The very enticement to speculate that the human being has any transcient immortality is Un-Biblical at it's very roots. It is to accept the teachings and philosophy of Satan rather than the clear admonishments of God. It thrashes itself in the face of true Christianity under the guise of "Cheap Grace", "Predestination", "New Age", "Name It and Claim it", "Charimaticism" and many many humanly devised philosophies
Many profess that one or more of the triune elements of man has some inherent immortality to it; is not Scripturally based, though it can be Scriptually understood.
- The Body does not have any immortality!
- The Soul does not have any immortality!
- The Godly induced spirit of man has not any immortality!
Many are inclined to speculate that one or more "body, soul, spirit" does live on after the demise of the body. Such a thing is never supported in the Bible. To those who are true studied and discerning Christians the revelation of this matter was fully settled at Genesis 2:17 "thou shalt surely die".
Many who are weak in the knowledge and acceptance of WHO God is and what His WILL is are those who are inclined to accept the philosophy Satan presented and promoted to Eve for rejecting the council of God and disobeying Him.
Satan, disquised as a serpent, presented to Eve his philosophy at Genesis 3:4-5 "Ye shall not surely die ... ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil". By so saying, Lucifer turned Satan (Rev. 12:7-13) exposed his authorship of the philosophy of evolution and the justification for his own rejection of God. For God created Lucifer and told him that Lucifer is a created angel of God. Lucifer, here --just as Eve, had two choices: believe God as his supreme creator or reject God's words as lies for getting the upper hand in government.
Thusly, Satan's philosophy is evolution: that God is God only because He evolved into existance first and learned how to be creative. So, by the time Lucifer evolved God was well able to seduce him into supposing God created him and, thusly, by accepting God as his creator he would forever be in subjection to God.
By Satan's subtle words to Eve, he induced a similar philosphy for her to accept: Which is the real liar? If God is only God because He was first and has the upper hand in knowledge then by rejecting Him to get His knowledge would be the best thing to profit oneself; to be as God knowing good and evil, and then one will develope that knowledge to gain immortality and godship. Satan either told the full truth or a full lie or he told a lie and supported it with truth!
There are the three concerns:
God said: "thou shalt surely die" ---it means exactly as it was intended to be understood: absolute, complete, and utterly dead; without any transcient existance! Or God is a liar for concealing truth behind some conjecture like: "the body will utterly die only, whereas, the soul/spirit, having already immortality (either as a gift or by mere existance like "image" begets an exact replication of the original) shall continue as an untold perpetual existance.
Satan said: "Ye shall not surely die" ---This statement is in direct contrast/opposition to God's Words! It does not just imply that God is a liar --it is an explicite expression of belief that premeditates absolute theology from Lucifer's view. Satan, here, is either a liar and the author of it (John 8:44 -vs- 1 Cor. 14:33) or he is demonstrating that God is the one who is corrupting absolute truth by implying that because God can make the body to be utterly dead the implication is that the soul/spirit aspects of the human will, also, be made dead. Yet, neither God or Satan give any discernments to "aspects of the human" for body, soul, and spirit distinctions. Satan did not even make any distinction to soul/spirit for support for his philosophical beliefs --a thing, that if there were some validity to its assumption, it would have been to Satan's great advantage to disclose --especially under the auspices that imply God is concealing fuller truth from the humans.
Satan said: "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil". ---It is, first, distinctive to realize that Satan did not introduce any further expositions to the nature of man as having aspects/attributes that are not subject to death; a thing that, if it had any truth to it, would be an obvious support for defending ones own position. Rather, Satan, implores another view: knowing both good and evil is a thing that will profit the human most. Is this the truth? Or could it be another lie?
