STUDY XII
THE SUBJECT OF THE ATONEMENT--MAN

What is Man?--The "Orthodox" Answer--The Scientific Answer-- The Bible Answer--Man's Body--The Spirit of Man--The Human Soul--Confusion Through Mistranslation--The Propagation of Souls--What is "Sheol," "Hades," to which all Souls Go, in the Interim Between Death and Resurrection?--The Scriptural Statements Severally Considered.

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou madest him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea." Psa. 8:4-8

WHAT great being is man that the Creator of the universe has been so interested in his welfare as to make so bountiful a provision for his reconciliation--even through the sacrifice of his Son? We should know thoroughly, this highest of God's earthly creatures, so far as possible: and yet, so limited are our powers of judgment, and so circumscribed our knowledge, that on this subject we are dependent almost entirely upon what our loving Creator has made known to us in his Word. Although the saying has become proverbial that "The greatest study of mankind is man," yet, strange to say, there are few subjects upon which mankind is more confused than this one--What is man? There are two general views on the subject, neither of which, we hold, is the correct, the Scriptural one. Though both have certain elements of truth connected with them, both are grievously wrong and misleading; so that even those who are not wholly deluded by them are nevertheless so influenced [E302] and confused by these errors that many truths are robbed of their force and weight, and many fallacies are given an appearance of truth. Our subject, therefore, is important to all who would know the truth, and have the full benefit of the same in its influence upon their hearts and lives. The subject is of special importance in connection with the topic under discussion, the Atonement. He who has not a clear conception of what man is, will find it difficult if not impossible, to clearly comprehend the Scriptural teachings relative to the atonement for man's sin--its operation and results.

We will here consider the general and so-called orthodox view of the question, What is man? then the strictly scientific view, and finally the Bible view, which, we hold, is different from both, much more reasonable than either, and the only ground of proper harmony between the two.

Orthodoxy's View of Man

The question, What is man? if answered from a so-called "orthodox theological" standpoint (which we dispute) would be about as follows: Man is a composite being of three parts, body, spirit and soul; the body is born after the usual manner of animal birth, except that at the time of birth God interposes, and in some inscrutable manner implants in the body a spirit and a soul, which are parts of himself, and being parts of God are indestructible, and can never die. These two parts, spirit and soul, "orthodoxy" is unable to separate and distinguish, and hence uses the terms interchangeably at convenience. Both terms (spirit and soul) are understood to mean the real man, while the flesh is considered to be merely the outward clothing of the real man, in which he dwells for the years of his earthly life, as in a house. At death, they say, the real man is let out of this prison-house of flesh, and finds himself in a condition much more congenial.

In other words, "orthodoxy" claims that the real man is not an earthly being, but a spirit being wholly unadapted [E303] to the earth, except through its experiences in the fleshly body. When set free from the body by death it is theorized that a great blessing has been experienced, although the man, while he lived, made every effort to continue to live in the fleshly house, using medicines and travels and every hygienic appliance and invention to prolong the life in the flesh, which, theoretically, it is claimed is illy adapted to his uses and enjoyments. The "liberation" called "death" is esteemed to be another step in the evolutionary process: and in many minds such a future evolution from earthly to heavenly conditions, from animal to spiritual conditions, is regarded as a reasonable proposition and a logical outcome of the scientific conclusion that man was not created a man, but evolved, through long ages, from the protoplasm of prehistoric times to the microbe, from the microbe, by various long stages and journeys to the monkey, and from the monkey finally to manhood. It is further claimed that manhood, in its earliest stage, was very inferior to the manhood of the present time, that evolution has been bringing mankind forward, and that the next step for every human being is a transformation or evolution into spirit conditions, as angels and gods or as devils.

All this is very flattering to nineteenth century pride, for though, on one hand, it acknowledges an ancestry of the very lowest intelligence, it claims for itself today the very highest attainments, as well as a future exaltation. Nor is this view confined to the people of civilized lands: in a general way all heathen people, even savages, have practically the same thought respecting man, except that they do not usually trace back his origin so far. This view finds support in all the heathen philosophies, and to a considerable extent it is supported by the scientific theorizers of the present day, who, although they define the subject quite differently, nevertheless love to indulge in hopes of a future life along the lines of evolution, and experience a gratification of their vanity along lines which do not at all accord with their own scientific deductions respecting the spark of life in man. [E304]

Man as Seen by Science

The scientific answer to the question, What is man? stated in simple language, would be: Man is an animal of the highest type yet developed and known. He has a body which differs from the bodies of other animals, in that it is the highest and noblest development. His brain structure corresponds to that of the lower animals, but is of a better developed and more refined order, with added and larger capacities, which constitute man by nature the lord, the king of the lower creation. Man's breath or spirit of life is like that of other animals. Man's organism and spark of life are from his progenitors, in the same manner that the beasts receive their life and bodies from their progenitors.

Science recognizes every man as a soul or sentient being; but as to the future, the eternity of man's being, science has no suggestion whatever to offer, finding nothing whereon to base a conclusion, or even a reasonable hypothesis. Science, however, while it does not speculate, hopes for a future along the lines of evolution, which it believes it can trace in the past. Science is proud of the said evolutionary steps already accomplished by its god, natural law, and is hopeful that the same operations of natural law will (without a personal God) eventually bring mankind to still more godlike and masterful conditions than at present.

Man from the Bible Standpoint

The Bible view, while agreeing with both of the foregoing in some respects, controverts both most absolutely along some of their most important lines. The Bible does not speculate, but properly, as the voice or revelation of God, it speaks with authority and emphasis, declaring the beginning, the present and the future of man. The Bible view is the only consistent one, and hence the only truly scientific and orthodox view of this subject. But the Bible presentation [E305] does not pander to human pride; it does not make of man his own evolutor, nor does it commit this to a god of nature, which is no God. The Bible view respecting man gives God the glory for his original creation (Adam), in the divine likeness; and lays upon man the blame for failure to maintain that likeness, and for a fall into sin, and all the consequences of sin--mental and physical and moral impoverishment unto death. The Bible view honors God again, in revealing to us his mercy and magnanimity toward man in his fallen estate, in the provision for man's redemption and for his restitution to his original condition, at the hands of his Redeemer, during the Millennium.

A fruitful source of confusion in the minds of Christian people, when studying the nature of man, and particularly when attempting to obtain the Scriptural views upon the subject, is their failure to distinguish between mankind in general and the Church, the little flock, which God is selecting from amongst men during the present age, and fitting and preparing for new and superhuman conditions--spiritual conditions. Failing to "rightly divide the word of truth," they apply to all men the statements and promises of the Scriptures, especially of the New Testament, which are addressed only to the Church class, and which have no bearing whatever upon the restitution hopes held out for all mankind. These "exceeding great and precious promises" are proportionately as untrue of the world as they are true of the Church. Thus, for instance, the Apostle's words, "The body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness" (Rom. 8:10), which apply only to the Church: thus the special and peculiar conditions of the call of the Church during this Gospel age, is interpreted to mean the same with respect to all humanity. Here the words "dead" and "life" are used in a relative sense, of those who after being justified through faith, by the grace of God, are at once reckoned as freed from death-condemnation, to the intent that they may present their bodies living sacrifices, reckoning their bodies and treating them as dead, so [E306] far as earthly rights and interests are concerned: and reckoning themselves as no longer fleshly or human beings, but as "new creatures," begotten to a new nature through the promises of God. As such, justified and sanctified believers (the Church) recognize themselves, from the divine standpoint, as having obtained a new spirit of life through the operation of faith in Christ and obedience to him. But such uses of the words "dead" and "life" in respect to the world would be wholly improper, for the world has no other nature than the one human nature; it has not, in any sense of the word, been begotten again.

Another text frequently misapplied to the world, which belongs to the Lord's consecrated people, says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (2 Cor. 4:7) Here the Church alone is referred to--those who have received the treasure of the new mind, the new nature. They have this treasure, or new nature, in the natural body, which is reckoned as dead, and here denominated an "earthen vessel." The illustration is quite a correct one for the class to whom it is applied, the Church; but it is wholly incorrect to apply it to mankind in general, and to suppose that every human being has a heavenly treasure or new nature, and that thus every human body is an earthen vessel or receptacle for such new nature. The world has but one nature--the human nature: it has no new nature, either as a treasure or in any other sense; nor is there any promise that it will ever have. Quite to the contrary, the highest possible aspiration ever to be opened to humanity, according to the divine Word of promise, is "restitution"--to be restored to the full perfection of the human nature, lost in Eden, redeemed at Calvary. Acts 3:19-23

Similarly we might discuss scores of statements of the New Testament, which are not applicable to mankind in general, but merely to the consecrated Church, begotten again by the holy Spirit to a new spirit nature. It will be profitable for all to notice carefully the salutations by which the apostles introduce their various epistles. They [E307] are not addressed, as is supposed by many, to mankind in general, but to the Church, "the saints," the "household of faith."

Be it remembered, therefore, that in discussing, What is man? in this chapter, we are not discussing what is the Church, the "new creature" in Christ Jesus, nor what is the spirit nature to which the Church is already begotten of the Spirit and if faithful shall be made partakers to the fullest extent in the first resurrection. On the contrary, we are discussing the first Adam and his children. We want to know who and what we are by nature, as a race--What is man? Thus we can best understand from what man fell, into what man fell, from what man was redeemed, and to what man shall be restored, and other cognate subjects.

Man--Body, Spirit, Soul

Accepting the standard definition of the word "animal"-- "a sentient living organism," we need have no hesitation in classing man as one of and the chief and king over earth's animals, and thus far the Scriptures are in full accord with the deductions of science. Note the text which introduces this chapter: in it the Prophet David particularly points out that man, in his nature, is lower than the angels, and a king and head over all earthly creatures, the representative of God to all the lower orders of sentient beings.

