Department Of Question And Answer

Question.-Is the soul really immortal, seeing the Scripture says, The soul that sinneth, it shall die" ?

Answer.-We need to be clear as to what is meant when we read in the Scriptures the word "soul." (1) "Soul" may mean the person, as in 1 Peter 3.-" eight souls were saved," that is, eight persons were saved. These souls were persons in mortal bodies, but in Revelation 6. 9; 20.4, we see souls that are persons in a disembodied state. (2) "Soul "may mean that part of a human being, as distinct from the human spirit, and body: "Your whole spirit and soul and body" (1 Thessalonians 5.28). Man is tri-partite, of spirit, soul and body subsisting. (8) "Soul" is also used of the life of the believer in this world; he may have a lost life or soul, or a saved one. James says to saints who were already saved from hell and eternal destruction, "Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1.21). Again in Hebrews 10.89 it says to those already saved with eternal salvation : "We are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul." We may give a third reference to the same line of truth in what the Lord said to His disciples about saving their life (or soul) and losing their life (or soul), and of gaining the world and losing their life (or soul) (Mattbew 16.24-26). This is a most important line of truth for saved people. It is gravely possible to be a saved man (or soul) and have a lost life (or soul). (4) Then in different Old Testament scriptures the word Nephesh, soul, is rendered" body." "Neither shall he go in to any dead body (Nephesh, soul) (Leviticus 21.11). See also, Numbers 6.6; 19.18; Haggai 2.18. It is possible that there may be other uses of the word soul.

"Life " and " death" are not equivalent terrns for "existence" and " nonexistence." Both life and death describe states of existence. The father of the prodigal said, "This thy brother was dead, and is alive again" (Luke 15.82). The Ephesians were dead in trespasses and sins when they walked according to the course of this world (or age) (Ephesians 2.1, 2). Paul says of the widow that lives in self-gratification, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth" (1 Timothy 5.6); Mortality and inunortality are terms which relate to the body, not to the soul. See "mortal body" (Romans 6.12; 8.11); "mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4.11), "this mortal" (referring to the body) (1 Corinthians 15.58, 54). See "mortally" in Deuteronomy 19.11. Mortally here means "in soul" (Nephesh, soul). It is used in the same sense as when Nephesh is applied to the body. See (4) above, as in Leviticus 21.11. It means in Deuteronomy 19.11, if one smite a man doing him such bodily harm that he die.

To speak of the soul of man being immortal is quite unscriptural, and it is this confusion in the use of right words that leads to all the trouble of explanation. Man will exist throughout all eternity, the believer in the enjoyment of eternal life (John 3.16), and the unbeliever in eternal fire and eternal punishment (Matthew 25.41, ), in which shall also be the devil and his angels. Whether God shall impose judgement and punishinent upon men is settled, according to the Lord's words, on what will happen to the devil, the prince of this world (John 16.11), and in Revelation 20.10 we see the closing scene of the devil's unhappy career, when he is cast into the lake of fire, w~her' he with two men, the beast and the false prophet, will be tormented for ever. Also Revelation 20.15 shows the end, jud~ement and doom, of all whose names are not found written in the book of life; they too will be cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 21. and 22. show the glorious

eterulty of the redeemed. J.M.

unknown | Dec 1950
Department Of Question And Answer