Bible immortality: Not the immortality of Christendom
THIS cannot be made more evident than by the following questions and answers as to what the Bible teaches concerning immortality:
1. To whom does the Bible apply the term "immortal"?
ANSWER: To God "The King eternal, IMMORTAL, invisible, the only wise God" (1 Tim. 1:17).
2. Does not the Bible allow that man is immortal as well?
ANSWER: No; it says God alone is immortal. "The King of kings, and Lord of lords: WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY" (1 Tim. 6:16).
3. Does it never apply the term "immortal" to man?
ANSWER: Never. On the contrary, it speaks of ,"mortal man" (Job 4:17).
4. Is man entirely cut off from immortality then?
ANSWER: No; but it is a thing he has to seek for in order to obtain it. "By patient continuance in well doing SEEK for glory and honour and immortality" (Rom. 2:7).
5. Is, then, the doctrine of immortality taught by the Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and others, a mistaken doctrine?
ANSWER: It must be so: "Jesus Christ ... brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" by "abolishing death" in his own person by resurrection (2 Tim 1:10).
6. May not the doctrine of philosophers and the doctrine of Christ have been the same, though taught at different times?
ANSWER: They are not the same: they differ on all points. The philosophers, like the Sadducees (Luke 20:27), denied the resurrection. Paul says the wisdom of the philosophers was "foolishness" in God's estimation (1 Cor. 3:19, 20). It led to the Corinthian denial of resurrection (1 Cor. 15). Paul told believers to "beware" of philosophy (Col. 2:8), which he speaks of as "vain deceit" and "babblings" (1 Tim. 6:20).
7. Wherein does Christ's doctrine differ from the doctrine of the philosophers?
ANSWER: Christ teaches that men have no immortality in themselves "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." (John 6:53); that they are mortal men -- men in whom death works as a law of their being because of sin. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Rom. 5:12); "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24) "But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:" (2 Cor. 1:9); and that only those who believe and obey him will receive immortality. "that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.""for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:12, 24) "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:27, 28).
8. Can you express it more shortly, and in Bible terms?
ANSWER: Yes; "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord " (Rom. 6:23).
9. Is immortality received in the present state of existence then?
ANSWER: No; it is conferred at the return of Christ: "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory . . . the righteous (shall go) into life eternal" (Matt. 25:31, 46). "At the last trump. . . . this mortal shall put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:53). "Those that have done good ... shall come forth ... to the resurrection of life" (John 5:29). "Those that are accounted worthy ... shall not die any more" (Luke 20:35, 36).
10. What becomes of them meantime?
ANSWER: If they die, they "sleep in the dust of the earth" (Dan. 12:2). They are "THE DEAD in Christ" (1 Thess. 4:16).
11. Do you mean to say there is no consciousness in the death state?
ANSWER: Yes. The Bible explicitly declares it. "In death, there is no remembrance of Thee" (Psa. 6:5). "THE DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING" (Eccl. 9:5).
12. What becomes of the unjust?
ANSWER: They also sleep in the dust; but at the resurrection, they come forth to condemnation "the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:28-29).
13. Is there a resurrection of the unjust as well?
ANSWER: Yes. "There shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust" (Acts 24:15).
14. What is the difference between them in that case?
ANSWER: There is a great difference. They will "all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" to receive in body, according to what they have done (2 Cor. 5:10). While the righteous will enter an immortal state, the unjust will suffer "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish" (Rom. 2:8-9), and disappear finally in the corruption of the "second death" -- or death a second time (Gal. 6:8; 2 Pet. 2:12; Rev. 21:8). "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever . . . But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off" (Psa. 37:29-38; 2 Thess. 1-8).
15. Is there not a single passage in the Bible that declares that men will not die?
ANSWER: Yes; there is one: "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4) but the author of the saying was the serpent, who was a liar (2 Cor. 11:3).