Through evaluations, we come to realize that God is telling the truth or is lying by what He said; that Satan, in opposition to what God said, is either telling the truth or a lie. For the "knowing" of evil with good more discernment must be employed. Even God says it is their "lack of knowledge" that destroys them (Hosea 4:6). My view is quite simple: If you learn and know only what is good and perfect, then, when bad, evil, and error comes your way you'll discern that it is something that is no part of you or your mind and will be offended by it (Proverbs 22:6). The implication confirmed of Solomon in training up the child in righteous and good behavior is distinct: It is NOT that the child should have an opportunity to know bad for distinquishing it from good, but is that by knowing only what is good he is not even aware of the bad to contemplate choosing it. So that when he is grown and mature and confronted with badness he'll know it is something alien to all that he knows. An anology often used is that of counterfeit money --we, as tellers, discover the counterfeit because we handle the true almost all the time. But the teacher comes along and implores that you need to know "both sides of the coin" in order to have "free choice" --that's nice sounding brass, very much like when they teach you the proper grammar "i before e, except after c"; a thing, itself, which is a counterfeit, but not always alien! It's really the same "choices" as Eve was confronted with: will you learn God through God only, or shall you learn God through Satan's eyes? Satan inspires "knowing good and evil" as more profitable to himself and you. God, on the other hand, walked with Adam and later with Enoch, and did not have the opportunity to "train up" the first humans into a maturity of the fullest knowledge of "good" without the interference of "evil". Satan either came into the classroom of God's teaching and fully discredited His methods of teaching/learning or Satan sabotaged perfection in its developemental stages.
It is strange people who teach immortality to humans! Some suggest eternality to the body; reincarnation. Some suggest immortality of either the soul or the spirit --and their not really sure which it is, but what they're certain of is that somewhere in them you can find it; an unending life; a god-like attribute; an "image" of the creator that insists upon being just as immortal as the creator. After all, it does seem like the natural thing to be; either as good as or better than your creator or parents. There are many problems to this whimsical belief: If God is lying, it could be true. Satan didn't extrapulate or interpolate either way.
IS GOD THE ONLY IMMORTAL BEING?
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no Gods?"
Deut 4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.
Deut 4:39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is no one else.
Deut 6:4 Hear, O Isriael: The Lord our God is one Lord:
Deut 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and THERE IS NO GOD WITH ME: I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
Psalms 86:10 For thou art great, and doest wonderous things: THOU ART GOD ALONE.
Isaiah 43:3 For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, THY SAVIOR: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, sayeth the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the Lord, and BESIDES ME THERE IS NO SAVIOR.
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last, and BESIDE ME THERE IS NO GOD.
Isaiah 44:24 Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens ALONE; that spreadeth abroad the earth BY MYSELF;
Isaiah 45:5, 6, 18, 21, 22, CH 46:5, 9, CH 47:10, CH 48:11 Titus 1:3
IS LUCIFER/SATAN/DEVILS AND ANGELS, WHO ARE SPIRIT, IMMORTAL?
Do the `beast' and the `false prophet' have an eternal attribute? No! They are attributed to that which Paul speaks of at Romans 8:38 and Ephesians 6:12. They are death, false angels, principalities, and the powers of wickedness. What is to happen to these? They go the same way as the `beast' and the `false prophet'. "art thou come to DESTROY us? Mark 1:24/Luke 4:34
"art thou come to DESTROY us? Mark 1:24/Luke 4:34 {worth repeating}
"He was alive but isn't now. And yet, soon he'll come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction" Rev. 17:8(LB)
["destruction" is from Greek apoleia ="utter destruction",
"annihilation" (see on John 17:12; Rev. 17:11, 19:20, 20:10), this
indicates the utter/sure end of the beast(s)]
"And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eight, and is of the seven (other - prior beasts/kingdoms/political powers), and goeth into perdition." Rev. 17:11
"And death and hell (grave-hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:9, 14, 21:4, 8, 1:18
"Thou {Lucifer/Satan} hast been in Eden the garden of God"
"Thou art the anointed cherub that coverth"
"thou wast upon the holy mountain of God"
"Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created"
"thou hast sinned"
"therefore I {God} will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire"
"therefore will I {God} bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee"
These verse texts support Obadiah 16 where he says the wicked shall be as though they had never existed. Or that the destiny of Satan is to be consummed to ashes as told us by Ezekiel 28:17-18. Or that the wicked angels are not now in any kind of hell; but are reserved to get thrown in at the end as described by Peter -2 Pet. 2:4 There's several other things that don't fit in even should we make Satan out to be the truth teller and God the liar.
IS THE CONDITION OF HUMANITY INDUCED WITH SOME FORM OF IMMORTALITY?
The word "immortality" appears five times only, and is never said to apply to man or created "spirit" in his natural state. Quite to the contrary, we read that God "only hath immortality." 1 Tim 6:15-16. Man is admonished to "seek" for this priceless boon of ultimate value and never that they aquire it before it is given to them by Him Who, alone, possesses it! Thus the apostle declares that God "will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." Romans 2:6-7. The only way man can receive immortality is to "seek" for it, so it is self-evident that he does not possess it by nature. If he is ever to possess it, he must acquire it; and since immortality is an attribute of God ALONE, it can be acquired by man only as a gift from the One who possesses it. This is why Paul declares that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Only one person has the access to immortality to give it away.
