Category Archives: Theology

Life after Death: Current Controversies

(image courtesy ChristArt)

By Spencer D Gear

There is an increasingly active presence on the Internet of those who oppose the orthodox doctrine of the intermediate state. What happens at death for believers and unbelievers? If these writers are on the www, they are possibly active in your community and may turn up in your evangelical or charismatic congregation. We need to be aware of their errant teachings so that we can refute them.

My wife and I visited a local church in Australia in 2007 to hear an international speaker. He made this statement, “Unbelievers die but believers go to sleep.” There was no further explanation. When he made a raw statement such as that, he was not being inaccurate (see I Cor. 15:18) but he left himself wide open to the accusation that he believes in soul sleep.

If “believers go to sleep” at death, what does that mean? Where do they go and what is their intermediate state? If he is against the false doctrine of soul sleep, he should not make statements like that, without further explanation and a refutation of the soul sleep false doctrine

What are the issues at stake? There are three making a strong presence on the www:

a. Opposition to immortality of the soul,

b. Promotion of soul sleep, and

c. There is no hell, but annihilation of unbelievers at death.

To give an example of how these are presenting themselves on the www, I will illustrate with a conversation that I had with Harold, a Seventh-Day Adventist.

I have been debating with him on the “Christian Fellowship Forum.” I had written on this Forum that these SDAs were “promoting false doctrine, based on the Bible.” By that I meant that in their understanding of the Bible, they were presenting false teaching. An SDA member responded:

What ‘false’ doctrine’ do we promote, based on the Bible? I didn’t
know that there could be any such thing. All of our doctrines are
based on the Bible. I am sorry to say that this is more than you
can say about all of your doctrines. I’ll name two.
The immortality of the soul
The sacredness of Sunday.
Try as you might, you can not find any support for either of those
in any Bible.[1]

I replied: [2]

To understand the meaning of “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” [Ezek. 18:4, 20], we need to understand what happens at death. Ecclesiastes 12:7 explains that beautifully [“and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God”]. . . You are wanting this to mean that the human breath returns to God who gave it.

You don’t want to get a handle on what the Bible is teaching very clearly about what happens to a believer’s soul/spirit that survives death (Luke 12:4; Eccl. 12:7)[3], is consciously present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8), [and] is in a better place (Phil. 1:23). This is a place where other souls are speaking (Matt. 17:3). Please don’t spin me the yarn that Moses’ and Elijah’s breaths were talking with them.

These departed souls were even praying [they cried out with a loud voice – surely that is desperate prayer] (Rev. 6:9-10). . .

For unbelievers who die, the soul is in a place of conscious torment (Matt. 25:41; Luke 16:22-26; Rev. 19:20 – 20:15).

So what is your [Harold’s] response to all of this biblical evidence for the immortality of the soul after death? He wrote: “You keep preaching that God gave you your immortality already. Keep preaching that your ‘soul’ is immortal. Satan did that, already, so just keep it up.”[4]

What blasphemy to attribute to Satan what God declares! What is at stake here? Orthodox biblical teaching that has been established in Scripture and accepted by evangelicals throughout the history of the church on life after death (with a minority of exceptions), is being attacked by this SDA person.

These doctrines include: (1) Immortality of the soul, (2) Rejection of soul sleep, (3) The nature of heaven and hell, (4) What happens immediately the last breath leaves the human body?

What makes these topics challenging is that we don’t have as detailed explanations as we would like in the Bible. However, there are sketches that provide us with certainty about the broad sweep of these doctrines.

Let’s tackle just one of these teachings that is under threat.

The immortality of the soul

At first you might not consider this an important biblical teaching. In fact, many of the evangelicals I minister among, have rarely heard anything about human beings having an immortal soul.

Some regard the teaching of the New Testament that a person has an immortal soul to be a misunderstanding of Scripture and the promotion of a Greek idea rather than Christian doctrine. Others speak of “the heresy of man’s immortal soul.”[5]

Immortality

What do I mean by immortality when applied to human beings and death? “Immortality means the eternal, continuous, conscious existence of the soul after the death of the body.”[6] Can this be substantiated from Scripture?

Job asked: “If a man dies, shall he live again?” (14:14).[7] Jesus provides an answer in his response to Martha after the death of Lazarus, “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. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

So, are human beings immortal or not? Do they have a continuous existence even after physical death? The answer is, “Yes,” but with qualifications.

A qualification

Paul wrote to Timothy that God “is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality” (I Tim. 6:15-16). Yet, Paul also taught Timothy that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10).

How can God alone have immortality and yet Jesus brought immortality to light for human beings through the Gospel? It depends on our understanding of immortality. God

alone is life’s original Owner and never-failing Fountain. His immortality has been called “an original, necessary, and eternal endowment.” In God’s being there is no death and not even a possibility of death in any sense whatever. Now immortality (Greek athanasia) means deathlessness. . .

But although only God is immortal in the sense of being the original Owner and Fountain of life and blessedness, in a derived sense it is also true that believers are immortal. In II Timothy 1:8-12 it is clearly stated that our Savior Christ Jesus on the one hand utterly defeated death, and on the other hand, “brought to light life and immortality [literally incorruptibility] through the gospel.”[8]

What does this mean in a practical sense for believers and unbelievers?

Because of Christ’s atoning death on the cross, the believer no longer experiences eternal, spiritual death. Physical death, while sorrowful for the grieving relatives who are left behind, is really gain for the believer. Phil. 1:23 states, “I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

What can we say about immortality for the Christian? Through his death and resurrection, Christ brought to light the incorruptibility (immortality of the soul in a derived sense) of the soul of human beings. We see this is Jesus’ promise according to John 14:19, “Because I live, you shall live also.”

