishes.

My response: I am sold on what the Bible teaches. As explained above, when the last breath leaves my body and I am dead, that is not the end of the story. I have shown you from Scripture over and over the biblical teaching on the immortality of the soul. See my brief article, The immortality of the soul. I have explained some of this material many times for you on Christian Fellowship Forum but you have such a fixation with the SDA teaching that you don’t seem to be open to what the Bible actually teaches. Sadly, you will have to wait to death before you find the truth.

You quote John 3:16 and then add your interpretation:

“John 3:”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” There are dead people and there are people who receive eternal life. You can NOT have it both ways. Somebody in there perishes”.

But you don’t read the rest of the Bible for you to make that kind of statement. You have forgotten these verses:

John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (KJV). So, the unbeliever is experiencing the wrath of God at death. What is that like?
Matthew 25:31-46 states it in terms of the final judgment, the sheep (believers) will be placed on the right and the goats (unbelievers) on his left. What will happen finally to these goats and sheep? “And these [the unrighteous goats] shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matt. 25:46). So the length of the punishment for the unrighteous is as long as the life for the righteous at death – eternal. It goes on for eternity.

What is the meaning of “perish” in John 3:16? It will be consistent with: to lose one’s life (John 12:25) and to be doomed to destruction (John 17:12, which uses a cognate of “to perish”). Leon Morris states with regard to “perish”,

“Neither here nor anywhere else in the New Testament is the dreadful reality behind this word ‘perish’ brought out. But in all its parts there is the recognition that there is such a reality awaiting the finally impenitent…. John sets perishing and life starkly over against one another. He knows no other final state” (Morris 1971:230).

We know from the verses that follow John 3:16 that to perish is the opposite of being saved (3:17); it is to be judged (3:18); it is to be reproved or convicted (3:20). Thus, “to perish” is denoting utter rejection of God (it is the aorist subjunctive, in 3:16) and the middle voice is used, indicating a person is doing that himself/herself. John 3:17 explains what it means, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (KJV).

To perish does not indicate the end of physical existence, the ceasing of the breath. As John 3:17 confirms, it is the everlasting experience of God’s condemnation; being banished from the God of love and experiencing the God of wrath – forever, eternally. While the unbeliever experiences a dimension of this in the present life, body and soul will experience it at the consummation of all things at the end of the age for eternity.

N. T. Wright (2003:xix), in his magnificent exposition on The Resurrection of the Son of God (817 pages), has stated: ‘When ancient Jews, pagans and Christians used the word “sleep” to denote death, they were using a metaphor to refer to a concrete state of affairs. We sometimes use the same language the other way round: a heaver sleeper is “dead to the world”‘.

4. Works consulted

Norman Geisler 2005. Systematic Theology: Church, Last Things (vol. 4). Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House.

William Hendriksen 1978. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic.

H. C. Leupold 1942. Exposition of Genesis (vol. 1). London: Evangelical Press.

Erwin W. Lutzer 1997. One Minute After You Die: A Preview of Your Final Destination. Chicago: Moody Press.

Leon Morris 1971. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

N. T. Wright 2003. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

5. Notes:

[1] Of the intermediate state, Norman Geisler has written that “the Bible teaches that between death and resurrection, the human soul/spirit survives consciously apart from its body. This is neither a state of annihilation nor a state of conscious ‘sleep’; this is an eternal state of conscious bliss for the saved and conscious anguish for the lost” (2005:253).

[2] John Stott’s interview with Roy McCloughry 1996, “Basic Stott”, in Christianity Today, 8 January 1996, available at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/septemberweb-only/9-1-51.0.html (Accessed 15 August 2011).

[3] The Seventh-Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are prominent promoters of the doctrine of soul sleep. Proponents of soul sleep “claim the dead are not conscious between death and resurrection” (Geisler 2005:247). For my refutation of soul sleep, see, “Soul sleep: A refutation“.

[4] “Annihilationism is the doctrine that the wicked will not suffer an everlasting conscious hell. Annihilationism is also called conditional immortality…. [It] holds that unbelievers, who will not have received God’s gift of salvation, will be snuffed out of existence after the final judgment; accordingly, they will experience no eternal conscious torment forever. It is alleged that this view of the unsaved’s destiny most fully upholds God’s mercy, that nonexistence is the best alternative for the unrepentant sinner. Annihilationists argue that while the lost cannot enjoy everlasting bliss with the righteous, they aren’t deserving of conscious eternal wrath” (Geisler 2005:390). See my article, “The immortality of the soul“, which incorporates a refutation of annihilationism.

[5] Christian Fellowship Forum (CFF), Contentious Brethren, “Side topic: Annihilation”, #16, available at: http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ws-fellowship&tid=120786 (Accessed 15 August 2011). Prior to 18 August 2019 this forum closed.

[6] My response is at #25 on CFF. I have edited some of my CFF response for this article. I have incorporated some content from H. C. Leupold 1969. Exposition of Ecclesiastes. London: Evangelical Press, pp. 211-218.

[8] Ibid.

[9] My statements are in bold. Harold’s statements follow the bold, are indented, and then I give my response.

[10] Article V of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy defines progressive revelation this way: “We affirm that God’ s revelation in the Holy Scriptures was progressive. We deny that later revelation, which may fulfill earlier revelation, ever corrects or contradicts it. We further deny that any normative revelation has been given since the completion of the New Testament writings”.

Near-death experiences are not all light. What about the dark experiences?

(image in public domain)

By Spencer D Gear

Jana Wendt’s “Witness” program on Channel 7 (Australia) dealing with those who have had near-death experiences (NDE) on October 8, 1996, presented a biased version of NDE’s where they saw a light at the end of a tunnel.

Maurice S. Rawlings, M.D. was a specialist in cardiovascular diseases at the Diagnostic Center and the area hospitals of Chattanooga, Tennessee.[1] He has documented another side that is very seldom reported. He has written two books dealing with this: Beyond Death’s Door[2] and To Hell and Back.[3]

In the latter book, he writes that “of the numerous authors investigating near-death experiences, almost none of them report negative or unpleasant cases… None of them seem to believe in a place called hell.”[4] He states that

“To broaden the exposure data of the authors who write of euphoric NDEs and OBEs, I have offered some of the negative experiences we have collected for their personal touch and interview, but they have all refused.

1. One author declined because negative data would interfere with positive results already collected.

2. Another passed because the information would modify conclusions already published.

3. A third, the legendary and broadly respected Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, would not say why she refused but declined the offer anyhow. Such lack of interest in broadened research is troubling.”[5]

Charlie was needing CPR and a temporary pacemaker. Dr. Rawlings reported that

“Whenever I stopped pushing on his chest in order to adjust the pacemaker, the heart would stop, and Charlie’s eyes would roll up, he again would sputter, turn blue, and begin to convulse.

“With bare hands, just like you can, I would reach over and start him up again. But this time he was screaming the words, `Don’t stop! I’m in hell! I’m in hell…. For God’s sake, don’t stop! Don’t you understand? Every time you let go I’m back in hell!'”[6]

Another patient “saw the being of light at the end of the tunnel, but the light soon turned into blazing fire, igniting the tunnel walls as he went by. He called it the `fire of hell.'”[7]

Curt Jurgens, a German actor, had a negative experience when his heart frequently stopped during a four-hour operation by Dr. Michael DeBakey in Houston, Texas, to replace part of an aorta (the main blood vessel). He reported:

“I could no longer shut out the frightful truth: beyond the faces dominating this fiery world were faces of the damned. I had a feeling of despair… the sensation of horror was so great it choked me.

“Obviously I was in Hell itself, and the glowing tongues of fire could be reaching me any minute.”[8]

Another said:

“I was moving through a vacuum as if life never ended, so black you could almost touch it. Black, frightening, and desolate. I was all alone somewhere in outer space…

“I knew it was Hell, but there was no fire or heat or anything that I had expected.

“I was alone, isolated from all sound, until I heard a mumbling, and I could vaguely see a kneeling form. It was my wife. She was praying at my bedside. I never wanted to be a Christian, but I surely am now. Hell is too real.”[9]

Dr. Rawlings speaks of others who support his view:

“Fortunately, a few observers are beginning to disagree. One of the disagreements was by researcher Dr. Charles Garfield who noted, `Not everyone dies a blissful, accepting death… Almost as many of the dying patients interviewed reported negative visions (demons and so forth), as reported blissful experiences, while some reported both.’[10] Note his ratio of roughly 50/50 for negative positive. I am not the only researcher claiming large amounts of existing negative material!”[11]

Notes:

[1]Dr. Rawlings “was appointed to the National Teaching Faculty of the American Heart Association, specialising in teaching methods for the retrieval of patients from sudden death. He taught at various medical schools and hospitals and conducted courses for doctors and nurses in many countries. Dr Rawlings is clinical assistant professor of medicine for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a member of the International Committee on Cardiovascular Diseases, etc.” (To Hell and Back, p. 256).

[2]Bantam Books, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

[3]Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 1993.

[4]To Hell and Back, p. 10.

[5]Ibid., p. 34.

[6]Ibid., pp. 36-37.

[7]Ibid., pp. 72-73.

[8]Ibid., p. 77.

[9]Ibid., p. 79.

[10] Robert Kastenbaum, Is There Life After Death? (New York: Prentice Hall, 1984) p. 25, citing G.A. Garfield in Kastenbaum, ed., Between Life and Death (New York: Spring Publishers, 1979), pp. 54-55. Emphasis added by Dr. Rawlings.

[11]Rawlings, To Hell and Back, p. 73.

Anger with God over illness and death

(public domain)

By Spencer D Gear

It is not unusual to hear of people who get angry with God over the sudden death of a loved one or of a younger person diagnosed with a terminal condition. We see it on www forums like this one, “How can I not be angry at God for taking my wife away?” The best answer to this question, chosen by voters on the forum was, “You have to know that God did not take your wife away from you”. Really?

