Life and Immortality by Basil Atkinson

“BASIL F.C. ATKINSON was educated at Tonbridge School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, was an Under‑Librarian of the University Library from 1925 to 1960. He became renowned in Evangelical circles (not least in the Cambridge Inter‑Collegiate Christian Union) for his gifts as a leader of devotional Bible readings which proved to be the means of deepening and strengthening the spiritual life of many who attended them.

Author of The Greek Language, Is the Bible True? Valiant in Fight, The War with Satan and The Christian’s Use of the Old Testament, his more recent work, The Pocket Commentary of the Bible (Genesis to Numbers), led to his being described as a modern Matthew Henry.

It has been said that “Dr. Atkinson brings an acute and believing mind to the study of the Bible, and whatever conclusions his meditation has led him to are worthy of his readers’ serious attention”. This is no less true of the conclusions which he has reached regarding life, death and human destiny which he sets forth clearly in this book.”

 

Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Nature of Man

Chapter 2: Rest and Darkness

Chapter 3: Resurrection and Glory

Chapter 4: The Doom of the Lost

INTRODUCTION

In this book I seek to prove that throughout the Bible the terms “life” and “death” are used and to be understood in their natural, normal and elemental meaning. If we allow this to be so, we find that man instead of being bipartite is a unity, that death is a period of unconsciousness brought to an end by resurrection, that the second coming of the Lord in glory and a glorious resurrection and rapture are the only but assured hope of the believer, and that the doom of all unrepentant sinners together with the devil, evil angels, sin and death and evil of all kinds is complete extinction and destruction out of the creation of God.

The book is intended naturally for all interested in the subject, but is addressed especially to fellow‑believers who are accustomed to the view that I should call natural immortality.* They hold that man is bipartite, possessing an immortal soul which carries his consciousness and personality and survives physical death. For the believer, they hold, a glorious eternity begins in a disembodied state immediately at death, while the wicked suffer in the same state in hell. At the judgment at the Lord’s second coming both these conditions are confirmed and continued, not only the believer living in glory in the new creation, but the unbeliever continuing for eternity in conscious misery and suffering in hell.

Though I have held these views of man, death, resurrection and hell for all my thinking life because I have been increasingly convinced that the Bible clearly teaches them, I have never felt that this was a matter of primary importance. Especially have I never felt any breach because of them with any evangelical believers. What matters is to preach Jesus and bring sinners into touch with eternity. It has been said that to believe in the destruction of sinners rather than their eternal life in misery takes away keenness, edge and reality from the preaching of the Gospel. From my own knowledge and experience I can say that this is by no means the case. All sinners are lost and in a desperate plight. Christ died for them, and it is His command and to His glory that we seek to get them saved. Those who believe that the Scripture teaches destruction are as earnest as any in their love for them and their desire that they should be saved. A friend of mine recently took an unconverted friend to hear the great popular evangelist of today. His friend was soundly converted and had never noticed that the evangelist, as he often does, had spoken of the immortality of his hearers and declared that they could never “commit suicide”. He had been brought face to face with eternity and with Jesus as his Saviour. When I hear evangelists express views like these, I think they are unscriptural in doing so, but I love to hear them preach Jesus and warn of judgment to come.

In the sections that follow I have sought to use positive arguments drawn from Scripture only and to examine as far as possible all relevant scriptural material. It might not be out of place here in this introduction to turn to experience for negative arguments which we may find to be consistent with the teaching of the Scriptures when we have assured ourselves of what they reveal on the subject.

We will ask ourselves the following questions. If man’s consciousness is carried by an invisible part of him which survives, how is it that unconsciousness can supervene from a physical accident such as a blow on the head? Should we not reasonably have supposed it to continue unaffected by sleep. accident or any physical cause? If the godly are in a conscious disembodied state of bliss after death but before resurrection, how is it that there is no hint of recollection of it by the half dozen or so persons whose restoration to life on earth is described for us in the Bible? If the godly dead are now in a state of perfect satisfaction and bliss, what is the object of their resurrection? If the ungodly are in conscious misery for eternity and above all if they continue in increasing sin for eternity, how can we believe the apostle’s supreme declaration in 1 Corinthians 15:28 that God will be all in all without narrowing its scope and distorting its meaning?

I would add that I have avoided in the fourth section which follows any argument about the final state of the lost based upon the character of God, which I should consider it to be irreverent to attempt to estimate. I have based my belief on this point only on what I feel convinced, as the Holy Spirit grants me light and grace, that the Scripture reveals and teaches. At the same time, when once we have drawn our conclusions from Scripture alone we may be permitted to feel that the destruction of the lost as it is taught there is an action more akin with the character of our holy loving God as He has revealed himself to us than their preservation in suffering for ever.

Finally I would ask all who are interested and especially any who remain unconvinced by the arguments of the sections that follow or feel doubts over them to look up carefully the references given and earnestly and honestly to search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so. If the light that they are given leads them to cling to views of survival and natural immortality, I would ask them to believe them, preach them and teach them with all their might, at the same time to remember that God speaks of Himself as the One “who only hath immortality”  (1 Tim. 6:16), words which language, but as One Who only has no beginning, but as  One Who alone has natural immortality in Himself.

My grateful thanks are due to my friend the Rev. Bernard L. Bateson, who has looked through the manuscript and gone to the trouble of typing it in triplicate. He has also taken in hand all the business side of the work, and without this help I doubt if the book could have been printed.

*Readers may remember that the great reformer Martin Luther listed as the last of the five cardinal errors of the papal church the immortality of the soul. He was followed in this view by William Tyndale.

1. THE NATURE OF MAN

As we cannot understand what the Bible reveals about immortality and a future life until we discover the nature of death, so we cannot understand what it teaches about the meaning of death until we first obtain a clear idea of the nature of man. In order to do this we shall not turn to human speculation or wishful thinking nor to doctrines held on the authority of any church, however ancient or widespread they may be. The true believer will not be satisfied to take his faith or doctrine from any other source but God’s Word. We must go to the Scriptures and seek to read them without the intrusion, as far as possible, of any preconceived ideas, in the light of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. If we are given grace to do this, we can be assured of finding the truth. No one who believes that the Scriptures are God’s Word written can believe that they can be inconsistent with themselves. Thus humble study and research must reveal a clear and consistent teaching on any subject—at least a subject of importance-‑into which we are led to search. It is evident that the Scriptures must be clear and not confusing.

The Creation of Man

It seems clear that our starting‑point should be the account of the creation of man at the beginning of the Bible. The first important statement is in Genesis 1:27, but for this enquiry the best starting-point will be Genesis 2:7, where we read, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”. A frequent interpretation of this verse is that it describes how man was made in the image of God by being given an immortal soul in contradistinction from the animals, The verse is read as a commentary on Genesis 1:27. The “theistic” evolutionists, those who believe that evolution was the method of God’s creation, even regard the verse as marking the point at which man became really human by receiving an immortal soul grafted on to a body evolved from the beasts.

In a moment we will examine the verse closely and show, we hope, that taken by itself it cannot bear such a meaning. Meanwhile let us look at the word translated “soul”, the great Hebrew word nephesh. Genesis 2:7 is the first place in which English readers of the Authorised Version have heard of the word “soul”, but it is not the first place in which nephesh occurs in Genesis. We find it in Genesis 1:20, 21, 24 and 30. In all these four verses the word refers to animals. Our translators have concealed this fact from us, presumably because they were so bound by current theological notions of the meaning of the word “soul”, that they dared not translate by it a Hebrew word that referred to animals, although they have used it in the margin at verses 20 and 30. In these verses we find “the moving creature, even living soul” (Heb.) (ver. 20); “every living soul (Heb. nephesh) that moveth” (ver.21); “Let the earth bring forth the living soul (Heb. nephesh) after his kind” (ver. 24); “and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is living soul (Heb. nephesh)” (ver. 30).

These verses show us that the fish and sea‑monsters (ver. 20, 21) are souls, as are the cattle, reptiles and other beasts (ver. 24). In verse 30 the land animals and birds are spoken of as each having within them a living soul. This expression here seems to be used in order to contrast them with inanimate objects that are without life. The same expressions are used of man, as we shall see. Both men and animals are souls. They are not bipartite creatures consisting of a soul and a body which can be separate and go on subsisting. Their soul is the whole of them and comprises their body as well as their mental powers. They are spoken of as having soul, that is, conscious being, to distinguish them from inanimate objects that have no life. In the same way we can say in English that a man or an animal is a conscious being and has conscious being.

Animals and Souls

In addition to the four passages that we have looked at in Genesis 1 there are nineteen passages in the Old Testament and one in the New which use the word nephesh or its Greek equivalent in connection with animals. We will leave the New Testament passage till we deal later with the Greek word. Of these nineteen passages fourteen describe animals as souls (Heb. nephesh), and five are of peculiar interest. Thus we have in Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood”. “Life” is the translation of Hebrew nephesh, so that the passage reads, “the soul of the flesh is in the blood”. In the same chapter and the fourteenth verse we find, “For it (that is, the blood) is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof . . . for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof”. In each case the word “life” is the translation of Hebrew nephesh, so that the passage reads, “For the blood is the soul of all flesh; the blood of it is the soul . . . for the soul of all flesh is the blood”. The expression “all flesh” leads us to conclude that these references to blood comprise both man and animals, so that we have here a most important insight revealed into the essence of human nature. Soul and blood are identical. We shall later find passages that confirm and establish this point. It is hardly necessary to point out that in all searching into the Scriptural doctrine of the nature of man the fundamental facts revealed in Leviticus 17 must be taken into full account.

Fifth and lastly we find in Job 41:21, where leviathan is being described (possibly the crocodile or one of the prehistoric monsters), the words, “His breath kindleth coals”. The word “breath” is the translation of Hebrew nephesh. Here we have the expression “his soul”, as equivalent to “he”, a very frequent use of nephesh as we shall see later, but this is the only passage in which it occurs in connection with an animal.

The Image of God

We have thus seen that the animals are spoken of in Scripture as being souls and as having a soul, but few will suppose that this fact in the case of the animals carries with it immortality. There are indeed some who are so fond of their animals that they hope and expect to see them in another world. Among them was the great John Wesley who was so much attached to his horse. But the Scripture is against them. The apostle Peter tells us that destruction is their natural end (2 Pet. 2:12) and the psalmist tells us that, though man was in a position of honour at the time of his creation, he has become like the perishing beasts (Ps. 49:12, 20). There is therefore a natural deduction that the possession of a soul or conscious being, by man, which resides in his blood, cannot carry immortality with it either, unless we have some direct word to the contrary.

No such word is forthcoming in Scripture. But is not man made in the image of God? Indeed he is (Gen. 1:26, 27) and in this respect differs supremely from the animals. But there is no mention of immor­tality in connection with the image. Why should it carry immortality any more than omniscience and omnipresence? It may well consist in those points that have been revealed about God in Genesis 1 before we reach verse 26, creative power (in man appearing as craftsmanship), rationality expressed in language, and moral discernment. A comparison of the apostle’s words in Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10 may lead us to the conclusion that the image includes righteousness and true holiness. None of these things are possessed by the animals. There is nothing in the fact that man is made in the image of God that should lead us to suppose that he is possessed of a natural immortality. On the contrary there is much in Scripture to deny it, as we shall see.

Man a Living Soul

Man is described as a soul by the Hebrew word nephesh and the corresponding Greek word about a hundred and fifty‑two times in the Old Testament and about sixteen times in the New. This and other uses of the word have so confused our translators that it is translated in forty‑five different ways in the Old Testament alone. It would be a waste of space to give a list of all the passages where a person is referred to by the word nephesh as they can be found in any concordance which gives the original words, but a few are as follows: Genesis 17:14; four times in Exodus 12; Leviticus 7:27 (twice); Numbers 19:18; Deuteronomy 27:25 (where it is important to notice that Moses speaks of “slaying an innocent soul” (Hebrew nephesh, translated “person”)). To continue the list we find the same reference and meaning seven times in Joshua 10 (all translated “souls”); in 1 Samuel 22:22; 2 Kings 12:4; Isaiah 58:10 (the second occurrence of the word “soul”); Jeremiah 38:16 (a pointed and meaningful use); Ezekiel 22:27 (where shedding blood is the same thing as “destroying souls”); Proverbs 19:15; 1 Chronicles 5:21.