The Scriptures nowhere declare, either directly or by implication, that a piece, part or spark of the divine being is communicated to every human creature. This is a baseless assumption on the part of those who desire to construct a theory, and are short of material for it. And this baseless hypothesis, that there is a portion of God communicated to every human creature at birth, has been made the basis of many false doctrines, grossly derogatory to the divine character-- disrespectful to divine wisdom, justice, love and power.

It is this assumption, that a spark of the divine being is [E308] communicated at birth to every human creature, which necessitated the theory of a hell of eternal torment. The suggestion is that if man had been created as other animals were created, he might have died as other animals die, without fear of an eternity of torture; but that God having imparted to man a spark of his own life, man is therefore eternal, because God is eternal: and that hence it is impossible for God to destroy his creature even though such destruction might become desirable. And if man cannot be destroyed it is held that he must exist to all eternity somewhere: and since the vast majority are admittedly evil, and only a "little flock" saintly and pleasing to God, it is held that the unsaintly must have a future of torment proportioned to the future of bliss accorded to the saintly few. Otherwise, it is admitted that it would be more to man's interest, more to God's glory, and more to the peace and prosperity of the universe, if the wicked could all be destroyed. The claim is that God, having the power to create, has not the power to destroy man, his own creation, because a spark of divine life was in some unexplained manner connected with him. We hope to show that this entire proposition is fallacious: that it is not only without Scriptural support, but that it is a fabrication of the Dark Ages, most positively contradicted by the Scriptures.

The Scriptures recognize man as composed of two elements, body and spirit. These two produce soul, sentient being, intelligence, the man himself, the being, or soul. The term "body" applies merely to the physical organism. It neither relates to the life which animates it, nor to the sentient being which is the result of animation. A body is not a man, although there could be no man without a body. The spirit of life is not the man; although there could be no manhood without the spirit of life. The word "spirit" is, in the Old Testament Scriptures, from the Hebrew word ruach. Its signification primarily is breath; and hence we have the expression "breath of life," or "spirit of life," because the spark of life once started is supported by breathing. [E309]

The words "spirit of life," however, signify more than merely breath; they relate to the spark of life itself, without which breath would be an impossibility. This spark of life we receive from our fathers, it being nourished and developed through our mothers.* It is quite untrue that the spark of human life is communicated in a miraculous way, any more than is the spark of brute life. The lower animals, the horse, the dog, cattle, etc., are begotten of the males and born of the females of their respective genera, in precisely the same manner as the human species is produced, nor does anything in Scripture suggest the contrary. It is purely human invention, designed to uphold a false theory, that claims divine interposition in the birth of human offspring. To suppose that God is the direct creator of every human infant born into the world is to suppose what the Scriptures contradict, for thus he would be the author of sin and of confusion and of imperfection, whereas the Scriptures declare, "His work is perfect." (Deut. 32:4) No, no! the mentally and physically and morally blemished and deformed are not God's workmanship. They are far removed, far fallen from the condition of their perfect progenitors, Adam and Eve, for whose creation alone God takes the responsibility. Those who claim that God directly creates every human being make out that God is responsible for all the idiocy and insanity and imbecility in the world: but both science and Scripture declare that the children inherit from their progenitors their vices and their virtues, their weakness and their talents. The Apostle most explicitly declares, "By one man's disobedience sin entered into the world and death by [as a result of] sin: and thus death passed upon all men; because all men had [by heredity] become sinners." The Prophet refers to the same thing when he declares, "The fathers ate a sour grape [sin] and the children's teeth are set on edge"--they are all depraved. Rom. 5:12; Jer. 31:29,30; Ezek. 18:2

But some one will inquire, Might it not be possible that God had implanted a spark of his immortal divinity in our first parents, and that thus that spark descends nolens volens to posterity? Let us examine the Scriptural statement respecting this subject, and in so doing let us remember that there is no other revelation than the account of the Scriptures open to any one else, hence we may know all there is to be known on the subject by anybody. What do we find in the Genesis account? We find indeed that man's creation is particularly mentioned, while that of the brute creation is not so particularly mentioned. We find, however, that the statements made are in very simple language, and that they contain no suggestion whatever of the impartation of some superhuman spark of being. Man's superiority over the beast, according to the account given in Genesis, consists not in his having a different kind of breath or spirit, but in his having a higher form, a superior body, a finer organism-- endowed with a brain organism which enables him to reason upon planes far above and beyond the intelligence of the lower animals, the brute creation. We find that it is in these respects that man was created a fleshly likeness of his Creator, who is a spirit being. John 4:24

The Spirit of Man

As already seen* the word "spirit" in our Common Version Bibles translates the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma; and hence to rightly appreciate the word spirit in God's Word we must keep always in memory the meaning attached to the originals, which it translates. As we have seen, "spirit" primarily means wind, and secondarily was made to apply to any invisible power. In connection with God we saw that it signifies that he is powerful but invisible; and used in reference to God's influence and operation, it implies that they are by an invisible power. It is applied to mind because it is a power that is invisible, intangible; words [E311] are also invisible, yet powerful; life, although all-important and all pervading, is an invisible power or quality, like electricity: hence the word "spirit" is applied to all of these various things. As a result, we have the Scriptures speaking of the spirit of our minds, the invisible power of the mind; the spirit of a man, a man's mental powers and will; the spirit of life, the power of living, which actuates our bodies and all creation; the Spirit of God, the power or influence which God exerts, either upon animate or inanimate things; the spirit of wisdom, a wise mind; the spirit of love, a mind or disposition actuated by love; a spirit of evil and of malice, a mind or disposition actuated by maliciousness; the spirit of truth, the influence or power exerted by the truth; the spirit of the world, the influence or power which the world exerts. Likewise, heavenly beings are described as spirit beings, that is, invisible beings, possessed of power, intelligence, etc. This is applicable, not only to God, the Father, of whom our Lord Jesus said, "God is a Spirit," but it is applicable also to our Lord Jesus since his resurrection, for of him it is declared, "Now the Lord is that Spirit." It is applied also to angels and to the Church, which is assured that in the first resurrection each overcomer shall have a spirit body. It is applied in the Scriptures also to Satan and his associates, spirit beings, invisible, yet powerful.

Spirit in Re the New Nature in the New Testament

In considering the use of the word spirit in connection with man, we remark:

(1) The words "spirit" and "spiritual" in the New Testament are often used to refer to (a) the will, especially to the new mind of the "saints," begotten by the Word and Spirit of God. The "new creatures in Christ" are called to a change of nature, from human to spiritual, and are promised that if faithful they shall in the resurrection have (b) spirit bodies like unto Christ's resurrection body, and like unto the heavenly Father's glorious person. In view of this, their future prospect, the hope of the Church is designated as [E312] (c) spiritual and heavenly, in contrast with the hopes and promises to which the world of mankind will become heirs during the Millennium. Spirit is also used (d) in referring to angels, who by nature are spirit beings--not flesh beings. But the thought of invisibility always attaches to the words "spirit" and "spiritual" whenever and wherever used.

A few illustrations of such uses of these words follow:

(a) "Paul purposed in the spirit [pneuma--mind, will]... to go to Jerusalem." Acts 19:21

(a) "Paul's spirit [pneuma--mind, feelings] was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." Acts 17:16

(a) "Paul was pressed in spirit [pneuma--in mind, he was mentally energized] and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ." Acts 18:5

(a) "[Apollos] was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit [pneuma--of ardent mind] he spake and taught diligently." Acts 18:25

(a) "God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit [pneuma--my new mind, my new heart, my renewed will] in the gospel of his Son." Rom. 1:9

(a) "Glorify God in your body and in your spirit [pneuma-- mind] which are God's." 1 Cor. 6:20

(a) "I verily as absent in body but present in spirit [pneuma--mentally] have judged already as though I were present." 1 Cor. 5:3

(a) "A meek and quiet spirit [pneuma--mind, disposition]." 1 Pet. 3:4

(b) "It is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual [pneumatikos] body." 1 Cor. 15:44

(b) "There is an animal body and there is a spiritual [pneumatikos] body." 1 Cor. 15:44

(b) "That was not first which is spiritual [pneumatikos]." 1 Cor. 15:46

(b) "Afterward that which is spiritual [pneumatikos]." 1 Cor. 15:46 [E313]

(c) "To be spiritually minded [pneuma--to have a mind controlled by God's holy Spirit or will] is life and peace." Rom. 8:6

(c) "Ye which are spiritual [pneumatikos--spirit begotten and possessed of the new mind] restore such an one in the spirit [pneuma--disposition] of meekness." Gal. 6:1

(c) "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings [pneumatikos--blessings of a spirit kind] in heavenly privileges in Christ." Eph. 1:3

(c) "Be filled with the spirit [pneuma--the holy Spirit of God] speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs [pneumatikos--songs in accord with your new spirit]." Eph. 5:18,19

(c) "That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding [pneumatikos-- understanding of all matters connected with your new spiritual relationship to God and his plan]." Col. 1:9

(c) "Ye are built up a spiritual household [pneumatikos--a family or household of a spirit order or kind]." 1 Pet. 2:5

(d) "A damsel possessed of a spirit [pneuma--an invisible power] of divination"--through fellowship with the fallen spirit-beings. Acts 16:16

(d) "Paul...turned and said to the spirit [pneuma--the evil spirit-being possessing the woman] I command thee... to come out of her." Acts 16:18

(d) "The evil spirits [pneuma] went out of them." Acts 19:12,13

(d) "And the evil spirit [pneuma] answered and said." Acts 19:15

(d) "The Sadducees say that there is...neither angel nor spirit [pneuma--spirit being]." Acts 23:8

(d) "If a spirit [pneuma] or an angel hath spoken to him let us not fight against God." Acts 23:9 [E314]

Spirit in the Old Testament

(2) The word "spirit" is used of mankind in general, especially in the Old Testament; but always either with reference to (e) the spirit of life, the animating spark which God first enkindled in Adam and which thence (impaired) descended to all his posterity--which is an invisible power or quality; or (f) the spirit of the mind, the will--an invisible power which controls the life.

