For Universalism to be False...

    The large majority of Christians believe that not all people, in fact very few people, will be saved. It’s simple, they say, the Bible just tells us that not all people will be saved, so God must just not want all people to be saved! Or - wait - maybe He does want all people to be saved, but He just isn’t powerful enough to save all people. Either way, it’s definitely what the Bible teaches, isn’t it? And the word of God must always be our guideline for figuring out the truth.

    So let’s take a look at everything that would need to happen for universal reconciliation to be false, and for less than all people to be saved, according to the word of God.

    The purpose of the cross would fail

According to Paul in his letter to the Colossians, the very purpose of the cross is to reconcile all things to Christ:

who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation, because in him were the all things created, those in the heavens, and those upon the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things through him, and for him, have been created, and himself is before all, and the all things in him have consisted. And himself is the head of the body — the assembly — who is a beginning, a first-born out of the dead, that he might become in all [things] — himself — first, because in him it did please all the fulness to tabernacle, and through him to reconcile the all things to himself — having made peace through the blood of his cross — through him, whether the things upon the earth, whether the things in the heavens. (Colossians 1:15-20)

According to this passage, the purpose of Christ’s “making peace through the blood of His cross” is to reconcile all things, whether in the heavens or on the earth, back to Himself. The “all things” that will be reconciled is the same “all things” that were created in, through, and for Christ, and which He is preeminent over.

    For anything less than every being (angelic or human) to be reconciled would mean that either Christ is not preeminent over all things, or else that the very purpose of the cross failed. Either way, this is a massive problem for the position that not all beings will be reconciled and saved.

    Jesus’ wasn’t powerful enough...

Another fact that we are told of in scripture is that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was ultimately effective for every single person, regardless of belief or unbelief:

But, not as the offence so also [is] the free gift; for if by the offence of the one the many did die, much more did the grace of God, and the free gift in grace of the one man Jesus Christ, abound to the many; and not as through one who did sin [is] the free gift, for the judgment indeed [is] of one to condemnation, but the gift [is] of many offences to a declaration of “Righteous,” for if by the offence of the one the death did reign through the one, much more those, who the abundance of the grace and of the free gift of the righteousness are receiving, in life shall reign through the one — Jesus Christ. So, then, as through one offence to all men [it is] to condemnation, so also through one declaration of “Righteous” [it is] to all men to justification of life; for as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners: so also through the obedience of the one, shall the many be constituted righteous. (Rom. 5:15-19)

for the love of the Christ doth constrain us, having judged thus: that if one for all died, then the whole died, and for all he died, that those living, no more to themselves may live, but to him who died for them, and was raised again. So that we henceforth have known no one according to the flesh, and even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him no more; so that if any one [is] in Christ — [he is] a new creature; the old things did pass away, lo, become new have the all things. And the all things [are] of God, who reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and did give to us the ministration of the reconciliation, how that God was in Christ — a world reconciling to Himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses; and having put in us the word of the reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:14-19)

for one [is] God, one also [is] mediator of God and of men, the man Christ Jesus, who did give himself a ransom for all — the testimony in its own times (1 Tim. 2:5-6)

If Paul’s words in these passages are to be believed, then Jesus truly died as a ransom for all, for every single person who is affected by Adam’s sin (that is, all of humanity without exception). So, if not every person is saved, then His sacrifice was incomplete and did not affect everyone that He intended it to.

    After all, God did place all flesh under Jesus’ care (John 17:2), and since Jesus loves even His enemies (Matt. 5:43-48), if anything less than all flesh is saved, it must be because Jesus wasn’t powerful enough to reach every person that He intended to through His righteous work on the cross.

    ...or Jesus wasn’t loving enough

There is another option, though, since after all the Bible tells us that not all people will be saved (doesn’t it?). Jesus’ sacrifice might not have been incomplete, it might just have been ineffective for the vast majority of humanity. Perhaps He gave us the ability to choose whether we are saved, or tormented eternally, based on insufficient knowledge (1 Cor. 13:12); atheists and non-Christians just aren’t smart enough, or good enough, to choose the right thing.

    After all, that’s what the Bible tells us, isn’t it? Let’s check.

At that time Jesus answering said, “I do confess to Thee, Father, Lord of the heavens and of the earth, that thou didst hide these things from wise and understanding ones, and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, because so it was good pleasure before Thee.” (Matt. 11:25)

And the disciples having come near, said to [Jesus], “Wherefore in similes dost thou speak to them?” And he answering said to them that — “To you it hath been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of the heavens, and to these it hath not been given” (Matt. 13:10-11)

Jesus answered, therefore, and said to them, “Murmur not one with another; no one is able to come unto me, if the Father who sent me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:43-44)

And the nations hearing were glad, and were glorifying the word of the Lord, and did believe — as many as were appointed to life age-during (Acts 13:48)

for God did shut up together the whole to unbelief, that to the whole He might do kindness. (Rom. 11:32)

For I say, through the grace that was given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think above what it behoveth to think; but to think so as to think wisely, as to each God did deal a measure of faith (Rom. 12:3)

for by grace ye are having been saved, through faith, and this [faith] not of you — of God the gift, not of works, that no one may boast (Eph. 1:11)

Need I go on? Scripture is quite clear that even our belief is simply granted to us by God. This means that, if Jesus’ sacrifice did not save all people, and it’s not because it was incomplete, then He must have simply wanted the vast majority of people to be tormented eternally.

    What kind of sadistic and bipolar god would say that he does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23; 33:11), that he loves even his enemies (Matt. 5:43-48), and that he wants all people to know the truth and be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), and then turn around and send the vast majority of humanity to eternal torment with no hope of escape, for the sole purpose of his pleasure? But isn’t that what the Bible says?

    God would be made a liar

The Bible tells us that God has sworn by Himself that all people will bow to Him in praise:

“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say, ‘Surely in YHWH I have righteousness and strength.’” (Isaiah 45:22-24 NKJV)

As Paul later intentionally misquotes this passage to prove a point (Php. 2:9-11), He reapplies it to Christ, saying that every person will confess that Jesus is Lord. And yet, we are told in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

    This means that God has sworn by His very self-existence that every person will be reconciled to Him, and confess the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit. And since God cannot lie (Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18), it is impossible that any person could not be saved. But the Bible says that not everyone will be saved, right?

    God would be made a sinner

According to scripture, God is actively willing that all men be saved:

I exhort, then, first of all, there be made supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, for all men: for kings, and all who are in authority, that a quiet and peaceable life we may lead in all piety and gravity, for this [is] right and acceptable before God our Saviour, who doth will all men to be saved, and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

If this is truly God’s will, then it is quite literally a guideline that He has set for Himself. That means that if anything less than all people are saved, God is a sinner, because “sin” simply means “to miss the mark”. And God can’t sin, so He cannot miss the mark that He set for Himself, which means that all people must eventually be saved.

    But wait, doesn’t this passage just mean that God wills all kinds of men to be saved? Isn’t He only referring to the body of Christ in this passage, which includes both Jews and Gentiles? No, that’s not what this passage is talking about. Paul includes even “kings and all who are in authority” in the “all men” whom God wills to be saved, which means that if even Nero - the persecutor of Christians who was emperor of Rome at the time - is not saved, then God has sinned.