Immortality is not endless existence. Endless existence belongs only to God.

So, are human beings immortal? A good answer to the JWs and the SDAs would be something like this: “Yes, but only in the sense that their existence never ends; but in the Bible only those are called immortal who have everlasting life in Christ Jesus, and are destined to glorify him forever as to both soul and body.”[9]

What happens to the souls of the righteous dead at the Second Coming of Christ? I emphasise again that our knowledge from the Scriptures is brief, but this we know: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (I Cor. 15:22-23). At the Second Coming, it appears that the souls of believers will be reunited with their disintegrated bodies and “made alive.”

William Hendriksen explains the verse,

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (I Cor. 15:44) to help us gain an understanding of what happens to the body at the resurrection:

At present our bodies are soul-controlled bodies; that is, they are dominated by our invisible essence, viewed as the seat of sensations, affections, desires, all of these polluted by sin. But in the future our bodies will be spirit-controlled bodies! . . . By means of these bodies we shall glorify God forevermore.[10]

(image courtesy ChristArt)

Is immortality an idea from Greek philosophy?

Plato and others did teach on immortality for human beings in general, but it had no parallel with the biblical view that the soul is indestructible, returns to God, and then is joined to the resurrected body (e.g. Eccl. 12:7; I Cor. 15).

Also, philosophers such as Plato taught on immortality of the soul alone. The soul was delivered from the prison of the body at death.

For the believer, the body is a temple of the soul (and Holy Spirit). Immortality, in the Christian sense, applies to the whole person, body and soul/spirit. In the final consummation, the soul/spirit and the body will be reunited according to I Cor. 15:44.

What about the souls of believers at death?

For my birthday in May 1997, my Christian mother gave me as a gift a book I had suggested, Erwin Lutzer’s excellent popular-level book, One Minute After You Die.[11] Three weeks later, Mum had entered her eternal destiny described so clearly in this book. Did she have a sense that her time on earth was ending? I will never know. Where did my mother go at death? Did she experience soul sleep, purgatory, or something else?

The Scriptures, although not detailed, are clear that Mum’s spirit “returned to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). 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 remove 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. Therefore, how do we interpret this statement? Greek scholars have called the SDA/JW interpretation various things, including “grammatically senseless”[12] 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.

What about the souls of unbelievers at death?

Ladies and Gentlemen: The idea of a hell was born of revenge and brutality on the one side, and cowardice on the other. . . I have no respect for any human being who believes in it. I have no respect for any man who preaches it. . . I dislike this doctrine, I hate it, I despise it, I defy this doctrine. . . This doctrine of hell is infamous beyond all power to express.[13]

These are the words of a prominent defender of agnosticism and antagonist of Christ in 19th century USA, Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll.

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).

Teaching on Hades, hell, and soul sleep are critical for believers in these days of doctrinal decline in the churches.

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.

Loraine Boettner’s definition at the beginning of this article, is biblical: “Immortality means the eternal, continuous, conscious existence of the soul after the death of the body.”

I understand that there is an old tombstone in a cemetery in Indiana that has this epitaph:

Pause, stranger, when you pass me by

As you are now, so once was I

As I am now, so you will be

So prepare for death and follow me.

Underneath these words, an unknown person has scratched these words:

To follow you I’m not content

Until I know which way you went.[14]

Notes:

[1] Harold, Christian Fellowship Forum, Contentious Brethren, “More about Seventh-Day Adventists,” no. 56, at: http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=51&nav=messages&webtag=ws-fellowship&tid=117184 (Accessed 29 July 2007).

[2] Post by OzSpen (my non-deplume) to Harold (an SDA) at Christian Fellowship Forum, Contentious Brethren, “More about Seventh-Day Adventists,” no. 71, at ibid. (Accessed 29July 2007).

[3] The following two paragraphs are based on information in Norman Geisler & Thomas Howe 1992, When Critics Ask, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, p. 195.

[4] Christian Fellowship Forum, post no. 70 (URL above).

[5] Cited in William Hendriksen 1959, The Bible on the Life Hereafter, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, p. 45.

[6] Loraine Boettner 1956, Immortality, The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, p. 59.

[7] Unless otherwise stated, all Bible references are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version 2001, Crossway Bibles, a division of Good news Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois.

[8] Hendriksen, p. 46.

[9] Ibid., p. 47.

[10] Hendriksen, p. 173.

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

[12] Lutzer, p. 49.

[13] In Hendriksen, p. 79.

[14] In Lutzer, p. 11.

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 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”?

Notes:

[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 [4 April 2009].

[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 [3 April 2009]. 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 [4 April 2009]. Sheldon’s full article may be viewed at: http://www.lists.opn.org/pipermail/right-to-die_lists.opn.org/2005-January/000555.html [4 April 2009]. 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 [4 April 2009].

[4] John 11:25-26.

Facts about Hell

Hell is Real

(image courtesy ChristArt)

By Spencer D Gear

A thoughtful person with whom I had dialogues on the Internet and through email said to me: “If you would like to know why I have rejected Christianity, I will be glad to tell you. His questions were previously online but are no longer available. [31] Here are some [of my] reasons:” His questions to me are in bold and are indicated as Q. 1, Q. 2, etc. I have answered him under these topics:

I have met very few people as honest as somebody raising these kinds of issues that have influenced him to reject Christianity. I commend him for the thoroughness with which he has pursued answers to the profound questions asked and given in the Bible. I do not believe his conclusions are based on an accurate understanding of the evidence. There is evidence beyond reasonable doubt that satisfies my seeking mind, to conclude that the Bible is the reliable and authoritative revelation from the almighty, creator, redeemer God. He is the Lord who also sustains the universe and addresses our common core problem, sin, through Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection.