Ruach, Pneuma--an Animating Power

When speaking of man's creation it is the spirit of life that is understood--the breath of life. The Scriptures clearly show that this spirit of life is common to all God's creatures, and is not possessed exclusively by man, as the following Scripture quotations will clearly demonstrate.

(e) "All flesh wherein is the breath of life [ruach--the spirit or breath of life of all flesh]." Gen. 6:17; 7:15

(e) "All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life [margin, ruach--the spirit or power of life]." Gen. 7:22

(e) "The spirit of Jacob their father revived [ruach--the vital or life powers of Jacob revived]." Gen. 45:27

(e) "And when he [Samson] had drunk, his spirit [ruach] came again and he revived [his strength, vigor, energy returned to him]." Judges 15:19

(e) "In whose hand is...the breath [ruach] of all mankind. [The spirit of life of all mankind is in the divine power]." Job 12:10

(e) "O God, the God of the spirits [ruach--life-power, spirit of life] of ALL FLESH, shall one man sin and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?" Num. 16:22

The theory that the distinction between man and beast consisted in a different spirit of life, a different kind of life, and that at death the one went up and the other down [E315] seems to have been very old amongst the world's philosophers; for we find Solomon, the wise man, querying:

(e) "Who knoweth [who can prove] that the spirit [ruach-- spirit of life] of man goeth upward and that the spirit [ruach--spirit of life] of the beast goeth downward to the earth?" (Eccl. 3:19-21) Solomon's own understanding he gives just previously, saying:

(e) "That which befalleth the sons of men [death] befalleth beasts; even one [the same] thing befalleth them: as the one dieth so dieth the other; yea they have all one breath [ruach--spirit of life, breath of life]; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast"--in this respect, in the matter of having a different kind of life--his pre-eminence must be sought and found elsewhere, as we shall see.

(e) "Into thine hand I commit my spirit [ruach--spirit of life or vital energy]." Psa. 31:5

This was the prophetic declaration of our Lord Jesus' dying words. He had received the spirit of life from the Father as a gift: he had, in obedience to the Father's plan, become a man to be man's Redeemer: and when yielding up his spirit of life or vital energy, he declared his reliance upon God's promise to give the spirit of life again, by a resurrection.

Mankind received the spirit of life from God, the fountain of life, through father Adam. Adam forfeited his right to the power or spirit of life by disobedience, and gradually relinquished his hold upon it--dying slowly for nine hundred and thirty years. Then the body returned to the dust as it was before creation, and the spirit of life, the privilege of living, the power or permission of living, returned to God who gave that privilege or power: just as any contingent privilege or favor returns to the giver if its conditions are not complied with. (Eccl. 12:7) Nothing in this text implies that the spirit of life "wings its flight back to God," as some would represent; for the spirit of life is not an intelligence, nor a person, but merely a power or privilege which has been [E316] forfeited and hence reverts to the original giver of that power or privilege. The thought is that man having sinned has no further life-rights: the return of his forfeited life-rights to God, and the return of his flesh to dust, reduces his condition to exactly what it was before he was created.

But as our Lord Jesus had hope in the divine promise for a return of his "spirit of life" or life powers and rights under divine arrangement, so by reason of our Lord's redemptive sacrifice certain hopes and promises are opened to all mankind through "Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant." (Heb. 12:24) Hence believers "sorrow not as others who have no hope." Our Redeemer purchased the spirit of life-rights which father Adam had forfeited for himself and all his family. Now, therefore, believers can for themselves (and, by a knowledge of God's plan, for others also) commit their spirits (their powers of life) to God's hand also, as did our Lord and as did Stephen--full of faith that God's promise of a resurrection would be fulfilled. A resurrection will mean to the world a reorganization of a human body, and its vivifying or quickening with life-energy, the spirit of life (Hebrew, ruach; Greek, pneuma). To the Gospel Church, sharers in the "first [chief] resurrection," it will mean the impartation of the spirit of life or life-energy (Hebrew, ruach; Greek, pneuma) to a spirit body. 1 Cor. 15:42-45

In that graphic picture of earthly resurrection furnished us in Ezekiel's prophecy (37:5-10,13,14) the relationship of the body and the spirit of life, "the breath," is clearly presented. It matters not that the prophet uses this merely as a symbol, it nevertheless shows (proves) that a human organism has no life until it receives the ruach--the breath of life-- which, as elsewhere shown, is common to all animals, none of whom can live without it. Let us notice Ezekiel's statements very critically, as follows:

(e) "I will cause breath [ruach--spirit of life, life-energy] to enter into you, and ye shall live."

(e) "And I will...bring up flesh upon you, and cover [E317] you with skin, and put breath [ruach--spirit of life, life-energy] in you, and ye shall live."

(e) "And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath [ruach--spirit of life, life-energy] in them."

(e) "And he said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind [ruach--spirit of life, life-energy--margin, breath] and say unto the wind [ruach--spirit of life, breath of life], Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds [ruach] O breath [ruach--breath or spirit of life], and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."

(e) "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath [ruach--spirit of life, breath of life, living energy] came into them, and they lived."

(e) "And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit [ruach--spirit of life, breath of life] in you, and ye shall live."

This spirit of life or power of life given to Adam by his Creator he was privileged to keep forever if obedient. He forfeited this right by disobedience, and the right to life reverted to the great Giver; not as a person, nor as a thing, but as a right or privilege, the spirit of life returns or reverts to God, who gave that right or privilege conditionally, and whose conditions were violated. Eccl. 12:7

(e) "No man hath power over the spirit [ruach--spirit of life, spark of life] to retain the spirit [ruach--spirit of life], breath of life." Eccl. 8:8

By God's grace those forfeited life-rights or privileges which each man surrenders to God in death have all been purchased with the precious blood, and the purchaser is announced as the new Life-giver, regenerator or father for the race, who will give life, and that more abundantly, to all who will ultimately receive him.

We will give but one instance from the New Testament:

(e) "The body without the spirit [pneuma--life-spark, breath of lives] is dead." Jas. 2:26 [E318]

Ruach, Pneuma--the Mind, the Will

Since the mind or will is an invisible power or influence, it is represented by the same words in the Hebrew and Greek languages, as the following examples will show:

(f) "Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit [ruach--mind, disposition]." 1 Sam. 1:15

(f) "A fool uttereth all his mind [ruach--plans, thoughts, mind, purpose]." Prov. 29:11

(f) "My spirit [ruach--mind, courage] was overwhelmed." Psa. 77:3

(f) "My spirit [ruach--mind] made diligent search." Psa. 77:6

(f) "He that is of a faithful spirit [ruach--disposition, mind]." Prov. 11:13

(f) "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits [ruach--the mind, thoughts, motives]." Prov. 16:2

(f) "Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit [ruach--disposition, will, mind] before a fall." Prov. 16:18

(f) "Better to be of an humble spirit [ruach--mind, disposition]." Prov. 16:19

(f) "Vanity and vexation of spirit [ruach--mind]." Eccl. 6:9

(f) "Patient in spirit [ruach--mind, disposition]...proud in spirit [ruach--mind, disposition]...hasty in thy spirit [ruach--mind, disposition]." Eccl. 7:8,9

A few illustrations from the New Testament:

(f) "The child [John] grew and waxed strong in spirit [pneuma--mind, character]." Luke 1:80

(f) "Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit [pneuma-- mind, disposition, character] serving the Lord." Rom. 12:11

(f) "Now you have received not the spirit [pneuma--disposition, mind] of the world." 1 Cor. 2:12

(f) "I had no rest in my spirit [pneuma--mind]." 2 Cor. 2:13 [E319]

(f) "Be renewed in the spirit [pneuma--character, disposition] of your mind." Eph. 4:23

(f) "The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit [pneuma-- mind, disposition]." 1 Pet. 3:4

These Scriptural uses of these original words show that our English word spirit is a good equivalent, for we not only speak of the spirit of life, but also of a gentle spirit, a good spirit, an angry spirit or mood, a bitter spirit and a fiery spirit: and we also use these expressions in respect to the lower animals as well as man. The fact we are proving is abundantly demonstrated--namely, that the spirit is not the real man, nor another man, but that this word, when used in reference to man's creation, signifies simply the life-spark or life-power, which is common to all animals.

Neshamah--the Breath of Lives

Although the word ruach is sometimes translated "breath," the Hebrews had another word for breath, viz., neshamah. It occurs twenty-six times, and in nineteen of these it is translated "breath"--"inspiration" once, "spirit" twice, "souls" once, "blast" three times. As samples of the meaning of this word, and as proving that the word simply signifies life power, and in no sense of the word conveys any thought of everlasting life, or immortality, note the following uses of the word:

"The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed [naphach--inflated, blew] into his nostrils the breath [neshamah] of lives [caiyah]." Gen. 2:7

"All flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath [neshamah] of life [caiyah] of all that was in the dry land died." Gen. 7:21,22

These first two occurrences of the word neshamah in the Bible are abundantly sufficient to prove our contention that the word has no reference to immortality, nor to an immortal [E320] principle, but simply refers to vitality, life power. This life power, we are told, was given to Adam, and the same life power, by the second text quoted, is declared to have been in all the dry land animals, fowl, cattle, beast and creeping things, as well as in man, and when deprived of this breath of life, the declaration is that all these souls or beings died as a result--man as well as the lower creatures. They died alike, except that there is a divine purpose respecting man, which in due time provided a ransom, and will in further due time provide the deliverance promised from the power of death by a resurrection of the being, of the soul.

A Human Soul

Many in reading the account of creation in Genesis have noted the fact stated that when God had formed man of the dust of the ground, and had communicated to him the breath (spirit) of life, the record is, "Man became a living soul." This statement to the average reader taken in connection with his general misconception of the meaning of the word "soul," as misrepresented to him by those who should have instructed him properly, and should have understood the subject themselves, is sufficient to bewilder him and leads him to think that somehow there is some basis for the prevalent error which he does not comprehend, but which he supposes his chosen theological teachers have investigated and proven beyond peradventure.