    Conclusion

I hope that this post has shown you that, no, in fact, the Bible does not say that not all people will be saved. It does say that few people will enter the kingdom of God, and that many will go to Gehenna instead, but this only relates to the Messianic kingdom; it says nothing about whether all people will eventually receive the gift of salvation and be reconciled to God, which we know from elsewhere in scripture will happen. So we can rest assured that the cross will not fail, that Jesus is both powerful enough and loving enough to save everyone, and that God is not a liar nor a sinner; all people will be saved.

Defying Death: A Defense of the Doctrine of Soul Sleep (part 2 of 2)

Part 1: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/03/defying-death-defense-of-doctrine-of.html

    In the previous post of this series, I presented the positive case for soul sleep (the doctrine that the dead have no conscious experience) from scripture. However, I wasn’t able to present the comparatively little scriptural evidence that is often produced against soul sleep by those who believe the traditional model of the Christian afterlife. In this article, I will describe the arguments used against soul sleep, and show why these fail to contradict the clear biblical truth that those who have died are truly dead. The common view of the afterlife cannot be derived solely from the Bible unless a framework of Platonic philosophy is placed over the text.

    The parable of the rich man and Lazarus

This is the most common objection raised against the idea of soul sleep. In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus presents a parable in which a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus die, and their souls go to Hades and the “bosom of Abraham” respectively. Does this not demonstrate conclusively that, after death, our consciousness does live on and that Hades is a place of conscious torment, rather than simply “the Unseen”? First, let’s take a look at what this passage actually says: 

“And — a certain man was rich, and was clothed in purple and fine linen, making merry sumptuously every day, and there was a certain poor man, by name Lazarus, who was laid at his porch, full of sores, and desiring to be filled from the crumbs that are falling from the table of the rich man; yea, also the dogs, coming, were licking his sores. And it came to pass, that the poor man died, and that he was carried away by the messengers to the bosom of Abraham — and the rich man also died, and was buried; and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and having cried, he said, Father Abraham, deal kindly with me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and may cool my tongue, because I am distressed in this flame.

“And Abraham said, Child, remember that thou did receive — thou — thy good things in thy life, and Lazarus in like manner the evil things, and now he is comforted, and thou art distressed; and besides all these things, between us and you a great chasm is fixed, so that they who are willing to go over from hence unto you are not able, nor do they from thence to us pass through.

“And he said, I pray thee, then, father, that thou mayest send him to the house of my father, for I have five brothers, so that he may thoroughly testify to them, that they also may not come to this place of torment.

“Abraham saith to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them;

“and he said, No, father Abraham, but if any one from the dead may go unto them, they will reform.

“And he said to him, If Moses and the prophets they do not hear, neither if one may rise out of the dead will they be persuaded.” (YLT)

First of all, it is important to recognize that this passage is a parable. In fact, it is the last of five parables that Jesus used to condemn the Pharisees: the parable of the lost sheep, of the lost drachma, of the prodigal son, of the unjust steward, and finally of the rich man and Lazarus. Like Jesus’ other parables, we must recognize that many, or most, aspects of this story are allegorical and do not describe real life. Otherwise, if it were to be understood completely literally, we would need to believe the following things:

1. That angels (“messengers”) physically carry the disembodied souls of dead people to paradise.

2. That some people’s souls will enter Abraham’s chest cavity after death (“the bosom of Abraham”).

3. That whether you go to torment or bliss after death is decided by whether you received good or bad things in life.

4. That those who are in paradise are able to see those in Hades being tormented.

I haven’t yet met a single Christian who believes in all four of these things, and very few that believe in even one of them. It is interesting, then, that the vast majority of Christians choose to believe that the aspect of conscious existence in the afterlife should be understood literally, whereas all other aspects of this parable are figurative. Instead, we should recognize that, like Jesus’ other parables, all aspects are allegorical for real-life events.

    Keeping this in mind, and using Old Testament imagery as a guide, the correct interpretation of this parable becomes clear. Rather than being meant as an accurate depiction of the afterlife, it is meant to be a condemnation of priestly Israel and the Jewish religious leaders. The rich man, wearing priestly garments of “purple and fine linen” (Exod. 39:27-29), represents the Pharisees (and the Jewish people in general) who, being God’s chosen people, were spiritually rich and yet abused this authority. Like the patriarch Judah and the contemporary high priest Caiaphas, the rich man has five brothers. Similarly, the beggar named Lazarus represents the Gentiles, both of whom spiritually eat with the dogs (Matt. 15:22-26; Mk. 7:26-27).

    This parable, therefore, is not about the state of conscious existence of the dead, but rather about how God is now rejecting His people the Israelites in favor of the Gentiles. The rich man (priestly Israel) has been rejected and cast into torments, in contrast to the spiritual richness that he had experienced previously, whereas the beggar (the Gentiles) has been exalted beyond his previous spiritual lowness. And it is very true that Israel was not convinced even when a man rose from the dead (v. 31), as they remained hardened even after the resurrection of both Lazarus and Christ. Therefore, this parable does not demonstrate the existence of a conscious afterlife prior to the resurrection, but allegorically represents the contrast between God’s treatment of Israel and the Gentile nations.

    “Today you will be with me in paradise”

And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when you may come to your kingdom!” And he [Jesus] said to him, “Verily I say to you[,?] today[,?] you will be with me in the paradise.” (Lk. 23:42-43)

This is another passage that is often used to argue against soul sleep, since Jesus tells the thief on the cross that they will be together in “the paradise” that very day. However, the adverb “today” could either modify the verb “say” or “be [in paradise]”; if the first, then it is not incompatible with soul sleep. Since there is no punctuation in the original Greek, the comma could be placed before or after “today”; both options are entirely possible.

    Furthermore, when the surrounding context is considered, it is impossible that Jesus could have been with the thief in “the paradise” that very day. We are told in John 20:17 that Jesus had not yet ascended to the Father after His resurrection, and furthermore, Jesus went to Sheol/Hades upon His death (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:27, 31) which is considered to be the place of torment in the traditional afterlife, not paradise. Thus, since Jesus did not Himself go to paradise on that day, the thief could not have been with Him there, and so the adverb “today” must modify the verb “say” rather than “be [in paradise].”

    This is often countered by the assertion that to say, “Verily I say to you today,” would be redundant (since it could not be anything other than “today” that Jesus said it on). However, it was actually a common Hebrew/Aramaic idiom to emphasize the solemnity of a statement by adding the word “today” or “this day” (e.g., Deut. 4:26, 39, 40; 5:1; 6:6; 7:11; 8:1, 11, 19; 9:3; etc.). In fact, two such statements are made elsewhere in Luke-Acts:

“Consequently I testify to you in this very day that I am innocent of the blood of all.” (Acts 20:26)

“Concerning all that I am accused of by [the] Jews, King Agrippa, I have supposed myself happy, being about to defend myself before you today.” (Acts 26:2)

Thus, the most likely interpretation of Jesus’ words in Lk. 23:43 is that He was making the solemn declaration, “Verily I say to you on this day, that you will be with Me in the paradise.” He was not claiming that the thief would be with Him in paradise on that very day, for such an interpretation would contradict His clear statement that He had not yet ascended to the Father after His resurrection (Jn. 20:17). Instead, the thief would be in paradise on the day that Jesus “may come to [His] kingdom” (Lk. 23:42) — that is, at the resurrection of the saints. This passage, therefore, is not evidence against soul sleep.