1. Problems with Hell

Q.1 In all of the OT there is not one word about anyone being tortured for eternity for not being a “good” person. Apparently the OT God was satisfied with seeing his enemies lie as carrion upon the fields, but the so-called “good news” of the NT is that this same God will now pursue his enemies beyond the grave with NEVER-ENDING torments in hell. Besides, it seems supremely contradictory to me that the same god who tells us to love and forgive OUR enemies says that he will eternally torment his!!

a. Good people

1.There is a fundamental error in trying to examine the OT material from the perspective that human beings are “good” people. No matter how “good” one looks on the surface, I have never met one person EVER, when he/she is totally honest and transparent with me, who will admit, “I always and only think and do what is good for my family, society and myself.”

In a contemporary context, my counselling work with youth and families puts me in contact with people who look “good” on the outside and have a “clean” reputation with the community. Some of these are prominent people in town, but they rape their children, indulge in gross sexual behaviour with anybody, embezzle their bosses, lie to cover their tracks, deal and use drugs, etc. But on the surface, they LOOK “good.”

Children and youth come to see me for whom butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. Yet behind their parents’ backs they are stealing money and property from the family home to maintain a drug habit – deceptively, so that their parents won’t know.

Of course, many come with habits of drug abuse, sexual abuse, victims of abuse, rebellion, anger and violence, a breaking and enter track record, etc.

There is not one of us with an utterly pure motive or life.

2. This is what the OT affirms throughout:

I Kings 8:46; 2 Chronicles 6:36, “When they sin against you – for there is no one who does not sin …”

Psalm 14:1-3[1]

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”[2]

Psalm 36:1, “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.”

Proverbs 20:9, “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?”

Ecclesiastes 7:20, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”

Isaiah 59:7-8, “…, Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.”

Jeremiah 9:4-6, “’Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,’ declares the Lord.”

Jesus affirmed that the evil we think and do comes from within us, ALL of us:

“What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’” (Mark 7:20-23).

3.OT, NT and contemporary experience confirm that NOT ONE OF US is “good” before God.

I well remember a sexual abuse perpetrator who sat in my counselling office and said, “Why do I do this?” My initial response was, “Do you want a band-aid solution or do you want me to help you get to the heart of the problem?” He used a string of expletives and concluded, “I want no b– s–; tell me why I do it and give me some answers.”

The band-aid answer could place blame on his upbringing where he might have been unloved and his perpetration may have been associated with his parents “abuse” of him and he is a victim. Or, his sexual relationship with his wife was not as good as it ought to be, so he had reason to go looking for sex elsewhere. While sex with children is not condoned, it is understandable under these circumstances (if one takes this line). He’s a victim of the environment of his life. Change the circumstances, wherever possible. Help him with methods of self-control and accountability.

I shared the CORE (heart) of the matter and what Jesus said in Mark 7:20-23. This man went to jail for 3.5 years for his crime (he knew that he deserved it), but before going there his life was radically changed through a total commitment to Jesus Christ. He was born again from the inside out. He is now a changed man.

He had to pay his time. Today he is a renewed, redeemed man, released from prison. It happened because we got to the CORE of the problem. All of us are not “good” people. All of us are rotten from the core out.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a survivor of the Soviet Gulag, knew this:

“It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I first sensed within myself the first stirrings of the good. Gradually, it was obvious to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states nor through classes between political parties but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts, and that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say – sometimes to the astonishment of those about me – ‘bless you, prison, for having been in my life.’”[3]

This is one of the fundamental reasons why we are grappling with social and personal evil in our society. We have NOT addressed the CORE PROBLEM. Only God through Jesus Christ has done that. That’s a narrow answer. But look at the trouble we are in as a culture when we turn away from God’s diagnosis of the problem and His cure!

The depravity of all human beings is not an incidental matter. It is fundamental to a correct view of what is happening in people and society. This issue is not my opinion versus yours of the “goodness” or “badness” of humanity. This world was created by the Almighty, Sovereign God. He wrote the laws. In His view, ALL are sinners needing a Saviour; NOT ONE is good.

Read the newspapers, talk to friends and others, and it becomes evident ALL are sinners. But I have met few secularists who are prepared to nail that as the diagnosis. That is not surprising!

Try talking to those who counsel children, youth and families to see whether they have to deal with the “goodness” or “badness” of human beings. Many counsellors would blame heredity, stimulus-response dynamics, and environmental influences. But they seem to be grappling in the dark in finding the cure for the human dilemma.

Without a correct understanding of this bad news, the news of Jesus’ death is nothing more than a pointless, useless slaughter.

John Stott rightly states, “Superficial remedies are always due to a faulty diagnosis. Those who prescribe them have fallen victim to the deceiving spirit of modernity which denies the gravity of sin.”[4]

However, when one takes God’s view of the human condition, Christ’s death not only makes sense but also is a compulsory solution for the human predicament.

b. No endless torture in hell in Old Testament?

The Hebrew word, “Sheol,” appears 65 times in the OT and

“refers to the place of the dead. Bible translations reflect different understandings of the word. The King James Version renders sheol ‘grave’ thirty-one times, ‘hell’ thirty-one times, and ‘pit’ three times. The Revised Standard Version and The New American Standard Bible simply put the Hebrew word into English letters as ‘Sheol.’ The New International Version usually translates it as ‘grave’ (occasionally as ‘death’) with a footnote ‘Sheol.'”[5]

While the OT refers to the grave as the destination of the body, the soul or spirit of human beings is always said to be going to Sheol.[6] In the OT, human beings do not cease to exist at death, but their souls or spirits descend to Sheol.[7]

Robert Morey rightly stated that “when God wanted Israel to believe something which was unique and contrary to what the surrounding cultures believed, He always clearly condemned and forbade the pagan beliefs and then stressed the uniqueness of the new concept.”[8]

See passages such as Genesis 37:35 (the first OT use of Sheol).