Not comprehending the meaning of the word soul, many feel at liberty to use it in a reckless manner, and hence they reverse the Scriptural statement and instead of speaking of man as being a soul, they speak of man as having a soul, which is a very different thought. It is necessary, therefore, that each truth-seeker should, so far as possible, divest his mind of prejudice on the subject, and especially with respect to things and features which he admits he does not understand; because it is the natural tendency to give attributes [E321] and powers to that which is mysterious and not comprehended. Thus the general idea of a soul is that it is wonderfully intelligent, possessed of wonderful powers, that it is indestructible, intangible, and incomprehensible.

A Methodist bishop is credited with having given the following definition of a soul, which certainly accords well with so-called "orthodox" theories, even if it is absurd when closely analyzed--"It is without interior or exterior, without body, shape, or parts, and you could put a million of them in a nutshell." These various things are predicated of a soul, to help fill out a theory which is wholly erroneous. The theory is that the soul is the real being, a spark of divinity, possessed of divine quality and intelligent life, etc., separate and apart from the body; and that it inhabits the human body for a time, and uses it for a house, and when the body is worn out or disabled abandons it. Inasmuch as no one ever saw a soul enter a body, and inasmuch as a soul cannot be found while it is in the body, by the most critical examination, and with all the improved appliances of the microscope, photograph and "X" rays, therefore it is supposed that it is "without a body, without shape, and without parts"; and since it is supposed to be so small that it cannot be distinguished by a microscope, it might as well be said that you could put fifty millions of them in a nutshell. Really, the bishop gave an excellent definition of nothing; and all will agree that a hundred millions of nothings could be put into the smallest kind of a nutshell and have room to spare.

But what foundation is there for such wild speculation? We answer, It is wholly unwarranted. It is the result of man's taking his own theory of a future life, and rejecting the divine theory and plan. Human theory says, There must be something which never dies, else there can be no future life. The divine theory says, The same God who created in the beginning is able to resurrect the dead. This is the conflict between the Word of God and all the human theories of earth amongst the civilized as well as amongst [E322] the barbarians: all human theories teach that man does not die, and hence has no need of a Life-giver and a resurrection. The Bible theory is that man does die, and that without the Life-giver, and without a resurrection, death would indeed end all, and there would be no future life.

It is to support its theory that the world, and all its religious books (including, we are sorry to say, the majority of works on eschatology written by professed Christians), teach the doctrine of the immortality of the soul--that there is a soul in man, possessed of a separate life from his body, and that it is immortal, indestructible, and therefore destined to an eternity of pain or pleasure. We come then to the inquiry:

What Is a Soul?

Examining this question from the Bible standpoint we will find that man has a body and has a spirit, but is a soul. Science concurs with the Scriptures in this. Indeed, one of the sciences, Phrenology, undertakes to treat the skulls of men and the lower animals as indexes and to read therefrom the natural traits and characteristics of the owners: and do not all men find themselves possessed of some ability in judging character physiologically? All can discern between the intellectual and the idiotic, between the kindly benevolent and the viciously brutal. Those who have not learned that organism (bodily form) is indissolubly connected with nature, character and disposition have made poor use of life's lessons and are unprepared to pass judgment on our topic or any other.

The word "soul," as found in the Scriptures, signifies sentient being; that is, a being possessed of powers of sense, sense-perception. With minds freed from prejudice, let us go with this definition to the Genesis account of man's creation, and note that (1) the organism or body was formed; (2) the spirit of life, called "breath of life," was communicated; (3) living [E323] soul, or sentient being, resulted. This is very simple, and easily understood. It shows that the body is not the soul, nor is the spirit or breath of life the soul; but that when these two were united by the Lord, the resultant quality or condition was living man, living being--a living soul, possessed of perceptive powers. There is nothing mysterious about this--no intimation that a spark of divinity was infused into humanity, any more than into the lower animals. Indeed, while the creation of the lower animals is passed over and not particularly described, we may know that with them, as well, the process must have been somewhat similar. We know that there could be no dog without a dog organism or body, nor without spirit or breath of life in that body. The body of the dog that had never been animated would not be a dog; it requires first the infusion of the spark of life, the breath of life, then doghood begins. The same would apply to all animals.

In full accord with this, we now call attention to a fact which will surprise many; viz., that according to the Scriptural account every dog is a soul, every horse is a soul, every cow is a soul, every bird and every fish are souls. That is to say, these are all sentient creatures, possessed of powers of sense-perception. True, some of them are on a higher and some on a lower plane than others; but the word soul properly and Scripturally applies to creatures on the lower planes as well as to man, the highest and noblest--to fish, reptiles, birds, beasts, man. They are all souls. Mark, we do not say that they have souls, in the ordinary and mistaken sense of that term, yet they all do have souls, in the sense of having life, being, existence--they are living souls. Let us prove this:

In the first, second and ninth chapters of Genesisthe words "living soul" are applied in the Hebrew language to the lower animals nine times, but the translators (as though careful to protect the false but common vagary respecting a soul, derived from Platonic philosophy) sedulously guarded their work, so that, so far as possible, the English [E324] reader is kept in ignorance of this fact--that the word soul is common to the lower creatures, and as applicable to them as to man in inspired Scripture usage. How else could it happen that in all of these cases, and in many other instances throughout the Scriptures, they have carefully covered the thought, by using another English word to translate the Hebrew word, which, in the case of man, is rendered "soul"? So carefully have they guarded this point that only in one place in the Bible is this word translated "soul," in connection with the lower creatures, viz., in Num. 31:28, and there, very evidently, they were compelled to show the matter, by reason of the peculiar construction of the sentence--no other translation being reasonably possible. The passage reads:

"Levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons and of the beeves and of the asses and of the sheep." Here it will be noticed that the word "soul" is used respecting the lower creatures as well as in reference to man; and so it would appear elsewhere in the Scriptures, had the translators been free from the warp and twist of their false theories on this subject.

Let us now notice the nine texts in Genesis in which the Hebrew original of the word soul (neh-phesh) occurs in connection with the lower animals:

"God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving [creeping] creature that hath life [Heb., neh-phesh-- soul]." (Gen. 1:20) Note that the marginal reading is soul; and that this was on the fifth creative day or period, long before man's creation.

"God created great whales, and every living creature [Heb., neh-phesh--living soul] that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly." (Gen. 1:21) This also was in the fifth "day," before man's creation. These were fish-souls.

"God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature [Heb., neh-phesh--living soul] after his kind--cattle and creeping thing and beast." (Gen. 1:24) These were dry-land [E325] souls, higher than the fishes--but man, human soul or being, had not yet been created.

"And God said...To every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life [living soul--neh-phesh] I have given every green herb for meat." (Gen. 1:30) Here the lower animals are specified, and it is distinctly declared that they are all living souls--in exactly the same terms that refer to man.

"Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air;...and whatever Adam called every living creature [Heb., living soul--neh-phesh], that was the name thereof." (Gen. 2:19) Comment here is unnecessary: there can be no question that soul is not exclusively a human part or quality, but rightly understood is applicable to all sentient creatures from the lowest to the highest-- all creatures possessed of sensibilities.

"Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you... but flesh with the life thereof [Heb., flesh, soul--neh-phesh] which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." (Gen. 9:3,4) Here the animals which man may eat are not only declared to possess soul or being, but their blood is said to represent their existence, being or soul, and hence man is forbidden to use blood as food--forbidden to cultivate blood-thirstiness.

"Behold I establish my covenant with you [Noah] and with your seed after you; and with every living creature [Heb., living soul--neh-phesh] that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth." (Gen. 9:9,10) A very plain statement that all living creatures are souls as well as man--though inferior to him in nature, organism, etc.

"This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature [Heb., living soul--neh-phesh]." (Gen. 9:12) What could be more explicit than this?

"I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature [Heb., every living soul--neh-phesh] of all flesh." Gen. 9:15 [E326]

The same expression exactly is repeated in verse 16. And there is no room for cavil as to the meaning when the veil of mistranslation is lifted and we catch the thought God wished us to receive from his Word.

We might similarly proceed through other books of the Bible, but we have quoted sufficient to establish our contention before any reasonable mind--that soul in Scriptural usage as properly applies to the lower animals as to man; and hence that all claims or theories built upon the idea that man's hopes of a future life and his present superiority over lower animals result from his being a soul and they not, is a false theory and needs radical reconstruction if we would see matters from the true standpoint of divine revelation.

But let no one misunderstand us to teach that because all living, moving creatures, from a mite to an elephant and from a tadpole to a whale are living souls, therefore all these must have a future life, either by a transfer to spirit conditions or by a resurrection future. Such a thought would be arrant nonsense--insanity--without a shadow of reason. Billions of living souls on these lowest planes of animal nature are born every minute, while other billions die every minute.

Our argument is that man is a soul or being of the highest order--the king and lord over the lower orders of souls or sentient beings, yet one of them--an earthly, human animal soul; and yet so grandly constituted originally (Adam) that he was properly described as in the likeness of God--the image of him that created him.

Man as a soul is differentiated from the lower animals or souls by reason of his higher organism: not merely is his superiority indicated by his upright form; it is witnessed to by his superior mental endowments, which are Godlike and are reflected in his countenance. It is in his mental and moral endowments rather than in physical form that man was created in divine likeness. While many of the lower orders of animal soul or being possess reasoning powers and demonstrate them in thousands of ways, yet each has a level [E327] beyond which no progress can be made; but man's reasoning powers are almost unlimited, because he was created an "image of God," "the likeness of him that created him." And notwithstanding man's fall into sin and his thousands of years of gross darkness and degradation we can still see Godlikeness--especially in those who have accepted Christ's ministry of reconciliation to God, and have again become "sons of God," and who are seeking to be conformed to the image of God's dear Son.