Then there is a mother who gives another perspective:

I am 69, Mum of three, grandma to 11 and great grandma to 10, but nearly 11. I have had cancer five times. In my neck, breast, face, bowel and ovary. I have experienced Radio therapy, chemotherapy, and operations.
People have asked aren’t you angry with God. The answer is no, I’m not angry with God, He has brought me through it all, I am well and look after myself. I do my best and God does the rest.
Through it all I have learnt so much.

Anger with God over tragedy comes in this story:

I just heard another story of a family’s lives being turned upside down. Their son, who was preparing to graduate from college is now fighting for his life. His illness came from out of the blue, and it leaves this Christian family devastated. They want to know why this is happening and where the God who they’ve always believed in is. Why doesn’t our all powerful, sovereign God intercede? They are angry, confused, and hurt.

How should we respond to the news that a Christian man with a young family has been diagnosed with cancer, has been through chemotherapy, and the specialist has advised that he should get his house in order as he has only a few months to live?

(Cancer image Wikipedia)

Would the words of an old song say it the way it is or do we yearn for something other?

This world is not my home

I’m just a-passing through.

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue.

I have become aware of this situation in recent months. Here are some details (I have changed a few of the details to protect the innocent):

Please pray for a miracle for the healing of this man (aged in his 30s with 4 young children) who is an evangelical Christian.
This person has contacts around the world so there could be thousands praying for his healing. Please join these people and ask God to grant healing to this man who is in the prime of his life.
His condition is deteriorating and he is losing weight quickly. He may have only a few months to live.
Anger with God has been expressed over this illness.
Prayer was asked for God to perform a miracle and confound the medical profession and the logic of human wisdom.
May God be glorified!

How should we respond as evangelical Christian believers?

The natural human reaction is to become angry with God that a person in the ‘prime of life’ with children should die in this way. Is this a godly reaction? As those who have been born-again by the Spirit of God, what should be our response?

A well-known Scripture comes to mind: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). It is godly and not glib to say that with impending death of a loved one who loves Jesus, that God is working all things, including this possible death, “according to his purpose”. God would never ever do anything unjust or contrary to his perfect will. But I’m jumping ahead of myself.

There are some fundamentals that we need to understand to get death into perspective, whether death in the womb, as children and teens, middle aged or in older age. These are some of those fundamentals: (1) the sovereignty of God in life and death; (2) the need for compassion towards the needy, and (3) the Lord who still has the ability to heal if it is according to His will.

A. The sovereignty of God in life and death

When we look at deaths through cancer, HIV, accidents, disasters, and heart disease, some people find it difficult to believe in the God of sovereign control. When we turn on the TV news and see the floods, other disasters and crime around the world, how is it possible to even consider that a benevolent, perfect Lord God is in control of the universe?

How can we talk of God’s sovereignty when we consider the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot and Idi Amin?

Hitler Stalin Mao Pol Pot killing fields Cambodia Idi Amin

God always has authority over all nations. But wait a minute! How can this be possible in light of the genocides just mentioned, the slaughter in the Sudan, and the other evil in our world? For biblical perspectives on evil and suffering, see my article, “The ‘grotesque’ God, evil & suffering“. See also “Notes on the problem of evil” by Ron Rhodes and “The polemic shot in the foot” by Ravi Zacharias.

These are the core Christian beliefs regarding governments:

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended” (Romans 13:1-3 NIV).[1]

However, there is this qualifier: “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!'” (Acts 5:29). This means that when the laws of governments clash with the laws of God, we must obey God rather than human governments.

What is meant by the sovereignty of God?

“By the sovereignty of God we mean that as Creator of all things visible and invisible, God is the owner of all; that He, therefore, has an absolute right to rule over all (Matt. 20:15; Rom. 9:20, 21); and that He actually exercises this authority in the universe (Eph. 1:11)” (Thiessen 1949:173).

This sovereign authority is not based on some impulsive, arbitrary, whimsical will, but on the wise and holy counsel of God Himself.

When it comes to understanding cancer, evil and disasters in our world, we need to consider another attribute of God. It is difficult for us to grasp the content of this verse from Psalm 139:16. It makes it clear that God is in charge of the times of a person’s beginning and end of life: “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”.

This verse gives us just a glimpse of God’s attribute of omniscience. The omniscience of God means that “He knows Himself and all other things, whether they be actual or merely possible, whether they be past, present or future, and that He knows them perfectly and from all eternity. He knows things immediately, simultaneously, exhaustively and truly. He also knows the best way to attain His desired ends” (Thiessen 1949:124).

Therefore, God has knowledge of the possible and the actual. From our human perspective, we call God’s knowledge of the future, foreknowledge. But from God’s viewpoint, “He knows all things in one simultaneous intuition” (Thiessen 1949:125).

In Psalm 139:16, we see an example of the omniscience of God. From a human view, it is God’s foreknowledge and we find it difficult to get our mind around the fact that all the days of every human being from formation in the womb to the last breath drawn, are known to God. This applies to my friend who is dying of cancer before reaching an old age. It is clear that pre-natal forming by God is indicated by the use of the language of “my body”. A person’s life begins in the womb and continues after birth until physical death and beyond – into the intermediate state. God’s omniscience sees all those days and they are written in God’s “book”. What an amazing insight into God’s attribute and of human existence!

There are verses in the New Testament that cause us to think of God’s omniscience in relation to life and death. Matthew 10:28-31 states:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[2] And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

The one who determines what happens in life after death is the One Lord God Almighty. We are to fear Him with a godly fear.

Psalm 116:15 reminds us: “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants”. God does not tell us that all will live to seventy[3] or eighty years (see Psalm 90:10). But he does assure us: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). The New Living Translation gives a beautiful rendition of this verse: “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better”. For dying of cancer at a young age to be seen as “even better” than living for Christ in the here and now, one must see life and death from God’s perspective. Too much of human misery is seen humanistically rather than theistically.

Corrie Ten Boom, a Nazi prison camp survivor and worldwide missionary, wrote in a letter in 1974:

Sometimes I get frightened as I read the Bible, and as I look in this world and see all of the tribulation and persecution promised by the Bible coming true. Now I can tell you, though, if you too are afraid, that I have just read the last pages. I can now come to shouting “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” for I have found where it is written that Jesus said, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be His God, and he shall be My son.” This is the future and hope of this world. Not that the world will survive but that we shall be overcomers in the midst of a dying world.

Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick. “Yes, the Lord will heal me,”, Betsy said with confidence. She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.

It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy’s death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.

What a beautiful way to see the meaning of death and its continuing impact for the good of the relatives who remain! Until we have the mind of Christ, we will not grasp God’s perspective on life and death. Paul reminded the Corinthian church:

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:14-16 ESV).

If Christians are still thinking naturally and not according to the Spirit of God, they will not understand how death for the believer is “even better” than living in this wicked world. The growing Christian with “the mind of Christ” discerns God’s sovereign will and omniscience in death happening at any age.

The theology of life, death and life-after-death needs to be taught in our churches, otherwise people will be shocked by cancer or sudden death that happens in youth or mid-life, rather than old age. I recommend John Piper’s message, “The death of a Spirit-filled man” for a fuller understanding of death and what follows for the believer.

God is sovereign Lord of life and death and his omniscience knows all that will happen in the future. But there is a dimension to life on earth that needs Christian understanding. See the article, “Is it wrong to get angry with God?”

B. The need for compassion towards the suffering & needy

In August 2008, The World Bank estimated that “at a poverty line of $1.25 a day, the revised estimates find 1.4 billion people live at this poverty line or below”. How should Christians respond to such a desperate need?

In this article I am discussing a Christian man with a young family and wife and he has only months to live. How should local Christians respond? Ephesians 4:32 provides insight: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”.

“Compassionate” is also used by the NET and NAB Bibles. For “compassionate”, other translations use “tender-hearted” (KJV, NASB, NLT, ESV, NRSV). What is the meaning of the Greek, eusplagchnoi that is used here? It is a rare word that “indicates a very deep feeling, ‘a yearning with the deeply felt affection of Christ Jesus'”. A tender-hearted or compassionate person has “deep feelings of love and pity” (Hendriksen 1967:223).

We should not overlook the fact that Eph. 4:32 also exhorts Christians to “be kind”, which is a “Spirit-imparted goodness of heart, the very opposite of malice or badness mentioned in verse 31″ (Hendriksen 1967:223).

This deep love of Christ for the cancer sufferer must be expressed by believers through being alongside and caring for the sufferer. How can this be spoken to the sufferer? It involves being present, speaking and praying with the person who has cancer. This may involve practical actions to help the person and family at this point of need.

A parallel passage is Colossians 3:12-13:

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you”.

Remember Matthew 25: 37-40 and the link of caring for the needy and the final judgment:

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me'”.

The Golden Rule provides fundamental instruction: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:41). If you or I were in need of compassion or assistance in any way, would we appreciate those who were tender-hearted towards us? Of course! Therefore, the Christian’s obligation is to be that kind of person to others. The Christian is one who must care for the needy and suffering.

Alan Redpath wrote this of Nehemiah: “You never lighten the load unless first you have felt the pressure in your own soul. You are never used of God to bring blessing until God has opened your eyes and made you see things as they are” (in Swindoll 1998:110).

Yes, we need compassion for those who are suffering physically. But what’s the part of God in healing the sick?

C. I believe that it is possible for God to heal today.

Jesus healed the sick when he was on earth, but He has returned to the Father in glory. What role has God given to Christians after Jesus’ personal departure? I am of the view that miracles, including miracles of healing, are meant to continue and I have expounded on it in this article, “Are miracles valuable?” See also Jack Deere’s article, “Were miracles meant to be temporary?”

Here we have a few indications of the continuing ministry of miracles, including healing:

John 14:12 states, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father”. First Corinthians 12:9 confirms that God has given “to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit” (see also vv. 28, 30). James 5:13-16 places a healing ministry within the church:

“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”.