In connection with this use of the word nephesh the following passages, all but one in the Pentateuch, are of great importance and significance. About thirteen times a dead person is referred to as a dead soul, translated “dead” or “dead body”. We shall be treating of these passages in our second section, but it seems desirable to list them here. They are Leviticus 19:28; 21:1,11; 22:4; Numbers 5.2; 6.:6,11; 9:6,7,10; 19:11,13; Haggai 2:13. Thus the Bible speaks of human death, which is so common in the experience of us all, as the death of the soul.

 

The Soul of Man

We have now found that the Scripture conclusively teaches that a human being is a soul in the same sense in which an animal, a bird, or even a fish, is a soul, the immense difference between a man and an animal being in this important respect one of degree and not of kind. At this point we have to remember that we too in English may refer to a person as a soul. If anyone arouses our pity we may say “Poor soul!” We may talk of a person of beautiful character as a lovely soul. Steamship companies have in the past, if not today, sent questionnaire forms to prospective passengers containing the question, “How many souls?” Although this use is weaker than that of Hebrew nephesh and never applies to animals, it is sufficiently like it.

Now this use in English of the word “soul” to mean a person does not in any way interfere with the more normal and what we might call the theological use of the word to mean an immaterial part of a human being that can subsist apart from his body, and the question may well have arisen in the minds of some of our readers whether this cannot be true of the Hebrew word nephesh also. There are other uses of nephesh which we will proceed to examine, but nowhere in the Bible is there a passage in which this word or its Greek equivalent is used in the accepted theological sense of the word “soul” today. We will leave the New Testament references, some of which will require a special study, till we come to deal with the Greek word.

Frequent Weak Sense of Nephesh

The next use of nephesh that we shall look at is the most frequent of all. It is what we might call the weak use. Thus “my (thy, his) nephesh”, as the case may be, is equivalent to “I”, “thou”, or “he”. It may be used with a proper name such as “David’s nephesh” meaning David or David himself. Examples are very numerous. The word is used in this sense about two hundred and eighty‑one times in the Old Testa­ment. Examples are to be found in Genesis 27:19: “sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me”; Exodus 15:9: “my lust (Heb.nephesh, that is, I) shall be satisfied upon them”; Leviticus 16:29: “ye shall afflict your souls (that is yourselves)”; “these sinners against their own souls (that is, themselves)” (Numbers 16:38); Deuteronomy 14:26: “whatsoever thy soul lusteth after”; we notice here that what the soul (that is, the person himself) desires is oxen, sheep, wine, or strong drink; Joshua 2:13: “deliver our lives (Heb. nephesh, meaning us) from death”; Judges 16:16: “his soul (that is, he) was vexed unto death”; 1 Samuel 25:26: “as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth (that is, as thou livest)”; 2 Kings 2:2 (the same as the last); Isaiah 38:17: “thou hast in love of my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption” (that is, in love to me delivered me); we notice again that the death from disease which Hezekiah was expecting was the death of his soul; Jeremiah 26:19: “Thus might we procure great evil against our souls”; Ezekiel 24:21: “that which your soul pitieth” (that is, you); Habakkuk 2:10: “Thou . . . hast sinned against thy soul”; Psalm 77:2 “My soul refused to be comforted”;  incidentally this usage occurs about ninety‑five times in the Psalms; Proverbs 16:17: “he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul”; Job 19:2: “How long will ye vex my soul”; Song of Solomon 5:6: “my soul failed when he spake”; Ecclesiastes 6:2: “he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth”; notice that the object of his soul’s desire is riches, wealth and honour; Esther 4:13: “Think not with thyself (Heb. nephesh, thy soul) that thou shalt escape in the king’s house”.

This usage of nephesh, “my (thy) soul”, etc., for “myself”, etc., has so engrained itself into the Hebrew language that is is used when speaking of the Lord God Himself. Here the presence of nephesh is completely forgotten and only the pronoun impresses itself on the mind. Thus it occurs once in Judges (10: 16); twice in Isaiah (1:12; 42:1); six times in Jeremiah (5:9,29; 6:8; 9:9; 14:19; 51:14); Once in the Psalms (11:5); and once in Proverbs (6:16). Its use in Isaiah 5:14 is very striking and singular. The verse reads, “Therefore hell (that is, sheol, the grave) hath enlarged herself” (Heb. nephesh, her soul). This instance is enough to prove how unemphatic the word nephesh is in this phrase and that it is simply equivalent to a pronoun.

In order not to overburden this work it has only been possible to select a few examples above. Interested readers will no doubt carefully look out all the examples in a concordance or Hebrew lexicon and to some it may well appear that some of these may be thought of more naturally as expressing the theological notion of the soul that is so widely held today. Of those listed above we may mention Numbers 16:38; Isaiah 38:17 and Habakkuk 2:10 and Song of Solomon 5:6. We may add Jonah 2:7 and Habakkuk 2:4. We ought here specially to mention Micah 6:7, where we seem to find the familiar contrast between body and soul. It must be remembered however that the Hebrew language had no word for “body” and no conception of the body as a whole, only of separate members of the body. If the ancient Hebrews ever thought of the body as a whole, the nearest word by which they could have expressed it is likely to have been nephesh, the soul. In Micah 6:7 the word translated “body” means “belly”. This makes it easier to see that “the sin of my soul” means, as in other cases, “my sin”.

It is true that we could take a minority of cases of this phrase in the present‑day theological sense provided we read into the word nephesh a conception that we do not find in it elsewhere in Scripture, but they can be taken as well in the sense of the majority of instances, in which it is quite plain that the nephesh can only mean the person as a whole. This being so our faith in the consistency of Scripture and the principle of interpreting it by itself oblige us to take them consistently in the sense of the majority.

The Soul and the Emotions

There are about a hundred and twenty‑six passages in the Old Testament in which the soul (Heb. nephesh) is specially connected with the desires or emotions. This usage arises out of the weak use of nephesh which we have just treated and many cases are on the borderline. Except that they deal with desires or emotions they could well be placed among the passages where nephesh means “I”, etc., or “myself” etc. In fact we can add about fifty‑four instances to that usage of the word, such as Genesis 34:8; 1 Samuel 2:16; 23:20 and possibly 30:6, four cases in Isaiah, five in Jeremiah, six in Ezekiel, three in the Minor Prophets, eleven in the Psalms, five in Proverbs, four in Job and six in the Song of Solomon. These last six all consist of the expression “My soul loveth”. Among these instances are one which refers to an animal (Jer. 2:24) and three which refer to God (Jer. 12:7; 15:1; Ezek. 23:18).

Instances that are left number over seventy. They usually speak of the soul as within the man or a part of the man and we must examine them very carefully to see if we can find any among them which convey the present‑day theological sense of the English word “soul”, as we sometimes hear it in the addresses of the evangelist today. As yet we have not found that sense in the word nephesh.

We must first refer to about twenty‑two instances in which the word “soul” is added to the word “heart” in such expressions as “with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (nephesh). In the combination of heart and soul we see the combination of conscience and will (heart) with conscious being (soul‑nephesh). With one very important exception these passages all refer to eight different attitudes in the national spiritual life. The heart and soul in each case may be the national heart and soul, but if this is so, it does not affect our question, for the analogy is clearly human.

The people are called upon with all their heart and soul to seek the Lord (Deut. 4:29; 1 Chron. 22:19; 2 Chron. 15:12), to love Him (Deut. 6:5; 13:3; 30:6), to serve Him. (Deut. 10:12; 11:13; Joshua 22:5; 1 Chron. 28:9), to lay up His words (Deut. 11:18), to keep and do His statutes (Deut. 26:16; 2 Kings 23:3; 2 Chron. 34:31), to return or turn to Him (Deut. 30:2,10; 1 Kings 8:48; 2 Kings 23:25; 2 Chron. 6:38), to know Him (Joshua 23:14), to walk in His ways (1 Kings 2:4). All these things engage the conscience, but some also the emotions, the memory and the faculty of knowledge. There is nothing in these examples to lead us to the idea of an immaterial part of a human being carrying his personality and consciousness and able to survive his death.

We have seen that the nephesh dies when the body (which is part of it) dies, and though we expect a word to be used in a figurative sense it is impossible that it could sometimes carry a meaning completely contradictory to its normal sense. None of these twenty‑one passages say a word about immortality or life beyond death or connect the nephesh with them. This conclusion is established by the last instance of this usage, which we find in Jeremiah 32:41. Here we read, “I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul”. The speaker is the Lord. just as in the weak use of nephesh we find the human analogy transferred to Him. This seems to mean that we must not press “heart and soul” too narrowly, but take it to mean “with all my (etc.) might and main”. At any rate this concentration of the word nephesh on the mind and emotions is a natural and intelligible use.

Mind and Feelings

We must now look carefully at the remaining examples of nephesh which emphasise the mind and feelings as opposed to the whole man. They number about fifty and may be divided into nine sections.

We find the nephesh to be the organ of resolve or determination: “If it be your mind that I should bury my dead” (Gen. 23:8); “If it be your minds then let none go forth” (2 Kings 9:15).

2. The nephesh is spoken of as the seat of feelings in general. Thus: “for ye know the heart of a strange?” (Exod. 23:9). There are two further examples in Psalm 107:5,26, in the first of which it is important to notice that the soul’s reaction was to hunger and thirst.

3. There are about fifteen examples of the nephesh as the seat of sorrow, the Hebrew often using the phrase “bitter of soul”. This sorrow of soul is caused by the burning ague (Lev. 26:16), by childlessness (1 Sam. 1:10), by the conduct of an evil member of a family (1 Sam. 2:33), by discontent (1 Sam. 22:2), by bereavement (1 Sam. 30:6), by invasion (Isa. 15:4; Ezek. 27:31), by poverty (Prov. 31:6), by misery such as Job suffered (Job 3:20; 30:16). It will be noticed that all these matters which have to do with sorrow of soul have to do with the affairs of this world. But there is one passage which needs careful study. In Job 14:22 we find, “But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul (Heb. nephesh) within him shall mourn”. Here we have a contrast between flesh and soul which appears to reflect and resemble the present‑day contrast between body and soul. Putting aside the danger of building an important doctrine on one text, especially when that text alone appears to differ from a large number of other passages, we read too much into the text when we seek to support from it the bipartite nature of man and the immortality of the soul. Of course there is an outer and an inner side to man, but no word is said in Scripture here or elsewhere about the immortality of the latter. The soul is thought of as being “within” man in contrast to his “flesh” in the same way as is the soul or nephesh of an animal. Those who keep, love and study a dog or cat can of course see its flesh and by means of it communicate with its little happy affectionate childlike mind, but do they not often say, “I wish I knew what was passing in his little mind”? Because the dog has teeth and a stomach it can eat its food, but it is because it has a nephesh that it can enjoy it ‑ and miss it when it does not get it.