“In the Septuagint [Greek translation of the OT], Sheol is never translated as mneema, which is the Greek word for grave. It is always translated as Hades which meant the underworld… Sheol is ‘under the earth,’ or ‘underworld’… Sheol is called the underworld in Isa. 14:9. It is also called ‘the lower parts of the earth’ (KJV) in Ps. 63:9; Isa. 44:23; Ezek. 26:20; 31:14, 16, 18; 32:18, 24. Sheol is the opposite of heaven (Ps. 139:8). One must go ‘down’ to get to Sheol (Gen. 37:35)… While bodies are unconscious in the grave, those in Sheol are viewed as being conscious (Isa. 14:4-7; 44:23; Ezek. 31:16; 32:21).”[9]

The various translations of sheol point to several approaches to the meaning of the word:[10]

Some want to conclude that the Hebrews shared the mythological ideas of the afterlife similar to Mesopotamia and Egypt. This must be rejected as it leaves God and his special revelation to Israel out of the picture;

Some follow the “compartmental theory,” which was the view of the early church, that both the wicked and righteous go to sheol, but are segregated into different “holding chambers” to await their final fate. This cannot be accepted as neither the OT nor NT supports such a view.

A more consistent approach is that sheol has two meanings: “grave” and “hell.” The righteous share the “grave” with the unrighteous, but only the wicked populate hell.

R. Laird Harris offers the possibility that sheol is just a poetic synonym for the common Hebrew word for “grave.” It seems that he influenced The New International Version in its translation.

The evidence suggests that it would be better to conclude this about sheol:

“Both the righteous and the unrighteous go there. Examples of the former are Jacob (Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31) and Hezekiah (Isa. 38:10, 17-18. Examples of the latter are Korah (Num. 16:30) and the king of Babylon (Isa. 14:9, 11, 15)… Sheol speaks of life after death in vague terms. It moves beyond the judgment passages in affirming that there is life after death for the wicked, but it does not approach the clarity we find in the New Testament concerning their fate.

“Generally, and especially in regard to the unrighteous, the Old Testament concentrates on this life. It is possible that sheol provides us with a shadowy glimpse of life after death.”[11]

To say that “in all of the OT there is not one word about anyone being tortured for eternity for not being a ‘good’ person. Apparently the OT God was satisfied with seeing his enemies lie as carrion upon the fields,” distorts the meaning of sheol.

The Bible provides progressive revelation. By this I mean

“that later revelation builds upon earlier revelation. It is complementary and supplementary to it, not contradictory. Note the way in which Jesus elevated the teachings of the [OT] law by extending, expanding, and internalizing them. He frequently prefaced his instruction with the expression, ‘You have heard… but I say to you.’ In a similar fashion, the author of Hebrews points out that God, who in the past spoke by the prophets, has in these last days spoken by a Son, who reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature (Heb. 1:1-3).”[12]

It is therefore not surprising that in view of God’s progressive revelation, that the OT

“is vague in its description of Sheol and the condition of those in it. While the Old Testament prophets stated many things about Sheol, they did not expound in any measure of depth on this subject. Another reason for this vagueness is that a conscious afterlife was so universally accepted that it was assumed by the biblical authors to be the belief of anyone who read the Scriptures. Since it was not a point of conflict, no great attention was given to it.”[13]

The OT reveals this about Sheol:[14]

It has “gates” by which one enters. See Job 17:16; Isa. 38:10. This figurative language indicates that no escape is possible from the realm of Sheol.

Sheol is a shadowy place or a place of darkness (Job 10:21-22; Ps. 143:3);

Indications are that it is “down”, “beneath the earth”, or in “the lower parts of the earth” (Job 11:8; Isa. 44:23; 57:9; Ezek. 26:20; Amos 9:2). These figures indicate that Sheol is NOT part of this world, but its existence is in another dimension;

It is a place of reunion with ancestors, tribe or people (Gen. 15:15; 25:8; 35:29; 37:35; 49:33; Num. 20:24, 28; 31:2; Deut. 32:50; 34:5; 2 Sam. 12:23). Sheol is a place where all people go at death.

What is the condition of people in Sheol?

At death, human beings become a rephaim (a ghost, shade or disembodied spirit), based on Job 25:5; Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19. A person at death does not pass into non-existence, but becomes a disembodied spirit.

Those in Sheol converse with each other and are even able to make moral judgments on the lifestyle of those who arrive (see Isa. 14:9-20; 44:23; Ezek. 32:21).

In Sheol, one is unable to have any knowledge or wisdom about what is happening on earth –Ps. 6:5; Eccles. 9:10, etc.

God’s judgment on the wicked for their sins extends into Sheol. They experience:

God’s anger (Deut. 32:22). According to Moses, in this passage, the fire of Yahweh’s anger will be experienced in Sheol. This passage would make no sense if the wicked were nonexistent or if Sheol was the grave.
Distress (Ps. 116:3). The Hebrew, matzar (“anguish” NIV) indicates distress that is felt when one is pressed by difficulty. It has this same sense in Ps. 118:5;
Deep anguish or writhing in pain (Job 26:5 NIV). The Hebrew, chool, means “to twist and turn in pain like a woman giving birth.”[15]

From this information, we can conclude that for unbelievers in Sheol in the OT, they experienced anger, distress or pain.

