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The UK Bible Students Website Christian Biblical Studies
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By W. Resume
Scripture references are to the King James (Authorised) Version
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THE TEACHING OF
most religions is that when one dies, an invisible ʻsoulʼ departs the body and
ascends or descends to a region of bliss or terror.
This ancient myth lies at the root of the popular interest in novels and films
about supernatural entities, such as vampires and zombies, the so-called ʻundeadʼ. Most people probably don't really
believe in such monsters, but just enjoy frightening themselves silly.
In a twist of irony, the atheist comes closer to the truth on matters of dying and death than many Christians do. It is stating the obvious to say that there is a vast difference between aliveness and deadness. And it is not consistent with observation to maintain that a blow to the head can render one merely unconscious and unaware, while a similar blow delivered with more will result in death and immediate awareness.
Contrast and
Compare
The creation of Man is summarised in Gen. 2: 7 [emphasis ours]:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
The New International Version has ‘living being’. In the New English Bible it is ‘living creature’. In each case, these expressions are the translation of the Hebrew word, nephesh, which denotes a ‘breathing creature’. The equivalent Greek word is psuche, ‘breath’. The application of these words varies according to the context, as shown in the following texts:
OT
Lev. 5: 4 – the soul is
a person: ‘Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to
do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid
from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of
these.’
Prov. 19: 15 – an
indolent soul: ‘Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul
shall suffer hunger.’
Isa. 1: 14 – God’s
soul: ‘Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a
trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.’
Isa. 53: 10 – Christ’s soul: ‘Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.’
NT
John 12: 27 – Jesus’
soul: ‘Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from
this hour: but for this cause came I unto this
hour.’
Acts 2: 27 – Christ’s
soul: ‘Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption.’
Rom. 13: 1 – the
citizen’s soul: ‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there
is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of
God.’
Heb. 4: 12 – soul and spirit not the same: ‘For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’
The soul is a combination of body, the breath of life, and at least some degree of independent intelligence. The lower animals dogs, horses, cattle, birds are all souls. That is, they are sentient beings, the result of body and breath, and are able to see, hear, feel, taste, smell, and think. See Num. 31: 28 [emphasis ours]:
[L]evy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul [nephesh] of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep.
The writer of Ecclesiastes (3: 18-21) is clear on the subject:
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knoweth [or, Who can know if] the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
His is a common-sense animal observation, true for all generations of humanity, and even one who has no sympathy for the Bible at all will at least agree with this part of it. So, is there any difference at all between the human being and the animal?
You Big Gorilla,
You
The promotion of the doctrine of human evolution by Darwin and Wallace in the mid- to late-nineteenth century savaged Christian belief in Man as a special creation. The damage was further compounded by Oscar von Beringeʼs discovery in Uganda in 1902 of the mountain gorilla. This man-like creature, organised in a social structure, with characteristics and displays of emotion not unlike humans, presented an unsettling spectacle and, to many Christians, seemed to weigh against the claim that Man was a one-off species, fashioned in the image of God.
The teaching that humans evolved from lower animals is now overwhelmingly accepted as fact by most people, Christians among them. The notion of human evolution as a credible explanation of human origins may be of little consequence to the atheist, but for the Christian it interferes with a proper understanding of the Gospel message specifically, the doctrine of Christ's ransom-sacrifice for sin. The idea of human evolution strikes at the heart of Christian theology by denying the Adam-Jesus connection. St. Paul puts this relationship at the centre of his theology in Rom. 5: 18, comparing death with the promise of life:
Therefore as by the offence of one [Adam] judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Jesus] the free gift came upon all men until justification of life.
The Genesis account of Man's creation plainly states that he is composed of ordinary earth elements (ʻformed of the dustʼ), as are all other creatures. By his fall into sin, he lost his immunity to death, and began to die as animals die. The body disintegrates into the ground from which it came, leaving a few bones behind. The soul ceases to exist because it is one and the same with the man it is the man, the person, the being.
As a notch below the angels, the Scriptures declare Man to be superior to other beings on earth (Psa. 8: 4-8). In other words, the image of God in Man relates not to some spirit essence within him, but to his mentality and morality his ability to think as God thinks and to behave righteously. In its fallen condition, the human race is now only a grotesque shadow of the image of God.
The notion of being dead and alive at the same time applies to the entire human family. Once Adam was condemned to die, his offspring the entire human family shared his fate. The terminus is always in sight, and we all eventually finish up in the grave. All are dead in the sense that they are under the condemnation (judgement) of God, having no rightful claim to life on any plane of existence. The Apostle Paul describes this twilight condition as being ʻdead in trespasses and sinsʼ (Eph. 2: 1).
In Matt. 8: 22 we read of a disciple who was eager to follow Jesus, but who wanted to first ʻbury my fatherʼ, implying that he wished to remain with his elderly papa and look after him until he died. Jesusʼ reply, properly interpreted, is neither callous nor dismissive of the man's proper concern. Rather Jesus simultaneously conveys the urgency of His own mission (no delay) and the fact that those who do not accept Christ as Saviour are in a ʻdeadʼ condition. In effect, He says ʻLet them, those who do not wish to be saved, look after their own kind, but you follow Me and get life.ʼ Compare this with John 3: 36:
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Those who believe in Christ as Saviour enjoy cleansing from sin (justification by faith) and the beginnings of a new life here and now ʻnewness of lifeʼ (Rom. 6: 4). As for mankind in general, the good news is that God has promised that when Christ's kingdom is established in the earth, the whole human family, the living dead and the dead dead those in their graves will be given a fresh opportunity to get never-ending life under conditions of righteousness and peace, when the effects of the curse of sin, dying and death will be abolished (John 5: 28, 29):
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July 2014. The author asserts the usual moral rights to ownership of this article, but you are free to reproduce it without express permission. Please acknowledge the source.