The church needs to be taught that one of the roles of elders is to anoint the sick person with oil and “prayer offered in faith” (by the elders) will raise the sick person up if sins are confessed. The initiative is with the sick person to call for the elders for anointing and prayer.

What does it mean to say that prayer for healing is “offered in faith”? It is not prayer plus oil that leads to healing. God does bring healing in answer to prayer as is seen by the example of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:1-6. But what is the prayer “offered in faith”? It has to deal with the faith of the sick person who called for the elders and from the elders who prayed. It is prayer that depends on the sovereign Lord. The prayer’s answer is with the Lord who heals. His sovereign will is to be obeyed. James is very clear about actions that must be done in accordance with the Lord’s will: “You ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that'” (James 4:15).

However, we must never overlook this fact that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). This is the Christian tight rope: Prayer to the Lord by righteous people is effective in praying for the sick, but faith of both the sick and the elders are required. Also, God’s will, unknown to those who pray, is also involved in the outcome. Nevertheless, we are called to pray for the sick.

The teaching on the prayer of faith is not a verse to support a concept that “all who are anointed with oil, prayed for by elders, will be healed by God”. See my article in opposition to “blab it and grab it” theology as taught by some extreme charismatic leaders. Evangelical, charismatic theologian, Wayne Grudem, states:

“I do not think that God gives anyone warrant to promise or ‘guarantee’ healing in this age, for his written Word makes no such guarantee, and our subjective sense of his will is always subject to some degree of uncertainty and some measure of error in this life” (1994:1067 n35).

Also note that this praying for the sick is extended beyond the role of elders. James 5:16 states: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”. Individual Christians are authorised to confess their sins to one another and pray for each other that a person “may be healed”.

God can and does heal, but we cannot command him to do so when we want it to happen. He is sovereign Lord and answers prayers according to His will.

D. Can we change God’s mind through prayer?

Will the praying of thousands of people for my friend’s healing make more difference than if only only a handful are praying? Can God’s mind with regard to healing a person be changed through the prayers of one or a multitude of prayers?

God does listen to righteous people when they pray, but God does not do what the righteous demand. God does whatever His righteous will determines. God’s language with Sodom & Gomorrah came in the form of a question, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen. 18:25)

The Lord God Almighty will demonstrate His justice in the life and death of all who suffer and die. God’s perfect will must be done, but it is He who decides when the last breath is drawn, whether through a still birth, dying as a child, dying in middle age, or dying at a ripe old age. A Christian friend of mine died recently at the age of 103.

E. Catch a glimpse of heaven

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). To the thief on the cross, Jesus gave this assurance, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Therefore, the Christian assurance is that at death he/she is ushered into the presence of the Lord which is “gain” or “even better” than life on earth (Phil. 1:21).

Therefore, why do Christians want to stay longer on the earth? It is a very human desire to remain with a spouse and children. But God has an “even better” location for the believer who dies physically, that is described as a place of “many rooms” (John 14:2).

What are the experiences of atheists, agnostics and Christian believers at death?

It is reported that Professor J.H. Huxley, the famous agnostic, as he lay dying suddenly looked up at some sight invisible to mortal eyes, and staring awhile, whispered at last, “So it is true.”

Sir Francis Newport, head of the English Infidel Club, said to those gathered around his death bed, “Do not tell me there is no God for I know there is one, and that I am in his angry presence! You need not tell me there is no hell, for I already feel my soul slipping into its fires! Wretches, cease your idle talk about there being hope for me! I know that I am lost forever.”

Dwight L. Moody, the famous Christian preacher, awakening from sleep shortly before he died had just the opposite to say: “Earth recedes. Heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet! There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.”

“No, no, Father,” said Moody’s son, “You are dreaming.” “I am not dreaming,” replied Moody. “I have been within the gates. I have seen the children’s faces.” His last words were, “This is my triumph; this is my coronation day! It is glorious!” (from “What if there is a heaven?“)

Shortly before he died, John Bunyan, said:

“Weep not for me, but for yourselves; I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will, through the mediation of His Blessed Son, receive me, though a sinner, where I hope we ere long shall meet to sing the new song and remain everlastingly happy, world without end” (in Lutzer 1997:141)

Conclusion

Far too much hope is placed on living in this wicked world. It is “far better” to be in the presence of the Lord at death.

God has provided means of healing in this present age through medical science (which is not covered here) and the ministry of the church. However, God does not guarantee healing in this life. He does guarantee his sovereign will for all true believers. See my article, “Should God heal all Christians who pray for healing?”

The vision before the believer at death is:

Heaven’s Sounding Sweeter All The Time

Life has been so good, I can’t complain
When I’m down, God gives me strength to rise again
I get weary from the struggle of it all,
That’s when I listen, how I listen for His call

Chorus
Heaven’s sounding sweeter all the time
Seems like lately, it’s always on my mind
Someday I’ll leave this world behind,
Heaven’s sounding sweeter all the time

2. Oh, it’s hard to lose a loved one to the grave
but we have the blessed hope that Jesus gave
God’s gonna wipe all the tears from our eyes
When we meet Him in that land beyond the skies

Works consulted

Grudem W. 1994. Systematic theology: An introduction to biblical doctrine. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press / Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House.

Hendriksen, W. 1967. Ephesians, in New Testament Commentary: Expositions of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic.

Lutzer, E. W. 1997. One minute after you die: A preview of your final destination. Chicago: Moody Press.

Swindoll, C. R. 1998. Swindoll’s ultimate book of illustrations & quotes. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Thiessen, H. C. 1949. Introductory lectures in systematic theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Notes:

[2] The NIV footnote is: “Or will; or knowledge”. The English Standard Version translates as: “And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father”.

[3] The language of older Bible translations such as the KJV was “threescore and ten” for seventy.

Whytehouse designs

Torn between life and death

By Spencer D Gear

Why is it that many of us will do many things to live longer but others want to end life now?

We go on diets to reduce the strain on our hearts and the cholesterol from the fatty foods that we eat.

A recent study in the USA found that if people want to be healthy and live longer, they should consume less red and processed meat.[1]

The research of half a million American middle-aged and elderly people who consumed four ounces of red meat a day (an amount equivalent to a small hamburger), found that there was a 30% higher chance that they would die in the next 10 years.

Most of these would die of heart disease and cancer. The risk was increased through eating sausage, cold meats and other processed meats.

But this desire to try to avoid death, is also seen in some treatments of cancer. In spite of severe side effects of chemotherapy, such as fever, chills & sweats, abnormal bleeding, severe vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea and abdominal pain, patients want to live longer to spend more time with their relatives and friends.

Why is it that we have this love of life and need to prolong the date of death? Could it be connected with our culture’s deep fear of death?

“I want to be with my loved ones who have gone before, but I’m not sure about that,” are among the comments I hear.

For others, life has become a burden and ending life sooner than later sounds like a good release. The euthanasia movement in Australia, Europe and the USA is pushing this line. “To die with dignity” sounds like a reasonable and responsible way of thinking until one sees how euthanasia is happening in countries such as Holland.

The recent series of articles in The Times (UK) demonstrates this continuing push for euthanasia and assisted suicide.[2] The Dutch experience shows that this push will not be limited to the terminally ill. After a three year inquiry, the Dutch Medical Association (as reported in the British Medical Journal) wants more freedom to kill. The report stated that “doctors can help patients who ask for help to die even though they may not be ill but ‘suffering through living.'”[3]

Some experience this ambivalence: Extend life as much as possible but end life if it becomes unbearable.

This is where the Easter message of the resurrected Christ has particular application. We do not have to guess about what happens at death. Here there is an opportunity of knowing why life must end and what lies beyond the grave. The physical resurrection of all human beings after death is firmly grounded in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

Jesus Christ himself affirms this. After raising a man from the dead, he said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”[4]

He demonstrated the reality of this through his own resurrection from the dead, which was a turning point in human history.

Because of Christ’s physical resurrection from the dead, there is a solid biblical, theological and historical basis for the belief that the souls of both believers and unbelievers survive death and will be raised again.

There is no reason for the believers in Christ to fear death as they are eternally redeemed. Are those who push for euthanasia certain of the destiny of those for whom they push for “death with dignity”?

Endnotes:

[1] Rob Stein, The Washington Post, 24 March 2009, “Daily red meat raises chances of dying early,” available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032301626.html [Accessed 2 January 2010].

[2] A. C. Grayling, The Times (UK), 31 March 2009, “Allowing people to arrange their death is a simple act of kindness”, available from: Timesonline at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6005023.ece [Accessed 2 January 2010]. See other euthanasia & assisted suicide stories linked to this article.

[3] Tony Sheldon, British Medical Journal News roundup, Extract, 18 January 2005, “Dutch euthanasia law should apply to patients ‘suffering through living’ report says,” available from: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/330/7482/61 [Accessed 2 January 2010]. Sheldon’s full article may be viewed at: http://www.lists.opn.org/pipermail/right-to-die_lists.opn.org/2005-January/000555.html [2 January 2010]. I was alerted to this information by Weblog: Christianity Today, “Dutch doctors want to kill the healthy,” 13 March 2006, available from: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/januaryweb-only/51.0.html [Accessed 2 January 2010].

[4] John 11:25-26.

Soul Sleep: A Refutation

RIP

(courtesy ChristArt)

By Spencer D Gear

1. Introduction

What happens to you when you die? Famous British philosopher, Bertrand Russell’s conclusion was: “When I die, I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive” (1967, p. 47, cited in Peterson 1995, p. 3). He now knows whether his statement is true or not, as he died in 1970. However, he could have known beforehand if he had taken the Bible seriously (which is not what atheists do).

Have you done much thinking about this topic lately?

If you join in the discussion on some Christian forums on the Internet, you are likely to encounter people who promote unorthodox doctrines. I have been meeting some of these people on the Christian Fellowship Forum (2007a).