To illustrate: horses, dogs and birds may be taught the meaning of many words so as to be able to understand many things pertaining to life's affairs. They often demonstrate their reasoning powers, and some are able to count-- as high as twenty: but who would attempt to teach a horse or a dog or a bird algebra or geometry or astronomy? The highest of the lower animals can be taught a certain degree of moral honesty and obligation to their masters--not to kill sheep, not to bite, kick, etc., but who would attempt to teach his dumb brutes the Decalogue? They may be taught a certain kind of love for their master and his friends, but who would think of teaching them to love or worship God, or more than mere endurance of enemies who had despitefully used them.

The point to be noticed is that all these differences are not by reason of the lower animals having a different kind of breath or spirit of life, for as we have seen, "they have all one breath" (Eccl. 3:19); nor because man is a soul and the brute beast is not, for as we have seen they are all souls. But as we have found, and as all men are witnesses, each has a different bodily organism which gives to each his different characteristics, and which alone constitutes one higher and the other lower in the scale of intelligence. Notice, too, that not size and weight give excellence and superiority, else the elephant and whale would be the lords of earth; the excellence is in the "organic quality" represented chiefly in brain-structure and functions.

Man, therefore, is the highest type of earthly creature-- "of the earth, earthy"--and his excellence consists in the superiority [E328] of his mental endowment--not a development, but a gift from his Creator.

"The Soul That Sinneth, It Shall Die"

It is quite in harmony with the foregoing, but quite out of harmony with the usual thought on the subject, that we find the Scriptures declaring repeatedly the death of the soul, which human philosophy and hymn-book theology most emphatically declare to be indestructible. We read, for instance, that our Lord, when he became our ransom-price, "poured out his soul [being] unto death." "He made his soul an offering for sin." (Isa. 53:10,12) This was necessary, because it was Adam's soul that was sentenced to death, and the promise to mankind is a redemption of soul or being from the power of death. "God will redeem my soul from the grave [sheol--the condition of death]." (Psa. 49:15) And, as we have seen, it is because all souls are thus redeemed in the one redemption that all our friends--all mankind--are said to "sleep in Jesus." 1 Thess. 4:14

We remark here that the Apostle could not, in this expression, refer merely to the saints, as when he speaks of those who are "in Christ"; for those referred to as "new creatures" are those only who are begotten of God through the Spirit, to joint-heirship with Christ, as his Church, the members of his body. But "those who sleep in Jesus" include the entire race, for our Lord Jesus was a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, and he is by virtue of that sacrifice our Life-giver, and not only ours, but also the Life-giver for the whole world--the testimony and the opportunity for acceptance being, with the majority, still future. 1 John 2:2; 1 Tim. 2:4-6

That the Apostle has this thought in mind is manifest from this context: he is here exhorting believers to sorrow not as others who have no hope; and gives as the reason of [E329] the hope this fact, that Jesus died for man's sin, and rose again to be man's justifier, and hence that all "sleep in Jesus," or are legally freed from the death sentence, and amenable to Jesus, to be brought from the dead by the divine power. Had the Apostle said or been understood to mean that merely the saints would be thus blessed through Jesus, we can readily see that believers then and since would have very little consolation in his words, because the vast majority of the friends of believers, then and since, cannot be termed saints: and if the awakening from the sleep of death is a blessing intended only for the saints, the thought, instead of being a consolation, would be the reverse, an anguish, a distress. But the Apostle refers to the whole world as being thus asleep in Jesus, although none knows it from this standpoint except the heavenly Father and his consecrated people, whom he has instructed respecting his future gracious plans, through the Word of truth, that they may rejoice in the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of divine goodness, and "sorrow not, even as others that have no [such substantial] hope."

As the natural sleep, if sound, implies total unconsciousness, so with death, the figurative sleep--it is a period of absolute unconsciousness--more than that, it is a period of absolute non-existence, except as preserved in the Father's purpose and power. Hence the awakening from death, to those restored, will mean a revival of consciousness from the exact moment and standpoint where consciousness was lost in death. There will be no appreciation of time, as respects the interim. The moment of awakening will be the next moment after the moment of death, so far as conscious appreciation is concerned.

This same condition has been noted in connection with persons who have sustained injuries which have caused pressure upon the brain, and thus temporarily suspended consciousness, without extinguishing life. In cases of this kind, when the pressure upon the brain has been removed by trepanning, the subject suddenly coming to consciousness [E330] has in numerous instances been known to complete a sentence which had been interrupted by the concussion which interrupted thought: for divine power will thoroughly duplicate every convolution of every brain and vivify them. Thus in the awakening-time the world of mankind in general will revive with the same words and thoughts with which they expired. But let it not be forgotten that we here refer to the world in general, not to the elect and special class selected out of the world, namely, the Church, the body of Christ, which will have part in the first resurrection, and in many respects know a different experience.

But while, as the Adamic death has been turned, by reason of the divine plan and the ransom, from being a destruction to a suspension of existence, called sleep, nevertheless we find that the Scriptures very distinctly assert that after the revival or awakening from the death-sleep, it will depend upon each individual whether he shall go on unto perfection and life, under the guidance, government and tutelage of the glorious Christ, or whether he will wilfully, deliberately and stubbornly choose the way of sin. If he choose the latter he will get the punishment originally designated for father Adam, viz., death, but no longer Adamic death, the penalty of Adam's sin: this is styled Second Death. This Second Death is nowhere spoken of as a sleep, nor is there the slightest intimation anywhere given that there will be any awakening from it. On the contrary, it is designated "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." 2 Thess. 1:9

Of this redeemed and awakened class, which in general shall have its trial during the Millennial age, the Scriptures declare, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." (Ezek. 18:20) That this scripture is not generally applicable at the present time is evident from three considerations:

(1) It would be meaningless, at the present time, when all die--saints and sinners.

(2) It is expressed in the form of a second sentence, and [E331] based upon the individual action, and this could not be applicable in the present time, because now we all die because of "one man's disobedience," and the sentence of death which came upon him, and indirectly affects all his race. Rom. 5:12

(3) The context shows that this passage refers particularly to those who have gotten free from Adamic sin which prevails in general today. Its special applicability, therefore, must belong to the next age, the Millennial age. Note the connections, not forgetting that the law covenant of the Jewish age was analogous to the covenant of the Millennial age, except that the latter will have a better Mediator, able and willing to succor and to help all who shall seek to walk righteously, not imputing unintentional short-comings.

The context declares: This shall no more be a proverb in Israel, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But, on the contrary, each soul shall be responsible to God for itself, and "the soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." (Ezek. 18:2,4,20) It is evident that this time has not yet come. The children still have their "teeth set on edge," by reason of the sour grapes of sin which their fathers have eaten; we are still under the law of heredity; all still die for Adam's sin, and not for individual sin. In proof of this note the indisputable fact that nearly one-half of the human family die in infancy, without having reached years of discretion or responsibility on their own account. Who cannot see that the agonizing and dying infant of a few days or a few months old is not dying for its own sins, but that it is dying because it is a member of the Adamic race, which is still under the curse pronounced against our father Adam, "Dying thou shalt die"? It has inherited a share of the curse, and will also inherit a share of God's blessing through Christ in the coming [E332] awakening, secured through the merit of the great Atonement finished at Calvary.

If we turn to Jeremiah 31:29-34, we find another reference to exactly the same conditions mentioned by Ezekiel, only that in Jeremiah we are furnished with more explicit details, which show that this condition belongs not to the present age, but to a future age. Jeremiah declares:

"In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one [who dies] shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape his teeth shall be set on edge."

The words "In those days" clearly refer to the future times of restitution, under the reign of Christ, and not to the present time of the reign of sin and death. Notice that the Prophet proceeds to describe other features of the Millennial age, telling about the New Covenant which is to be confirmed to Israel and Judah, the everlasting covenant, under which they shall obtain their long-looked-for portion of the Abrahamic blessings and promises. Compare Rom. 11:26-31

This same thought, that death will again be the penalty for sin, to all redeemed from the Adamic death, if after they come to a knowledge of the grace of God, they receive that grace in vain, is shown by our Lord's own words, "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul [fear not them which take away the present life, which is already under sentence of death, anyway; but remember that you have been redeemed, and that a future life is a possibility to you, and that no man can rob you of that which God has provided for you through the redemption in Christ Jesus], but fear him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." (Matt. 10:28) Here the power of God to destroy the soul is positively asserted, and that by an unquestionable authority. We are aware that a crooked theology has sought to wrest the Scriptures, and therefore asserts that this signifies that God is able to destroy the happiness of the soul in Gehenna, but that he is unable to destroy the soul [E333] itself. We reply, that this is a wresting of the Scriptures, and their perversion in a manner which cannot fail to bring evil consequences upon those who "handle the word of God deceitfully." We elsewhere show* that the word "Gehenna" here used signifies "the Second Death"--utter destruction-- to all souls which will not hear God's great Prophet, when, in due time, he shall speak plainly unto all the people, as he now is speaking under parables and dark sayings, expounded only to the Church. Acts 3:23; Matt. 13:11

Confusion Through Mistranslations

It should not surprise us when we find that, holding grossly erroneous views respecting what is the soul, what is the spirit, what is the real man, the translators of our Common Version English Bible have been sorely perplexed: and in their endeavor to force the translation into harmony with their preconceived ideas on this subject, they have confused the ordinary English reader tenfold. They have so covered and twisted the meaning of words as to make it extremely difficult for the English reader to see through the now double difficulty, (1) the false teaching on the subject, and (2) the mistranslations which support that false teaching. [E334]

However, in divine providence, we are now living in a day provided with helps of every kind, so that man or woman of even ordinary education, with the helps before him, can get a better view of the entire subject than the translators themselves had. There are now three works which give the English reader a tolerably clear insight into the Common Version English Bible, and show exactly how it has translated the Hebrew and Greek originals. (1) The Englishman's Hebrew and Greek Concordance of the Holy Scriptures [unsectarian]. (2) Professor Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible [Presbyterian]. (3) Dr. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance [Methodist]. All three of these give each word of the Scriptures, and show the original from which it is derived. And although we have mentioned the denominations represented in these different Concordances, it is but fair to say that, so far as we have yet observed, denominational prejudices have not been permitted to interfere with the accuracy of any of them. Although gotten up on somewhat different lines, their testimony is harmonious and accurate, the differences between them being those of convenience and utility.