But there are passages that suggest eternal punishment for the unbeliever in the OT:

Isa. 66:22-24: “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

Daniel 12:1-2: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”[16]

Robert Peterson, therefore, correctly summarises the evidence when he writes that sheol “takes us beyond the primary judgment passages and speaks of life after death, although in vague terms.”[17]

Q. 1 These are more than hints that for the OT unbelievers, they would not be experiencing blessedness or the unbeliever’s idea of, “in all of the OT there is not one word about anyone being tortured for eternity for not being a ‘good’ person.”

The righteous as well as the wicked went to Sheol (see Gen. 37:35). Because of progressive revelation, OT believers did not have the more comprehensive information that was needed to approach death with peace and joy. As a result, OT believers saw death as a “loss” while NT believers (with more light on the subject) knew that death means “gain” (see Phil. 1:21). Ps. 6 shows how even OT believers were afraid of being cut off from the joys of life (see esp. v. 5). According to Ps. 13, the OT saint did not look forward to death and Sheol and cried to God to be delivered from it (see esp. v. 3). So, the OT believers spoke of death as “torrents of destruction”, “anguish”, “terror”, “trouble and sorrow” (see Ps. 18:4; 55:4; 116:3). This is in contrast to the NT believers who could express triumph in death (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

But the OT believers, at death, would go to the throne of glory at death, where God was (Ps. 73:23-25). They knew that Sheol was open to God’s sight (Job 26:6) and they would be in God’s presence (Ps. 139:8).

In summary: The OT revelation of what happens for believers AND unbelievers after death is in sketchy, but accurate form. It awaited the fuller revelation in the NT. Never let it be said that the OT affirms that unbelievers will NOT be tormented for eternity. It does NOT affirm or deny it, but there is a suggestion of it in Isa 66 and Daniel 12. Indications of pain, distress and terror for OT unbelievers after death are evident. That this will be eternal awaits NT revelation.

For further reading:

John Blanchard, Whatever Happened to Hell?[18]

Eryl Davies, Condemned Forever![19]

Ajith Fernando, Crucial Questions About Hell.[20]

Robert Morey, Death and the Afterlife.[21].

Robert A. Peterson, Hell on Trial, as footnoted above.

c. Never-ending torment

Q. 1 The non-believer speaks of “the so-called ‘good news’ of the NT is that this same God [of the OT with no eternal punishment] will now pursue his enemies beyond the grave with NEVER-ENDING torments in hell.

Jesus Christ spoke more of the sorrows and pain of hell than of the joys of heaven. To Jesus, hell was as real as heaven. Matthew 25:46 makes it clear that eternal hell is as long as eternal heaven: “Then they [the cursed] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” The word, aionios (eternal/everlasting), also describes the eternity of God in I Tim. 1:17 and Rom. 16:26. The endless duration of hell could not have been stated more clearly. Using the same word as the eternity of God shows conclusively that the punishment of hell is not of limited duration.

Who could deny that Jesus Christ was not compassionate towards the down and out, prostitutes and sinners, the sick and grieving? This forgiving and empathic Saviour described hell as a place of:

darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13);

a fiery furnace (Matt. 13:42, 50; cf. Matt. 5:22; 13:30;18:8-9’ 25:41; Mark 9:43, 48);

the undying worm (Mark 9:48). Since darkness and burning fire are opposites (you cannot have one if you have the other), this suggests that both may be understood figuratively – symbolic description of the hopeless plight of unbelievers.

“weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). These are not tears of bereavement or temporal loss, but those “of inconsolable, never-ending wretchedness, and utter, everlasting hopelessness.”[22] The grinding or gnashing of teeth indicates “frenzied anger, unmitigated rage.”[23] This suggests the despair of those who have forever missed life’s purpose by their rejection of Jesus Christ.

“cutting to pieces” (Matt. 24:51), being a figure for extremely severe punishment.

eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46) that was as eternal as the eternity of God.

It is not easy for us to imagine the eternity of hell. One reason is that all the things we do and experience come to an end one day. However, the punishment of unbelievers in hell will continue for ever and ever. Just as God and heaven are eternal (everlasting), so hell will be eternal.

In the 19th century, famous English preacher, C.H. Spurgeon, preaching on Matthew 8:11-12 emphasised the eternity of hell and the fact that sinners there have nothing to look forward to except unending punishment:

“They have not even the hope of dying nor the hope of being annihilated. They are for ever–for ever–for ever–lost! On every chain in hell, there is written `for ever.’ In the fires, there blaze out the words, `for ever.’ Up above their heads, they read, `for ever.’ Oh, if I could tell you tonight that hell would one day be burned out, and that those who were lost might be saved, there would be a jubilee in hell at the very thought of it. But it cannot be–it is `for ever‘ they are `cast into outer darkness'”[24]

d. Love, forgiveness and eternal torment

Q. 1 “Besides, it seems supremely contradictory to me that the same god who tells us to love and forgive OUR enemies says that he will eternally torment his!!”

Because we are human, we cannot seem to fathom that the God who loves and forgives also has wrath as one of his absolute attributes. Psalm 145:8 declares: “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.” If he did not have wrath he would not be God. Couple that with God’s absolute justice and we have the God who loves absolutely, but has wrath without partiality against those who refuse to accept his love.

Jesus, who was the embodiment of love, spoke over and over of the punishment of hell – eternally.

Why doesn’t God love us so much that he let’s us all off? Because we are responsible for our sins and God is committed to absolute justice, he cannot allow such. If we ask God not to punish sin, we are asking him to say that sin does not matter. We are calling upon God to say that holiness does not matter.

“Logically it is.. to ask him to become an evil God and that he will not do… The punishment of sinners is terrible, but far more terrible is the prospect of an omnipotent evil God… Therefore, if people carry on in their sins and will not repent, he must judge them. He does so with the greatest reluctance. He is slow to anger. He does not delight in the death of a sinner. He is a God of love who calls people to turn to him. But if they will not, he must judge them, to show his total abhorrence of, and opposition to, sin and evil.