Harold, a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA), has been promoting soul sleep. Somebody asked him, “Does the soul continue and interact between physical death and the resurrection?” His response was: “Only if you refuse to put those texts in context. Daniel 12:1, John 5: 28, 29, Acts 2:29, 34, The story of His friend, Lazarus, who was ASLEEP in Matthew 11” (Christian Fellowship Forum 2007b, Harold to Chris, #11).

1.1 Mass communication & false teaching

World-wide communication, particularly through the Internet, has made it easier to promote all kinds of teaching, including false teaching. Harold has pursued me: “I can’t help it if you have thrown away the clear Word of God for something else that claims that you have an immortal soul. That isn’t Biblical and you know it” (Christian Fellowship Forum 2007c, Harold to OzSpen, #21). Harold responded to another participant: “‘and man BECAME a living soul.’ Not ‘was given a soul’. Not, ‘now has a soul’. You ARE a soul” (Christian Fellowship Forum 2007c, Harold to Martin Y, #16). [2]

In my response, I showed that Matthew 10:28 (explained elsewhere in this article) sinks the SDA idea that a human being is a soul and does not have a soul (see Christian Fellowship Forum 2007c, #42).

2. What is the teaching on soul sleep?

(courtesy Wikipedia)

Several terms need to be defined before we examine the doctrine of “soul sleep.” There are some important foundational teachings that prepare the way for consideration of “soul sleep.” These include:

What is the nature of a human being? Is he/she a physical being only or is there an immaterial dimension to a person?
Does a human being have a soul or spirit that represents the immaterial part of a person?
What happens to this immaterial part at death?

2.1 What is the nature of a human being?

How many parts are there to a human being? Most Christians and many non-Christians admit that there is some immaterial part of a person that may be called “soul” or “spirit.” But as for agreement on what soul/spirit means, there is not much consensus. Here, emphasis will be placed on what the Christian Bible states.

There are two main positions adopted within the Christian community: trichotomy and dichotomy. Simply stated, trichotomy is the view that human beings are made up of three parts, body, soul and spirit. Wayne Grudem (1994, p. 472) states that

though this has been a common view in popular evangelical Bible teaching, there are few scholarly defenses of it today. According to many trichotomists, man’s soul includes his intellect, his emotions, and his will. . . Man’s spirit is a higher faculty in man that comes alive when a person becomes a Christian (see Rom. 8:10: “If Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness”). The spirit of a person then would be that part of him or her that most directly worships and prays to God (see John 4:24; Phil. 3:3).

By dichotomy, is meant that a person consist of two parts, body and soul/spirit. The “spirit” and “soul” are not separate entities but are terms that are used interchangeably in Scripture to refer to the immaterial part of a human being that lives in the human body.

2.1.1 Dichotomy

What is the biblical support for dichotomy? The Scriptures sometimes describe a human being as “body and soul” (Matt. 6:25; 10:28). Other times a person is “body and spirit” (Eccl. 12:7; 1 Cor. 5:3, 5). At death, sometimes it is described as the soul departing (Gen. 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21; Acts 15:26).At other times, it is the spirit that is given up (Ps. 31:5; Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59). When it comes to explaining the immaterial element of the dead, it is called both soul and spirit (1 Peter 3:19; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 6:9; 20:4).

Thus, in OT and NT, “soul” and “spirit” are used interchangeably to differentiate the immaterial part of a human being. This leads Berkhof to conclude that “the Bible points to two, and only two, constitutional elements in the nature of man, namely, body and spirit or soul” (1939/1941, p. 194).

2.1.2 Trichotomy

Wait a minute! Could I be jumping to conclusions too quickly? Aren’t there two Bible verses that specifically speak of body, soul and spirit? These are:

a. First Thess. 5:23 [3], “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When we exegete [4] the Scripture we need to be aware of the need to compare Scripture with Scripture and interpret according to the way this teaching is usually represented in Scripture. This is called the analogy of Scripture.

Because soul and spirit are here beside each other, this does not prove that they are two distinct and different substances. Compare a passage such as Matt. 22:37, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'” This does not mean that Jesus regarded the heart, soul and mind as three distinct substances in the human being. Compare Mark 12:30, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Grudem notes,

If we go on the principle that such lists of terms tell us about more parts to man, then if we also add spirit to this list (and perhaps body as well), we would have five or six parts to man! But that is certainly a false conclusion. It is far better to understand Jesus as simply piling up roughly synonymous terms for emphasis to demonstrate that we must love God with all of our being (1994, p. 479).

We also need to note that the very Paul who wrote 1 Thess. 5: 23, also wrote Rom. 8:10, 1 Cor. 5:5; 7:34; 2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 2:3 and Col. 2;5. In these latter six verses, Paul affirms that there are only two different substances in a human being and not three. The analogy of Scripture helps us interpret 1 Thess. 5:23 to support the dichotomous view. In 1 Thess. 5:23, Paul could be simply using synonyms for emphasis to remind us that, whether our immaterial part is called soul or spirit, he wants God to sanctify Christians wholly to the day of Christ.

b. Heb. 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

From this verse, is it possible for it to mean that the sword of Scripture is able to divide soul from spirit? It is best to understand this passage from the analogy of Scripture. The author is not trying to divide soul from spirit, otherwise we would have to separate these elements: soul, spirit, joints, marrow, thoughts and intentions.

Based on our understanding of 1 Thess. 5:23, it is best to understand that human beings are made of inward parts that cannot hide from the penetrating power of the sword of the word of God – Scripture. If we want to call the inward part of human beings heart, soul, spirit, and mind, the word of God is able to penetrate and to divide the thoughts and intentions.

Norman Geisler explains:

Many expositors take this apparent contrast between soul and spirit to be a figure of speech describing the power of the Word of God. It is so powerful that it can, as it were, divide the indivisible. In this sense, rather than being a proof of trichotomy, Hebrews 4:12 actually is evidence for the unity (but not identity) of human nature (2004, p. 64).

F. F. Bruce agrees with A. B. Davidson’s understanding of the words of Heb. 4:12: “piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow” is a “rhetorical accumulation of terms to express the whole mental nature of man on all its sides” (in Bruce 1964, p. 82).

Therefore, R. C. Sproul is justified in concluding that “orthodox theology rejects the trichotomous view of human beings” (1992, p. 134).

2.2 What is meant by the “soul”?

Is a human being a soul or does a human being have a soul? Soul sleep supporters don’t like the idea of a person having a soul because they don’t believe in an immortal soul.

(Traditional grave of Calvin in the Cimetière de Plainpalais in Geneva; the exact location of his grave is unknown. Wikipedia)

John Calvin wrote:

That man consists of a soul and a body ought to be beyond controversy. Now I understand by the term “soul” an immortal yet created essence, which is his nobler part. Sometimes it is called “spirit.” For even when these terms are joined together, they differ from one another in meaning; yet when the word “spirit” is used by itself, it means the same thing as soul; as when Solomon, speaking of death, says that when “the spirit returns to God who gave it” [Eccl. 12:7]. And when Christ commended his spirit to the Father [Luke 23:46] and Stephen his to Christ [Acts 7:59] they meant only that when the soul is freed from the prison house of the body, God is its perpetual guardian. Some imagine the soul to be called “spirit” for the reason that it is breath, or a force divinely infused into bodies, but that it nevertheless is without essence; both the thing itself and all Scripture show them to be stupidly blundering in this opinion (1960, I.15.2, p. 184, emphasis added).

As explained below, Matt. 10:28 clearly differentiates between the physical body (the material part of human beings) and the soul (the immaterial part of human beings).

We also need to note that in the OT there is a meaning of “soul” that means breath, like an animal’s breath. See Gen. 1:21, 24, 30; 2:7; Job 32:8 and 33:4.

2.3 What is meant by “sleep” at death?

(Luther on deathbed, Wikipedia)

The Bible sometimes describes the state of death as “sleep” or “falling asleep” in verses such as Matt. 9:24; 27:52; John 11:11; Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess 4:13; 5:10. Let’s take 3 samples from these verses:

1. Matt. 9:24. The ruler’s daughter had died (see 9:18) and before Jesus raised her from the dead, Jesus said, “‘Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him.”

2. Acts 13:36. “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers . . .”

3. First Corinthians 15:20. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

This sounds like the soul sleep position is signed, sealed and delivered. If believers go to sleep at death, surely there is no need for further discussion! It would be a danger to jump to such a conclusion this early in an examination of the biblical evidence.

There are many words in many languages (including English) that have a number of unrelated meanings. We see this with the language of ‘sleep’. Webster’s dictionary defines it three ways, one of which is: ‘a natural, regularly recurring condition of rest for the body and mind, during which there is little or no conscious thoughts, sensation, or movement’ (Webster 1978:1706). However there are many different meanings to ‘sleep’ when statements such as these are made: (1) My foot went to sleep (meaning that sensation was lost in my foot; (2) I’ll sleep on it, which means that I will think about the issue and try to come up with an answer later; (3) My children’s friends are coming for a sleepover, i.e. the children’s friends will come to sleep at our place for the night and there is likely to be a long night of talking, playing games, and favourite party food; (4) That couple is sleeping together, meaning they are having sex; (5) There are sleeper cells in this country, which is an indication that there are terrorists awaiting their opportunities to strike; (6) I had to put my dog to sleep, meaning that I took the dog to the vet and he euthanised (killed) him/her (many of these ideas suggested by Dr John Roller n d, ‘Soul sleep’, but the article is no longer onlin

New Testament scholar, Dr. N. T. Wright, wrote that “when ancient Jews, pagans and Christians used the word ‘sleep’ to denote death, they were using a metaphor to refer to a concrete state of affairs.We sometimes use the same language the other way round: a heavy sleeper is ‘dead to the world'” (Wright 2003, p. xix).