    Giving up the spirit

Despite the evidence presented in my last post that shows that, throughout scripture, people are considered to be represented by their (dead) bodies after they die, some people suggest that this is only the perception of those who are still living, and that they are actually represented by their spirit (or “breath of life”) which returns to God when they die (Ecc. 12:7). It is then argued that the following passages prove that believers enter the presence of God when they die:

When, then, Jesus took the sour wine, he said, “It has been finished.” And having bowed [his] head, he gave up the spirit. (Jn. 19:30)

Yet he being full of holy spirit, having gazed into the heaven, he saw [the] glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Lo, I behold the the heavens having been opened, and the Son of Man standing at God’s right”... And they were stoning Stephen, he calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Now having fallen [on] the knees, he cried out in a great voice, “Lord, may you not put to them this sin.” And this having said, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:55-56, 59-60)

The first problem with this theory is that the human spirit is not conscious, and a consciousness (or soul) only forms when a body and spirit are combined (Gen. 2:7). The spirit is more like a ‘power source’ for the body which animates it [1], producing consciousness (for the best example of this, see Ps. 104:29-30; also Ps. 146:4; Jas. 2:26). Furthermore, because everyone’s spirit, whether righteous or wicked, returns to God when they die, this would mean that every single person enters paradise in God’s presence upon their death, which not a single Christian that I know would espouse.

    However, there is an even greater problem with this theory. In fact, the two passages which are most often quoted in support of it - Jn. 19:30 and Acts 7:59 - actually work against it when put into context. Although Jesus gave up His spirit to God when He died on the cross, three days later He stated that He had “not yet ascended to the Father” (Jn. 20:17)! Jesus’ spirit cannot be identified with Jesus Himself, because while Jesus was dead, He was not with God, where His spirit was. Furthermore, immediately after we are told that Stephen gave his spirit to Jesus, we are also told that Stephen “fell asleep” and “devout men buried him” (Acts 7:60; 8:2). Was it Stephen’s spirit that fell asleep and was buried? Obviously not. Therefore, Stephen’s spirit was not Stephen himself, but merely the animating force which kept Stephen alive.

    Therefore, the spirit cannot be identified with a person’s consciousness after death. Indeed, when God first spoke to Adam about his impending mortality and death, He told him, “You are dust and to dust you will return,” not “you are a breath of life given by me and to me you will return” (Gen. 3:19 cf. 2:7; Ecc. 12:7). Thus, the breath of life or spirit which returns to God upon death is not the person themself, but is the animating force which is given by God, apart from which a person is simply dead (Jas. 2:26).

    To depart and be with Christ

For I know that this will turn out to salvation for me through your prayer and supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my eager expectation and hope that I will be ashamed in nothing, but in all confidence (as also always now) Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] profit. Yet if [I] live in flesh, this is [the] fruit of work to me. And what will I choose? I do not know! Now I am pressed from the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for [this is] much more excellent; yet to stay on in the flesh [is] more necessary because of you. (Php. 1:19-24)

This passage is considered by many to prove that, at death, believers continue to exist in a ‘disembodied’ state together with Jesus. But is this the best interpretation of Paul’s words? I would argue that it is not. According to my understanding of Paul’s testimony elsewhere in 1 Thess. 4:13-18, at the moment of death, a person loses consciousness - just as if they had “fallen asleep” - and their next conscious moment will be their resurrection at Christ’s coming. Paul’s death, from his perspective, would bring him immediately into the presence of Christ.

    Thus, this verse is fairly equivocal on the issue of soul sleep, since whether soul sleep is true or not, the very next conscious moment after death (for the believer) will be in the presence of Christ. It is eisegetical to read the Platonic idea of the soul’s immortality into this verse when another, more biblical understanding is just as plausible.

    To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord?

For we know that if our earthly house, the tent, may have been destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not hand-made, age-during in the heavens. For also in this we groan, longing to be over-clothed [with] our dwelling out of heaven. And if indeed [we are] having been over-clothed, we will not be found naked. For also we, the [ones] being in the tent, groan, being burdened, on which we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be over-clothed, that the mortal may be swallowed by the life.

Now the [One] having brought us about for this very [thing is] God, having given to us the pledge of the spirit, therefore [we are] always being of good courage and perceiving that, being in-home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for through faith we walk, not through sight). Now we are of good courage, and are more pleased to be out-of-home out of the body, and in-home with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:1-8)

Paul is often misquoted as saying that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” This is taken to mean that it is possible to exist in a disembodied form together with Jesus. However, this is not actually what Paul says in this passage, and a proper understanding of this passage requires a full grasp of the metaphors which he uses to compare and contrast our current mortal body and our resurrection immortal body.

    First, he describes the mortal body as an “earthly house,” a temporary tent which can be destroyed, and our future resurrection body as an “age-during house in the heavens.” He then moves into another metaphor, using verbs related to clothing, describing our resurrection as an “over-clothing” and our death as being “unclothed” and “found naked.” Notably, he states that “we do not wish to be unclothed” (i.e., die and be without a living body), which is incongruent with the traditional understanding of the following verses that sees him as extolling the ‘disembodied’ afterlife.

    Finally, in verses 6 through 8, Paul moves back to the “houses” metaphor and begins using the Greek verbs ενδημεω (lit. “in-home”) and εκδημεω (lit. “out-of-home”) to describe a person’s relation to their mortal and resurrection bodies. He contrasts being in-home in the body and out-of-home away from the Lord with being out-of-home away from the body and in-home with the Lord. If taken out of context (as it so often is), this may seem to suggest that it is possible to exist in a disembodied form with Jesus.

    However, in the context of the “houses” metaphor, it is clear that Paul is instead saying that, when we are out of the “earthly house” of our pre-resurrection body (our temporary tent), we will be in the “heavenly dwelling” of our resurrection body (our age-during house), with the Lord. This is the primary import of the verbs “in-home” and “out-of-home.” Thus, this does not contradict soul sleep - on the contrary, it provides further evidence that our hope is in the resurrection and not in any ‘disembodied’ afterlife.

    The souls under the altar

And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of the [ones] having been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had held. And they were crying out in a great voice, saying, “Until when, O Master Holy and True, do you refrain from judging and avenging our blood from the [ones] dwelling upon the earth?” And white robes were given to each of them, and it was said to them that they will rest a little time, until their fellow servants may also be fulfilled, and their brothers, being about to be killed as also they. (Rev. 6:9-11)

This is the last remaining scriptural argument against soul sleep, and the strongest argument, since it is the only place in the Bible where apparently ‘disembodied souls’ are actually described. These souls are said to cry out for vengeance and be given robes to wear. First, I’d like to preface my interpretation of this verse by saying that a correct view of death must be able to harmonize all of scripture without contradicting any passage. So if anyone would like to build a doctrine of death and the afterlife solely on this passage, they would need to find a way to explain away the vast scriptural evidence for soul sleep.