“A God of love would do anything to save us!’ But you know, he has done everything apart from throwing aside his justice, in order to save you. The utter reckless love of God is displayed at the cross… The New Testament tells us that God delays the promised Day of Judgement: ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9).”[25]

Q. 4 The justice system of Christianity is monstrously and fiendishly absurd. Most people would rightfully assume that a FINITE sin does NOT deserve INFINITE punishment. The reward system consists of only two eventual destinations. One, the most blissful and happy, the other, the most horrible and tormenting. Is there nothing in between!!??

There’s a fundamental error in thinking that “a FINITE sin does not deserve INFINITE punishment.” Our problems are that we are human-centred and biased against God. Even from a human perspective, the duration of the crime does not determine the length of time of punishment. A crime, such as murder, committed in a moment can earn a life sentence.

Why is this? It is the nature of the crime. We need to see the situation from God’s perspective. The wind, ocean, sun, moon and stars are under God’s control. God governs all living creatures, human beings, angels and demons. The unbeliever and the believer come under the sovereign rule of God. “The Lord reigns” (Ps. 97:1). No-one is greater than God himself: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all” (1 Chronicles 29:11)

Nobody can force God to do anything. “Our God is in the heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Ps. 115:3). He is the supreme Ruler and King of the universe. He is not a superman but “the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity” (Isa. 57:15).[26]

The might, beauty and majesty of the person of God cannot be compared with anything known to human beings. To consider his nature, attributes, power and actions is to think about that which is beyond human beings and angels. When Isaiah understood who God was he cried out, “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips… and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isa. 6:5).

In some countries, an act of treason against that country may earn capital punishment. In Australian society, some crimes are more repugnant than others.

“Consider three different situations in which a person kills another person. There is the case in which the armed burglar breaks into a house and in self-defence, as his life is threatened, the occupier of the house kills the burglar. We look upon that in one way.

“We look upon the situation in which the mugger kills the defenceless old lady in a totally different way. He was not threatened by her. It is a purely wanton crime. But we view the crime as being even more odious and of even greater enormity if the old lady whom the mugger knowingly murders happens to be the criminal’s mother, who has brought him into the world, cared for him and given the best years of her life for his good. Murder is always abhorrent, but for the person to be so selfish and callous as to murder his own loving mother, we would view as an even more heinous crime…

“The murder of a mother is a greater evil because it is breaking a greater obligation placed on us by love. But sin is an infinite evil because it is the breaking of an infinite obligation. It is an attack upon the glorious holy God, whom we ought to love. God is our Creator, our Sustainer. He is infinitely good… He is infinitely lovely and therefore there is an infinite obligation to serve him. Then if you and I do not do this–and we do not–we are breaking that infinite obligation and committing an infinite evil. We commit an infinite evil, which in all justice deserves some form of infinite punishment. Thus the Bible teaches the infinite duration of hell.”[27]

The seriousness of sin cannot be overstated. Unbelievers will have a hard time accepting this. The true awfulness and seriousness of sin is something only truly understood and felt when, as with Isaiah, God himself begins to deal with a person. Then we see the horror of our sin before a holy God and can honestly say, “I deserve hell. God, please save me from it.”

If we are indifferent or have no feeling about the seriousness of sin, it is not an indicator that sin is not serious. It is a measure of how out of touch with God we are.

We live in an indifferent, unfeeling culture. Nearly one million people are unemployed in Australia. Nearly 100,000 unborn babies are torn to pieces every year in Australia by abortion. We are indifferent. Then there’s the famine in Africa and other parts of the world.

Sin brings a blindness, a numbness in us. It brings apathy. It makes us think lightly about the true nature of sin. Hell is extreme because sin is extreme. To forget that will have eternal ramifications for us.

We defy God. The Bible says that sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Sin is deliberate rebellion against God’s authority and his law. Why do we lie, cheat, steal, think impure and profane thoughts, or sin in a multitude of other ways? We choose to sin and break God’s holy law. We intentionally disobey God Almighty and that is serious. God is the righteous Judge.

Nobody ultimately gets away with anything with Him. God expresses his wrath on us every day we live in violation of his law (see Rom. 1:18). It would be sacrilege to ever think that God could go “soft” on sin. Not even one sin will go unpunished by God.

Consider properly who the Lord is and the treason of sinners against the highest Majesty. Think on the willful rejection of the God of love, mercy and justice, who deserves our utter allegiance. That merits the most extreme penalty – eternal punishment.

Sin is serious when it is committed against God himself. Sin is not a conditioned response, a disease, a weakness or the results of a hostile environment. Sin is an utter affront to God, an offence against him, and it comes from deep within us (see Mark 7:20-23). After King David committed adultery, he confessed, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Ps. 51:4).

When Joseph (of the coat of many colours fame) was tempted by a married woman to go to bed with her, he rejected the offer: “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).

Sin is serious because of the nature of sin and the nature of God. “God, however, is infinitely greater than any earthly ruler, yet we are prepared to offend him and disobey his commands. Once you begin to see God’s greatness you will never doubt the fact that sinners deserve to be punished by God in hell.”[28]

There clearly are degrees of punishment handed out on the judgment day, based on a person’s moral and spiritual response to the knowledge possessed (see Matt. 10:15; 11-21-24; Luke 12:47-48). However, we must never forget that the rebel against God gets what he/she deserves. “God’s judgment is right… God is just” (2 Thess. 1:5-6).