4. There are about eighteen cases in the Old Testament in which the nephesh is spoken of as the seat of desire. There are four in Deuteronomy including the desire to eat grapes (Deut. 23:24) and the desire for wages (Deut. 24:15). There is the desire to reign in 2 Samuel 3:21. There are two instances in Isaiah, both of which are of interest. We find the desire of the nephesh for the LORD in Isaiah 26:9. This is a desire that is within the capacity of a human being alone of all the creatures of the earth. Animals could only desire Him if they were accustomed to His visible company on earth, as perhaps they were in Eden. It is often stressed that it is man’s spirit by which he is in touch with God, but here the prophet tells us that the LORD is the object of the desire of man’s soul (Heb. nephesh); The other passage in Isaiah is in 56:11: “Yea, they are greedy dogs” margin “strong of appetite”, Hebrew “strong of soul” (nephesh). The dogs are a descriptive figure for human beings, but it is as dogs that they are greedy, so that we may say here that the desire of the nephesh refers to animals. In Jeremiah there are three instances (22:27; 34:16; 44:14), and one instance in Ezekiel (24:25) and Hosea (4:8). The Psalms provide one instance (Ps. 105:22) and the book of Proverbs two (13:19 and 23:2). The second is striking. “Given to appetite” is “given to nephesh”, or “soul”. The desire of the soul is here for food at a meal. We find the same idea in reverse in Job. 33:20. Our two last instances are in Ecclesiastes 6. That in verse 7 exactly bears out Proverbs 23:2 and Job. 33:20. In verse 9 we read, “Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire”. For the last words the margin substitutes, “the walking of the soul”, but no one is likely to think, even apart from the usages of nephesh throughout the Old Testament, that the soul leaves the body and actually walks after the objects of its desire, the food at a meal for instance.

5. Another emotion the seat of which is the nephesh is anger, of which there are four examples to be found in Judges 18:25; 2 Samuel 17:8; Ezekiel 25:15 and 36:5,

6. An interesting example is found in 1 Samuel 1:15, where Hannah says, “I . . . have poured out my soul before the Lord”. She is referring to her fervent prayer, but the words might equally well be an example of the weak use, “my soul” meaning “myself”. The passage stands on the border line.

7. A doubly interesting passage occurs in 1 Samuel 2:35, where nephesh (translated “mind”) is shown to be the cradle of purpose, the purpose being that of the LORD Himself: “And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind”.

8. There are two passages in which the emotion which arises in the nephesh is joy.

They are Ezekiel 25:6 and Proverbs 16:24.

9. Lastly we have a very interesting example from Proverbs 27:9, where the nephesh is seen to be the origin of counsel or advice. “Hearty counsel” in that verse is in Hebrew  “counsel from the soul”.

The Nephesh in Life and Death

There are about a hundred and fifty‑five passages in the Old Testament in which the meaning of nephesh slides lightly into that of life and is sometimes best translated in English by the word “life”. Clearly we cannot list the whole, but we will select some examples at random and then call attention to about half a dozen of special interest. Exodus 21:30: “he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him”, that is, for the ransom of his soul or himself. Numbers 15:28: “And the priest shall make atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly”, that is, for the man who sins ignorantly. Deuteronomy 19:6: “Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer . . . and slay him” (Heb. “slay him in soul”). Notice that the avenger kills the soul. Joshua 9:24: “We were sore afraid of our lives because of you”, that is, afraid for ourselves because of you. Judges 12:3: “I put my life in my hands”, that is I put my soul, or myself in my hands. 1 Samuel 28:9: “wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?” The Hebrew says, “a snare for my soul (nephesh)”. Notice that the woman expects the death of her soul. 2 Kings 1:14: “therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight”, that is, let me now be precious in thy sight. Isaiah 53:12: “because he bath poured out his soul unto death”, or “poured out his life”. There may be a close connection here with the passages in Leviticus which we noticed above, the reference thus being to the shedding of Christ’s blood. Notice in any case that it is Christ’s soul that dies on the cross. Jeremiah 22:25: “And I will give thee into the hand of them which seek thy life”, that is “seek thy soul” (nephesh) to bring about its death. Ezekiel 32:10: “they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life”, that is, “for his own soul”, or “for himself”. Jonah 2:5: “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul”, that is, my life was almost gone and I was almost drowned. Jonah expected to lose his soul, that is, himself, by drowning. Psalm 74:19: “0 deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked”. Proverbs 13:8: “The ransom of a man’s life are his riches”, that is, the ransom of a man’s soul, or of a man. Job. 27:8: “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul”, that is, himself or his life. Esther 7:3: “let my life be given me at my petition”, that is, my soul or myself. 2 Chronicles 1:1: “thou hast not asked . . . the life of thine enemies”, that is, their soul (nephesh). To ask for their soul means that they might be put to death. Among those passages in which nephesh occurs with the emphasis upon life and death, of which the above are examples, there are half a dozen which need careful examination.

Elijah and the Widow’s Son: The first is 1 Kings 17:21,22, part of the story of the raising to life of the widow’s son at Zarephath by Elijah the prophet. There we read: “And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived”. Now this may be the very text for which some of our readers will have been looking. If we were to take it in isolation, we could take it to mean that the soul leaves the body at death and was in this instance recalled by Elijah’s prayer and there is nothing in the text itself as it stands in our version that prevents us from regarding the soul as an immortal part of man that survives bodily death. Three factors prevent us from doing so. First, neither here nor elsewhere in the Bible is anything said about immortality in connection with the soul. Secondly, of hundreds of occurrences of the word nephesh this is the only one that permits us to think along such lines, lines that are in open contradiction to the only conclusions that can be drawn from a great many other occurrences of the word. Thirdly, if we look in the margin of our Bibles we shall find that the Hebrew original of the last words of verse 21 reads, “let this child’s soul come into his inward parts again”. This puts a different construction on the passage. The soul does not here return to the body. It returns to the child’s inward parts, those parts which are the seat of the emotions and thoughts, which we have already seen to be associated with the nephesh. This is a perfectly intelligible way of expressing the child’s coming to life again. In any case we can see that the writer did not think of the soul as being the real child or carrying his personality. The child was lying dead on the bed and the soul came back to the child. Elijah did not think or say such words as are sometimes heard at modern funerals, “I can’t think of him as here any longer”.

Our next passage is in Isaiah 10:18 “it . . . shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body”. Dr. E. W. Bullinger says of this passage that nephesh is here applied to vegetation (Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (London, 1914), P. 720, col. 1, article Soul), but we need have no hesitation in rejecting this interpretation. The forest and the fruitful field are figures for the people and land of the king of Assyria, about whom the passage is speaking. The phrase “both soul and body” is explained in the margin as “from the soul and even to the flesh”. We need not deny the difficulty of this passage, but this vanishes when we see that it refers to the death of men by fire with subsequent burning of their corpses. This again need not be taken as a literal prediction, but as a figure of speech for the destruction of a nation and empire taken from the burning of a forest.

If we turn to Jonah 4:3, we shall read Jonah’s prayer, “Therefore now, 0 Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me”. “Life” here is Hebrew nephesh. Jonah prays that his soul might be taken from him. Notice that Jonah does not leave his body, but Jonah’s soul leaves him. The passage is similar to 1 Kings 17:21,22. It is quite rightly and properly translated, “take . . . my life from me”. This is exactly what it means.

There are two passages in Proverbs 28 which we ought to look at. In verse 17 we read, “A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person (nephesh) shall flee to the pit”. Nephesh here has its funda­mental meaning of a man or person, but the phrasing is interesting. In verse 25 we find the words. “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife”. The “proud heart” is in Hebrew an insatiable (or wide) soul (nephesh). This is an occurrence of nephesh thought of as the seat of desire.

Lastly we turn to Job 33:29,30: “Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be en­lightened with the light of the living”. In isolation this text might refer to resurrection, but the preceding context, as well as natural probability, makes it more likely that it refers to preservation from death. In either case we notice that it is the soul (nephesh), the whole man that descends to the pit of death.

Our study of the meaning of nephesh, the soul of man, now comes to an end. We will leave an analysis of it to a more appropriate place and meanwhile will take note (1) that never once in over seven hundred and fifty occurrences of the word is the idea of immortality connected with it and (2) that from only one passage, 1 Kings 17:21,22, and that taken in isolation, could we reasonably infer that Scripture speaks of the nephesh as a separate entity that leaves the body at death. Even so, we hope that in dealing with that passage we have shown conclusively that this cannot be its meaning.

The New Testament

The Greek word used in the New Testament which corresponds to the Hebrew nephesh and is found representing it in quotations from the Old Testament is psychee. This was the appropriate word to represent nephesh, as it had an ancient history in the Greek language with much the same overtones as nephesh. It was common since the Homeric poems, the great epics dating perhaps from the eighth or seventh century B.C., which were taught in the Greek schools and on which all educated Greeks were brought up. It had like nephesh the meaning of the life, of the whole man and of the seat of the desires and thought. Occasionally it was used in the weak sense with a proper name as an expression for the man himself, but apparently never with a personal pronoun. In the Homeric poems the psychee was consistently represented as surviving after death as a ghost in a shadowy world and in the thought of the fifth and fourth centuries, culminating in the great Plato, we find the idea of the immortality of the soul elaborated.

This last idea, connected sometimes but by no means generally in Greek mythology and philosophy with the word psychee, is never found belonging to the Hebrew nephesh as we have seen. The associa­tions of psychee with it in heathenism however provided an opportunity for its introduction by semi‑converted heathen into Christian thought about the turn of the second and third centuries A.D. and for reading the idea back into the word psychee as it occurred in the New Testament.

When dealing with important Greek words in the New Testament, especially the great theological terms, we need always to bear in mind that the Greek words do not bear the particular meanings which they may have had in heathenism, but always those of their original Hebrew equivalents in the Old Testament, where the ideas originated. The link between the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament is the great Septuagint version of the Old Testament made at Alexandria in the third century B.C.

The translation was made by Jews, who of course understood the meaning of the Hebrew words and intended the Greek that they used to answer to it. Thus the Septuagint follows the Hebrew and the New Testament follows the Septuagint. The Septuagint version was not inspired, but in the providence of God it provided this valuable linguistic link between the Old and New Testaments.

Psychee and Animals

The Greek word psychee as used in the New Testament follows the Hebrew nephesh in all five of its senses. It has one additional sense also, which occurs only twice and which we shall see to be of great interest. There is one occurrence where psychee is used (in the plural) of animals: fish, whales and sea‑monsters in fact. It will be found in Revelation 8:9: “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life died”. The Greek says “and had souls”. “Life” is the proper English translation, but few will suppose that the life or souls of the fish are immortal. This is enough to show that the word psychee does not essentially carry in itself the conception of immortality.

Psychee and Man

There are fourteen occurrences in the New Testament of the word psychee meaning a human being exactly in the same sense as the Hebrew nephesh, four of which are in quotations from the Old Testa­ment. The first two, which appear in the same verse, are the most important and require special examination. In Matthew 10:28 we read, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. In this text we find the contrast between soul and body which sometimes occurs in the New Testament, though very seldom in the Old under the form of soul and flesh. Our text here taken in isolation is easily capable of implying the survival of the soul after the death of the body and our friends who believe that the soul survives normally take it in this sense. If there were any word in either Old or New Testament to connect survival or immortality with the soul, they would undoubtedly be right. But a careful study of the meaning of the word “soul” in the original language of the Old Testa­ment, and also as we shall see of the New, shows that it is always connec­ted with a human being who is alive on earth and that it dies or is destroyed when death comes to him in the way that is so familiar to our experience. When we bear this in mind, the meaning of the Lord’s words here becomes clear. To kill the body here means to take the present life on earth. But this does not kill the soul or person himself. It only puts him to sleep. He is finally destroyed in the second death, when his person or self is killed for ever. All will agree that destruction in hell is the second death, though we leave the discussion of its exact nature to our fourth section. Parallel to this verse is the Lord’s declaration that Jairus’ daughter was not dead but asleep (Matt. 9:24). She was actually dead (“kill the body”), but as she was going to wake up she could rightly be said to be asleep. In the same way all the dead will rise on the last day, so that as they now lie in their graves their souls, that is to say themselves, may rightly be said not to have been finally killed or destroyed The death which we all know is, as we have seen, the death of the soul, but is not final.