    Now, if we interpret this verse literally, we would have to conclude that the souls of these martyrs will be living at the time that this vision foresees, the opening of the fifth seal. However, near the end of the prophecy, it is said that the very same souls of the tribulation martyrs “come to life” at the first resurrection (Rev. 20:4), which is long after the events of the fifth seal. If their souls only “come to life” at that time, how could they possibly be alive in heaven prior to that point? Furthermore, is it really reasonable to believe that once a person is martyred, their soul resides underneath a giant talking altar (Rev. 16:7) in the throne room of God? And can a ‘disembodied soul’ wear physical clothing? All of these oddities and inconsistencies point toward the likely possibility that something more symbolic is going on in these verses.

    To properly interpret the book of Revelation, we need to put it in its proper context. Throughout this prophecy, symbols from throughout the Old Testament are used, and are necessary to understand much of the prophecy’s significance. Otherwise, we would have to believe that Jesus is really a giant bloody lamb in the throne room of God, and that there will be a literal seven-headed beast rising from the sea with a woman on its back. But what context from the Old Testament can help us understand the “souls of the martyrs” underneath the altar? Consider the following:

1. We know from the book of Leviticus that “the soul is in the blood, and [God] has given it on the altar to make atonement” (Lev. 17:11 cf. 4:7). Likewise, in Revelation, the “souls” of the martyrs are found under the altar, and the white robes given to them symbolize atonement (Rev. 7:14).

2. Furthermore, in Genesis 4:9-10, Abel’s blood figuratively calls out for vengeance from the ground where it was spilled by Cain. This is paralleled in Revelation where the “souls” of the martyrs (which, per Lev. 17:11, are “in the blood”) call out for vengeance. 

If we interpret Rev. 6:9-11 in light of these two Old Testament figures, then suddenly this whole exchange makes much more sense. The heavenly afterlife of martyrs is not confined to a sort of half-existence underneath a talking altar in God’s throne room - rather, the imagery of “souls” being underneath altars is a symbol of atonement, which also explains the “white robes” given to the martyrs. Furthermore, they did not literally come to life (even to cry for vengeance) at any time prior to when we are explicitly told that they came to life in Rev. 20:4 -- rather, their spilled blood, under the altar, figuratively cried out for vengeance just as the blood of Abel did (Gen. 4:9-10).

    Therefore, even this passage, when interpreted using Old Testament imagery as with the rest of the book of Revelation, does not support the view that one’s soul can exist apart from one’s body. In fact, since we are told later that “the souls of those beheaded” only “come to life” at the “first resurrection” (Rev. 20:4-6), this rather supports the idea of soul sleep, seeing as the souls of these dead believers are not alive prior to the resurrection. 

    Conclusion

In contrast to the vast body of scriptural evidence for soul sleep, as presented in the first post of this series, there are really only six passages that can be used to argue for the traditional view of the afterlife. Furthermore, all six of these passages are actually compatible with the idea of soul sleep, or even support it, when closely scrutinized in their context. Therefore, the idea of a conscious existence between death and the resurrection cannot be derived from scripture alone; rather, it is taken from Platonic philosophy and the tradition of men (Mk. 7:8), and should be rejected.

______________________________

[1] One easily understood analogy for the body, soul, and spirit is to think of the body as an appliance, the spirit as the electric current which causes the appliance to run, and the soul as the fully working appliance. Neither the appliance nor the electric current can run by themselves; it requires both together. Likewise, neither the body nor the spirit are conscious by themselves; a consciousness (or soul) only appears when both are combined together.

Defying Death: A Defense of the Doctrine of Soul Sleep (part 1 of 2)

Throughout my most recent series of posts on this blog, I have expounded and defended the doctrine of universalism, which argues that all beings will eventually be reconciled to God and saved. However, there is another doctrine which is also pivotal to a proper understanding of judgment and salvation, and this is the doctrine of soul sleep.

    Throughout most of Church history, the majority of theologians have believed that after death, one’s soul either goes to ‘heaven’ to be with Christ and God, or a place called Sheol or Hades to wait for the final judgment and the Lake of Fire (notable exceptions include the apostolic fathers, Justin Martyr, and a large number of Reformers including Martin Luther, who all believed in soul sleep). In opposition to this view is the idea of soul sleep, the belief that souls also die upon death, and consciousness only resumes at the resurrection of our bodies. Through my study of scripture, I have come to believe that the latter option, soul sleep, is the correct view. In this article, I will explain why I think that soul sleep is clearly taught in the Bible, and why the traditional Christian view cannot be derived from scripture alone.

    What is a soul, and is it immortal?

The word “soul” (nephesh in Hebrew and ψυχη in Greek) has a large range of meaning. See these lexicon entries for Hebrew and Greek to understand why I say this. It can simply mean any living being, whether animal or human (Gen. 1:20-24; 46:26; Lev. 11:46; Josh. 10:37; 1 Kings 19:4; Prov. 12:40; Acts 2:41; Rom. 13:1; 1 Pet. 3:20; Rev. 8:9; 16:3; 18:13; etc.). It can mean someone’s life; for example, when someone is killed, it is often said that their soul has been taken (Gen. 19:20; Exod. 4:19; Deut. 19:21; Judg. 18:25; 2 Sam. 4:8; 1 Kings 19:10; Prov. 7:23; Matt. 2:20; 20:28; Mk. 10:45; Jn. 10:11; 15:13; Acts 15:26; Jas. 5:20; 1 Jn. 3:16; etc.) However, “life” is not the inherent meaning of either nephesh or ψυχη, otherwise the phrase nephesh chayyah would mean “a living life” (clearly redundant), and Job 10:1 would say “my life loathes my life” (another meaningless statement).

    Another clue to the true meaning of “soul” is the fact that it is often used to describe one’s desires and wishes. For example, Abraham says, “If it is your soul that I bury my dead from before me, hear me and meet for me with Ephron son of Zoar” (Gen. 23:8). Further examples of this meaning of “soul” as the seat of emotions and desires can be found in Exod. 15:9; 23:9; Lev. 26:16; Deut. 12:15, 20; Judg. 10:16; 1 Sam. 23:20; Job 23:13; Prov. 31:6; Lk. 2:35; Jn. 10:24; 12:24; Php. 1:27; Acts 15:24; 2 Pet. 2:8; etc.

    Finally, the last meaning of the word “soul” (and more rarely used, although it still appears throughout scripture) is referring to desirable or pleasurable experiences, for example, in Matt. 6:25 where “soul” is glossed by “what you may eat and what you may drink”. Further examples from the New Testament are Matt. 10:28 (where it is used to describe the blissful experience of the Messianic kingdom); 11:29; 16:25; Lk. 12:19; Acts 20:24; Php. 2:30; Heb. 12:3; 3 Jn. 2; Rev. 12:11. Interestingly, the adjective form of “soul” in Greek (ψυχικος) describes those who are swayed by physical sensation or worldly-minded (Jas. 3:19, Jude 19).