Those who scoff at Jesus and reject his offer of forgiveness through repentance and faith, and have been repeatedly warned about the consequences of sins that are unforgiven will be forced to drink the cup of God’s fury. They will be tormented forever with burning sulphur (metaphorical understanding of severity). There will NEVER be relief from this horrible fate (see Rev. 14:10-11).

C.S. Lewis said that “there are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘thy will be done’.”[29]

e. Sin is what a person IS and what he/she DOES

Q. 6 I believe that a person should be judged by what he/she does… not by what one believes.

This person is correct. Everyone on the planet will be judged on what he/she does. Actions and beliefs are tied together. Everyone will be judged on what he/she DOES with Jesus Christ. Rejection of him is an ACTION. Acceptance of him and bowing before him as Boss are ACTIONS.

God’s “righteous judgment” will be revealed and “God will give to each person according to what he has done” (Rom. 2:6).

James said: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:17-18). Jesus agreed, “By their fruit [actions from their lives] you will recognize them” (Matt. 7:16).

Correct belief will never get anybody into the kingdom of God. James stresses: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder” (James 2:19). Beliefs by themselves will send one to hell. That’s where the demons are going. It is faith FOLLOWED BY action that God requires.

All unbelievers will face the “great white throne” judgment (Rev. 20:11). How will they be judged?

“Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done…. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:12-15).

The biblical requirement is faith DEMONSTRATED BY action.

But nations will also be judged. See Matt. 25:31-46. Where will Australia be placed? With the sheep or with the goats?

Q. 10 And finally, I believe that an all-loving God will REHABILITATE instead of eternally damn most of HIS OWN CREATION, the SAME THING, I’ll bet that you’d do with all of your wayward offspring!!

This is human, not godly, thinking. An absolutely loving and absolutely just God could not and would not rehabilitate (see above). That would make him an evil omnipotent monster. Sin is treason against the sovereign Lord of the universe. It is deadly serious!

God does not desire to damn anybody. The Lord is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

God shouts at us through creation (see Rom. 1:19-20; Ps. 19). He pursues us through our conscience (Rom. 2:15). We are confronted with Christ through the Scriptures and gospel proclamation throughout the nation and around the world. God has declared himself through the acts of human history (e.g. the Israelites crossing the Red Sea; the judgment on Egypt as the Israelites came out of Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Tower of Babel, etc.)

Yet, what do sinful human beings do to silence the voice of God? God tells us exactly what they do. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Rom. 1:18). We snuff out the voice of God to our inner beings by our own sinful lifestyle, no matter how “good” we may appear to be on the outside.

God declared through Jeremiah, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse – who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings” (Jer. 17:9-10).[30]

But there is a solution to the problem of the evil human heart. God’s answer is the glorious rescue!

(image courtesy ChristArt)

Why do Christians make so much of the cross of Jesus? It is because hell met its match at Golgotha. Sin is serious, but God is serious about saving us. The great, holy, loving, just, personal God performed the most momentous event in human history. Jesus died, taking hell’s extreme punishment on himself as a substitute for everyone who repents, confesses his/her sin, and trusts in Christ. God loves us that much! This is staggering good news!

“He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25) “God made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5: 21).

It was “for our sins” that Christ died. Sin had blighted our world and our lives and broken our relationship with God. Sin deserves to be punished in hell. But instead, for everyone who totally commits his/her life to Christ, Jesus took the punishment for sin–all of it!!

Could this God of love do anything to save us from our sin? He can do everything apart from throwing aside his justice.

Will you receive his forgiveness of your sin now? Your next breath cannot be guaranteed. Today is the day of salvation. This is the only moment you can be sure of. Repent, confess your sin and receive Christ now.

The Bible tells us that God delays the promised Day of Judgment: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

The decision is up to you. The results of that decision have eternal consequences–heaven or hell forever!!

Notes:

[1] All quotations in this section are from the New International Version of the Bible, published by Zondervan Bible Publishers (Grand Rapids, Michigan), 1984.

[2]A similar emphasis is found in Psalm 53:1-3. The N.T. affirms this view in Romans 3:10-18.

[3] Quoted in Bruce Wilson, Can God Survive in Australia? Sydney: An Albatross Book, 1983, p. 185, emphasis added

[4] John Stott, The Cross of Christ. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1986, 99.

[5] Robert A. Peterson, Hell on Trial. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 1995, 27.

[6] See Dr. Robert A. Morey, Death and the Afterlife. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 1984, 72. Chapter 3 of this book is titled, “Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna,” and has critical material in understanding the nature of these three locations.

[7] See George Eldon Ladd in The New Bible Dictionary, 380., in ibid., 73.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid., 75-76.

[10] The following approaches are summarised from Peterson, 27-29.

[11] Ibid., 28-29.

[12] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (one-volume edition). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1985, 197-98.

[13] Morey, 77.

[14] Based on ibid., 77 ff.

[15] Ibid., 79.

[16] Emphasis added.

[17] Peterson, 36.

[18] Darlington, Co. Durham: Evangelical Press, 1993.

[19] Welwyn, Hertfordshire: Evangelical Press, 1987.

[20] Eastbourne, E. Sussex: Kingsway Publications, 1991.

[21] See publishing details in above footnote.

[22] William Hendriksen, The Gospel of Luke (New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1978, 707, as commentary on Luke 13:28

[23] Ibid.

[24] In Davies, 99.

[25] John Benton, How can a God of Love send people to Hell? Welwyn, Hertfordshire: Evangelical Press, 1985, 80, emphasis added.

[26] King James Version of the Bible.

[27] Benton, 62-63.

[28] Davies, 70.

[29] C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce. New York: Macmillan, 1975, 72.

[30] New Revised Standard Version. Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers, 1989.