Further examples of  psychee meaning “person” are found in Acts 2:41,43, in Acts 3:23 and 7:14, both in quotations from the Old Testament, in 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:14; Romans 2:9; 13:1; 1 Corinthians 15:45 in a quotation from Genesis 2:7; Revelation 18:13 in a quotation from Ezekiel 27:13, and Revelation 20:4. The remaining case is Revelation 6:9, which needs special study. The souls spoken of here are often thought of as the disembodied spirits of the martyrs. A difficulty lies in their strange position underneath the altar and a great difficulty in the fact that they are heard crying for vengeance as if their whole character and principles had been changed by their death. These verses are all symbolic in keeping with the whole of the Apocalypse. The key to their meaning lies in Leviticus 17:14, where the soul is identified with the blood. The passage is parallel with Genesis 4:10, “the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground”. The souls are the dead persons of the martyrs (see Numbers 5:2 and other passages in Numbers). The souls in Revelation 20:4 have also been occasionally taken to be disembodied spirits, but the word emphasises the opposite. The souls of the martyrs and the righteous are themselves restored in resurrection from the dust of death and it is the use of the word which brings out this fact and draws attention to it.

Psychee meaning Self

There are in the New Testament twenty‑four examples of the word psychee used in the weak sense, seven of which are found in quotations from the Old Testament. They are Matthew 11:29; 12:18; 26:38; Mark 14:34; Luke 1:46; 2:35; 12:19 (twice); 14:26; John 12:27; Acts 2:27, 31; 1 Peter 1:22; 2:25; 4:19; 2 Peter 2:8; 3 John 2; Romans 16:4; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:8; Hebrews 6:19; 10: 38; 12:4 and 13:17. In Matthew 12:18 and Hebrews 10:38, both quotations, the word psychee (“my soul”) is used of God in the sense of “I”. In 3 John 2 the health of the soul is often taken in the spiritual sense as opposed to the health of the body, which is supposed to be first spoken of in contrast. But we cannot force this alien sense upon the word psychee. The verse is a prayer that the prosperity and health which Gaius was enjoying at the moment might continue.

Psychee as the Seat of the Emotions

There are twelve occurrences of the use of psychee in this sense in the New Testament. The first four are in the Gospels and are all quotations from the Old Testament, the soul being combined and contrasted with the heart. They are Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30,33; Luke 10:37. The remaining occurrences are as follows: Acts 4:32; 14:2,22; 15:24; Ephesians 6:6; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 3: 23; Revelation 18:14. The last instance is interesting. It refers to Babylon the Great under the figure of a woman.

Just as with nephesh in the Old Testament, though psychee in these instances does not represent the whole man but the inner part of him, there is no hint anywhere that the psychee alone carries the personality and consciousness, or that it survives the body, or that it is immortal. It is inseparably connected with the blood (Lev. 17:14). If man possessed a psychee that is immortal, the fact is of such tremendous importance that it is inconceivable that we should not find it stated directly either in the description of the creation of man or from time to time during references to death.

Psychee in the Sense of Life

This is the most frequent sense of the word in the New Testament, there being about forty‑six occurrences. It will be necessary to look at most of these, but to save space we will not quote the words of the texts, but ask readers to turn to their Bibles. In these references the word psychee is sometimes translated “life” and sometimes “soul”, the basic meaning in each case being the person or the self. The list of references follows:

1. Matthew 2:20. This is quite straightforward. We notice that., as in the Old Testament, the soul (psychee) is put to death when the body dies.

2 and 3. Matthew 6:25. Here we see that the soul (psychee) is associated with food and drink and the body (the visible exterior) with clothing. At the same time there is more in the soul than food and drink. It can raise its desires and thoughts to heavenly things. However its association with food and drink, as with the blood (Lev. 17:14), shows that it does not survive the body.

4 and 5. Matthew 10:39. Here we understand the meaning of the word psychee (life) best if we translate it “self”. The contrast is between the man who lives for the pleasures of this life and the man who lives for Christ and eternity. Incidentally this verse tells us that in spite of the total change of nature at the resurrection a man still remains a person or psychee in the glory to come.

6 to 9. Matthew 16:25,26. The same applies here as in numbers 4 and 5.

10. Matthew 20:28. The same applies here.

11. Mark 3:4. “Life” is here quite a correct English translation. By altering it to “person” we shall see the underlying meaning.

12 to 15. Mark 8:35‑37. The same applies as in numbers 4 and 5.

16. Mark 10:45. The same applies here.

17. Luke 6:9. The same applies here as in number 11.

18 and 19. Luke 9:24. The same applies here, as in numbers 4 and 5. In the following verse we find the actual substitution both in Greek and English of “himself” for “his soul” or “his life”.

20. Luke 9:56. Here “men’s lives” can be simply rendered “men”.

21. Luke 12:20. “Life” is the correct translation. We notice again that at death the man does not leave his body, but his soul (psychee) leaves the man.

22 and 23. Luke 12:22 and 23. This is identical with numbers 2 and 3.

24. Luke 17:33. The same applies here as in number 4.

25. Luke 21:19. The meaning of this verse is, “By your endurance you will acquire possession of your souls”(psychee), that is, of your lives or of yourselves. The verse is parallel with Matthew 24:13.

26. John 10:11. To lay down one’s life is the same as to give oneself.

27. John 10:15. The same applies here.

28. John 10:17. The same applies here.

29 and 30. John 12:25. The same applies here as in numbers 4 and 5.

31 and 32. John 13:37 and 38. This is parallel with numbers 26 to 28.

33. John 15:13. The same applies here.

34. Acts 15:26. This is the same as numbers 26 to 28.

35. Acts 20:10. This is exactly parallel with the use of nephesh in 1 Kings 17:21, 22 (see p. 9).

36. Acts 20:24. Here psychee is properly translated “life”. The underlying meaning is “self”.

37. Acts 27:10. The same applies here.

38. Acts 27:22. The meaning of psychee here is “person”. Notice that “loss of life” in the ordinary sense means the loss of the soul.

39. James 1:21. “Your souls” means “you”. We may well conclude that the salvation here spoken of is eternal salvation from the second death.

40. James 5:20. “A soul” here means “a person”. Again the salvation is clearly eternal salvation from the second death.

41. 1 Peter 1:9. Exactly the same applies here.

42. 1 Peter 2:11. The soul here means the life or the person.

43. Romans 11:3. In this quotation from 1 Kings 19:10, where psychee represents nephesh, to seek my life means to seek to kill me.

44. Philippians 2:30. “Life” here means “self”.

45. Hebrews 10:39. The same applies here. The issue here is eternal salvation.

46. Revelation 12:11. “Their lives” again means “themselves”.

Soul and Spirit

There are two important New Testament passages in which the word psychee bears a sixth shade of meaning which does not appear in the case of nephesh in the Old Testament. It appears in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12 in contrast to pneuma, spirit. In the former of these verses we read, “I pray God your whole spirit and soul (psychee) and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. It is deduced sometimes from this text that man was made at his creation a tripartite being, the spirit being that part of him by which he can get in touch with God. Anyone who tries to think this out will be faced with a very complicated situation. In any case it is dangerous to build a doctrine on a single unsupported text. The key to this verse lies in the fact that it is addressed to believing Christians, who while they are still in the flesh in this world possess two natures, the original Adamic nature with which they were born and the new spiritual nature created in them at their regeneration. The former of these is called “soul” and stands for all that the nephesh stands for in the Old Testament and for all that psychee stands for in the New Testament. The body is of course the outward visible “flesh”, as the Hebrew of the Old Testament would express it.

The second text in which the same contrast is found is Hebrews 4:12: “The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two‑edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit”. These words appear to mean that study of the Scriptures will show us which desires, aspirations, emotions and thoughts lie on the old and sinful side of our hearts and which on the regenerate side. An echo of this contrast may be found in 1 Corinthians 2:14,15, where the apostle contrasts the “natural” man with the “spiritual” man. The word translated “natural” is psychikos, adjective from the noun psychee, and means a man who only possesses “soul”, but not spirit in the sense of a regenerate principle of life.

In 1 Corinthians 15:45, where the apostle quoting Genesis 2:7 says that the first man was made a living soul and adds that the last Adam, Christ, has been made a quickening spirit. This is His nature in glory after His resurrection. This does not mean that His body was not raised from the dead and is now in heaven bearing the nail prints and the wound, but that His nature is altogether a higher one than was His nature on earth in the flesh. His body is now a spiritual body.

Thus we reach the end of our study of the words nephesh and psychee with their contribution to our‑understanding of human nature. We will leave a summary of our conclusions to be included in our summary of Scriptural teaching on the nature of man at the end of our whole first section.

The Breath of Life

If we turn again to Genesis 2:7, we shall see that “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”. We have already seen what it means to become a living soul. This great verse shows us the process. First we have man made of the dust of the ground. We notice in the texts of our Bibles that the word “of” on the first occasion on which it occurs in the verse is in italics. This means of course that it is absent from the original. Our margins confirm this. They say “formed man dust of the ground”. Man is not some composition made of dust. He actually consists of dust, and we are reminded of this humble position of his several times in the Bible (see Genesis 3:19; 18:27; Psalm 103:14; 104:29; Job 34:15; Ecclesiastes 3:20; 12:7). We notice that there is no hint of the “soul” being the real man, and the “body” being a temporary habitation for him. The man is there before ever he becomes a soul by the inbreathing into his nostrils of the breath of life.

The breath of life in Genesis 2: 7 represents the Hebrew n’shamah, which is a life principle issuing from the Lord God. The word occurs twenty‑five times in the Old Testament. In one instance (Job 37:10) it is said to produce frost and ice, and in four it is used of the blast of the wrath of God. In the remaining 20 it is used of the life principle breathed into man by God. We notice that it was breathed into his nostrils, and such passages as Deuteronomy 20:16; Joshua 10:40; 11:11,14 show that it relates to his actual physical breathing by the inhalation of air. We remember that man’s soul is in his blood and indeed his blood is his soul. Thus he is kept in being as a living soul by the inhalation of oxygen out of the air, and medical science today knows of course a great deal about the connection between this intake of oxygen and the blood.

In two of the passages in which n’shamah is referred to we find the animals included as well as man (Genesis 7:22; Psalm 150:6). This agrees with the fact that, as we have seen, they are souls just as man is a soul.

The Breath of the Spirit

If we look in our margins at Genesis 7:22, we shall see that for “the breath of life” the Hebrew says “the breath of the spirit of life”. While we know the Holy Spirit to be the Divine Spirit of life, it is probable that this passage here does not refer to Him but to the principle of life, which is the same as n’shdmdh, but on a wider scale. The word for “spirit” is ruagh and we shall shortly be dealing with it. This passage then teaches that n’shamah is the same thing as the ruagh of life, but derives from it as a limited portion of it.

The probability that this is the meaning of this passage arises from the fact that there are five passages in which n’shamah and ruagh appear as parallels. They are Isaiah 42:5: “he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein”; Job 27:3: “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils”; Job 32:8: “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration (n’shamah) of the Almighty giveth them understanding”. This verse is also of great interest because it speaks of the n’shdmdh as providing men with understanding. This links the mind very closely with the physical life. In addition we have Job 33: 4: “The Spirit of God hath given me life”. In spite of the capital letter in our version it remains probable that the “spirit” here is again the principle of life parallel with n’shdmdh. Finally we have Job 34:14: “If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath”.

Daniel 10:17 is an interesting passage: “for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me”. The absence of n’shdmdh literally means death, but here it appears in a figurative sense for exhaustion. No difficulty need be felt as we can speak in the same way in English.

The same stem nishma, “breath”, occurs in Aramaic in Daniel 5:23.

The Spirit of God

There is one more great word that we must study in order to grasp all that the Bible reveals to us about the nature of man. This is the word ruagh, usually translated “spirit”, and its New Testament equivalent pneuma, which we will leave until we reach the New Testament as in the case of nephesh and psychee. This word has a greater variety of meaning than does nephesh, but is not dissimilar to it in its range.