    Although this list of definitions is certainly not all-comprehensive (indeed, there are nearly a thousand instances of “soul” in the combined Old and New Testaments), these four definitions cover virtually every instance of nephesh or ψυχη in scripture. It seems from these examples that “soul” (nephesh and ψυχη) is simply used in scripture as a figure of speech for the idea of “consciousness” (sensation, sentience, etc.), especially when connected to life itself. Contrary to the use of the word in Christian theology today, the “soul” in scripture is not something limited to human life only, but is present in animals as well - this confirms the recent scientific consensus that animals also possess consciousness (although humans clearly possess higher reasoning above animals, which is also a fact reported by scripture).

    But the important question is, is the soul (or consciousness) an immortal substance, and does it live on after death? As a matter of fact, there is zero evidence from the Bible that human souls or consciousnesses are immortal, and quite a lot of scriptural evidence against it. We are repeatedly told that it is possible to kill one’s soul (Num. 31:19; 35:11, 15, 30; Josh. 20:3, 9; Matt. 10:28; Mk. 3:4), a soul can be dead (Lev. 21:11; Num. 6:6; 19:11, 13; Josh. 2:13; Jas. 5:20; Rev. 16:3), and “the soul that sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:4, 20). Souls, or consciousnesses, are simply the emergent property of a union between a body and a spirit (Gen. 2:7), and so cease to exist when the body and spirit separate at death (Ecc. 12:7).

    The idea of the immortality of the soul, such a clearly unbiblical notion, was introduced into early Christianity by Platonic philosophy. In the earliest days of the Church, the apostolic fathers (late first century) thought of immortality as a gift bestowed by God upon the resurrection, as did the later apologists Justin Martyr and (probably) Irenaeus of Lyons. Rather than incorrectly assuming based on tradition and philosophy that every human soul is immortal, we should recognize that God is the only one who is inherently immortal (1 Tim. 6:16).

    Are we our bodies?

This may seem like a particularly inflammatory question, especially to those who have always been taught that we will remain alive after our bodies die. However, although there is definitely a duality of some sort in scripture, it is not between the soul and the body, but rather between the spirit (or “breath of life” which is given by God) and the body (Gen. 2:7; Ecc. 12:7). The soul, or consciousness, does not seem to exist apart from either a body or a spirit. And furthermore, although most Christians would be shocked to hear this, when someone dies, according to the Bible, they are represented by their (dead) body.

    This claim, although surprising to Christians today, is repeatedly substantiated throughout the Old Testament. We are told that a person’s body returns to the ground after death (Ecc. 12:7), and yet it is the person themself who returns to the ground, not merely their body (Job 10:9; Ps. 90:3; 104:29; 146:4). Likewise, to be “gathered to [one’s] people” or “return to [one’s] fathers” (which is said of almost every single Israelite and Judean king upon death) simply meant to be buried in the same place as one’s ancestors:

“Now as for you [Abraham], you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age”... Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. (Gen. 15:15, 25:8-10 NKJV)

Notice here that it is actually Abraham himself - the same person who would “go to [his] fathers” and be “gathered to his people” - who was buried, not merely his body.

Then he [Israel] charged them and said to them: “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite... There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah.” (Gen. 49:29, 31 NKJV)

Again, it is Israel himself who is to be “gathered to [his] people” and yet it is also he himself - not merely his body - who is to be buried with his fathers in the cave of Machpelah. Likewise, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah are themselves said to be buried, not merely their bodies.

And so it was, as her [Rachel’s] soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. (Gen. 35:18-20 NKJV)

This is perhaps the most important passage that demonstrates that, after death, a person is represented by their body (not a disembodied consciousness). We see here that Rachel’s soul departed from her, and then Rachel herself (not merely her body) was buried on the way to Bethlehem Ephrathah. That is, after she died, Rachel was not represented by her soul that left her body, but by her body itself.

    I could continue with many more examples of the body being the representation of a person after death, including Moses (Deut. 34:5-6), virtually every Israelite and Judean king, entire generations (Judg. 2:10), and even “all the earth” (Josh. 23:14 cf. 24:29-30), all of whom are either said to be buried or “gathered to their fathers/people”. Furthermore, this is not a truth that changed between the Old and New Testaments, because it is also said of Lazarus (Jn. 11:17) and Jesus (Jn. 19:33, 42; Acts 13:29; 1 Cor. 15:4) that they themselves were buried, not merely their bodies. However, in the interest of keeping this article relatively short, I will leave only these few examples which should suffice to demonstrate that, biblically, a person is considered the same as their body after death.

    What is Sheol/Hades?

At this point, the argument is usually made that souls go to Sheol (or its Greek equivalent, Hades) after death, and so the soul cannot merely cease to exist upon death. It is true that scripture says that souls go to Sheol or Hades after death, or more accurately, that souls can be delivered from Sheol/Hades (Ps. 16:10; 30:3; 49:15; 86:13; 88:3; 89:48; Prov. 23:14; Acts 2:27, 31). However, to say that this means that souls do not cease to exist at death misunderstands the meaning of the words Sheol and Hades. Both of these words simply mean “the unseen”, as Sheol is derived from sha’al (to ask) and Hades from α-οιδα (not-seen).

    Although these words are often translated in the KJV as “hell”, this is simply a false translation (at least based on the modern meaning of “hell”, which used to also mean “unseen” in Old English). Both the wicked and the righteous alike go down to the Unseen at death (Gen. 37:35; Job 3:11-19; Ecc. 3:20; 9:10; Jon. 2:2; Acts 2:27; 31). The Unseen can also be representative of the grave, at least in a figurative sense, as everyone who goes to the Unseen also goes to the grave. It is considered to be a place of maggots (Job 17:13-14; 24:19-20; Isa. 14:11) and a place of corruption and decay, i.e. of bodies (Ps. 16:10; 49:14; Hos. 13:14; Acts 2:27, 31), and it is said to be under the earth, that is, beneath the ground where bodies are buried, synonymous with “the pit” (Num. 16:30-33; Deut. 32:22; Job 11:8; 17:16; Ps. 30:3; Prov. 1:12; Isa. 14:15; Ezek. 31:16; Amos 9:2).

    Further evidence that going to the Unseen is simply a figurative way of describing something that ceases to exist is the usage of Hades in Matt. 11:21-23 and Lk. 10:13-15. Here we are told by Jesus that the cities of Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida will be brought down to the Unseen because the people within did not believe the miracles that He had done. These cities did not go down to “hell”, whatever that is supposed to mean, but they were completely abandoned and largely ruined during the Middle Ages; that is, they ceased to exist as cities. Thus, the fact that souls are said to go down to the Unseen in the Old and New Testaments simply means that they cease to exist as consciousnesses at death.

    The state of the dead in the Old Testament

Throughout the Old Testament, we are repeatedly told of the state of those who have died, and the nature of existence in the Unseen. Rather than being a place of conscious torment or bliss to the dead, however, the frequent message of these writers is that the dead simply have no conscious existence anymore. In fact, one of the most common terms in the Old Testament to describe those who have died is “no more” (Gen. 37:30; 42:13, 36; Job 27:19; Ps. 37:10, 36; 39:13; 104:35; Isa. 17:14; Jer. 31:15; Lam. 5:7; Ezek. 26:21; 27:36; 28:19; Matt. 2:18).