This is why God needed to prevent Adam and Eve from getting to the "tree of life". God Himself stated that they must cast the two humans from the garden "lest they take of the tree of life" and live forever. This tree would not have been of any benefit to Satan or his one/third angel/demons.
This is why God needed to prevent Adam and Eve from getting to the "tree of life". God Himself stated that they must cast the two humans from the garden "lest they take of the tree of life" and live forever. This tree would not have been of any benefit to Satan or his one/third angel/demons.
"The wicked shall perish, they shall consume away." - Ps. 37:20
"The wicked shall not be." - Psalms 37:10
"The wicked will not be found." - Ps. 37:36
God is a "consuming fire" - Heb. 12:29
The wicked shall be as though they had never existed. - Obadiah 16
The destiny of Satan is to be consummed to ashes. - Exe. 28:17-18
The wicked angels are not now in any kind of hell; but are reserved
to get thrown in at the end as described by Peter. - 2 Pet. 2:4
As to humanity these make it all rather simple: body + spirit = soul
The body is created of God out of the earth and is given "spirit" which is simply the "breathe of life" that comes from God and, itself, has no transcient existance seperate from the breath giver.
The people of Amelek, Asshur, and Eber "shall PERISH FOR EVER" Numbers 24:20, 24 "ye shall surely PERISH" Deuteronomy 8:19-20, 28:20, 30:18
"By the blast of God they PERISH, and by the breath of his nostrils are they CONSUMED." Job 4:9, 20= "they PERISH FOR EVER" "they go to NOTHING, and PERISH" Job 6:18 --like "DUNG" 20:7 "the wicked is reserved to the DAY of DESTRUCTION Job 21:30 Job 31:3; 31:12, 34:25 "thou hast DESTROYED the wicked, thou has put out their name for ever and ever" Psalms 9:5 They shall PERISH forever Vs. 17-18 " the transgressors shall be DESTROYED" Psalms 37:38 Psalms 92:7, 52:5, 55:23, 145:20 "he that doeth it DESTROYETH his own SOUL" Proverbs 6:32, 10:29, 11:10, 13:13,20, 15:11, 21:15, 31:6; Isaiah 9:16 "the DAY of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a DESTRUCTION from the Almighty ...and he shall destroy the sinners" Isaiah 13:6, 9 "and will utterly DESTROY them" Jeremiah 25:9; Ezekiel 30:8; Hosea 4:6, Hosea 13:9, 14; Joel 1:15 To PERISH is equivalent to "be cast into HELL" Matthew 5:29-30, 7:14, 10:28, 21:41(45) "to save life, or to DESTROY it" Luke 6:9, 9:29, 33, 17:27 Jesus "is not come to DESTROY men's lives, but to save them" Luke 9:56 "For as many as have sinned without the law shall also PERISH without the law" Romans 2:12, 6:6, 9:22, 1 Cor. 1:18, 3:17, 6:13, 10:10 "The last enemy that shall be DESTROYED is DEATH." 1 Corinthians 15:26 ---there is not inference that there shall exist any "enemy" of God that shall not be destroyed.
"in them that PERISH" it is as "DEATH unto DEATH" --the first and the second deaths transcended 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 converse to 4:16 "they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is DESTRUCTION" Philippians 3:18-19 "Who shall be PUNISHED with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION" 2 Thessalonians 1:9 "the Lord shall CONSUME...and shall DESTROY" 2 Thessalonians 2:8 "They shall PERISH"-- -"they will disappear into nothingness" "through death he might DESTROY him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" Hebrews 2:14 The "unstable wrest" all "the other scriptures, unto their own DESTRUCTION" 2 Peter 3:16; 1 John 3:8; Jude 5; Rev. 11:18
DOES THE BODY HAVE AN IMMORTAL REGENERATION CAPACITY?
