Immortality of the Soul: A Biblical Examination
by Christine Egbert
For I know this, that after my departure grievous wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and out of you yourselves will rise up men speaking perverted things, in order to draw away the disciples after themselves. Acts 20:29–30
As early as the late second century, the Greek philosophical belief pioneered by Plato, that the soul was innately immortal, had already infiltrated Christianity. It began to influence Christian thought via prominent Hellenistic Church writers. Men like Tertullian and Origen, as well as teachers in Gnostic sects that were heavily influenced by Plato’s dualism, which taught that an immortal soul is trapped inside a mortal body, expressed ideas that reflected aspects of this Greek philosophical framework.
Resisting this increasingly Greek philosophical influence were men like Justin Martyr (c. 100–165), who argued that the soul did not inherently possess immortality but existed only as long as God willed it. Other sub-apostolic writers also held to the Hebraic-biblical view that immortality was a gift from God that would be granted at the resurrection of the dead to those who were saved by faith in Yeshua the Messiah. Other men from this first and second-century period, who resisted Plato’s doctrine, included Theophilus of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyon, and Tatian the Syrian.
By the fourth century, Christianity had become predominantly Gentile, and its Jewish context less influential. During the fifth century, immortality of the soul and conscious torment in hell was strongly articulated in the writing of Augustine.
Extra-biblical texts, such as the Book of Enoch, (penned during the 2nd century BCE), which were never canonized as Scripture, introduced belief in specific, fiery compartments where the wicked were consciously punished by angels. First-century historian Josephus noted that certain Pharisees, a sect within Judaism, had begun to believe that the souls of the wicked were “detained” in an everlasting prison.
What Does Scripture Teach About
the Soul, Death, and Eternal Life?
And Yahweh formed the man out of dust from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
Genesis describes mankind not as receiving a separate, inherently immortal soul, but becoming a living soul. And, “The soul who sins shall die,” Ezekiel 18:4 says.
Genesis 3:19 says: “…for dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return.”
The Dead Are Not Conscious
Ecclesiastes 9:5 describes the condition of the dead in these words: “For the living know that they shall die; but the dead do not know anything; nor do they have any more a reward, for their memory is forgotten.”
Psalm 146:3-4 says, “Trust not in princes—in a son of man, for he hath no deliverance. His spirit goes forth. He returns to his earth. In that day, his thoughts perish.”
The expression “his spirit goes forth” refers to the breath of life that God breathed into Adam which made Adam a living soul.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 explains: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit (ruach) shall return to God who gave it.”
Ruach is the life-force that God breathed into Adam. It’s translated as spirit, wind, or breath.
Who Has Eternal Life?
Romans 6:23 For sin’s payment is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
To What Does the Bible Liken Death?
Job 14:12 So a person lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
Psalm 13:4 Look at me and answer, Adonai my God. Light up my eyes, or I will sleep in death.
John 11:11-13 After He said this, He tells them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m going there to wake him up.” So the disciples said to Him, “Master, if he has fallen asleep, he will get better.” Now Yeshua had spoken about his death, but they thought He was talking about ordinary sleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with Him God will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua.
Acts 7:60 And having bowed his knees, he cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge,” and having said this, he fell asleep.
Awakening Blast
Yom Teruah, is commonly known in English as the Feast of Trumpets. In Hebrew it literally means the awakening blast. It’s characterized by the sounding of the teruah, a trumpet or shofar signal associated with a loud alarm, shout, or blast. The teruah consists of a series of short, sharp, staccato bursts on a shofar that will act as God’s wake-up call at the end of days for those who sleep in the dust.
With this image in mind, consider Daniel’s description of the resurrection.
And at that time, Michael shall stand up, the great ruler who stands for the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of distress, such as has not been from the being of the nation until that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the Book. And many of those sleeping in the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, others to reproaches and to everlasting abhorrence (in Hebrew דִרְאוֹן עוֹלָם, der-aw-one o-lawm). Daniel 12:1-2:
Deraon olam appears twice in the Old Testament, here and in Isaiah 66:24.
Those of us who hold to conditional immortality understand this expression (deraon olam) to mean lasting disgrace. It emphasizes the permanence of the judgment rather than ongoing conscious torment.
1 Corinthians 15:50-53 Now I say this, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not decay. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 Because the Lord Himself shall come down from Heaven with a commanding shout, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet (shofar); and the dead in Messiah will rise first.
Conditional Immortality
The position presented in this study understands Scripture to teach that those who die are like those who sleep. They’re without conscious awareness. This view also maintains that eternal life is granted only to those who have placed their faith in the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The Greek word translated as perish in John 3:16 is apollumi. Strong’s G622 means: perish, destroy, or suffer loss. This word plays a crucial role in understanding conditional immortality.
John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, the one believing into Me has everlasting life.
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the witness: that God gave us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son. The one having the Son has life. The one not having the Son of God does not have life. Many other passages similarly describe eternal life as God’s gift, given through His Son, to those who believe.
The Second Death
Judgment Before the Great White Throne
After the 1,000-Year Millennium
And I saw a great white throne, and Him who is sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and scrolls were opened. Another scroll was opened, which is the scroll of life, and the dead were judged out of the things written in the scrolls—according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire—this is the second death. And if anyone was not found written in the scroll of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15
What About Mark 9:47–48?
“…it is better for you one-eyed to enter into the reign of God, than to have two eyes and be cast into Gehenna of the fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
This passage is frequently cited to support eternal, conscious torment. To understand Yeshua’s imagery correctly, however, it helps to examine the Old Testament passage from which it comes.
Isaiah 66:24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies (not living souls) of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched…”
Within the conditional-immortality interpretation, “unquenchable fire” describes a fire that cannot be stopped or extinguished before it accomplishes its purpose. Emphasis is placed upon the certainty and completeness of the judgment, not a never-ending fire that tortures people.
Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth
Another often misunderstood biblical term discussed in this ongoing debate is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This biblical imagery of gnashing teeth is best understood in its Near Eastern context, which communicates anguish, anger, regret, or hostility. It describes the terrible realization of those who have been excluded from God’s Kingdom, and the reality of that judgment.
Conditional Immortality
Also Known as Annihilationism
The position presented in this study, commonly known as Conditional Immortality (or Annihilationism), teaches that immortality (everlasting life) is not inherent in humanity. It is granted by God only to the redeemed. The view that the soul consciously continues after death became the traditional position held by much of historic Christianity. In light of the biblical language regarding death, resurrection, and eternal life, Conditional Immortality offers a different interpretation. The unquenchable fire of final judgment produces an irreversible result: permanent destruction rather than endless, conscious torment.
God is LOVE! His mercies are new every morning. The LORD, Yahweh, tells us over and over to do justice and love mercy. Conditional immortality brings the biblical teaching regarding final judgment into harmony with the Bible’s repeated descriptions of death and destruction, while affirming the character of our just and loving God, who offers eternal life through belief in Yeshua only.
Psalms 103:8 For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and filled with unfailing love.
Restoration of All Things
I believe that we are living in the days foretold in Acts 3:21—a time of the “restoration of all things spoken of by the prophets.” For decades now, Christians have been returning to the Hebraic roots of their Christian faith. This renewed interest in the biblical and Hebraic context of Scripture has also encouraged many believers, scholars, and theologians to reexamine their long-held beliefs about death, resurrection, immortality, and the final judgment. Among the views receiving renewed consideration is conditional immortality, the understanding that immortality is a gift of God given only to those who have been saved by grace through faith in Yeshua the Messiah.