    Here are a number of specific passages that demonstrate that the dead are no longer conscious at all:

Return, O YHWH, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake! For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks? (Ps. 6:4-5 NKJV)

I cried out to You, O YHWH; And to YHWH I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? Hear, O YHWH, and have mercy on me; YHWH, be my helper!” (Ps. 30:8-10 NKJV)

YHWH, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You. Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (Ps. 88:9-12 NKJV)

In these passages, David asks YHWH to deliver him from death, saying that if he died, he would no longer be able to praise Him. David’s logic here would lose all force if it were possible for those who have died to praise God. Thus, the traditional depiction of heaven as a place in the afterlife to praise God between death and the resurrection is biblically impossible, seeing as the dead cannot praise or know God.

The dead do not praise YHWH, Nor any who go down into silence. (Ps. 115:17 NKJV)

Trust not in princes — in a son of man, For he hath no deliverance. His spirit goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, In that day have his thoughts perished. (Ps. 146:3-4)

“Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.” (Isa. 38:17-19 NKJV)

These passages confirm that the dead cannot praise God. Furthermore, we are told that on the day someone dies, “in that day have his thoughts perished”. This makes it impossible that any person’s consciousness could live on after death.

For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun. Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going. (Ecc. 9:5-10 NKJV)

This is certainly the clearest passage of all as to the nature of the dead. We are told that the dead have no knowledge, no reward, no love, no hatred, no envy, no work, no device, and no wisdom; can there be any more obvious assertion that there is no conscious existence for those who have died?

    The testimony of the Hebrew scriptures as to the nature of existence for the dead, those who have gone to the Unseen, is as clear as can be. People who have died simply do not exist consciously; they are no more, with no knowledge, emotion, or ability to do anything. Souls, as much as they exist after death (if at all), only subsist in the form of unconscious ‘shades’. Therefore, the idea of soul sleep is suggested, if not demanded, by the Old Testament.

    Is our hope in the afterlife, or the resurrection?

Despite the clear testimony of the Old Testament that souls (consciousnesses) are not immortal and cease to exist at death, that a person is represented by their body, not a disembodied soul, after death, and that there is no conscious existence for those who have died, many theologians have suggested that this truth somehow changed by the time of the New Testament. They cite progressive revelation (the idea that God revealed new truths to His people at different times) as a possible reason for this. Even ignoring the fact that progressive revelation never contradicts previous revelation and only builds upon it, there is actually still nothing in the New Testament to suggest the traditional view of the immortality of the soul and the afterlife.

    As noted already, in the four gospels, when Lazarus and Jesus died, their personhood was considered to be represented by their dead bodies, not by any disembodied soul (Jn. 11:17; 19:33, 42; Acts 13:29; 1 Cor. 15:4). Furthermore, in the Greek scriptures, the nature of Hades (“the Unseen”) is still considered to be a place where things decay and/or cease to exist (Matt. 11:21-23; Lk. 10:13-15; Acts 2:27, 31), notwithstanding the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, for which see part 2 of this series. But there is an even stronger proof that the writers of the New Testament believed in soul sleep, which is their treatment of the topic of the resurrection.

    Throughout the New Testament, we see that the hope of believers for life after death rests solely on the resurrection, and not on any pre-resurrection ‘afterlife’. Here are a number of passages that demonstrate this fact:

And if Christ is preached, that out of the dead he hath risen, how say certain among you, that there is no rising again of dead persons? and if there be no rising again of dead persons, neither hath Christ risen; and if Christ hath not risen, then void [is] our preaching, and void also your faith, and we also are found false witnesses of God, because we did testify of God that He raised up the Christ, whom He did not raise if then dead persons do not rise; for if dead persons do not rise, neither hath Christ risen, and if Christ hath not risen, vain is your faith, ye are yet in your sins; then, also, those having fallen asleep in Christ did perish; if in this life we have hope in Christ only, of all men we are most to be pitied...

Seeing what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? why also are they baptized for the dead? why also do we stand in peril every hour? Every day do I die, by the glorying of you that I have in Christ Jesus our Lord: if after the manner of a man with wild beasts I fought in Ephesus, what [is] the advantage to me if the dead do not rise? let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! (1 Cor. 15:12-20, 29-32)

This passage is in the middle of Paul’s greatest treatise on the resurrection, in which he vehemently defends the doctrine of the resurrection of believers against certain Corinthians that denied it. However, his entire argument is rendered void if there is even the possibility of an afterlife prior to the resurrection. Would any Christian today say, “what is the advantage to me if the dead do not rise”? Certainly not, because with the belief in a blissful afterlife, there is infinite gain for believers even without a resurrection. The idea of bodily resurrection has been reduced from our greatest hope to merely a peripheral and inconsequential doctrine of Christianity.

For we have known that if our earthly house of the tabernacle may be thrown down, a building from God we have, an house not made with hands — age-during — in the heavens, for also in this we groan, with our dwelling that is from heaven earnestly desiring to clothe ourselves, if so be that, having clothed ourselves, we shall not be found naked, for we also who are in the tabernacle do groan, being burdened, seeing we wish not to unclothe ourselves, but to clothe ourselves, that the mortal may be swallowed up of the life. And He who did work us to this self-same thing [is] God, who also did give to us the earnest of the Spirit; having courage, then, at all times, and knowing that being at home in the body, we are away from home from the Lord — for through faith we walk, not through sight — we have courage, and are well pleased rather to be away from the home of the body, and to be at home with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:1-8)

Surprisingly, this passage is often used as a prooftext against soul sleep when vv. 6 through 8 are taken out of context. However, when this passage is considered as a whole, it is clear that it is referring to the resurrection as our hope, not a disembodied afterlife. Paul uses much of the same language here as he does in 1 Cor. 15:51-54 to explain the resurrection, from describing this event as a “clothing” (ενδυο) to saying that, in it, mortality is swallowed up by immortality (2 Cor. 5:4 cf. 1 Cor. 15:53). Furthermore, Paul specifically says in v. 4 that he is not hoping for death (“to be unclothed”, i.e. without a body) but rather for the resurrection (“to be further clothed”, i.e. in a resurrection body).

    With this in mind, it is clear that when Paul said he was pleased to be “away from the home of the body and to be at home with the Lord”, he was talking about being away from the pre-resurrection body (his “earthly house”) and being in his resurrection body (his “dwelling that is from heaven”) together with Christ. Thus, this is another passage that demonstrates Paul’s hope for the resurrection rather than death, which is further evidence that there is no blissful afterlife prior to the resurrection.

And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that ye may not sorrow, as also the rest who have not hope, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God those asleep through Jesus he will bring with him, for this to you we say in the word of the Lord, that we who are living — who do remain over to the presence of the Lord — may not precede those asleep, because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be; so, then, comfort ye one another in these words. (1 Thess. 4:13-18)

Paul is here dealing with the great concern of the Thessalonian church that those who had died would not partake in the second coming of Christ. Rather than pointing out what would be the obvious if the traditional view of the afterlife were true, which is that the dead are already with Christ, Paul points to the resurrection as the hope for those who have died. Like in 1 Corinthians 15, if there were an afterlife prior to the resurrection, Paul’s entire point in this passage would be rendered void.