There are a large number of occurrences of ruagh in the sense of “wind”, which is probably its elementary meaning. There are about a hundred and nineteen of these, including two Aramaic occurrences in the book of Daniel. There are also a large number of cases in which the word is used to describe a personal being. There are about eighty-two references to the Spirit (Ruach) or Holy Spirit of God, the third Person of the blessed Trinity. There are about seventeen references to created personal beings described as ruagh, either good or evil. It is important to notice that no human being is among them. A human being is never called a spirit in the Bible. He possesses a spirit, but he is not a spirit. As we have seen, he is a nephesh or soul.

Ruagh as Life Principle

We are not concerned with the two senses of the word ruagh which have just been mentioned, as they do not touch our argument or affect the subject which we are treating. We next find ruach used widely in the sense of a life principle, and here it concerns us deeply. In Genesis 2:7 we saw that man was made of the dust and that he became a living soul by the inbreathing into his nostrils of the n’shamah of life. In Genesis 7:22 we find this n’shamah referred to (margin) as the breath of the spirit (ruagh) of life. The n’shanah seems to be a property or portion of the ruagh and to be concerned with what we today should call the physical life. The ruagh which is also a principle of life is much wider. It produces and sustains the inner as well as the outer life of man, his intellect, abstract thoughts, emotions and desires as well as covering the whole action of the n’shamah on the physical life.

We find ruagh occurring in this sense in place of n’shdmdh first in Genesis 6:17: “to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath (ruach) of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die”. This applies to both men and animals, so that the latter share this ruagh or life principle with man. Though attempts have been made to show that animals do not have ruagh but only n’shamah, they fail in the face of this passage and of Genesis 7:15 and 22 or Ecclesiastes 3:21, which plainly state that animals possess the ruagh of life.

There are some forty‑nine passages in the Old Testament in which ruagh refers to the life principle implanted in man including the new life principle created in him at regeneration. We will not take up space by listing them all, but will select a few illustrative examples. Numbers 16:22: “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh”. Here and in the parallel passage in Numbers 27:16 the word ruagh seems to include its sense of spirit as a disposition of the mind as well as the principle of life; Judges 15:19: “and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived”. This revival is not from death, but from exhaustion, the use of ruagh here being exactly parallel to that of n’shamah in Daniel 10:17. We find exactly the same use in 1 Samuel 30:12. In Isaiah 38:16 we find Hezekiah saying, “in all these things (that is, in the mercies of God) is the life of my spirit”. Hezekiah is probably referring to the recovery of his health and his deliverance from death, though it is possible that he may be referring to his regenerate spiritual nature. Then in Jeremiah 10:14 we find, “for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them”. This means that the image, though a god to the idolater, is not alive. In Lamentations 4:20 we have an interesting and intelligible figure of speech: “The breath (ruagh) of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits”. The reference is to King Zedekiah, who is thought of as the nation’s very life. In Ezekiel we have ten instances of ruagh as life principle (1:20,21; 10:17; 37:5,6,8, 9,10), one relating to exhaustion (21:7) in the same sense as Judges 15:19 and 1 Samuel 30:12. In the book of the same prophet we find ruagh used three times for the new regenerate principle of life which is put within the believer when he is converted and born again (11:19;18:31 and 36:26). In Habakkuk 2:19 there is another statement that the idol has no ruagh, that is to say, is not alive. A very interesting example occurs in Malachi 2:15. The prophet is arguing for faithfulness in marriage and reminds his readers that God created only one woman at the beginning though He could have created as many as He wished. “And did he not make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit.” God had at His disposal as much spirit as He wished to breathe life into as many women as He wished.

In Psalm 31:5 we have in prophecy the words of the Lord Jesus on the cross as He was dying: “Into thine hand I commit my spirit”. He entrusted to God the human spirit, the principle of life which He possessed as a man, so that it could be restored to Him in resurrection. Death again is the theme of Psalm 76:12: “He shall cut off the spirit of princes”, that is, take away their lives. Death and creation are the theme in Psalm 104:29,30: “Thou takest away their breath (ruagh), they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit (ruagh), they are created”. The first of these statements is the reverse process of Genesis 2:7, where we remember that n’shdmdh is derived from and is a part, as it were, of ruagh. The second statement is parallel to Genesis 2:7. The references in these verses are to animals. In Psalm 143:7 we again fmd ruagh as a life principle: “my spirit (ruagh) faileth: Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit”. David felt that he would die. In Psalm 146:4 we have an important passage dealing with death, which will concern us in our second section: “His (that is, man’s) breath (ruagh) goeth forth, he returneth to his earth”. Man’s spirit, the principle that makes him a living soul and keeps him alive, is taken from him at death.

There are seven references in the book of Job: Job 6:4: “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit”. The arrows are a poetical figure for the wrath and chastisement of the Almighty. To drink up his spirit (ruagh) means to drain his life; Job 9:18 to take his breath (ruagh) probably means simply to live; Job 10:12: the spirit (ruagh) is the principle that keeps him alive; Job 12:10: breath here is ruagh. The text teaches that the LORD’s hand controls and maintains every man’s life; Job 17:1: “My breath (ruagh) is corrupt”. See the margin, “My spirit is spent”. Job thinks his life is failing; Job 27:3: the spirit (ruagh) of God is the Spirit of life breathed into man at his creation; Job 34:14,15; Elihu speaks here of the power of God to destroy man by taking back the spirit (ruagh) which He gave him.

There are six important references in Ecclesiastes. As they all deal with death, we shall treat them fully in our second section. The references are Ecclesiastes 3:19, 21 (twice); 8: 8 (twice); 12:7. On each occasion the Hebrew word is ruagh.

Before we leave this section we must look at the important and interesting occurrence of ruagh in Isaiah 31:3: “Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit (ruagh)”. Here the meaning of the word seems to go beyond that of life principle almost to that of a different nature, so that we get an anticipation of the apostle Paul’s distinction between flesh and spirit as different natures in the believer. The parallel here between “men, and not God” and “flesh, and not spirit” is very striking and may well lead to much thought and study.

Ruagh as the Disposition and Seat of Emotions

As well as having the sense of the life principle in man the word ruagh can also mean a man’s inner disposition as the seat of his thoughts and emotions. This is similar to the sense of nephesh when it refers to the inner man as well as to the whole man as a person or living being. This use of ruagh is not however identical with the similar one of nephesh. We shall not find a single reference that would lead us to look upon man’s ruagh as consciously surviving his death, and when we reach our second section we shall examine carefully certain passages which directly teach us what happens to it at death.

There are several powers and emotions which are governed by the ruagh. (i). There are about twenty‑seven instances where the spirit (ruagh) is the seat of grief, generally referred to in Hebrew as “bitterness of spirit”. Examples are Genesis 26. 35: “Which were a grief of mind (ruagh) unto Isaac and Rebekah”; Exodus 6. 9: “but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit (ruagh) and for cruel bondage” 1 Samuel 1. 15: “I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit (ruagh); 1 Kings 21. 5: “Why is thy spirit (ruagh) so sad, that thou eatest no bread?” Notice that sadness of spirit affected the appetite. In Isaiah 54. 6 we find: “For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit (ruagh)”; Psalm 77. 3: “I complained, and my spirit (ruagh) was overwhelmed”; Proverbs 15. 13: “But by sorrow of the heart the spirit (ruagh) is broken”. Here we find the heart as the seat of the sorrow, but the sorrow breaks the spirit or whole inner life of the man. Job. 21. 4: “why should not my spirit (ruagh) be troubled?” Nine times in Ecclesiastes we find the words “vanity and vexation of spirit (ruagh)”. An Aramaic instance in Daniel 7. 15 is “I Daniel was grieved in my spirit (ruagh) in the midst of my body”. This passage is interesting because it speaks of the relationship between “ruagh” and “body”. The word translated “body” means “sheath” in Aramaic. Thus what we should call the physical body is regarded in this passage as the sheath or covering of the inner man or spirit. The mind or personality is within but there is nothing here or elsewhere from which we may infer that the ruagh consciously survives the breaking of the sheath. The most we can say is that the passage is consistent with such an idea if we were able to find it revealed anywhere in Scripture.

There are about nine passages in which wisdom is spoken of in connection with the ruagh. Thus we have in Exodus 28:3: “And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit (ruagh) of wisdom”. It is difficult to be certain whether this ruagh is that of the man filled naturally with wisdom or whether we are to think of a special inspiration for the purpose of the work in hand. Deuteronomy 34:9: “And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit (ruagh) of wisdom”. In Isaiah 29:24 we find spirits that had been deprived of wisdom: “They also that erred in spirit (ruagh) shall come to understanding”. Proverbs 17:27 has a slightly different turn: “A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit (ruagh)”. Job 20:3: “And the spirit (ruagh) of my understanding causeth me to answer”. In Aramaic we have an example in Daniel 5:12: “Forasmuch as an excellent spirit (ruagh), and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel”. In addition to these instances we find five times in the book of Daniel the heathen kings declaring that in Daniel was “the spirit (ruagh) of the gods” or “of the holy gods” (Daniel 4:8, 9, 18; 5:11,14). By this they mean a spirit of wisdom, but their expression is essentially heathen and therefore unlike the usual occurrences of ruagh.

There are two instances in which we find the ruagh governing the will: “every one whom his spirit (ruagh) made willing” (Exodus 35:21) and in an opposite sense: “for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit (ruagh)” (Deuteronomy 2:30). In Numbers 5 we find three times “the spirit (ruagh) of jealousy” (verses 14 (twice) and 30), where we can possibly understand this to be a feeling or disposition that temporarily came upon a man. The spirit is the seat of courage, as we find in Joshua 2:11 (where ruagh is translated “courage”); Joshua 5:1; 1 Kings 10:5; Isaiah 19:3; 29:10; Jeremiah 51:11; Haggai 1:14 (three times); Proverbs 18:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:4.

There are six passages in which the ruagh appears as the seat of anger. They are Judges 8:3, where ruagh is translated “anger”; Ezekiel 3:14; Proverbs 14:29; 16:32; Ecclesiastes 7:9 and 10:4. It is interesting to find about fourteen passages in which the ruagh is the seat of perverseness, evil or rebellion. Thus we find Isaiah 19:14: “a perverse ruagh”; Hosea 4:12 and 5:4: “the ruagh of whoredoms”; Zechariah 13:2: “the unclean ruagh”. This seems to be a national spirit. Malachi 2:15,16 show us treachery or unfaithfulness in the ruagh. In Psalm 32:2 we see the possibility of “guile” or deceit in the ruagh. Psalm 78:8 speaks of “a generation . . . whose spirit (ruagh) was not steadfast with God. Proverbs 15:4 tells us that perverseness in the tongue is a breach or wound in the ruagh. Proverbs 16. 18 speaks of “an haughty spirit” (ruagh). In Proverbs 25:28 we find the man who cannot control his own ruagh. In Job 15:13 we find the charge, “thou turnest thy spirit against God”. Ecclesiastes 7:8 speaks of  “the proud in spirit (ruagh)”. Finally we have in the Aramaic passage Daniel 5:20 the statement that King Nebuchadnezzar’s mind (ruagh) was hardened in pride.

There are two interesting passages which show the ruagh seeking and searching after God. They are Isaiah 26:9 and Psalm 77:6. As the speaker in each case is a godly man, the reference may perhaps be to the regenerate spirit. Whether this is so or not, it is a far cry from the fact of man seeking in his spirit after God to the idea that the ruagh is immortal or even survives the body. In about seven passages the ruagh is seen as the seat of contrition and humility. Thus we have the famous and beautiful passage in Isaiah 57:15: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble”. Again in Isaiah 66:2: “but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit”. Other passages are Zechariah 12:10, though here again we seem to have a special effusion upon the church at large; Psalm 34:18; 51:17; Proverbs 16:19; 29:23 and Ecclesiastes 7:8. In Proverbs 11:13 there is a reference to a “faithful spirit” (ruagh). This shows the ruagh as a disposition or the fount of character.