When my father died and I saw him in his coffin, he looked as though he was asleep. This is how we are to understand the language of sleep associated with death in the Bible. “Sleep” of the body is a metaphor that refers to death.

Remember the story of Jesus and Lazarus in John 11:5-44? Of Lazarus, it was said that he “has fallen asleep” and Jesus was going “to awaken him” (v. 11). Jesus was very clear what he had meant by “sleep.” “Now Jesus had spoken of his death” (v. 13). “Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus has died'” (v. 14). Jesus explains further: “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (v. 26).

So, in this situation we have this kind of language used: Lazarus died and he looked as though he was asleep but the truth was that, because Lazarus believed in Jesus, Lazarus would never die. That sounds paradoxical. He died but he would never die! As we will see, this means that the believer who dies physically and appears to be asleep (a metaphor), does not die because his unseen soul goes immediately into the presence of the Lord, thus meaning that the believer never really dies. At death, the believer’s real being (his/her soul) goes into the presence of the Lord (see 2 Cor. 5:8).

2.4 Add OT verses

Then we add verses from the OT which seem to teach that those who died did not experience a conscience existence. See verses such as Psalm 6:5; 115:17 (note what is stated in Ps. 115:18); Eccl. 9:10; 12:7; Isa. 38:19. The soul sleepers love to quote Eccl. 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”

As an example of what soul sleep promoters do with Eccl. 9:10, see how Ellen White, the SDA prophetess, explained it:

Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death–a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. . . . And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those be plunged who see their friends passing to the grave unprepared, to enter upon an eternity of woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by this harrowing thought.

What say the Scriptures concerning these things? David declares that man is not conscious in death. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Psalm 146:4. Solomon bears the same testimony: “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.” “Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10 (White 1950/1971, pp. 477-478).

What, then, does the Preacher of wisdom of Eccl. 9:10 really teach? He is emphasising what we take for granted. In this life we enjoy certain resources from which we obtain certain results. When a life comes to an end, there is no way that a person can make up for what has not been achieved in this life, i.e. “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave.” In spite of a person’s many gifts, if tasks are left undone, there is no way that they can be picked up and achieved at death.

Jesus spoke something similar in John 9:4, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.”

Therefore Eccl. 9:10 states it clearly: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” According to OT exegete, H C Leupold, it means that

earthly activities cannot be continued after this life, and since this thought is an excellent stimulus to action in times when enterprise may lag, there is no call to press out of the statement thoughts it was not meant to express. There is no attempt here to describe from every angle the nature of man’s existence in Sheol. Consequently to have the verse express doctrines that deny a hereafter is a misreading of Scripture. . .

The Preacher is surely giving sound counsel for evil days (Leupold 1969, p. 218, emphasis added).

The SDA prophetess’s interpretation of Eccl. 9:10 is a classic example of her inability to read a text in context and have it mean what the author of the Book intended. Of course, her followers have followed this false interpretation.

3. What is meant by the doctrine of soul sleep?

(courtesy Wikipedia)

The SDA’s Ellen G. White, wrote:

‘Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death – a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. . . .

The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. . . .

The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 4:14; Job 14:10-12′ (White 1950/1971, pp. 477-478, 481-482).

Ellen White calls on the Christian martyr, William Tyndale, to support her doctrine of soul sleep, with this statement:

I confess openly, that I am not persuaded that they be already in the full glory that Christ is in, or the elect angels of God are in. Neither is it any article of my faith; for if it were so, I see not but then the preaching of the resurrection of the flesh were a thing in vain (William Tyndale 1534, Preface to New Testament, cited in White 1950/1971, p. 479)

At one SDA website it provided this definition of soul sleep: SDAs

believe that death is a sleep during which the “dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5), which is to say that nothing of a person survives death, that the dead simply cease to exist until they are resurrected, either at the second coming of Jesus (in the case of the righteous) or after the millennium of Rev.20 (in the case of the wicked) [NationMaster 2003-2005].

Robert Morey, an opponent of soul sleep, explains the meaning of the doctrine of soul sleep:

When man [meaning men and women] dies, he does not go to heaven or hell, but passes into a state of unconsciousness called “sleep.” Since the first death is a state of unconsciousness, then the second death will be eternal unconsciousness (1984, p. 105).

4. Who are the primary teachers of this false doctrine?

4.1 Seventh-Day Adventists

Ellen White calls upon Reformer, Martin Luther for support of soul sleep. She uses this quote from Luther:

Another place proving that the dead have no . . . feeling. There is, saith he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute (in White 1950/1971, p. 481). [6]

Elsewhere, it is recorded that the SDAs teach:

We, as Adventists, have reached the definite conclusion that man rests in the tomb until the resurrection morning. Then, at the first resurrection (Rev. 20:4, 5), the resurrection of the just (Acts 24:15), the righteous come forth immortalized, at the call of Christ the Life-giver. And they then enter into life everlasting, in their eternal home in the kingdom of glory. Such is our understanding (At Issue 1957, p. 520).

4.2 The Jehovah’s Witnesses

From their writings we learn:

The dead cannot do anything and cannot feel anything. They no longer have any thoughts, as the Bible states: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” (Psalm 146:3, 4). . . . According to the Bible, the dead enter a state of complete unconsciousness. . .

There is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20). . . .

God did not create man with a soul. Man is a soul. So, as we would expect, when man dies, his soul dies. Over and over again the Bible says that this is true. Never does the Bible say the soul is deathless or that it cannot die (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth 1982/1989, pp. 77-78).

In the JW insider book used as a ready reference for door-knocking, Reasoning from the Scriptures (1985), it asks, “What is the condition of the dead?” and gives these verses from the New World Translation: Eccl. 9:5; John 11:11-14 (p. 100). These are to emphasise that the dead are conscious of nothing and Lazarus had died and was asleep.

To answer the question, “Are the dead in any way able to help or to harm the living?”, two verses were provided, Eccl. 9:6 and Isa. 26:14, to show that the dead are impotent and “will not rise up” (p. 100).

“Are the dead able to experience joy because of confidence in the prospect of salvation?” The answer from this publication was to refer to Eccl. 9:5 and Isa. 38:18 in the Jerusalem Bible to demonstrate that “the dead know nothing” and that those who go down to the pit of death do not continue trusting in God’s faithfulness. The publication asks, “So how can any of them ‘experience great joy over the certainty of salvation’?” (p. 300).

Elsewhere the JWs state:

The dead are shown to be ‘conscious of nothing at all’ and the death state to be one of complete inactivity. (Eccl. 9:5, 10; Ps. 146:4). In both the Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures death is likened to sleep, a fitting comparison, not only due to the unconscious condition of the dead, but also because of the hope of an awakening through the resurrection (“Condition of Human Dead” in Aid to Bible Understanding, p. 431, cited in MacGregor n.d.).

Thus the JW view of life after death is that the dead enter a place of unconsciousness or sleep.

5. Which biblical material is used to support the soul sleep view?

Image result for tomb stone public domain

(image by polyvore.com)

Ellen G. White provided these biblical examples as support for soul sleep: Job14:10-12, 21; Psalm 6:5; 115:17; 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10; Isaiah 38:18-19; John 14:2-3; Acts 2:29, 34; 17:31; 1 Corinthians 15:16-18, 52-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 16-18; Jude 6, 14-15; and Revelation 20:12 (White 1950/1971, pp. 477-482.).

For the soul sleep condition of man at death, the SDAs claim that it is supported by the following Scriptures (At Issue 1957, Q. 41).

Psalm 6:5:”In death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?”

Psalm 30:9: “What profit is there … when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?”

Psalm 88:10: ””Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee?”

Psalm 115:17: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.”

Psalm 146:4: “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”

Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6: “The dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”

Isaiah 38:18, 19: “The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living . . . shall praise thee.”

1 Corinthians 15:17, 18: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. . . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

6. How do we respond to these Bible verses?

Please notice that of these eight passages promoted by an SDA organisation, only one is from the NT. Why is this significant? There is a certain vagueness in the OT about life after death because of the nature of progressive revelation (see below).

a. Psalm 6:5: “In death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” The ESV translates, the second clause, “In Sheol who will give you praise?”

This kind of verse sounds like support for soul sleep and could puzzle those who understand that there is conscious life after death. H. C. Leupold reminds us of the truth

that Old Testament saints did not have that clear revelation of the life after death that the New Testament saints have been granted. They are, however, not left utterly in the dark on the subject. They had some knowledge of a good hereafter ever since Enoch’s departure which is recorded in such a significant way in the first book of the Bible (Gen. 5:24). Sometimes the Old Testament Scriptures indicate no more of this existence than that departed spirits enjoyed a great measure of rest in the realm of the hereafter (1959, p. 86).

Leupold gives further examples of this lack of “clear revelation of the life after death” in passages such as Ps. 88:10; 15:17; Isa. 38:18 (1959, p. 89). However we have this brief understanding of life after death in the OT, through the assurance given to Enoch, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). In such an early revelation of God’s view on the afterlife, the Scripture does not say that “God took him so that he would sleep until the resurrection in a state of unconsciousness.” It is straight forward, “God took him” Enoch who walked with God.

Even though there is little revealed in Ps. 6:5 about life after death, except that there is “no remembrance of God,” there is need for us to remember that for these OT saints, even though the body had died, the person was still awaiting the resurrection from the dead and the full salvation revealed in the NT. “Somehow men of old may have dimly felt some of this truth” (Leupold 1959, p. 87).

The psalmist loved to praise God on earth, so he was expecting to praise God after death.

We also need to remember that there are clearer passages in the OT about life after death. See Ps. 16:8-11 and Isa. 26:19. Ps. 16:10 is particularly relevant, “For you shall not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”

b. Psalm 30:9: “What profit is there [in my death], when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?”

Could these be questions David asked the Lord? If David went to the pit (the grave), what opportunity would there be for him to praise the Lord? Yes, the body would become dust and it could not praise God. With progressive revelation, “the truth concerning the resurrection of the body was not yet fully revealed or grasped, and the glorious life in the hereafter was not sufficiently understood” (Leupold 1959, p. 255).

c. Psalm 88:10: “Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee?”