The Hebrew `nephesh' denotes man, who was given existence when the devine spark of life was injected into a physical body formed from the dust of the ground. Similarily, a new soul comes into existence whenever a child is conceived and born, each "soul" being a new unit of life uniquely different, and separate, from other similar units and is identified not as a part of the body but as a person. There is absolutely no statements or hints to imply that God takes a pre-existant disembodied soul and injects it into a body! Nor that the soul that is derived of the union of the `spirit' of God into a body can exist idependant of the body! The person, or self, is expressed at Gen. 14:21; Num. 5:6; Deut. 10:22; Ps. 3:2 = person/ Lev. 11:43; 1Kg. 19:4; Isa. 46:2 = self. Over 100 occurances depict "nephesh as "life" Gen. 9:4-5; 1Sam. 19:5; Job 2:4-6; Ps. 31:13.
When a person is killed the "nephesh" is killed per Num, 31:19
"whosoever hath killed any person" = killed any nephesh
When the person is killed the "nephesh" dies per Judg. 16:30
"let me die" = let me nephesh
Those who are "dead" are "nephesh" per Num. 5:2
"defiled by the dead" = by the nephesh
The dead body of a man is a dead nephesh per Num. 9:6
"defiled by the dead body of a man" = the dead nephesh of a man
A corpse equals a "dead" body which equal nephesh per Lev. 19:28
and 21:1 "for the dead" = for the nephesh
The O.T. is repleat with examples of dying -"mu'wth" and becoming dead -"nephesh". And it is "the most evident" that when the body dies the soul dies as well: Look at your concordance. Naphash is the primary root "to breathe" and it derives nephesh "a breathing creature". The term "soul" is in every case using the exact same "nephesh" as is used in the examples above.
The N.T., being Greek, doesn't use the Heb. "nephesh". It's term is "psuche" = breath and is derived of "psucho" = to breathe. Scripture is very explanative by saying that God took the clay, the dirt, the dust, the elements of the earth and formed it and breathed into it the breathe of life and it "became a living soul".
1) Naphash = to breathe
2) Nephesh = a breathing creature
3) Psucho = to breathe
4) Psuche = breath
God breathed into the body the breathe of life which is the spirit given if God. This means the body now has a soul which continually enhances a purpose for the body to breathe. It is the unity of the body and the soul that continues the breathing which is life. When the body dies the breathing is stopped and the soul is become dead. The body and the soul are interdependant. Conversely, no man can kill the soul; neither any evil thing or angels. Only God can kill the soul! And only God can deliver the soul from death; whether it be the first death only or both the first and the second death (Ps. 22:29; 23:3; 30:3; 33:19-20; 49:15; 78:50; 86:2,13; 89:48; 97:10; Prov. 6:32; 16:17; 19:16; 23:14; Isa. 38:17; 53:12; Eze. 13:19; 18:4, 20; 22:25-27; Matt. 10:28; Acts 2:27-31; 1Cor. 15:45; 1Thess. 5:23).
Man can attempt to kill the soul only by killing the body or by destroying the soul in that the one being attacked accepts those beliefs and philosophies that ultimately result in the rejection of God as Lord; thusly destroying the soul; making the victim a walking dead person. This is aptly demonstrated by Jesus to such as these very victims (Matt. 23:27).
"God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave"
"What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?"
"in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption"
"he {Jesus} hath poured out his soul unto death"
"the soul that sinneth, it shall die"
"they have devoured souls"
"I pray God your whole spirit...soul...body be PERSERVED"
The idea that a "soul" can have sentient existance apart from the body, or that it possesses an immortal essence, is wholly foreign to the Bible. This nonscriptural idea originated in the ancient pagan religious and philosopical systems of Greece and Egypt, and finds no support in the inspired writings. There is nothing in the words translated "soul" or in their usage in the Bible that even remotely implies a conscious entity, bodyless souls -spirit souls -ghosts, that survives the body after death, or that attributes immortality to it.
In FACT, the New Testament specifically TEACHES that the soul (psuche') is destroyed along with the body in "hell" (Matt. 10:28).
Nowhere does it teach that when the body dies the "soul" somehow and mystically departs from the body to wander around in search of a destiny or another body. Such sorts of concepts are applied to demonic spirits and not souls.
"For since by man came death {to both body and soul}, by man {Jesus} came also the resurrection of the dead."
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." --It is evidenced that both body and soul die! Then it is expressed that both the body and the soul "SHALL BE MADE ALIVE".