In addition to these there are about fifteen references to ruagh in a more general sense. These are Numbers 14:24; Ezekiel 11:5, where ruagh is translated “mind”; Ezekiel 20:32 (the same); Habakkuk 1:11 (the same); Zechariah 12:1, which reveals the hand of God on the character and personality of man; Psalm 51:10: this is the regenerate spirit which is both a principle of life and a moral disposition; Proverbs 16:2; Job 19:17 where ruagh is translated “breath” and exceptionally means practically “myself”; Job 32:18; Daniel 6:3; Ezra 1:1,5; 1 Chronicles 5:26 (twice); 2 Chronicles 21:16, where the ruagh is that of a nation; and 2 Chronicles 36:22.

The Ruagh of Prophecy

There are about ten passages in which the word ruagh is specially connected with prophecy. In the seven passages Numbers 11:17,25 (twice),26,29; 2 Kings 2:9,15 it might be possible to interpret the word of the Holy Spirit of God. In any case it is a special gift of inspiration and not the normal human spirit. In three cases the ruagh is a false or lying one (Ezekiel 13:3; Hosea 9:7; Micah 2:11). However we interpret these passages, our argument is not affected.

Spirit in the New Testament

We saw that the Greek word psychee corresponded in the New Testament to Hebrew nephesh. In the same way the corresponding Greek word to Hebrew ruach is pneuma. This word has not so long a known history in the Greek language as has psychee. It does not occur in the Homeric poems. In literature it first appears in the historian Herodotus. Its meaning is “wind”, or “breath” breathed in or out. Thence it came to mean life principle and occasionally a living person, rather in the sense of psychee. Thus it had a few of the senses of ruagh, but it does not seem to have carried others till it came to represent it in the New Testament.

Pneuma as a Person

There are about two hundred and twenty‑four instances in the New Testament of the use of pneuma with or without the adjective hagion, “holy”, to denote the Holy Spirit of God, the third Person of the blessed Trinity. The reference in some of these is a matter of judgment owing to the well‑known difficulty of distinguishing in some cases whether a given reference is to the Holy Spirit or to the new nature in believers.

In addition to the references to the Holy Spirit there are some fifty‑six passages in which pneuma denotes a person. Most of these are references to evil spirits and most occur in the synoptic Gospels and Acts. We need not dwell on them, but there are two instances which we ought to look at. Speaking to the Samaritan woman in John 4:24 the Lord Jesus said, “God is a Spirit (Pneuma)”. It is not easy to decide whether the reference is to the Father or to all three Persons in unity. The former is more probable. Then again in 1 Corinthians 15:45, a text we have already touched on when dealing with psychee (see p. 13), the apostle says, “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit”. This is, as all agree, a reference to the risen Christ. Thus we have all three Persons of the Trinity referred to as a Spirit, the Father in John 4:24, the Son in 1 Corinthians 15:45 and the Holy Spirit passim. This bears sufficiently on our present theme by showing that God as Spirit is the source of all life.

Pneuma as Wind

Pneuma only once means “wind” or “blast” in the New Testament. We shall find the occurrence in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 in a quotation from Isaiah 11:4 and Job 4:9: “And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth”.

Pneuma as Life Principle

There are nine instances in the New Testament in which pneuma means “life principle” just as does ruagh in the Old Testament. They are to be found in Matthew 27:50 where Jesus at death released His spirit. We shall treat of this again in our second section. In Luke 8:55 the spirit (pneuma) returns to the dead child, daughter of Jairus. We ought not to suppose that what returned was conscious in itself apart from the body. The usages of ruagh in the Old Testament show that this means that God gave back to the child the life principle which He had taken at death. Luke 23:46: here the Lord Jesus entrusts His spirit to His Father in dying, to await its return at His resurrection. In John 19:30 we find the same as in Matthew 27:50, and in Acts 7:59 the same as in Luke 23:46. James 2:26 gives us a very clear view of the relationship of spirit (pneuma) and body. Revelation 11:11 shows us the spirit (pneuma) of life entering into the dead bodies of the witnesses, so that they revived and stood up. In Revelation 13:15 we find the false prophet empowered to give pneuma to the image of the beast, so that it could speak like a living person. Lastly we have the significant word, “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). The vital principle of prophecy, that which gives it meaning and life, is its testimony to Jesus. This is a figurative use of pneuma on the analogy of its literal use in connection with human life.

Pneuma as the Regenerate Nature

There are about twenty‑nine occurrences in the New Testament of pneuma used with reference to the new regenerate nature. In this sense it sometimes unites and combines the sense of pneuma as life principle with that of disposition or character. The. new nature is certainly a new life principle, but it is an essentially moral life principle. It is in itself a holy disposition or character.

In Matthew 26:41 and Mark 14:38 we find the spirit (pneuma) opposed to the flesh, as so often in the apostle Paul’s epistles. We find the same contrast in John 3:6. In all these cases the spirit represents the new regenerate nature and the flesh the old sinful nature. In John 6:63 we have in an important reference the same contrast, but not quite in the same sense. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life”. These words seem to be a warning against taking literally the Lord’s statement about drinking His blood (verse 54). The eating and drinking are done by the appropriation of His words. The contrast here is more like that which we find in Isaiah 31:3. “Spirit” here seems to mean a nature or form of being, not however identical with the regenerate nature of the believer, though this latter may be thought of as deriving from it. We remember that “Spirit” is essentially the nature of God (John 4. 24).

In 1 Peter 3:18 “spirit” (pneuma) is again contrasted with “flesh”. Here “spirit” means the glorified nature of Christ in resurrection. We may compare Romans 1:4 and 1 Corinthians 15:45. The glorified resurrection nature, this time of the saints, is again the meaning of pneuma in 1 Peter 4:6. Believers now dead will one day live again in a glorified nature with a spiritual body as the result of hearing and believing the Gospel when they were alive on earth before their death.

There are nine references in the Epistle to the Romans. We have already touched on Romans 1:4, where “Spirit of holiness” means the glorified resurrection nature of Christ Jesus. This was not a regenerate nature as He never needed to be born again. The regenerate nature is represented by pneuma in Romans 2:29, where the apostle says that it effects circumcision of the heart. “Newness of spirit” in Romans 7:6 means the new nature. In Romans 8:1 and 4 we have the contrast between flesh, the old nature, and spirit, the new. We have the same in Romans 8:5, where pneuma in this sense occurs twice. The same contrast occurs in Romans 8:6 and 9 and in verse 10 we have the pneuma with the same meaning contrasted with the “body”. The child of God carries a life principle within him, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and insures his resurrection to life immortal on the glorious day of resurrection at the second coming of the Lord (Romans 8:11). It is indeed difficult to know whether some of these references do not refer to the Holy Spirit, so closely is He connected with the regenerate nature of the believer.

Further references to the regenerate nature occur in 1 Corinthians 5:5; 6:17,20; Galatians 3:3; 6:18; Philippians 4:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where it contrasts with psychee (see p. 15); Hebrews 4:12, where, the same contrast occurs; Hebrews 12: 23, where the meaning seems to be the spiritual nature in resurrection glory. Many infer from this text the present life of the righteous dead as disembodied spirits, but there is no Scriptural warrant for such an idea. We have already seen that “spirit” is used to describe the resurrection life (e.g. 1 Peter 4:6; Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 15:45). It would be inconsistent to give it another meaning here. The same meaning of resurrection life occurs in 1 Timothy 3:16. We also have references to the regenerate nature in 2 Timothy 4:22 and Philemon 25.

Pneuma in 2 Corinthians 7. 1

There is a strange use of pneuma in 2 Corinthians 7:1, which seems to be unique in the New Testament: “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”. We have here, as so often, the contrast between flesh and spirit, but neither is used in the exact sense of the old and new natures respectively. The meaning seems nearer to that of Isaiah 31. 3, though again does not actually cover it. Pneuma here cannot mean the new nature because filthiness cannot be thought of as affecting the new nature which is born of God. Flesh and spirit are put here for carnal things and spiritual things respectively. The apostle is exhorting to holiness and to the avoidance of all defilement in things of the flesh, by which he means immorality, and in things of the spirit, by which he means false religion. The passage is valuable as showing clearly that the new regenerate spirit is the sphere of faith and worship.

There are rather under forty passages in the New Testament in which pneuma appears as a disposition of man and the source of his character in the same general sense as does ruagh in the Old Testament. An examination of these passages will show however that some are on the borderline and it is a matter of judgment whether to class them in this division of the senses of the word or to place them among the instances which refer to the regenerate spirit.

The following passages show the pneuma as the source of humility: Matthew 5:3; 1 Corinthians 4:21 and Galatians 6:1. In the following it is the seat of knowledge and wisdom: Mark 2:8; Luke 2:40; Acts 6:10; Ephesians 1:17 and 4:23. In the following it is the seat of grief: Mark 8:12; John 11:33; 13:21 and Acts 17:16. “The spirit and power of Elias” (Luke 1:17) is a passage probably best placed among those instances which refer specially to the spirit of prophecy (see P. 22). In four passages the pneuma is the seat of joy: Luke 1:47; I Corinthians 16:18; 2 Corinthians 2:13; 7:13. In Luke 9:55 is an instance of a perverse spirit. There are four instances of the spirit being the seat of courage or strength: Acts 18:5,25; Romans 12:11 and 2 Timothy 1:7. In Acts 19:21 and 20:22 the pneuma is the source of purpose or resolve.

There are several Pauline passages in which the pneuma is seen as the seat of worship and the service of God. In these we are probably intended generally to think of the regenerate spirit. They are: Romans 1:9; 8:16; 1 Corinthians 5:3,4; 7:34; 14:2,14; 16:18; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 2:5. In 1 Timothy 4:12 the words “in spirit” are omitted by some manuscripts. If they are original, they are likely to mean “in general disposition or character”.

In John 4:23,24 worship in spirit and truth means inner worship, the lifting of the heart to God in faith, prayer and obedience, as opposed to ritual or legal or any other form of outward worship. The regenerate spirit is seen as the instrument and channel of worship because its nature is in some sense akin to that of God, Who is Spirit (verse 24).

In 1 Corinthians 2:11 the pneuma is seen as the seat of self‑consciousness. This is a unique use in the New Testament. Only a man himself knows the depths, and the motives of his own heart, and the apostle says that this knowledge of himself lies in his spirit (pneuma). We should almost expect to read the word “heart” here and we may well think that the use of the word pneuma is influenced by its use for the Spirit of God in the next sentence. It would be very unwise to read into this unique use of the word the idea that the pneuma is the seat of a consciousness that can survive after the spirit leaves the body at death. Such an idea is not to be found in the verse itself.

The Pneuma of the Prophets

Apart from possibly Luke 1:17 the New Testament adds one instance to the ten to be found in the Old Testament where ruagh relates specially to the prophets. This is to be found in Revelation 22:6: “the Lord God of the spirits of the prophets”. The meaning is the same as that of ruagh when it is connected with the prophets.

Pneuma in 1 Corinthians 14:12

In 1 Corinthians 14:12 the majority of manuscripts including the best read pneumaton, which is the genitive plural of pneuma and means “spirits”, rather than pneumatikon, which means “spiritual gifts”. The context requires the meaning “spiritual gifts”. If pneumaton is the right reading, we have a unique instance of pneuma in this meaning, which may however be distantly connected with the sense of the word as it occurs in 2 Corinthians 7:1.

Ruagh and Pneuma

We have now examined carefully the meaning of these Hebrew and Greek words and so far as space will allow provided examples of every sense that could possibly bear on our argument. The only places in which the idea of the spirit surviving the body might be deduced from them are the instances in Ecclesiastes (especially 12:7) where the spirit is said to go back at death to God Who gave it and such passages as Luke 23:46 and Acts 7:59 where the spirit at death is commended into the hands of God. When however we recollect that the spirit is a life principle breathed into man to make him alive and conscious, and that it was certainly not conscious when it was given to man, we can see that there is no warrant whatever for supposing it to be conscious when it returns to God. Its return simply means that God takes away man’s life. We have tried to provide examples of all possible relevant senses of the words so as not to pass over any possible reference to survival, but it is nowhere to be found unless we first read it into the Scripture.