    Conclusion

According to the traditional Christian view of the afterlife, after death, a person’s disembodied soul either goes to ‘heaven’ to be with God and Christ if they are a believer, or to ‘hell’ where one is tortured in preparation for the Lake of Fire, if they are not a believer. However, contrary to this traditional depiction, the biblical definition of a “soul” is simply a consciousness that cannot exist apart from a body and a spirit (or “breath of life”). The only one who inherently has immortality is God, and every other soul (apart from Christ’s) is currently mortal (and will remain such until the resurrection). Furthermore, after death, a person is considered to be represented by their dead body, not a disembodied soul. The clear testimony of scripture is that the dead have no conscious existence, and that our only hope for life after death is bodily resurrection from the dead.

    This picture of death may seem bleak, and it certainly is. But however uncomfortable it may be, it is what is clearly taught in the Bible, and there is very little evidence - either scriptural or scientific - to the contrary. In fact, if death is merely a transition to a better state of existence, then it would not be considered the greatest and final enemy to be defeated (1 Cor. 15:26). Rather than looking forward to a disembodied afterlife, we should comfort one another with the biblical truth of the resurrection, as Paul tells us to (1 Thess. 4:18).

Part 2: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/03/defying-death-defense-of-doctrine-of_13.html

John 3:16: The Gospel in a Nutshell?

for God did so love the world, that His Son — the only begotten — He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during. (John 3:16 YLT)

This verse is often used by mainstream Christianity in their evangelical efforts, a sort of Evangelical Protestant manifesto. As it is usually translated, John 3:16 states that “whosoever believeth in [Christ] should not perish, but have everlasting life“ (KJV), and Christians believe this to be a universal statement about the dichotomy between unbelievers (who will go into eternal torment) and believers (who will go into ‘heaven’). But is this really what John meant when he wrote this? What did he mean by “life age-during” (ζωη αιωνιος in Greek), and who was his primary audience?

    The Context of John 3:16

As always, the context of a verse must be examined before proper exegesis. John 3:16 is actually part of John’s own interpretation of Jesus’ discourse about salvation with the Pharisee Nicodemus, which covers vv. 1 - 12 of this chapter. These verses are reproduced below:

And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus his name, a ruler of the Jews, this one came unto him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we have known that from God thou hast come — a teacher, for no one these signs is able to do that thou dost, if God may not be with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God;”

Nicodemus saith unto him, “How is a man able to be born, being old? is he able into the womb of his mother a second time to enter, and to be born?”

Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born of water, and the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God; that which hath been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. Thou mayest not wonder that I said to thee, It behoveth you to be born from above; the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How are these things able to happen?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Thou art the teacher of Israel — and these things thou dost not know! Verily, verily, I say to thee — What we have known we speak, and what we have seen we testify, and our testimony ye do not receive; if the earthly things I said to you, and ye do not believe, how, if I shall say to you the heavenly things, will ye believe?”

This passage demonstrates that what Jesus and Nicodemus were discussing was not what Christians today consider ‘our eternal destiny’ (the false and unbiblical dichotomy between ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’), but rather whether one is able to “see” or “enter into the kingdom of God”. To do this, according to Jesus, one must be “born from above” (or ‘born again’) of water and of Spirit.

    Although the “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of the heavens” which Jesus preached is often associated by Christians with the realm of ‘heaven’, or more allegorically, as a term referring to the Church, this term actually refers to the Messianic kingdom which will be established on earth at Christ’s second coming (Isa. 11:6-9; Dan. 2:44-45; 7:13-14; Hab. 2:14; Zech. 14:8-9; Matt. 16:28; 19:28-30; Lk. 1:32-33; Acts 1:3-7; Rev. 11:15, etc.) This motif is clearly repeated throughout all of Old Testament prophecy, and Nicodemus, as a Pharisee learned in the Jewish scriptures, would have immediately thought of this when Jesus spoke of “the kingdom of God”.

    After describing Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, John goes on to provide his own commentary on this discussion in vv. 13 - 21:

And no one hath gone up to the heaven, except he who out of the heaven came down — the Son of Man who is in the heaven. And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during, for God did so love the world, that His Son — the only begotten — He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during. For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him; he who is believing in him is not judged, but he who is not believing hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light hath come to the world, and men did love the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil; for every one who is doing wicked things hateth the light, and doth not come unto the light, that his works may not be detected; but he who is doing the truth doth come to the light, that his works may be manifested, that in God they are having been wrought.

    This passage is explicit that, at least as far as John’s audience is concerned, everyone who disbelieves on the Son will perish, whereas those who believe will have life age-during. The question, then, is what the terms “perish” and “life age-during” actually mean, and whether they are descriptions of the infernalist dichotomy between eternal torment and life in heaven, or if they refer to something else entirely.

    What is age-during life?

Throughout the New Testament, we are told that some people will experience what is called ζωη αιωνιος, properly translated as “life age-during”. We are also told that this age-during life will only be experienced by a small subset of people, namely, those who believe in and participate in the faith of Jesus Christ (John 3:16, 36; 5:24; Acts 13:48; Rom. 6:22-23; 1 Tim. 1:16; 1 John 5:13). But what, exactly, is the nature of age-during life, and does it have anything to do with immortality as suggested by the usual translation “everlasting life”?

    As a matter of fact, the phrase “age-during life” has nothing to do with whether one has immortality or not. Although we will be made immortal and incorruptible at the resurrection, this is a mystery that was only first revealed to Paul (1 Cor. 15:51-55). Instead, in the only two places where this phrase is defined by Jesus, it is explicitly related to both the privilege of believers in this age to maintain a personal relationship with God and Christ, as well as the privilege of believers to live in the coming Messianic age:

“this is the life age-during, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send — Jesus Christ” (John 17:3)

“Verily I say to you, that there is not one who left house, or parents, or brothers, or wife, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who may not receive back manifold more in this time, and in the coming age, life age-during.” (Lk. 18:29-30, cf. Mk. 10:29-30)

The “coming age” spoken of in Luke 18:30 refers to the thousand-year Messianic age (Rev. 20:1-7), which will be established when Christ returns at the end of this age (Matt. 16:28; 24:3; Lk. 21:27-31). Likewise, in the context of John 3:16 itself, the question that Nicodemus and Jesus were discussing was who would “see” or “enter into” the Messianic kingdom (see above), not who would obtain immortality as suggested by the translation ‘everlasting life’. Jesus elaborates on this meaning of “age-during life” elsewhere in the gospel of John:

“this is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who is beholding the Son, and is believing in him, may have life age-during, and I will raise him up in the last day.” (John 6:40)

In this passage, age-during life is connected in some way with being raised up “in the last day”. Jesus’ Jewish audience would have understood Him to be referring to Daniel’s prophecy of the resurrection of the just, in Dan. 12:11-13:

“And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise [LXX αναστημι, same word as in John 6:40] to your inheritance at the end of the days.” (NKJV)

Jesus’ statement that He would raise up to age-during life those who believed in Him “in the last day” almost certainly refers to this same resurrection of the saints which will occur “at the end of the days”, or exactly 1335 days after the “abomination of desolation” will be set up at the midpoint of the tribulation (Dan. 9:27). In his Revelation, John elaborates on what will happen to the righteous ones who partake in what he calls “the first resurrection”:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and the souls of those who have been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and who did not bow before the beast, nor his image, and did not receive the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand, and they did live and reign with Christ the thousand years; and the rest of the dead did not live again till the thousand years may be finished; this [is] the first rising again. Happy and holy [is] he who is having part in the first rising again; over these the second death hath not authority, but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Rev. 20:4-6, cf. Rev. 5:10)

Therefore, when Jesus spoke of the “age-during life” which believers would partake in after rising again on the last day, He was certainly talking about the fact that they would be allowed to live and reign with Him for a thousand years in the coming Messianic age.