As indicated above, this is another verse that expresses some vagueness of what happens to those who die, but the NT makes it clearer. Here is “but a dim knowledge of the hereafter and consequently little faith in it. Thus, for example, whatever God might do for him after he is dead and gone, even though it is a wonder, he could not appreciate [it]” (Leupold 1959, p. 630).

d. Psalm 115:17: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.”

Judging on other passages in the OT that indicate life after death, although vague (eg. Gen. 5:24), this verse must be making the obvious statement that the dead (corpses) are in “silence” and they cannot praise the Lord. However, what will the psalmist and other believers do? “But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (Ps. 115:18). So, even through death, the psalmist will bless the Lord because he will bless the Lord, not only until death and then resume at the resurrection, but he will do it from now and until “forevermore.” Blessing the Lord for the psalmist went on forever, starting now. Therefore, v. 18 helps to explain v. 17. Even though there is “silence” in the grave (for the body), the psalmist will never ever give up blessing God.

e. Psalm 146:4: “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”

The ESV translates it: “When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.” This is self-explanatory and it does not support a soul sleep doctrine. No matter what a person’s thoughts were up to the day of his death (“breath departs”), at death those thoughts perish. They are ended.

f. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6: “The dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”

It is interesting that this SDA quoted text does not start at the beginning of v. 5. This gives us only the second half of v. 5. The full v. 5 states: “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” (KJV).

Vv. 3, 6 give the context. This is a view from life “under the sun.” It’s a very human perspective.

Those who are living, know that they will die and so are able to arrange things (hopefully) before they die. That is not so for those who have died. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes is not giving a statement on what happens to all human beings at death. He is giving a perspective from “under the sun” (from how he sees it while in this world).

From the perspective of life “under the sun,”

The dead don’t know anything now;
They have no chance for more reward;
The love, hatred and envy they had when living “under the sun” have gone they are perished;
And the obvious: the dead can no longer be engaged (i.e. they cannot have a portion) with anything on the earth.

(image courtesy Wikipedia)

To push these two verses to make them negate life after death, is not satisfactory, particularly in light of Eccl. 12:7, “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit [Hebrew, ruach; pneuma in Greek LXX] returns to God who gave it.” God’s Word Translation reads, “Then the dust of mortals goes back to the ground as it was before, and the breath of life goes back to God who gave it.” The CEV translates as, “and the life-giving breath returns to God,” but gives a footnote for breath as, “or, spirit.” Is it “spirit” or “breath” that returns to God at death? The NRSV translates, “and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath^* returns to God who gave it.” The Roman Catholic New American Bible translates it, “The dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it.” These are the only major Bible translations that I have located that translate “breath” instead of “spirit.” Even the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (1961/1981/1984) translates it as, “Then the dust returns to the earth and the spirit itself returns to the [true] God who gave it.”

Hebrew scholar, F. Delitzsch, comments on Eccl. 12:7, “The body returns to the dust from which it was taken, Gen. iii. 19, to the dust of its original material, Ps. civ. 29; and the spirit goes back to the God of its origin, to whom it belongs” (n.d., p. 425). It is true that “ruach” can mean either “breath” (Job 41:21) or “spirit” (Eccl. 12:7), thus making the context the decider. Because the context is talking about death, “spirit” seems the more logical translation, as is confirmed by all of the major Bible translations.

The God of truth cannot speak with a contradictory message such as that promoted by soul sleep proponents that the dead know nothing (Eccl. 9:5) and they are in the presence of the God of all knowledge (Eccl. 12:7).

How do we reconcile Eccl. 3:19 and Eccl. 12:7. Eccl. 3:19 states: “For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.” We need to remember that this book is a description of life from the human perspective of “under the sun.”

It is true that human beings are similar to animals in that both have breath and both die. Neither animals nor people can determine when that last breath will leave the body. So, from a human perspective, there is a close resemblance of what happens at death to animals and people. The physical phenomena look identical. We need to understand that the context from Eccl. 3:18 is, “I said in my heart with regard to the children of man.” This human perspective is an inference from what is observed in viewing what happens to human beings and animals at death. It is only the language of this world that at death, what happens to animals and people looks the same – their breath leaves them.

However, it would be an error to explain Eccl. 3:19 without the knowledge of Eccl. 12:7.

Therefore, the explanation given here makes sense in context and agrees with the rest of Scripture that Eccl. 12:7 refers to the human spirit which returns to God at death. Of course, physically, the breath leaves the body.

g. Isaiah 38:18, 19: “The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living . . . shall praise thee.”

Here, the hope of what happens after death is not as complete as in the NT. For this OT person of faith (Hezekiah, Isa: 38:9), “hope burned but dimly as far as afterlife was concerned. As things appeared to the men of that time, praise of God came to an end when life ended.” Particularly v. 18 parallels the kind of message in Ps. 6:5; 30:9; 88:11 and 115:17. “For reasons unknown to us, men’s eyes were holden that they could not see the full measure of hope that is ours” (Leupold 1968/1971, p. 589).

However, v. 19 affirms that the living praise God.

In Isa. 38:18, Hezekiah’s psalm needs to be interpreted with the analogy of Scripture. Verses such as Gen. 5:24; Ps. 115:18 and Eccl. 12:7 confirm that there is life after death – immediately after death as “the spirit returns to God,” God takes people at death (as with Enoch), and we will “bless the Lord forever.” Yes, there are shadows in the OT, but as we will see below, the teaching of life after death becomes much brighter with the progressive revelation of the NT.

h. Daniel 12:2 states: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (ESV).

This surely sounds like soul sleep is signed, sealed and delivered – those sleeping in the dust of the earth at death will awake (presumably on resurrection day) to “everlasting life” or “everlasting contempt.” Let’s examine this verse more closely.

Dan. 12:2 is a basic statement that those who died physically and “sleep in the dust” will awake (be resurrected) to “everlasting life” (the first time this phrase appears in the OT) and others “to shame and everlasting contempt.” We are not told when this will happen. We should have no problem with the language of sleeping in the dust as this article has clearly shown that the Bible’s teaching is that this is what happens to the physical body at death, referring back to Gen. 3:19.

Why only “many”? The NIV translates as “multitudes.” The Hebrew, rabbim, often means “all.” The Hebrew word, kol, means “totality” or the “sum.” In the Hebrew, there is no word for the plural, “all.” E. J. Young explains:

The Scripture at this point is not speaking of a general resurrection, but rather is setting forth the thought that the salvation which is to occur at this time will not be limited to those who are alive but will extend also to those who had lost their lives. We may paraphrase: “At the time of this persecution many shall fall, but thy people, who are written in the book, shall be delivered. Likewise, from the numbers of those who are asleep in the grave many (i.e., those who died during the tribulation) shall arise. Of these, some shall arise to life and some to reproach.” The words, of course, do not exclude the general resurrection, but rather imply it. [The] emphasis, however, is upon the resurrection of those who died during the period of great distress (1949/1972, p. 256).

This verse distinctly refers to the physical death and disintegration of the body into dust, often called “sleep” in OT and NT. It also teaches on the resurrection of the body but it does not refer to what happens in the intermediate state between death and bodily resurrection. The verse in no way supports a soul sleep doctrine.

i. First Corinthians 15:17, 18: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. . . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”

Of 1 Cor. 15:16-18, Ellen White wrote: “If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly to heaven at death, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, ‘they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished’? No resurrection would be necessary” (1950/1971, p. 479).

The clause of v. 18 is a continuation of v. 17. There is no future for believers if there is not a resurrection of Christ. The dead have “perished” means something similar to that explained in Matt. 10:28 (above) with “ruin, destroy.” Since the Corinthians were practising the inappropriate baptism for the dead (1 Cor. 15:29), they obviously did not believe that those who died were obliterated. However, if there is no resurrection of Christ, there is no provision for the forgiveness of sins. “You are still in your sins” as v. 17 states (but deleted by this SDA document published by At Issue, 1957) . The full v. 17 states: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (ESV).

Ellen White’s false doctrine is that if a person goes directly to heaven at death, no resurrection is necessary. The biblical facts are that at death, believers go directly into the presence of the Lord (“at home with the Lord”, 2 Cor. 5:8) but at Christ’s second coming, there will be a resurrection of the bodies of believers when the soul will unite with the physical body and then the end will come (1 Cor. 15:23-24; also 1 Thess. 4:16).

j. Did OT saints go immediately into the presence of God at death?

From reading some of the OT expositions in this section, one could be tempted to say that this did not happen (in agreement with the SDAs and JWs). We know that God took Enoch (Gen. 5:24), but what did God do to Elijah? He did not sleep in the grave; he “went up by a whirlwind.” To where did he go? “Into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). There’s no teaching on soul sleep here.

In the beloved Psalm 23, David states that he “shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (v. 6). See also Ps. 16:10-11; 17:15.

We get light on OT saints from the NT. When Jesus was responding to the Sadducees, he said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” and he emphasises that “he is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. 22:32). Thus, at that time in the first century AD, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were alive, even though they had died thousands of years previously.

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, because this was prior to Christ’s death and resurrection, this situation was similar to that of the OT saints (Luke 16:19ff). Lazarus at death was at Abraham’s side (Luke 16:23). The rich man called to Abraham, not the dead Abraham but one who was alive, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me” (v. 24).

Therefore, we are justified in accepting Wayne Grudem’s conclusion: “Therefore it seems likely that Old Testament believers also entered immediately into heaven and enjoyed a time of fellowship with God upon their death” (1994, p. 822

7. Bible verses that refute the soul sleep doctrine

There is a sound alternate explanation of the verses allegedly given in support of soul sleep, as indicated in no. 5 above.