The Heart

Before concluding our study on the nature of man it would be useful to glance at the Hebrew and Greek words translated “heart”. We might not have found it necessary to do so, as these words are not used in Scripture in connection with the creation of man, as are nephesh and ruagh. Yet a well‑known evangelist recently quoted in a public address Psalm 22:26, “Your heart shall live for ever”, to prove natural immortality for all men, righteous or wicked, and elaborated the theme that the “heart” would survive the body at death and go on living to all eternity either in heaven or hell. A glance at the text will show the impossibility of rightly extracting such a notion from it. The context makes quite clear that the wicked are not in view in the passage at all. It is concerned with “the meek” and “they that seek the LORD”. The eternal life that is promised is promised to them alone. Nor does this life consist of survival after death as if the “heart” lived but not the body. The expression “your heart” (or whatever the appropriate pronoun may be) is frequently used for “you”, just as we have seen to be the case in the “weak” use of nephesh (P. 4). The promise is thus a promise of eternal life to the people of God, which comes, as we shall later see, in the only way known to Scripture, by a glorious resurrection. It appears as if our brother in using this text in an attempt to prove such a theory must have been desperate to find somewhere in Scripture a text to suit his purpose. We appreciate his difficulties and his honesty, but should he not have been warned by the words that occur in verse 29 of the same psalm, only three verses lower down, “None can keep alive his own soul”? We may compare Psalm 69:32.

The Hebrew words for “heart” are lev, levav and libbah, the Aramaic words occurring in Daniel are lev and I’vav, and the Greek word is kardia. These words have certain parallels with ruach and pneuma. They are sometimes used in strict parallelism with ruagh. They are used in much the same senses as ruagh in its references to the disposition and the seat of the emotions, but they cover a wider ground. There is a regenerate heart, which is the same as a regenerate spirit. The heart is the deepest part of man, the seat of the will and conscience. One or other of the words is sometimes used to express the centre or midst of something, e.g. the sea (Exodus 15:8). 1 Peter 3:4 has something of this sense.

In the case of Nabal we read of the death of his heart (1 Samuel 25:37). This probably means that he became unconscious. He seems to have had some sort of stroke. As in the case of nephesh the Scripture speaks in several places of the heart of God (2 Samuel 7:21, etc). In Job 1:8 and 2:3 we read of Satan’s heart and in Daniel 4:16 and 5:21 of “the heart of a beast”, meaning the nature of a beast. This is sufficient proof that the heart never expresses an immortal part of a man which has the property of surviving death and living forever.

Several times in the book of Proverbs we find the expression “to lack understanding” (e.g. 6:32, etc.). In Hebrew this is always “to lack heart”. Similarly we find “to get heart” (e.g. 15:32). The occupation of the heart with material things (as we should call them) as well as spiritual seems proved by Proverbs 27:9, where we find that it enjoys ointment and perfume. There is an interesting passage in Song of Solomon 5:2: “I sleep, but my heart waketh”. This looks as if the heart could be conscious while its owner is asleep, but the context is best suited by the R.V. rendering: “I was asleep, but my heart waked”, that is, she woke up when she heard her beloved knocking. In 1 Thessalonians 3:13 we find the heart, put for the person himself, appearing before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus.

In addition to Psalm 22:26 which we have already examined there is only one passage from which it has been found possible to deduce the immortality of the heart. This is Ecclesiastes 3:11: “He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end”. “The world” translates Hebrew olam, which usually means “eternity” or “the world to come”. Most commentators (though not all) and modern translators read “eternity”, and it has been concluded that because eternity is in man’s heart his heart is eternal and immortal. This would by no means follow, especially when based upon a single obscure and difficult passage without any support elsewhere in Scripture at all. But is not the heart the heart (or midst) of the beautiful things (“every thing beautiful”)? The beautiful creation that God has made is all related to eternity, so that man cannot find out the meaning of God’s work “from the beginning to the end”, that is, in time.

Conclusion of Section

Many years ago there was a series of letters in the correspondence columns of a well‑known evangelical weekly journal on the subject which we are treating in this book. In reply to a letter taking the view which we are taking here a correspondent wrote a letter which began with words to this effect: “Sir, it is quite true that the Bible never states that the soul is immortal. It does not say so, it assumes it . . .” Unknown to the correspondent who made it this remark was most revealing. It showed that the correspondent at least did not obtain his view of natural immortality from Scripture, but some other source, and that he then read it into Scripture.

Such a view incidentally is absent from the great creeds, the Apostles’ and the Nicene, which in perfect harmony with Scripture speak of “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come”. There is nothing that we can know about God, His dealings with men in love, justice and mercy, the work of Jesus Christ for our salvation, or the final destiny of men, unless it is by revelation from God. If every man is created with a never‑dying soul and must live for ever and ever whether he wishes or not, is this not one of the most tremendous and important facts about his nature, which it is inconceivable to suppose would not be the subject of clear and definite revelation, just as resurrection, judgment, eternal life and eternal punishment are so definitely revealed?

In this section we have studied carefully the revealed facts of man’s creation. We have found him to be like the animals ‑ a soul, though one immensely greater in degree than they, composed of a form consisting of dust and a vital principle, called occasionally breath (n’shamah) and usually spirit (ruach)., breathed into him by God which makes him a living soul and sustains his life. The seat of his soul is his blood and every occurrence of the words nephesh and psyche meaning “soul” or of ruagh and pneuma meaning “spirit” show him to be a unity, a perfect blend of what the Old Testament calls flesh and the New Testament calls body and of that inner part of him which we call mind. Surely the close interaction of body and mind increasingly recognised by medical science today can only be explained by such a unity of nature.

At death we have seen that the breath or spirit is taken back by God to its source in Him. Man then becomes a “dead soul” (nephesh) and he returns to dust (Genesis 3:10). His flesh corrupts and decomposes and his skeleton when exposed after long years to light and air crumbles into dust.

2. REST AND DARKNESS

IN OUR LAST SECTION we examined carefully what the Bible reveals of the nature of man. We saw that he is a soul whose life is maintained by the spirit of life breathed into him at creation by God and that the direct cause of his death is the removal of this spirit by God. In this chapter we shall study the statements of Scripture about the nature and meaning of death. There is a sense in which we should have no need to do so. Death is a basic word with a simple meaning. The words “to die”, “death”, “dead” in Hebrew and Greek as in English mean simply the deprivation or extinction of life. In order to sustain the idea of the natural immortality of the “soul” theologians have contended that death in Scripture means separation from God. Apart from the strangeness of forcing upon a simple word a different meaning in the Bible alone and thus making of Scripture an unintelligible Chinese puzzle we shall find (and particularly in our fourth section) that its occurrences taken as a whole prove it to bear its ordinary meaning. We will divide this section into three, dealing first with the return of the spirit to God, secondly with the Hebrew and Greek words for “die” and “death” and thirdly with the Hebrew word sh’ol and its Greek equivalent hades.

The Return of the Spirit

While dealing in our last section with the words ruagh and pneuma we touched upon this question. Here we will examine it more closely and thus form a link with the previous section.

There are eleven passages in the Old Testament and five in the New which speak of the departure or removal of the spirit of man at death. Our study of the words ruagh and pneuma have already shown that the spirit is a life principle deriving from God and maintaining the life of man. It is clear from its usage and the occurrences that we have already studied that it cannot rightly be thought of as carrying consciousness or personality when it leaves the man at death. His life ceases when it does so.

Thus we have seen (1) in Psalm 31:5 a foreshadowing of the Lord’s words on the cross, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit”. At the point of death the Lord Jesus committed the spirit which was leaving Him into the safe hands of His Father to await its restoration to Him in resurrection. As His spirit left Him, the Lord died and sank into unconsciousness. (2). In Psalm 76:12 we have “He shall cut off the spirit of princes”. The spirit is here spoken of as being cut off like a thread. This is an understandable expression for the end, perhaps the abrupt end, of a man’s life. The vital power which keeps him alive is cut off, and he ceases to live. (3). Psalm 104:29,30 is an illuminating passage on this question. The psalmist is speaking of marine creatures (verses 25‑28). He says that just as in the case of man the LORD takes away their breath (Hebrew ruagh) and they die. Now no one will suppose that the ruagh of the fish carries consciousness and personality when it leaves it at death. It is quite easy to understand that the principle which maintains its life is removed from it and the cessation of life, that is, death, takes place. But we shall note that this is exactly the same expression as is used of man. Is it conceivable that exactly the same expression would be used if something totally different took place in either case? Is it not more reasonable and likely that the one expression explains, illustrates and confirms the other? In verse 30 the reverse process is described. The beasts are created by the sending forth of the LORD’S spirit. just as we read in Genesis. It is difficult to tell to what this verse refers. Some suppose the psalmist to be speaking of geological epochs of the past. For our purposes the reference of the verse does not matter. (4). In Psalm 146:4 we have a description of the death of man. “His breath (Hebrew ruagh) goeth forth. he returneth to his earth.” This is exactly the same process. Man’s ruagh leaves him and the man that is left is buried in the earth and finally crumbles back again into the dust from which he was formed. The psalmist goes on to say that “his thoughts perish”. The thoughts here probably mean his purposes.

(5). An important passage is to be found in Job 34:14,15. There we have the suggestion that God might withdraw His spirit (ruagh) from the whole race. If He were to do this, the whole race would perish. This passage is exactly consistent with the verses that we have looked at from the Psalms. The Hebrew word translated “perish” is gdva. It is used consistently for “to die”. We may note that these words were spoken by Elihu and we may believe that they were spoken by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Elihu is not included among those friends of job who had not spoken of the LORD the thing that is right (Job 42:7). (6‑8).

We now reach the important passages in the book of Eccle­siastes. In chapter 3:19‑21 we read: “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea. they have all one breath; all are of dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” Here we have revealed (1) that the death of men and of animals is exactly the same thing, (2) that both are maintained in life by the same life principle. the ruagh of God, (3) that it is impossible to make any distinction between the ruagh of man and the ruagh of an animal in life or death. Better sense is made of verse 21 by the rendering of the Greek Septuagint, the Targum, on the passage. the Syriac Peshito and the Latin Vulgate, which say “whether it goeth upward . . . whether it goeth downward”. It is true that some Bible‑believing theologians follow the destructive critics in regarding much of the book of Eccle­siastes as uninspired, thus avoiding its teaching about death, but there is nowhere to be found in Scripture the slightest warrant for doing so. The teaching of Ecclesiastes is perfectly consistent with that of the rest of Scripture. (9, 10). Exactly the same truth of the departure or removal of the ruagh causing death emerges in Ecclesiastes 8:8. No one can retain it when it becomes God’s purpose to remove it. No one has any power in the day of death. It is true that medical science today can retain it temporarily and lengthen man’s expectation of life, but medical science is a gift from God and entirely under His control.  The process of death is described in the well‑known passage Ecclesiastes 12:7. The dust returns to the earth as it was. It is buried in the ground and eventually crumbles back to dust. The ruagh, the life principle which animates it, returns to God Who gave it. Many who know this passage, but are not so familiar with those which we have just examined, suppose the spirit to go to God carrying personality and consciousness. They think that this verse teaches the survival of the spirit. But the verse refers to all men, not only the godly. This has been answered by the theory that the spirits of all men go to God for judgment. Yet the Scripture teaches clearly that judgment takes place at the coming of the Lord at the end of the world. Again, this verse teaches that the spirit returns to God. It was given by Him at the creation of man. No Bible‑believer will suppose it to have been conscious before it was given. It thus follows that it cannot be conscious after its return. The verse rather implies that the little vessel of a man’s life breaks at death releasing the spirit (ruagh), which falls back as it were into a great reservoir which belongs to God.