    However, contrary to some views of eschatology (including amillennialism), the age to come in which we will experience “age-during life” is not everlasting. Instead, scripture is absolutely clear that there will be multiple ages to come, in which Christ will reign as King and believers will experience age-during life by reigning with Him. Here are three key passages that demonstrate this:

“Lo, thou shalt conceive in the womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and call his name Jesus; he shall be great, and Son of the Highest he shall be called, and the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob to the ages; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” (Lk. 1:31-33)

God, being rich in kindness, because of His great love with which He loved us, even being dead in the trespasses, did make us to live together with the Christ, (by grace ye are having been saved,) and did raise [us] up together, and did seat [us] together in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus, that He might show, in the ages that are coming, the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:4-7)

to the only wise God our Saviour, [is] glory and greatness, power and authority, both now and to all the ages! Amen. (Jude 25)

Although these are not the only passages that demonstrate the fact that there will be multiple ages to come (notably, “the ages of the ages” for which Christ and believers will reign is also plural and very likely relates to the same period of time; Rev. 11:15; 22:5), they suffice to show that the coming Messianic age cannot be everlasting. There will be at least one age after it, followed by the end of the ages when all rule (including even that of Christ) will be abolished and God will become “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Heb. 9:26).

    Thus, the age-during life which believers will experience in the Messianic age will eventually come to an end; John 3:16 cannot be about our ‘eternal destiny’, but rather about the privilege that those who believe in Christ in this life will experience, by the glory of an early resurrection and life in the kingdom of God.

    “Shall not perish for the age”

In stark contrast to the reward of believers, John presents the judgment which will come upon those who disbelieve the Son as “perishing”. John says that those who remain in darkness have already been judged by their choice to do so, and so they shall not see life, but rather the wrath of God will remain upon them (Jn. 3:36). If Christian tradition is to be followed, then the “perishing” which John spoke of is referring to eternal torment in the Lake of Fire. But is this really what he meant?

    Elsewhere in the gospel of John, the age-during life of believers is contrasted with the fate which they are escaping, which is not eternal torment, but rather dying “for the [Messianic] age”. See the following passages:

“Verily, verily, I say to you, If any one may keep my word, death he may not see for the age.” (Jn. 8:51)

“My sheep my voice do hear, and I know them, and they follow me, and life age-during I give to them, and they shall not perish for the age, and no one shall pluck them out of my hand” (Jn. 10:27-28)

Jesus said to her, “I am the rising again, and the life; he who is believing in me, even if he may die, shall live; and every one who is living and believing in me shall not die for the age“ (Jn. 11:25-26)

The Greek phrase εις τον αιωνα, literally “for the age”, is often translated “forever” in modern dynamic-equivalence translations (possibly because of the influence of amillennialism, which argues that the coming age is ‘forever’). However, if translated that way in these passages, it would seem that Jesus is saying that believers will never die, which is demonstrably false and goes against reality; rather, He is making the very specific claim that those who believe in and follow Him will not die for the Messianic age.

    This interpretation makes sense in the context, since those who do not live for the age will, naturally, be dead throughout the age. This confirms what was seen in my previous article about the nature of Gehenna, in which I demonstrated that this punishment spoken of by Jesus refers to the fact that the corpses of Jewish unbelievers will be cast into the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem and burned during the Messianic age, thereby disqualifying them from the first resurrection of the saints and entry into the kingdom (and causing them to remain dead for that age). Therefore, the “perishing” spoken of by John in Jn. 3:16 is not about eternal conscious torment, but rather about remaining dead through the Messianic age.

    John’s intended audience

Keeping the judgment passages like Matthew 25:31-46 and Romans 2:6-10 in mind, the question must be asked, how can John say that everyone who disbelieves on the Son will not have age-during life (Jn. 3:36), when we know that at least a few Gentile unbelievers will pass through judgment unscathed? Ezekiel 47:22-23 and Matthew 25:34-40 state that some Gentile unbelievers (those who aided the Jews during the tribulation) will inherit land in the Messianic kingdom and receive age-during life, and Romans 2:7 (along with Isa. 65:20, indirectly) indicates that unbelievers who do good in this life will be rewarded with age-during life on the New Earth. But how is this compatible with John’s gospel?

    In fact, this is because John’s gospel (and all the messages therein) were written primarily to and about the Jews, not about the Gentiles. As Paul says in Galatians 2:9, John, along with Peter and James, was specifically sent “to the Circumcision” (that is, to Jewish believers), whereas Paul and Barnabas were the only apostles to the Gentiles. Likewise, the very central message of the gospel of John - that Jesus is the Messiah (Jn. 20:31) - is highly Jewish in nature. Although the Jews were largely removed from Judea by the 90s AD when this gospel was written, it was almost certainly written to the “dispersion” of Jewish people in Asia Minor (Jas. 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1).

    Therefore, although it is true that some Gentile unbelievers will receive age-during life, John’s statement that “he who is not believing the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God doth remain upon him” (Jn. 3:36) was entirely true for his intended Jewish audience. As Paul says in Rom. 2:12, Jews are held to a higher standard than Gentiles, because as the recipients of the Mosaic law, Jewish unbelievers will be judged by the law.

    Conclusion

John 3:16 is often considered to be the key text of Christianity, the “gospel in a nutshell”. According to the vast majority of Christians, this verse tells us of how God sent His Son to die for our sins, so that anyone who believes in Him will escape eternal torment and get to go to ‘heaven’ instead. However, when this verse is examined in context, and the meaning of ζωη αιωνιος (“life age-during”) is elucidated from other Johannine passages, it becomes quite clear that the unbiblical dichotomy between ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ is not in view here, but rather John 3:16 is about how anyone who follows Jesus will be allowed to live and reign in His kingdom during the Messianic age.

    Any mention of Christ’s death “for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3) must be eisegeted into this passage; it is not about His death (which was only revealed later in Jn. 12:32-33), but rather about how God sent the Messiah into the world. Furthermore, since the primary audience of the gospel of John was Jewish, none of the statements made in Jn. 3 can be generalized to Gentiles as well; in fact, doing so would create contradictions with other passages. Therefore, John 3:16 is not the “gospel in a nutshell”, nor is it about escaping ‘hell’, but rather it is a message to Jewish believers about how to enter the Messianic kingdom.