According to the Bible, the final destruction of the wicked comes at, this, the end of time; the end of the age(s) of sin! The wicked are reserved unto judgement(2 Pet. 2:4). Our God is a consuming fire to sin wherever found (Heb. 12:29). He is a God who can and does destroy to the uttermost that which is evil! To suggest otherwise is to disavow that our God is an omnipotent God. The fires of Hell originate from heaven at the end of this age. Not some hot spot in the earth (Rev.20: 9). These fires come to devour and not to continually torment without annihilation. Compare Revelation 20:9 with Genesis 19:24! It is most evident that the fires that eternally destroy are sourced in the exact same manner: "from God out of heaven".
The Second Death: It will destroy Satan Eze. 28:16. It will destroy the "Beast" Dan. 7:11; and those demons of the beast have but a short life (Dan. 7:12). It will destroy all that has the "breath of life" Gen. 6:17.
The concept of an eternally burning, tormenting, hell without end would describe it's creator, God, as a cosmic monster, delighting in destroying his created creatures. This is a description of a devil and not our God. Let us reason this out: God creates persons who may aspire to sin for, for the sake of argument, 4 hours each and every day. That equates to 100,800 hours of sinning during the typical 604,800 hours of a 70 years life-span. Per many the penalty of sinful man's rejection of the salvation of God is forever. Whether we render the result as a million hours of torment for one hour of sinning or a billion hours, or a trillion hours, or a Giga-whatever; in the end it basically equates to forever for that first fraction of a second; and, then another forever for that second fraction of uncovered sinning.
In other words, it just don't matter whether you sinned for half a second or for two hours each days all of your life; the point of discerment is that sin wihout the acceptable salvation is subject to the judgement of the God who is not the savior; the Father (Matt. 6:15, 10:33; Jh. 5:22, 8:50, 12:48; James 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:17). God being the perfect judge will judge perfectly. That means something entirely different from the conjectured absolute that implies: "there is so-so many seconds, or minutes, or years of sinning without saving salvation! That warrants the jugement of eternal damnation of an existance in the confines of fiery torments for an eternity for each fraction of second of that sinning...Once the first fractioned second penalty is completed, then the next fraction must be applied. Of course, no one will ever get beyound the first fraction's penalty."
This sort of conjecture does not fit in with perfect judgements that begets rewards for well doings and sufferages for ill doings. At least the Catholics offer the solution of purgatory for a belief that after a time of penalties the sinner could be reinstated into God's kingdom. Alas, that is a whole other mixed-bag of errors unabled to be substantiated by the Bible.
God uses an eternal fire at the second coming of Jesus and for the resurrection of the damned. It is the same as the eternal fire devised for Sodom and Gamorrah (Jude 7). It is not the same fire! As though there was a fire that was eternal, like spiritual, that existed forever without end without any need for sustenance to perpetuate it's existance. The only such fire is God Himself; the consuming fire.
Genesis instructs us that God created all that is creation during the creation week. There is not any mention that God created the "eternal fire" during His creating of all that is! These three fires mentioned are the fires of Godly judgement which shall exist until their eternal purposes are met in the total annihilation of the things that God abhores. These are the "unquenchable" destructions of judgement delegated by God (Jer. 17:27; Mk. 9:43, 48). They are never put out! They exist forever until their tasks are finished. God is not a liar. He will put an end to sin, to hate, to evil, to suffering, to death, to torment, to wickedness in all places, to all who reject the government of God. He will no longer allow to exist anything that is unprofitable to His mighty purpose.
Only a man of few words will accept eternal hell. A man of many words (the entirety of the Bible) will discern absolute truth.
---The two options given of God are LIFE or DEATH! (Deut. 30:18) Each carries the same attribute which is ETERNAL. Many fully disregard the Words of God that calls all people to come and reason for themselves to choose LIFE or to choose DEATH. This is a desire to cleave to:
"everlasting fire" Matthew 18:8 & 25:41, "everlasting punishment" Matt. 25:46, "eternal damnation" Mark 3:29, "eternal judgement" Hebrews 6:2, and "eternal fire" Jude 7 as a proof-text for making all unrepentant sinners subject to some form of eternal/everlasting existance in some realm called hell --that God must create and allow to exist. Eternality, like the "image of God" is a gift that God has not given us until the returning of His Son!
p.s. If we do not stand up for the WILL, purpose, and intent of God, who will: What is evident to all is that it is our lack of Godly knowledge that can destroy us & "and none can keep alive his own soul" (Psalms 22:29)