Note Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” It obviously indicates immortality if it cannot be killed, even though the exact words, “immortal soul,” are not mentioned. A soul that cannot die by being killed lives on and on forever. Just as the word, “trinity,” is not used in the Bible, the doctrine of the Trinity is clearly taught.

Jesus’ words are that we are not to “fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” but that we should “fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In this verse, “soul” must refer to that part of a human being that exists after death. There is no other way around this verse. It cannot equate “soul” with “person” or “life.” It would be ridiculous to make it mean “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the life,” or “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the person.”

This verse has no meaning unless there is some aspect of human beings that lives on after the body is dead. When Jesus speaks of the soul and body he is obviously speaking of the entire person. The word “soul” represents the entire non-physical part of a human being.

Now to the second part of the verse: “fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).” What does “destroy” mean? It is the Greek apolesai (aorist, active, infinitive of apollumi). Apollumi in the active voice means “ruin, destroy” (Arndt & Gingrich lexicon).

If I backed my car over one of my child’s favourite toys, I may have ruined or destroyed it. The crumpled toy was still there to be ruined. This does not mean that I annihilated it. I did not obliterate it from existence. It was still present but of no further use as a toy. This is similarly what the Greek means by “apollumi.” The body and soul in Gehenna have been ruined. We know from other places in the NT that this experience of the soul of unbelievers in hell is called, “everlasting punishment” (Matt. 25:46) punishing that goes on forever. Everlasting punishment does not equate with annihilation.

Does the soul continue to interact between physical death and the resurrection? These verses teach that:

(1) Unbelievers:

In hell are conscious and in torment (Luke 16:23);

Are “under punishment [after death] until the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9);

(2) Believers:

Are immediately in Paradise at death (Luke 23:43);
Long for a heavenly dwelling (2 Cor. 5:2);
Are away from the body [at death] and are at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8);
Deaths are gain (Phil. 1:21) and they depart at death to “be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23);
Who are martyred souls “cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord . . .” (Rev. 6:9-11).

They were conscious after death so that they could speak to the Lord.

Believers will be like Christ after their physical death (see passages such as Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2). They will be with Him (eg John 14:3; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; Col. 3:4; 1 Thess. 3:18; 4:17, etc.). They will share Christ’s glory (Rom. 8:18, 30; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:17, etc.); they will share Christ’s reign (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2:26-27; etc.). As children of God, in that intermediate state, we will enjoy perfect fellowship with Christ (see Rev. 21:3,7). We will be worshipping Him (Rev. 7:15; 22:3) and be before His face (Matt. 5:8; 1 Cor. 13:12, etc.) [Spencer 2005, pp. 438-441].

Dr. Morey (2006) provides these verses as “the primary NT texts that refute soul sleep”: Matt. 22:23-33; Lk. 16:19-31; Lk. 23:43; Acts 7:59; 2 Cor. 5:1-10; Phil 1:21-25; Heb. 12:18-24.

(Traditional grave of Calvin in the Cimetière de Plainpalais in Geneva; the exact location of his grave is unknown. Wikipedia)

Of I Thessalonians 4:13, John Calvin wrote:

He [the writer of I Thessalonians] speaks of the dead as asleep, agreeably to the common practice of Scripture — a term by which the bitterness of death is mitigated, for there is a great difference between sleep and destruction. [7] It refers, however, not to the soul, but to the body, for the dead body lies in the tomb, as in a couch, until God raise up the man. Those, therefore, act a foolish part, who infer from this that souls sleep (n.d.).

Chris responded to the SDA challenge of promotion of soul sleep on the Christian Fellowship Forum (2007b, Irschrs to Harold, #12): [8]

Sleep is a polite way to say dead, it is a metaphor or word picture. Even then it does not mean ‘cease to exist’ as when you sleep tonight you do not cease to exist, or even be aware in some ways, but simply change the level of your awareness and do not interact using the senses.

In the bible the primary image of death has to do with communion, death is separation, so being dead in sins means not being in right [communion] [9] with God because of sin. The idea of its meaning being ‘non-being’ is a Hellenistic and modernist one based on a non-creational view of human nature. The Hebrews did not think in abstract Greek categories like ‘being’; but in concrete actualities like ‘Lordship’, ‘fellowship’ and ‘justice.’

Daniel 12:1 says nothing on this topic, it merely says there will be a future deliverance and that God watches over His people to assure this will be the case. Eccl. 12:1-7 does speak of this, but says the soul returns to God who gave it in creation, and so it must retain being to return.

John 5:28-29. This contradicts your view as it says all in the grave [their bodies] hear His voice and are after that raised with new bodies. I should have added this one to the texts that say specifically the soul exists between physical death and the resurrection. Then add 1 Thessalonians 4:14 where Jesus brings with Him from heaven those Christians who have died.

Acts 2: 29 & 34. Verse 34 says David did not ascend to heaven, true, to ascend here means not go there but take the place of rule there. This only Jesus does. [‘ascend to the throne’ is even common enough today]. His body’s remains are in the tomb, and all will be until that day; from that it does not follow he has no form of existence, only his body is not living now. [2:34-36 shows us this is what Peter is speaking of here].

I . . . wanted to add Matthew 22: 32, Mark 12:26 , Luke 20:37-38, where Jesus said that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are ‘the living’, using a present tense verb of ongoing existence. [that is, not those who had lived, but are now living]. It is in fact precisely because all are alive that all can receive resurrection bodies on the day; to create them again would mean THEY had not been raised at all.

According to Matt. 17:3-4, Moses and Elijah were speaking with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. They were very much alive, even though they had died a long time ago.

Based on 1 Thess. 4:13-18, those who are asleep with Jesus (v. 13) are also in heaven because God brings them with Him when he returns (v. 14). Sleep is therefore a metaphor for what happens to the body.

The thief who repented on the cross beside Jesus was with him “today” in Paradise, based on Luke 23:43. There is no soul sleep here, no matter how much the soul-sleepers want to move the comma around in this verse. Here are examples of a few translations of this verse:

KJV: And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
NIV: Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
ESV: And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
NASB: And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
NLT: And Jesus replied, I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.
NRSV: He replied, ˜Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
NET Bible: And Jesus said to him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.

However, the Jehovah’s Witnesses New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, contrary to the above committee translations, reads: “And he said to him: ‘Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.'” This placing of the comma is meant to deflect the fact that the thief at death would immediately go to Paradise with Jesus.

Please note that there were no punctuation marks in the Greek language. So, there are no commas in the Greek language. Where the comma is located in relation to “today” is interpretive. The analogy of Scripture supports “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8), so the thief on the cross, at death, was with Jesus in Paradise on that very day.

It is a nonsensical kind of statement to make it read that “I am saying this to you today.” That’s obvious and there is no need to emphasise that on that very day Jesus was saying it. He meant to indicate to the dying thief that that very day he would be in Paradise with Jesus.

We know that Paradise and heaven are synonymous terms because 2 Cor. 12:2-3 tell us that “a man” (Paul) “was caught up to the third heaven” (v. 2) and that this man was “caught up into paradise” (v. 3).

8. Is soul sleep orthodox, biblical teaching?

Grudem gives these main points to answer the question, “What happens when people die?” (1994, pp. 816-824).

(1) The souls of believers go immediately into God’s presence:

a.The Bible does not teach the doctrine of purgatory;

b.The Bible does not teach the doctrine of “soul sleep”;

c.Did Old Testament believers enter immediately into God’s presence? [Yes they did!]

d.Should we pray for the dead? [No!]

(2) The souls of unbelievers go immediately to eternal punishment.

8.1 What has been the teaching of orthodoxy throughout church history?

Writing his Ecclesiastical History in the fourth-century, Eusebius of Caesarea, Palestine (ca. AD 265-339) [Cairns 1954/1981, p. 143] wrote of the third century,

About the same time (as when Origen was 60-years-old) others arose in Arabia, putting forward a doctrine foreign to the truth. They said that during the present time the human soul dies and perishes with the body, but that at the time of the resurrection they will be renewed together. And at that time also a synod of considerable size assembled, and Origen, being again invited thither, spoke publicly on the question with such effect that the opinions of those who had formerly fallen were changed (Eusebius 2007, 6.37).

Ellen White calls on the Christian martyr, William Tyndale, to support her doctrine of soul sleep, with this statement:

I confess openly, that I am not persuaded that they be already in the full glory that Christ is in, or the elect angels of God are in. Neither is it any article of my faith; for if it were so, I see not but then the preaching of the resurrection of the flesh were a thing in vain (William Tyndale 1534, Preface to New Testament, cited in White 1950/1971, p. 479)

Morey notes that “during the pre-Reformation period, there seems to be some indication that both Wycliffe and Tyndale taught the doctrine of soul sleep as the answer to the Catholic teachings of purgatory and masses for the dead” (1984, p. 200).

Also, White claims Martin Luther for a soul sleep ally when Luther stated:

Another place proving that the dead have no . . . feeling. There is, said he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute (Luther’s exposition on Ecclesiastes, cited in White 1950/1971, p. 481).

However, later in life Luther, in his commentary on Genesis, showed a change of view: “When after this poor life, we shall join the choirs of the angels, we shall worship God in perfect holiness” and “in the interim [between death and resurrection], the soul does not sleep but is awake and enjoys the vision of angels and of God, and has converse with him.” In Luther’s comments on Gen. 35:18, he stated that when Rachel died, she “was received into the glory of heaven” (cited in Morey 1984, p. 201).

8.2 What are the dangers of this doctrine?

1. In life vs. death teachings, it is critical that the church teaches the truth. Soul sleep promotes a false understanding of what happens at death. False theology is always a danger to the church that practices biblical faith. Soul sleep is a doctrine of dishonesty when we consider the whole counsel of God (all of Scripture).

2. What happens after a person’s last breath is important for all people to understand, and soul sleep promotes a view that is contrary to that of the entire Christian Scriptures understood through progressive revelation. Few unbelievers that I know ask questions about life after death during their lifetime, although some are more sensitive as death approaches. It is incumbent upon Christians to promote the truth about the intermediate state between physical death and one’s ultimate destiny.