Examining these standard works what do we find? This: that the Hebrew word neh-phesh, which is generally rendered "soul" (436 times) throughout the Old Testament, and which has the signification of "sentient being," is translated in thirty-six different ways, as follows: "any," 4 times; "appetite," 2; "beast," 1; "body," 4; "breath," 1; "creature," 9 [see Gen. 1:21,24; 2:19; 9:10,12,15,16; Lev. 11:46, twice]; "dead," 5; "deadly," 1; "desire," 3; "discontented," 1; "fish," 1 (Isa. 19:10); "ghost," 2; "greedy," 1; "hath," 1; "he," 1; (Psa. 105:18); "heart," 15; "hearty," 1; "herself," 1; "her," 1; "himself," 4; "life," 100; "lust," 2; "man," 2; "me," 3 (Num. 23:10; Judges 16:30; 1 Kings 20:32); "mind," 15; "mortally," 1; "myself," 1 (Psa. 131:2); "one," 1 (Lev. 4:27); "own," 1 (Prov. 14:10); "person," 24 (Gen. 14:21; 36:6; Num. 31:19; 35:11,15,30; Deut. 10:22; 27:25; Josh. 20:3,9); "pleasure," 3; "self," 21; "slay," 1; [E335] "thing," 2 (Lev. 11:10; Ezek. 47:9); "will," 3; "your," 3.

The Greek word, psuche [sentient being], of the New Testament corresponding to neh-phesh, is translated "soul," fifty-six times; is also translated "mind," three times (Acts 14:2; Phil. 1:27; Heb. 12:3); "heart," once (Eph. 6:6); "life," forty-one times.

Amongst these variations in translation none has served to obscure the truth more than the last. It has tended to give the impression that the life is one thing, and soul or being another thing; and has fostered the idea that a man might lose his life, without losing his soul, his being. The following are the instances in which the word psuche is translated life, but would better have prevented confusion if translated being or soul:

"Which sought the young child's life [psuche--soul, being]." Matt. 2:20

"Take no thought for your life [psuche--soul, being], what ye shall eat." Matt. 6:25

"Is not the life [psuche--soul, being] more than meat?" Matt. 6:25

"He that findeth his life [psuche--soul, being] shall lose it, and he that loseth his life [psuche--soul, being] for my sake shall find it." Matt. 10:39

"Whosoever will save his life [psuche--soul, being] shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life [psuche--soul, being], for my sake shall find it." Matt. 16:25

"The Son of man came...to give his life [psuche--soul, being] a ransom for many." Matt. 20:28

"Is it lawful to save life [psuche--soul, being], or to kill?" Mark 3:4

"Whosoever will save his life [psuche--soul, being] shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life [psuche--soul, being] for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul [psuche--life, being], or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul [psuche--life, being]?" [How few English readers are aware that "life" and "soul," each used [E336] twice in this scripture, are from the same Greek word psuche.] Mark 8:35-37

"The Son of Man came to give his life [psuche--soul, being] a ransom for many." Mark 10:45

"Is it lawful to save life [psuche--soul, being] or to destroy it?" Luke 6:9

"Whosoever will save his life [psuche--soul, being] shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life [psuche--soul, being] for my sake the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be cast away?" Luke 9:24

"The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives [psuche--souls, beings], but to save them." Luke 9:56

"Take no thought for your life [psuche--soul, being] what ye shall eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment." Luke 12:22,23

"If any man come to me, and hate not [love not less] his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life [psuche--soul, being] also, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26

"Whosoever shall seek to save his life [psuche--soul, being] shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life [psuche--soul, being] shall preserve it." Luke 17:33

The thought in this last text, and in several preceding it, is that the Lord's people are to remember that their present existence or being is under sentence of death anyway; but that divine grace has provided redemption--not a continuance of being, but a resuscitation, a resurrection, a living again. The call of this Gospel age is to lay down our lives in the Lord's service, as living sacrifices, following the example of our Redeemer--the promise being that all believers in Christ who so do, faithfully, shall be granted a share with him in the divine nature, through the operation of the first resurrection. Thus they will get back again their soul, being, existence--with "life [zoee] more abundantly." John 10:10

"The good Shepherd giveth his life [psuche--soul, being] [E337] for the sheep [our Lord "poured out his soul unto death; he made his soul an offering for sin." Isa. 53:10,12]." John 10:11

"I lay down my life [psuche--soul, being] for the sheep." John 10:15

"I lay down my life [psuche--soul, being] that I might receive it again [according to the divine promise and power, through the resurrection]." John 10:17

"He that loveth his life [psuche--soul, being] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life [psuche--soul, being] in this world shall preserve it unto life eternal." John 12:25

The thought here is, that faithfulness to God under present evil conditions necessarily means dissatisfaction with present conditions, and a willingness to sacrifice them all in the service of God and righteousness and our fellow creatures-- and thus, according to the divine provision, to be accounted worthy of existence [soul, being] under the more favorable conditions of the dispensation to come. He who loves the present conditions of things, and who values the enjoyments and pleasures of the present time higher than he values righteousness and obedience to God, will thus be proving himself unworthy of the future existence God has proffered us, unworthy to have his soul, his being, restored in the first resurrection.

"Wilt thou lay down thy life [psuche--soul, being] for my sake?" John 13:38

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life [psuche--soul, being] for his friends." John 15:13

"Men that have hazarded their lives [psuche--souls, beings]." Acts 15:26

"Trouble not yourselves, for his life [psuche--soul, being] is in him [he has not expired, or breathed out existence]." Acts 20:10

"Neither count I my life [psuche--soul, being, existence] dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy." Acts 20:24

The Apostle had learned to rightly view the present existence [E338] as of small value in comparison to the future one promised in the resurrection. He did not count it "dear," precious, in the sense of valuing it more than the Lord and the Lord's favor, and the opportunities for serving the Lord's cause. He was willing to spend and be spent in the Master's service, in hope of attaining to the first resurrection, as he explicitly tells us in Phil. 3:8-11.

"Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives [psuche--souls, beings]." Acts 27:10

"There shall be no loss of any man's life [psuche--soul, being]." Acts 27:22

"I am left alone, and they seek my life [psuche--soul, being]." Rom. 11:3

"Who have for my life [psuche--soul, being] laid down their own necks." Rom. 16:4

"Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life [psuche--soul, being], supplying your lack of service toward me." Phil. 2:30

"Because he laid down his life [psuche--soul, being--"he poured out his soul unto death; he made his soul an offering for sin"] for us; and we ought to lay down our lives [psuche--souls, beings] for the brethren." 1 John 3:16

"The third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life [psuche--soul, being] died." Rev. 8:9

"They loved not their lives [psuche--souls, beings] unto death." Rev. 12:11

Once we get our minds clear upon this subject of the soul and obtain a clear understanding of just how the words neh-phesh and psuche are used throughout the Scriptures, by the inspired writers, it removes all the mystery that has heretofore been shrouded under the obscure words, soul and ghost, which, not only to the ignorant, but also to many of the educated, have meant something indefinite, indescribable and incomprehensible.

But let none get the thought that the body is the soul: this [E339] is an error, as our Lord's words clearly show--"God is able to destroy both soul and body." But on the other hand there can be no soul, no sentient being without a body--heavenly or earthly, spiritual or animal.

Going to the Genesis record of man's creation we see that the body was formed first, but it was not a man, soul or being, until animated. It had eyes, but saw nothing; ears, but heard nothing; a mouth, but spoke nothing; a tongue, but no taste; nostrils, but no sense of smell; a heart, but it pulsated not; blood, but it was cold, lifeless; lungs, but they moved not. It was not a man, but a corpse, an inanimate body.

The second step in the process of man's creation was to give vitality to the properly "formed" and in every way prepared body; and this is described by the words "blew into his nostrils the breath of life." When a healthy person has been drowned and animation is wholly suspended, resuscitation has, it is said, been effected by working the arms and thus the lungs as a bellows, and so gradually establishing the breath in the nostrils. In Adam's case it of course required no labored effort on the part of the Creator to cause the perfect organism which he had made to breathe the life-giving oxygen of the atmosphere.

As the vitalizing breath entered, the lungs expanded, the blood corpuscles were oxygenized and passed to the heart, which in turn propelled them to every part of the body, awakening all the prepared but hitherto dormant nerves to sensation and energy. In an instant the energy reached the brain, and thought perception, reasoning, looking, touching, smelling, feeling and tasting commenced. That which was a lifeless human organism had become a man, a sentient being: the "living soul" condition mentioned in the text had been reached. In other words, the term "living soul" means neither more nor less than the term "sentient being"; i.e., a being capable of sensation, perception, thought.

Moreover, even though Adam was perfect in his organism, it was necessary for him to sustain life, soul or sentient [E340] being, by partaking of the fruits of the trees of life. And when he sinned, God drove him from the garden, "lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree [plural trees or grove] of life, and eat, and live forever [i.e., by eating continuously]." (Gen. 3:22) How the fogs and mysteries scatter before the light of truth which shines from God's Word!

