If the soul of man is only the biological life resident in the body, as some argue, then one man can destroy another’s soul ( contra Mt.
The future resurrected bodyįirst Corinthians 15:53 speaks of the nature of the future resurrected body, not the essence of the “soul,” or the “spirit,” that is within man (Jas.
This idea may be later suggested when Solomon says that God “has set eternity in their heart” (Eccl. Soul immortality appears to be one aspect of the blessing of being created “in the image of God” (Gen. This phrase, therefore, would not negate the concept, as taught in other passages, that man possesses an immortality that was imparted to him as a part of the original creation procedure. See my commentary, Before I Die (2007, 182 cf. Paul spoke of an immortality that is intrinsic to the very being of God. 6:16), it is commonly understood by responsible Bible scholars that the passage addresses an immortality that is underived from another source. When Paul declared that “only God has immortality” (1 Tim. The gentleman who argued this case likely would not appreciate the suggestion that his denial of the immortality of the soul has been influenced by the Watchtower Witness sect. Such a charge is condescending and does not give credit to other students who have examined the issue and drawn different conclusions. This sort of guilt-by-association accusation is without merit. On this basis, they contend that there can be no eternal, conscious punishment for the wicked. Those known as conditionalists, i.e., who argue for the eventual annihilation of the wicked (though the gentleman under review is not in that class), frequently suggest that Bible students who believe in the concept of eternal consciousness have been influenced by Plato and other Greek philosophers. My brief response to the case outlined above is as follows. The gentleman states that most Christians have not studied carefully such terms as “immortality” and “soul.” He has argued that the “soul” merely is the “life of the body,” and that the “spirit” and “soul” are “not in the same category.” They “are not synonyms,” he insists. The gentleman says that 1 Timothy 6:16 affirms that “ only God” possesses “immortality,” thus we, as humans, are not immortal.įurther, he has suggested that since 1 Corinthians 15:53 promises immortality to the redeemed, as something yet to be realized, this implies we do not possess this attribute presently. He contends that this concept is more akin to the pagan philosophy of Plato than to the Scriptures. A reader has alleged that the expression “immortal soul” is not consistent with biblical teaching.
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