The Immortality of the Soul, Is it a Scriptural Doctrine?

 

The Immortality of the Soul, Is it a Scriptural Doctrine?

The doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul is one of the oldest and one of the most widespread doctrines that has ever been in this world. It was preached in the world before ever faith in Christ the Saviour was preached.

((My thoughts- The definition of immortality is- the ability to live forever; eternal life. This idea has been around since sin began.))

"The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die;" and from that day to this that doctrine has been believed more generally by the children of men than has the truth of God.

((My thoughts- God didn't say those words 'ye shall not surely die'. God didn't give hope in those words. Don't be mistaken, it is hope that Satan is giving to Eve isn't it? God told her she would die, and Satan turns around and tells her, guess what? God is wrong. God lied to you. You won't die. And yes, as stated above, millions and millions alive today believe this and uncountable number have believed it in the past.))

Indeed, in our day the doctrine of the immortality of the soul has gained such favor among even those who profess the word of God as their standard of belief, that to deny it is considered by the majority of them as equivalent to a denial of the Bible itself.

(My thoughts- I've personally faced this situation. I've told others that there is no immediate life after death, the dead don't rise up out of their bodies in spirit form separating from their flesh bodies. I've said outright that my loved ones are not in heaven, but sleeping and I've been told I'm wrong about that. I've pointed out Biblical verses to reveal the truth and been told other verses supersede those verses- my Bible verses are outdated and done away with, theirs are truth.))

But, instead of such denial being in any way a denial of the truth of revelation, the fact is that the truth of revelation can be logically and consistently held only by the total and unequivocal denial of the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul.

This, the Scriptures plainly show.

I. THE RESURRECTION

There is no truth more plainly taught nor more diligently insisted upon in the Bible than this: That the future existence of men depends absolutely upon either a resurrection of the dead or a translation without seeing death at all.

Paul's hope for future existence was in the resurrection of the dead. In speaking of his efforts to "win Christ," he says: "That I may know him, and the power of his RESURRECTION, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the RESURRECTION of the dead." Phil 3:10, 11.

It was of "the hope and resurrection of the dead" that he was called in question by the council (Acts 23:6); and when he had afterward to make his defense before Felix, he declared that the resurrection of the dead was the end of his hope, saying: "And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a RESURRECTION of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts 24:15

Time and again Paul thus expresses his hope of future life. Nor is Paul the only one of the writers of the Bible who teaches the same thing. The RESURRECTION of the dead is that to which Job looked for the consummation of his hope. Job 14:14, 15; 17:13-15; 19:23-27.

Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

Job 14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

Job 17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

Job 17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

Job 19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

Job 19:24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

Job 19:26 And though AFTER my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Job 19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

David says: "Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken [give life to] me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth." Ps. 71:20. And, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." Ps. 17:15

((My thoughts- Worms destroying skin, coming up from the depths of the earth- this most assuredly does not portray someone separating from their body and living on in spirit existence. This is clearly the dead being put in a grave to decay and not seeing anything at all whatsoever until 'I AWAKE with thy likeness'. These men of God knew that death meant a complete and utter separation from life in any form. They expected the nothingness of their death and had hope of a future, not an immediate resurrection. It couldn't be more clear.))

And what shall we more say? For the time would fail us to tell of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and Hosea, and Micah, and all the prophets and apostles, and of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for Jesus himself declared that it was the RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD of which God spake when he said, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

More than this, Jesus pointed his disciples always to the resurrection of the dead, through which alone they could obtain the reward which he promised. In John 6:39-54 we find that no less than four times the Saviour, in giving promise to those who believe in him, sets it forth as the consummation of that belief that "I will raise him up at the last day."

((My thoughts- those four times-

Joh 6:39 … should raise it up again at the last day.

Joh 6:40 … may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 6:44 … and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 6:54 … and I will raise him up at the last day. ))

And in Luke 14:13, 14 we read: "When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and . . . thou shalt be recompensed at the RESURRECTION of the just."

Paul, however, gives us, upon this subject, a straight-forward, logical argument, which leaves the doctrine of the immortality of the soul not a particle of ground to rest upon.

The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is devoted entirely to an argument in proof of the resurrection of the dead.

The apostle first proves, by hundreds of living witnesses who had seen him after he was risen, that Christ arose from the dead.

Still there were some who said, "There is no resurrection of the dead," and in refutation of that idea, he introduces three points of argument, any one of which utterly excludes the doctrine of the immortality of the soul from any place whatever in Christian doctrine.

To be continued… God willing.

The above excerpt is taken from -The Immortality of the Soul, Is it a Scriptural Doctrine?

By. A.T. Jones

With my thoughts included.