Although, because of his fall into sin and death, man's condition is far from what it was in its original perfection when pronounced "very good" by the highest Judge, so that some, by the cultivation of the lower organs of thought and a failure to use the higher intellectual faculties, have dwarfed the organs of the brain representing these higher faculties, yet the organs are still there, and are capable of development, which is not the case with the most nearly perfect specimens of the brute creation. So then it is in that the Creator has endowed man with a higher and finer organism, that he has made him to differ from the brute. They have similar flesh and bones, breathe the same air, drink the same water, and eat similar food, and all are souls or creatures possessing intelligence; but man, in his better body, possesses capacity for higher intelligence and is treated by the Creator as on an entirely different plane. It is in proportion as sin degrades man from his original likeness of his Creator that he is said to be "brutish"--more nearly resembling the brutes, destitute of the higher and finer sensibilities.

Those whose eyes of understanding begin to open to this subject, so that they see that the word "soul" signifies intelligence, being, and the word "breath" or "spirit of life" signifies the divine power to live, can readily see, from the foregoing, that every creature which possesses life-consciousness has, first of all, a body or organism; secondly, the spirit of life animating it, and thirdly, existence, being, soul, as a result. An illustration which helps some to grasp the proposition is the similarity between heat and soul. If a lump of coal is placed under favorable conditions, giving access to the oxygen of the air, and then ignited, a new thing will be produced--heat. The coal is not heat, though it [E341] possesses some of the qualities which, under favorable conditions, would produce heat; neither is the oxygen heat, yet it also, under favorable conditions, may be an element in producing heat. So, to carry the analogy, the body is not the soul, though the body possesses the qualifications necessary to soul; neither is the breath or spirit of life the soul--it is the power which came from God, and which is necessary to the production of the sentient creature. The body, when properly united with the breath or spirit of life, produces a new thing--a being, a soul, a sentient creature.

And the process of dissolution, death, is in harmony with these facts. If the breath or spirit of life be withdrawn, death results. Now the question is, what dies? Does the breath or spirit of life die? Surely not; it never had sentient being, it is a principle or power, like electricity; it has no thought, no feeling; it could not die. Does the body die? We answer, No. The body may lose the life with which the Father animates it, but the body of itself, apart from the breath or spirit of life, had no consciousness, no feeling, no sense, and could not, therefore, be said to die; it was inanimate before the breath or spirit of life came into it; it was animate while the breath or spirit of life was in it; it becomes inanimate again, or dead, when the spirit of life is withdrawn.

What, then, dies? We answer that it is the soul that dies-- the sentient being ceases. Let us remember that the sentient being was produced by the union of the breath or spirit of life with an organism, and that the separation or dissolution of these two causes the cessation of the being, the soul--death. That this is true of the lower animals, none would for a moment question; but is it not equally true of man, the highest animal, created in the intellectual image and moral likeness of God? It is no less true, and should be equally evident to every reasoning mind. We are aware that some few scriptures might be twisted and misunderstood to contradict this proposition, but in due course they will have consideration and will be found in most absolute accord with these presentations. [E342]

Take another illustration of the relationship between the human or animal body, spirit and soul: an unlighted candle would correspond to an inanimate human body or corpse; the lighting of the candle would correspond to the spark of life originally imparted by the Creator; the flame or light corresponds to sentient being, or intelligence, or soul quality; the oxygenized atmosphere which unites with the carbon of the candle in supporting the flame corresponds to the breath of life or spirit of life which unites with the physical organism in producing soul or intelligent existence. If an accident should occur which would destroy the candle, the flame, of course, would cease; so if a human or animal body be destroyed, as by disease or accident, the soul, the being, intelligence, personality, ceases. Or if the supply of air were cut off from the candle flame, as by an extinguisher or snuffer, or by submerging the candle in water, the light would be extinguished even though the candle remained unimpaired. So the soul, life, existence, of man or animal would cease if the breath of life were cut off by drowning or asphyxiation, while the body might be comparatively sound.

As the lighted candle might be used under favorable conditions to light other candles, but the flame once extinguished the candle could neither relight itself nor other candles, so the human or animal body while alive, as a living soul or being can, under divine arrangement, start or propagate other souls or beings--offspring: but so soon as the spark of life is gone, soul or being has ceased, and all power to think, feel and propagate has ceased. In harmony with this we read in the Scriptures of Jacob's children: "All the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls." (Exod. 1:5) Jacob received his spark of life as well as his physical organism, and hence the united product of these, his soul or intelligent being, from Isaac, and hence from Adam, to whom alone God ever directly imparted life. And Jacob passed on the life and organism and soul to his posterity, and so with all humanity. [E343]

A candle might be relighted by any one having the ability; but by divine arrangement the human body bereft of the spark of life, "wasteth away," returns to the dust from which it was taken, and the spark of life cannot be re-enkindled except by divine power, a miracle. The promise of resurrection is therefore a promise of a relighting, a re-enkindling of animal existence or soul; and since there can be no being or soul without a body and restored life-power or spirit, it follows that a promised resurrection or restoration of soul or being implies new bodies, new organisms. Thus the Scriptures assure us that human bodies, which return to dust will not be restored, but that in the resurrection God will give such new bodies as it may please him to give. 1 Cor. 15:37-40

The Apostle here declares that in the resurrection there will be a special class accounted worthy of a new nature, spiritual instead of human or fleshly: and, as we should expect, he shows that this great change of nature will be effected by giving these a different kind of body. The candle may here again serve to illustrate: suppose the fleshly or human nature to be illustrated by a tallow candle, the new body might be illustrated by a wax candle of a brighter flame, or indeed by an electric arc-light apparatus.

With any power and wisdom less than that of our Creator guaranteeing the resurrection, we might justly fear some break or slip by which the identity would be lost, especially with those granted the great change of nature by a share in the first (chief) resurrection to spirit being. But we can securely trust this and all things to him with whom we have to do in this matter. He who knows our very thoughts can reproduce them in the new brains so that not one valuable lesson or precious experience shall be lost. He is too wise to err and too good to be unkind; and all that he has promised he will fulfil in a manner exceedingly abundantly better than we can ask or think.

Many suppose that the bodies buried are to be restored atom for atom, but, on the contrary, the Apostle declares, [E344] "Thou sowest [in death] not that body which shall be." It is the soul, the sentient being, that God proposes to restore by resurrection power; and in the resurrection he will give to each person (to each soul or sentient being) such a body as his infinite wisdom has been pleased to provide; to the Church, the "bride" selected in this age, spirit bodies; to the restitution class, human bodies, but not the ones lost in death. 1 Cor. 15:37,38

As in Adam's creation, the bringing together of an organism and the breath of life produced a sentient being or soul, so the dissolution of these, from any cause, puts an end to sentient being--stopping thoughts and feelings of every kind. The soul (i.e., sentient being) ceases; the body returns to dust as it was; while the spirit or breath of life returns to God, who imparted it to Adam, and to his race through him. (Eccl. 12:7) It returns to God in the sense that it is no longer amenable to human control, as in procreation, and can never be recovered except by divine power. Recognizing this fact, the Lord's instructed ones commit their hope of future life by resurrection to God and to Christ, his now exalted representative. (Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59) So, then, had God made no provision for man's future life by a ransom and a promised resurrection, death would have been the end of all hope for humanity. 1 Cor. 15:14-18

But God has thus made provision for our living again; and ever since he made known his gracious plan, those who speak and write intelligently upon the subject (for instance, the inspired Scripture writers), as if by common consent, speak of the unconscious interim between death and the resurrection morning, in which sensibility (sentient being) is suspended, as a "sleep." Indeed, the illustration is an excellent one; for the moment of awakening will seem to them like the moment after the moment of their dissolution. For instance, we read that speaking of Lazarus' death our Lord said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, I go that I may awake him out of sleep." Afterward, because the disciples were slow to comprehend, he said, "Lazarus is dead." (John 11:11-14) [E345] Were the theory of consciousness in death correct, is it not remarkable that Lazarus gave no account of his experience during those four days? None will claim that he was in a "hell" of torment, for our Lord called him his "friend"; and if he had been in heavenly bliss our Lord would not have called him from it, for that would have been an unfriendly act. But as our Lord expressed it, Lazarus slept, and he awakened him to life, to consciousness, to his sentient being, or soul returned or revived; and all this was evidently a favor greatly appreciated by Lazarus and his friends.

The thought pervades the Scriptures that we are now in the night of dying and sleeping as compared with the morning of awakening and resurrection. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psa. 30:5)-- the resurrection morning, when the sleepers shall come forth from the tomb, as expressed by the Prophet: "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust [of the earth]." Isa. 26:19

The apostles also frequently used this appropriate, hopeful and peaceful figure of speech. For instance: Luke says of Stephen, the first martyr, "he fell asleep"; and in recording Paul's speech at Antioch he used the same expression, "David fell on sleep." (Acts 7:60; 13:36) Peter uses the same expression, saying, "The fathers fell asleep." (2 Pet. 3:4) And Paul used it many times as the following quotations show:

"If her husband be dead [Greek, fall asleep]." 1 Cor. 7:39

"The greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." 1 Cor. 15:6

"If there be no resurrection,...then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. 15:13-18

"Christ is risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept." 1 Cor. 15:20

"Behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep." 1 Cor. 15:51 [E346]

"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep." 1 Thess. 4:13

"Them that sleep in Jesus, will God bring [from the dead] with [by] him." 1 Thess. 4:14

When the Kingdom, the resurrection time, comes, "we who are alive and remain unto the presence of the Lord shall not precede them that are asleep." 1 Thess. 4:15

The same thought is presented by the Prophet Daniel: describing the resurrection he says--"Many that sleep in the dust shall awake"--and the description shows that these sleepers include both the good and bad. (Dan. 12:2) They "fell asleep" in peace, to await the Lord's day--the day of Christ, the Millennial Day--fully persuaded that he (Christ) is able to keep that which they committed unto him against that day. (2 Tim. 1:12) This same thought runs through the Old Testament as well--from the time that God first preached to Abraham the Gospel of a resurrection: the expression, "He slept with his fathers," is very common in the Old Testament. But Job puts the matter in very forcible language, saying, "Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret until thy wrath be [over] past!" The present dying time is the time of God's wrath--the curse of death being upon all, because of the original transgression. However, we are promised that in due time the curse will be lifted and a blessing will come through the Redeemer to all the families of the earth; and so Job continues, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, until my change come; [then] thou shalt call (John 5:25) and I will answer thee; thou shalt have a desire to the work of thine hands." (Job 14:14,15) And we of the New Testament times read our Lord's response, "All that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God [calling them to awake and come to a full knowledge of God and to a full opportunity of everlasting life]." John 5:25,28,29

This death-"sleep" is so absolutely a period of unconsciousness [E347] that the awakened ones will have no knowledge of the lapse of time. Indeed, "sleep" is merely an accommodated term, for really the dead are dead, utterly destroyed, except as God's wisdom preserves their identity, and has decreed through Christ their awakening--their reorganization and resuscitation. And this, indeed, will be a re-creation--a still greater manifestation of divine power than was the original creation of Adam and Eve. It will be the re-creation of fifty billions instead of two persons. It will be the reproduction of infinite varieties instead of one. Only our God possesses such omnipotent wisdom and power; he is both able and willing to perform. It is to be one of the benefits resulting from the permission of evil that its eradication will manifest all the features of divine character as they could not otherwise be manifested and known. Before both angels and men divine justice will shine, so will divine love, so will divine power, and finally the divine wisdom in preparing and permitting such an exhibition of God's character will be seen and owned by all his creatures also.