[31] On 5 November 2016 the website to which I linked had blocked my access to the URL. This has happened to all of my links to that website, christianforums.com. I suggest that you copy my questions into your web browser to see the original questions and other content I have written. It’s a sad day when a Christian forum does not want me to link back to its website where I was a regular poster (over 10,000 posts in 11 years) and took some of this interaction (particularly my content) for articles on my homepage, ‘Truth Challenge‘.

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].

12. References:

At Issue 1957, Seventh-Day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C. Question 41, available from: http://www.sdanet.org/atissue/books/qod/q41.htm [27 September 2007].

Berkhof, L. 1939, 1941, Systematic Theology, The Banner of Truth Trust, London.

Bruce, F. F. 1964, The Epistle to the Hebrews (the New International Commentary on the New Testament), Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Cairns, E. E. 1954, 1981, Christianity through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church (rev. enlg. edn), Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Calvin, J. 1960 (ed. McNeil, J. T., transl. Battles, F. L.), Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols, The Westminster Press, Philadelphia

Calvin, J. n.d. Commentary on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, available from: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom42.vi.vi.iv.html [27 September 2007].

Christian Fellowship Forum 2007a, available from: http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=start&webtag=ws-fellowship [27 September 2007].

Christian Fellowship Forum 2007b, Contentious Brethren, “Who is in error?, available from:
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=11&nav=messages&webtag=ws-fellowship&tid=117438 [26 September 2007].

Christian Fellowship Forum 2007c, Contentious Brethren –> Did God make you a soul?, available from: http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=21&nav=messages&webtag=ws-fellowship&tid=117459 [5 October 2007].

Deffinbaugh, B. n.d., “The Preciousness of Blood (Leviticus 17),” Available from: http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=278 [1 October 2007].

Eusebius of Caesarea 2007, Ecclesiastical History, “The dissention of the Arabians,” available from: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250106.htm [29 September 2007].

Geisler, N. 2004, Systematic Theology, vol. 3, BethanyHouse, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Grudem, W. 1994, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England/Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Hendriksen, W. 1959, The Bible on the Life Hereafter, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Crossway Bibles, Wheaton, Illinois.

Delitzsch, F. n.d., Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon in C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes (vol. 6), William E. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Let Us Reason Ministries n.d., “Soul Sleep”, Available from: http://www.letusreason.org/7thAd22.htm [13 October 2007].

Leupold, H. C. 1959, Exposition of Psalms, Evangelical Press, London.

Leupold, H. C. 1968, 1971, Exposition of Isaiah (one-volume edition), Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Leupold, H. C. 1969, Exposition of Ecclesiastes, Evangelical Press, London.

MacGregor, L. n.d., “Jehovah’s Witnesses, soul sleep and the state of the dead,” Available from: http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/_PDFArchives/apologetics/AP2W0901.pdf [13 October 2007].

Mohler, A. 2005, “The cults as theological judgment,” May 29, Available from: http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-05-27 [1 October 2007).

Morey, R. A. 1984, Death and the Afterlife, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Morey, R. 2006. “Jacob Prasch’s soul sleep heresy exposed!”, Faith Defenders, 3 November, available from: http://www.faithdefenders.com/ministry/deskof/drmorey/Jacob+Prasch+and+Soul+Sleep.htm [1 October 2007].

Moriel Ministries 2007, “Robert Morey Of Faith Defenders & Jacob Prasch: A Response To Robert Morey,” available from: http://www.moriel.org/articles/notice_board/robert_morey_of_faith_defenders.htm [27 September 2007].

Nation Master Encyclopedia 2003-05, “Seventh Day Adventist Church, ” available from: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Seventh_day-Adventist-Church#Doctrines [27 September 2007].

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures 1961, 1981, 1984, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., Brooklyn, New York.

Payne, J. B. 1962, The Theology of the Older Testament, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Peterson, R. A. 1995, Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment, P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

Prasch, J. J. 2002, More Grain for the Famine, St. Matthew Publishing.

Ramm, B. 1970, Protestant Biblical Interpretation: A Textbook of Hermeneutics (3rd. rev. edn), Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Reasoning from the Scriptures 1985, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., Brooklyn, New York.

Roller, J. H. n.d., “Soul sleep,” available from: http://www.mychurch.org/blog/7515/Soul-Sleep [27 September 2007].

Russell, B. 1967, Why I Am Not a Christian, Unwin Books, London.

Spencer, S. R. 2005, “Last Things, Doctrine of”, in Kevin J. Vanhoozer (gen. ed.) 2005, Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible, SPCK, London/Baker Academic, pp. 438-441.

Sproul, R. C. 1992, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois; also available from, http://shakinandshinin.org/EssentialTruths.pdf [21 October 2004].

Van Baalen, J. K. 1960, The Chaos of Cults: A Study in Present-day Isms, 3rd rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Webster, N 1978. J L McKechnie (gen ed), Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language, unabridged, 2nd edn. No city of publication: Collins World.

White, E. G. 1950, 1971, The Great Controversy, Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California. An online edition is available at: http://www.egwtext.whiteestate.org/gc/gc.html [12 October 2007], however, the chapter titles and page numbers are different from the hard copy 1950, 1971 version here quoted.

Wright, N. T. 2003, The Resurrection of the Son of God, series in Christian origins and the Question of God, vol. 3, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.

You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth 1982, 1989, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., Brooklyn, New York.

Young, E. J. 1949, 1972, A Commentary on Daniel (A Geneva Series Commentary), The Banner of Truth Trust, London.

Zukeran, P. 2007, “Character of the Cults,” Probe Ministries, available from: http://www.probe.org/cults-and-world-religions/cults-and-world-religions/character-of-the-cults.html#text3 [1 October 2007].