3. Soul sleep, typical of SDA teaching, majors on the Old Testament and does not understand the vagueness of the OT’s statements about life after death. We need to understand progressive revelation from OT to NT. Bob Deffinbaugh (n.d.) explains that

the principle of progressive revelation is simply this: God has chosen to reveal His truths to mankind sequentially. Thus, the great doctrines of the faith are generally introduced early in the Old Testament, later developed more fully by the prophets, and then by our Lord Jesus in His earthly ministry, and finally seen in their fullest form in the New Testament, in the light of the interpretation and teaching of the apostles.

We need to understand what Christ’s death, burial and resurrection meant for those who place their trust in Christ alone for salvation. The progressive revelation from OT to NT needs to be noted. Bernard Ramm explains:

By progressive revelation we mean that the Bible sets forth a movement of God, with the initiative coming from God and not man, in which God brings man up through the theological infancy of the Old Testament to the maturity of the New Testament. Progressive revelation is the general pattern of revelation (1970, p. 102).

Ramm provides biblical examples from Matt. 5:17-20, the Epistle to the Galatians, and Heb. 1:1-2 and explains (1970, pp. 102-103) the importance of this perspective for interpretation of the Bible. The interpreter

will expect the full revelation of God in the New Testament. He will not force New Testament meanings into the Old, yet he will be able to more fully expound the Old knowing its counterparts in the New. . .

Progressive revelation in no manner qualifies the doctrine of inspiration, and it in no way implies that the Old Testament is less inspired. It states simply that the fullness of revelation is in the New Testament (1970, pp. 103-104).

Another orthodox theologian, J. Barton Payne, explained:

Since God’s redemptive acts were progressive, preparing the way for Christ who should come in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4), the accompanying truths that were revealed show in most cases a progressive development. That is, God graciously unfolded both His redemption and His revelation in ways corresponding to man’s capacities to receive them (cf. Acts 17:30) [Payne 1962, p. 18].

4. As a general rule, the teaching of soul sleep violates the teaching of the orthodox church of the first few centuries as indicated by the statement from early church historian, Eusebius of Caesarea (see above) that Origen and others refuted a doctrine that was being promoted in the third century, of the human soul dying and perishing with the body and being renewed at the resurrection.

Let Us Reason Ministries (n.d.) has provided some examples of other early church leaders and their views of what happened at death:

Justin Martyr 150 AD “We have been taught that only they may aim at immortality who have lived a holy and virtuous life near to God. We believe that they who live wickedly and do not repent will be punished in everlasting fire” (First Apology, 21).

Second Clement 150 AD “If we do the will of Christ, we shall obtain rest; but if not, if we neglect his commandments, nothing will rescue us from eternal punishment” (Second Clement 5:5).

Athenagoras 177 AD “[W]e [Christians] are persuaded that when we are removed from this present life we shall live another life, better than the present one … Then we shall abide near God and with God, changeless and free from suffering in the soul … or if we fall with the rest [of mankind], a worse one and in fire; for God has not made us as sheep or beasts of burden, a mere incidental work, that we should perish and be annihilated” (Plea for the Christians 31).

Hippolytus 212 AD “Standing before [Christ’s] judgment, all of them, men, angels, and demons, crying out in one voice, shall say: ‘Just if your judgment!’ And the righteousness of that cry will be apparent in the recompense made to each. To those who have done well, everlasting enjoyment shall be given; while to the lovers of evil shall be given eternal punishment. The unquenchable and unending fire awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which does not die and which does not waste the body but continually bursts forth from the body with unceasing pain. No sleep will give them rest; no night will soothe them; no death will deliver them from punishment; no appeal of interceding friends will profit them” (Against the Greeks 3).

To the martyr’s that died they had immediate glory in God’s presence in heaven. To teach otherwise is to go against the whole body of scripture and almost 1500 years of the Church (until of course the reformation where purgatory was ratified). Did they all die with a false teaching of being in heaven?

In the catacombs of Rome are found inscriptions on tombs such as “In Christ, Alexander is not dead, but lives-his body rests in the tomb. Gone to dwell with Christ. One who is lives with God. I cannot find any instance of soul sleep among the writers (both good or bad) in the first three centuries of the Church.

5. Too often, the church is “asleep in the light” (the title of Keith Green’s song) [10]. I cannot recall when I heard the last sermon or portion of a sermon in the evangelical churches I have attended in the last 10 years, to refute soul sleep. Teaching on the nature of the intermediate state is in short supply.

9. A call to the evangelical church

9.1 Teach the biblical doctrine of the intermediate state with enthusiasm.

At death, the souls of unbelievers go to eternal punishment (Matt. 25:31-46; Rom. 2:5-10). It is conscious punishment. We cannot teach annihilation for unbelievers at death and be faithful to the Scriptures (see Rev. 14:11; 20:10)..

The righteous go immediately into the presence of the Lord and enjoy eternal life (Matt. 25:46; 2 Cor. 5:8).

This is the situation for unbelievers and believers at death. However, there is more to come. For unbelievers their bodies will not be raised until Judgment Day when their bodies will be united with their souls and they will face God before the final judgment in the body (see Matt. 25:31-46; John 5:P28-29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:12, 15).

We must teach what happens in the intermediate state (between physical death and the final resurrection) with enthusiasm. If we do not teach our people orthodox doctrine, they will be sitting ducks for the false teaching of the SDAs and the JWs. William Hendriksen observed: “Ever so many people, who claim to believe in the Bible, are not at all sure that the souls of all believers who have died have gone to heaven” (1959, p. 49, emphasis in original).

9.2 Engage in the ministry of polemics– refutation of false doctrine.

Dr. J. K. Van Baalen, in his book, The Chaos of the Cults (1960, p. 420), argued that “the cults are the unpaid bills of the church” (in Mohler 2005). Cult expert and evangelical defender of the Christian faith, the late Walter Martin, wrote:

The rise of the cults is directly proportional to the fluctuating emphasis which the church has placed on the teachings of biblical doctrine to Christian laymen. To be sure, few pastors, teachers, and evangelists defend adequately their beliefs, but most of them “and most of the average Christian laymen“- are hard put to confront and refute a well-trained cultist of almost any variety (in Zukeran 2007).

9.3 Some online resources

There is an active ministry online by ex-Seventh day Adventists. See these two articles:

The state of the dead (supports trichotomy);
Testimonies of former SDAs.

You may benefit from these articles:

Refutation of soul sleep;
Scriptures that clearly teach there is no soul sleep;
The consciousness of the soul after death;
Where does the soul go after death? (Paradise or Soul Sleep)?
Soul sleep;
The error of soul sleep (also supports trichotomy).

10. Conclusion

(Deathbed of Constantine VII, Roman Emperor, wikimedia commons)

The consistent teaching of Scripture is that soul sleep or conditional immortality contradicts both OT and NT teaching. The OT teaching, because of progressive revelation, is not as clear as the NT.

However, at death, the believer goes immediately into the presence of the Lord and the soul will be united with the body at Christ’s second coming.

For unbelievers, they go immediately into eternal punishment, but final judgment will be at the resurrection of the unjust when the body and soul will be reunited.

There is an intermediate state of conscious existence after death for both believers and unbelievers until the general resurrection of the dead when the body and soul will be reunited at Christ’s return.

This is orthodox Christian teaching.

As a person in my 70s, I know that I am approaching the time when I will meet the Lord either through death or in the air (1 Thess. 4:13-18). I cannot imagine what it will be like to pass from this life on earth to be immediately in the presence of my Lord and Saviour. I am waiting with bated breath for the experience.

My godly parents have preceded me in entering the Lord’s presence. I am so much looking forward to my heavenly abode at death and know that I will not sleep in any grave but will be immediately ushered into the Lord’s presence. I will meet the One whom I have served (not always as wholeheartedly as I should have) for the last 46 years.

I praise the Lord for this wonderful promise of being “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). This is what I believe and to which I look forward:

When I in righteousness at last

Thy glorious face shall see,

When all the weary night is past,

and I awake with thee

To view the glories that abide,

Then, then I shall be satisfied

(in Hendriksen 1959, p. 56).

11. Notes

[1] I am a retired Australian family and individual counsellor & counselling manager, independent researcher with a PhD in New Testament, an active Christian apologist, and live in Brisbane Qld., Australia.

[2] You can find more of Harold’s and my (OzSpen’s) interaction at: Christian Fellowship Forum 2007c, #37; Christian Fellowship Forum 2007c, #41. Unfortunately this forum no longer is online.

[3] Unless otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV).

[4] “Exegesis is the process of interpreting a text of Scripture. Consequently when one studies principles of interpretation that is ‘hermeneutics,’ but when one applies those principles and begins actually explaining a biblical text, he or she is doing ‘exegesis'” (Grudem 1994, p. 109).

[5] The quote is from William Tyndale 1534, “Preface to New Testament”, reprinted in British Reformers ”Tindal, Frith, Barnes, p. 349,

[6] The quote is from Martin Luther, Exposition of Solomon’s Booke Called Ecclesiastes, p. 152 (the edition and publisher are not mentioned in White 1950/1971, p. 481).

[7] Calvin wrote: “Entre dormir, et estre du tout reduit a neant”, which means,”Between sleeping, and being altogether reduced to nothing” (footnote 574 at this point in his commentary).

[8] I am indebted to Chris (Irschrs), Christian Fellowship Forum (2007b), for some of the ideas for the start of this refutation. I have taken the liberty to correct some of Chris’s typographical and spelling errors in his post to the Forum.

[9] He wrote, “community,” but context seems to indicated he means, “communion.”

[10] Full lyrics are available from: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Asleep-In-The-Light-lyrics-Keith-Green/85C103B9D6962B2F48256AA2002CC7E5 [1 October 2007].

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