The Scriptural testimony regarding the necessity for a resurrection of the dead is most clear and explicit--and how could there be a resurrection of the dead if none are dead, but, as some maintain, "all who seem to die are more alive than they ever were"; thus contradicting the five senses of every intelligent being as well as the positive declaration of Scripture that "To all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living [even the least intelligent] know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is [very generally] forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion [interest] forever [Hebrew, olam--for a long indefinite period] in anything that is done under the sun...Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave* whither thou [the soul, the [E348] sentient being] goest." Eccl. 9:4-10; Isa. 26:14

Note the significance of the Apostle's words in his celebrated treatise on the resurrection in 1 Cor. 15:12-54. He says:

"If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

If the dead are not dead, but more alive than ever, then none are dead, and surely there could be no resurrection of the dead. The Apostle held no such theory, but the very contrary, that the dead are perished like brute beasts unless God will resurrect them; and that our hopes for them are vain hopes except they be resurrection hopes. Mark well every word of this forceful argument by one of earth's greatest logicians. He says:

"If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen [but is still dead]: And if Christ be not risen [but still dead], then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain [because a dead Christ could know nothing and could help nobody]. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God [we are wicked deceivers instead of divinely appointed ambassadors]; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up--if so be [if it be true] that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not then is Christ not raised." [E349]

It should be observed that the Apostle is not pressing his argument as respecting a resurrection of the body, but as respects a resurrection of being, or soul; "that his soul was not left in sheol, hades." (Acts 2:31,32) Had Paul the popular theory of our day respecting resurrection, he would have said something like this: Some of you speak of a resurrection of the body as though it were a matter of importance; but really the body is a "clog," a hindrance, a "prison house" for the soul, which is far better off when "set free." The resurrection of the body, whenever it comes, will be a calamity and imply the "re-fettering" of the soul and a limitation of its powers.

The Apostle said nothing of the kind because it would have been the reverse of the truth. He taught a resurrection of the soul or sentient being from unconsciousness, from death; but denied the resurrection of the body which died, saying, "Thou sowest not that body which shall be:...[in the resurrection of the soul or being] God giveth it a [new] body, as it hath pleased him, and to every [kind of] seed his own [appropriate kind of] body." (1 Cor. 15:37,38) The masses of mankind of human seed or kind will receive human bodies; but not the same bodies which mouldered to dust and whose fragments or atoms have passed into vegetable and animal organisms infinitesimal. The Church will receive spirit bodies like to that of their risen Lord and wholly unlike their earthly bodies--so much so that the Apostle declares, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is"--not as he was. 1 John 3:2

But let us follow the Apostle's argument further. He declares:

"If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Verses 17,18

Those who claim that the soul cannot die and therefore does not die and who therefore deny the resurrection of the [E350] soul or sentient being, and who in consequence are forced by their argument to claim that Scriptural references to resurrection refer merely to the body, are in a quandary what to do with these words of the inspired Apostle. If they claim that our Lord was alive, "more alive than ever," during the three days the Scriptures declare he was dead, and think of his resurrection body as the one that lay in Joseph's tomb wounded and scarred, how could they claim that faith in a Christ who did not die (but who merely shed off his body for three days) is a "vain" faith? How can they acknowledge that such a faith does not release from condemnation? How could they claim that the "more-alive-than-ever" Christ "freed" from his body of flesh could not save sinners and hence that all that have fallen asleep in Christ have "perished?"

Their entire theory is in conflict with the Scriptural presentation of the facts. They deny that any soul could perish [Greek apolloomee--be destroyed] while the Apostle says it could; and so says our Lord--"God is able to destroy both soul and body." They deny also that any "are fallen asleep in Christ" denying that death is a sleep, awaiting a resurrection morn awakening, while the apostles, our Lord and all the holy prophets unitedly declare it to be a "sleep" from which God's power alone can awaken to consciousness, soul, sentient being, on any plane of existence. For be it noted that those who experience the "change" of the first resurrection to the divine nature will be souls as truly as they were in their earthly nature. God is declared to be a soul, the same word psuche being used--"If any man draw back, my soul [psuche--sentient being] shall have no pleasure in him." Heb. 10:38

The Platonic philosophy (that man does not and cannot die, but merely appears to do so) prevailed throughout Greece at the time of the first advent, and constituted the great obstacle to the progress of the gospel among the Gentiles. For instance, we read that when Paul preached at Athens he was listened to as a great teacher by the philosophers [E351] until he touched on the resurrection of the dead--that was enough; they had no further interest; they considered themselves far in advance of the Jewish idea that the dead can have no future existence except by a resurrection. "And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead [and thus discerned that Paul disagreed with their theory that the dead are more alive than ever] some mocked" and others said, That's enough at present. Acts 17:32

The heathen idea, that death is not death, but a step into broader conditions of life, had not to any extent permeated Jewish thought up to the time of the first advent. The Pharisees were the principal sect of the Jews, and our Lord declares them the successors and representatives of the Mosaic law, saying, "The scribes [writers] and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat." (Matt. 23:2) The Sadducees, much less numerous than the Pharisees, were next as a sect in point of influence: they were really unbelievers, infidels. They denied entirely a future life, holding that man dies exactly as does the brute, and that there will be no resurrection of the dead. They were disbelievers in all the Messianic promises, deniers also of the superhuman intelligences, such as angels, etc. True, Josephus does call attention to a sect called the Essenes, which he declares held the Platonic theory prevalent amongst the Gentiles, to the effect that man never really dies, but merely takes a progressive step in life development, at the crisis termed death. But we are to remember that Josephus wrote his history of the Jews while at the Roman court, and that he wrote it with a view of influencing the minds of the emperor and his court in favor of the Jews. The Romans had come to regard the Jews, as the Scriptures declare them to have been, "a stiff-necked and rebellious people," and naturally had concluded that the cause of this rebellious disposition lay somehow or other in their religion. This was a true supposition; it is undoubtedly a fact that the truths of divine revelation tend to produce a spirit of liberty wherever they are applied--breaking down the wide distinctions as between priests and people, kings and [E352] subjects, teaching that all are amenable to one great Judge and King. But Josephus wished to counteract this correct estimate of the Jewish people, and the Jewish religion; and hence he stretched the truth in his endeavor to make out a case, and to show the Roman court that the Jews' religion was practically the same as the various heathen religions, (1) in respect to consciousness of the dead, and (2) a belief in eternal torment.* To make out his case, he cites the sect of the Essenes, as though they were the chief religious sect amongst the Jews. On the contrary, they were so insignificant that they are not so much as mentioned in the New Testament, and evidently never came in conflict with either the Lord or the apostles, whereas the Pharisees and the Sadducees are continually and frequently referred to.

"All Live unto Him"--Luke 20:37,38

It was after our Lord had answered the doctors of the law and the scribes and Pharisees, and had discomfited them, that the Sadducees put in an appearance, thinking that they could show the superiority of their infidel position, by refuting our Lord's doctrines. To these Sadducees, who claimed that the dead were forever dead, our Lord said, "And now that the dead are [to be] raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him." Luke 20:37,38

Our Lord suggests that this of itself is a proof "that the dead are [to be] raised," because God would surely not refer thus to beings totally and forever blotted out of existence. He then shows that God's plan for a resurrection is fixed, [E353] and that those whom men call "dead" "all live unto Him"--from God's standpoint they only "sleep." God's Word, therefore, speaks of these as "asleep" and not as destroyed. Though the original sentence was to destruction it is now offset by the ransom. So Moses says: "Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest [in resurrection], Return, ye children of men." (Psa. 90:3; 103:4) In saying, "I am the God of Abraham," God speaks not only of things past as still present, but also of things to come as if already come to pass. Rom. 4:17

The Body, Spirit and Soul of the Church
--1 Thess. 5:23--

The terms body, soul and spirit are figuratively used of the Church collectively. For instance, the Apostle says: "I pray God [that] your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This prayer must be understood to apply to the Church as a whole--the elect Church whose names are written in heaven. The true spirit has been preserved in the little flock. Its body is discernible today, also, notwithstanding the multitude of tares that would hide as well as choke it. And its soul, its activity, its intelligence, its sentient being, is in evidence everywhere, lifting up the standard for the people--the cross, the ransom.

In no other way could we apply the Apostle's words; for, however much people may differ respecting the preservation of the individual spirits and souls of the people addressed, all will agree that their bodies have not been preserved, but have returned to dust, like those of others. Besides, the words body, soul and spirit are in the singular, not in the plural.

What Is Signified by "Sheol" or "Hades"
to Which All Souls Go?

It is held that since souls are said to go