New Testament Teaching

Five New Testament passages need brief reference. In Matthew 27:50 and John 19:30 we have accounts of the death of Jesus. In one of these we are told that He “gave up the ghost”. The Greek says that He “let go” or “handed over?” (to God) His spirit (pneuma). This is exactly the same process as we read of in the Old Testament passages. In Luke 8:55 we find the reverse process. When the Lord called Jairus’ daughter from the dead, “her spirit (pneuma) came again” and thus she became alive. In Luke 23:46 we find the Lord in dying committing His spirit to His Father in the words of Psalm 31:5 (see p. 19) and in Acts 7:59 the martyr Stephen asks the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit. All these passages perfectly agree with the con­sistent testimony of the Old Testament. There is no hint in Scripture that the spirit (ruagh, pneuma) is conscious after its removal at death or that it is anything that is capable of consciousness when not animating the dust to make a soul or person. When the spirit is gone, the man is a dead soul (see P. 4). It is sometimes thought that the experiences which the apostle Paul relates of himself in 2 Corinthians 12:2‑4 show that a man is capable of consciousness and perception apart from his body and that therefore his spirit is capable of consciousness after death. The first of these conclusions is true. We experience such consciousness in dreams. What the apostle experienced was a vision (verse 1). We shall all agree that the prophets and apostles were granted visions in which they were transported out of their immediate surroundings, but it does not for a moment follow that dead persons could experience visions or consciousness in any way. If they could, we should find the fact revealed in Scripture, but we have already found it firmly and consistently contradicted.

The Witch of Endor

After examining what the Scripture reveals on the spirit of man and the meaning and nature of his death we seem to have reached the best place to look at the story recorded in 1 Samuel 28 of King Saul’s dealings with the “witch” of Endor. The “witch” was what is today called a medium and the meeting in which Saul took part was what is today called a seance. The familiar spirit was what is today called the medium’s “control”. All such dealings with spirits were forbidden by the Mosaic law (Exod. 22:18; Lev. 20:27; Deut. 18:10‑12). Many have believed that this passage teaches the survival of the spirits of the dead and find confirmation for their view in the fact that the spirit which appears in the story is referred to simply as “Samuel”. No such conclusion however can arise from the use of the name. The Bible regularly speaks in the language of phenomena and consistently with this practice the name is used because Saul thought that it was Samuel who was speaking and the supposed spirit appeared to be Samuel to him and possibly also to the medium.

There are at least three good reasons why the spirit could not have been Samuel. The first is the definite teaching of Scripture on the spirit of man and the nature of death, which we have already thoroughly examined. The second reason is the insuperable difficulty of supposing that having refused to communicate with Saul by any legitimate means (1 Sam. 28:6) the Lord would speak to him by a medium and use practices which He had forbidden in His law under pain of death and called an abomination. The third reason is the fantastic difficulty of supposing that a spirit from the dead could appear as “an old man . . . covered with a mantle”.

From the story that what happened at the Endor seance was one of those two things of which one happens at every modern seance. The dead Samuel may have been impersonated by a demon, as happens at many seances today. The woman said that she saw “gods ascending out of the earth”. We must remember that Saul never saw anything. He only heard what the medium said to him. If she was in fact in touch with a demon, this would account for Saul’s demoralisation and death the next day. On the other hand the woman may have been particularly clever and crafty, as are some mediums today. She may have invented the whole scene. She would know Saul by his height (1 Sam. 10:23; 28:12). She may have pretended that she saw a supernatural figure and placed words in its mouth which she thought Samuel would have been likely to say, describing the “ghost” in a way that would suggest Samuel to Saul. She may have seized the opportunity to take a hand by suggestion in the death of Saul, hoping to be rid of him and to be free to carry on her trade (1 Sam. 28. 9). Every Bible‑believer today regards a seance with a modern medium as actuated by demons or occasionally by fraud. None supposes that the medium can really call back to earth the godly dead. Is it not then only reasonable to regard the seance which Saul attended in exactly the same light? This conclusion is made practically certain by the statement in 1 Chronicles 10:13 that Saul died because he consulted one that had a familiar spirit. Readers will notice that the words “one that had” are in italics. What he consulted was the familiar spirit itself, not the ghost of Samuel.

Hebrew muth

The ordinary Hebrew word meaning “to die” is muth. It occurs in the Old Testament rather over eight hundred times. In the great majority of cases it is used in the simple and straightforward sense of the death of men or animals. There is no hint in its usage of any distinction between the two. Indeed there could not be in view of the direct statement in Ecclesiastes 3:19 that death is the same in either case. Muth means exactly the same as “to die” in English. It does not explain the meaning and nature of death any more than does the word “die” in English. Both words in the two languages express the phenomenon of the cessation of life with which we are all so sadly familiar. No evidence appears at the death of any man or woman that any invisible part of him survives any more than it does at the death of any animal.

As in English and other languages muth is sometimes used in a figurative sense. We talk for instance of the engine of a motor car “going dead”. Such figurative uses do not detract from the literal sense. They are built upon it. Their whole point depends on it. Thus muth can be used of a nation (Isa. 65:15; Hos. 2:3; Amos 2:2), a tribe (Deut. 33:6; Hos. 13:1), or a city (2 Sam. 20:19). It means the destruction or elimination of a nation, a tribe, or a city. None of these uses supports the idea of  individual survival. On the contrary we find the word muth in Deuteronomy 2:16 parallel with tdmam meaning “to be consumed” “to be spent”, “to be finished”. In the context this word need not be inconsistent with survival, but suggests the opposite.

In nine passages in the Old Testament muth is used in a general sense in connection with sin, closely parallel to Romans 6:23. Here it almost certainly covers the second death as well as, or instead of, the death of which we have universal experience in this world. The passages are 2 Samuel 12:13; Jeremiah 31:30; Ezekiel 3:18‑20; 18:4‑31; 33:8‑27; Psalm 34:21; Proverbs 19:18; 21:25; Job 5:2. We shall be looking at these passages again in our fourth section. There is also probably a reference to the second death in Isaiah 11:4, where Hebrew muth appears. In Isaiah 66:24 muth is used negatively of the worm that feeds on the carcasses of the lost, the passage being quoted in Mark 9:44,46,48. This passage again will require examination in our fourth section. It is worth noting here that muth occurs in connection with resurrection in Isaiah 26:19, where the dead are said to need awakening and to “dwell in dust”.

A basic passage that we must look at in connection with the word muth is to be found in Genesis 2:17 (compare Genesis 3:4): “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. It is clear that neither Adam nor Eve actually died in the day in which they ate the fruit of the tree and little difference is made if we substitute “when” for “in the day that”. This fact has brought to many the hasty conclusion that human beings may die and yet remain conscious and living. It is true that the word “die” in this passage may cover as well as the literal meaning the figurative sense which we probably find for example in Ephesians 2:1, insensitivity to spiritual things in the sense of 1 Corinthians 2:14. More likely however the word said to Adam is exactly paralleled and explained by the word spoken by Solomon to Shimei (1 Kings 2:37,42, notice especially the R.V. and R.S.V.). Shimei did not die on the day that he left Jerusalem, but he became subject to death on that day. There is thus no need to introduce any figurative sense into the word muth in Genesis 2:7, though we may well suppose that in this passage it extends to the second death.

Hebrew gava

This word occurs twenty‑four times in the Old Testament and means quite simply “to die” in the sense to which we are universally accustomed. It throws no light on the nature and meaning of death in any sense other than what we see and experience except perhaps in Psalm 104:29, “they die and return to their dust”. This is a reference to the death of animals which we have seen from Ecclesiastes 3:19 to be identical with the death of man.

Greek Words meaning “To Die”

In the New Testament we have two words meaning “to die” in the ordinary sense, apothanein and teleutan. Their meaning overlaps as the second occurs once in the synoptic Gospels in a parallel passage to the first. The first occurs about seventy‑seven times in the New Testament and the second about eight times. There are six special senses in which we occasionally find apothanein used, three of which are definitely figurative. (1). Twice it is used of the second death (John 6:50; Romans 8:13). (2). By an easily intelligible figure it is used of seed sown in the ground from which the corn ultimately grows up, the growth being likened to resurrection and life (John 12:24; I Corinthians 15:36). We do not use the conception of death in this sense in ordinary speech in English. (3). It is used figuratively twice by the apostle Paul in the sense of the nearness of death or the hazard of death (1 Corinthians 15:31; 2 Corinthians 6:9). (4). The apostle uses it in the theological and spiritual sense of the death of all believers in the sight of God with Christ in His death on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:14). This is not a literal death but refers to the effects of Christ’s death upon the believer’s position before God. We could translate “then were all dead” as “then are all counted to have died”. (5). In Revelation 3. 2 we find the word in a completely figurative but quite intelligible sense. (6). In Jude 12 we find the word used of trees, a sense that is familiar in English today.

None of the above uses or occurrences bear upon our argument, but it is well to notice them in case we find any statement that leads us to the view that man’s “soul” or spirit survives his death. This is perhaps the place where we should mention 1 Timothy 5:6: “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth”. Some have sought to draw from this text the conclusion that death need not be incompatible with some form of life and then have gone on to argue that it in fact is not so incompatible. But reflection will show that the figure of speech here depends for its point on the literal meaning of death as being the absence of life.

Hebrew and Greek Words for Death

An examination of the verbs used in Scripture for “to die” has shown us little if anything about the nature or meaning of death except that death is identical in the case of men and of animals. We learn rather more when we study the nouns meaning “death”. The Hebrew word is maveth, obviously from the same root as muth. It occurs in all round about a hundred and fifty times and generally has the ordinary meaning of “death”.

From this word maveth we learn three important things about the nature of death. (1). No praise of God is possible in the grave or in death (Isaiah 38:18). How different is this revealed truth from the idea of the holy dead praising God in heaven! It is to be noted that this verse forms part of King Hezekiah’s song of praise to the Lord on his recovery from what might have been a mortal sickness. Some at least of the brethren who still cling to the view of natural immortality reject this verse as being the ignorant view of Hezekiah. But there is no ground or evidence whatever for doing so. How can we possibly suppose it to be uninspired (or, if we prefer, the inspired record of an uninspired remark) when it stands immediately next to the wonderful verse which precedes and which is one of the gems of Scripture? Dare we follow the destructive critics in picking and choosing in this manner?

From the occurrence of maveth in Psalm 6:5 we find that there is no remembrance of the LORD in death. As long as they are capable of remembering His saints cannot forget Him. This means that in death they cannot remember and the only reason can be because they are unconscious. (3). David again in Psalm 13:3 speaks of the sleep of death. This is in exact agreement with what the whole Bible tells us about death, as we shall see and as we should expect.

Thus the result of the departure from a man of the life principle or spirit and its return to God (Eccles. 12:7) is a state of sleep in which there is no remembrance and no possibility of praising God.

In several places maveth is used in reference to the second death. Here we will list the passages and leave them to be dealt with in our fourth section: Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11; Psalm 7:13; 56:13; possibly Psalm 68:20; Proverbs 8:36; 11:19; 12:28; 13:14; 14:12,27; 16:25; 18:21; 21:6; 24:11.

Maveth used figuratively

There are five instances in which maveth is used in a figurative sense. Though none of these affect our argument, it is best to look at them in case any such sense of the word should compel us to place a different sense on death to the simple ordinary meaning. (1). Thus death (maveth) can be put for a deadly plague (Exodus 10:17), but surely no one can stretch this single instance to such an extent as to allow us to see in maveth the meaning of suffering under severe judgment. (2). We may perhaps see in Deuteronomy 30:15,19 an application of maveth to the nation of Israel as a whole, just as we have seen in the case of muth. This is a quite intelligible meaning of the word and reinforces the literal sense. On the other hand it is as likely that we should see in these two verses a reference of maveth to the second death, which should be added to the list of such references just given. (3). In 2 Samuel 19:28 “dead men” is in Hebrew “men of death” (maveth). It means “worthy to die”, but the meaning of maveth is not affected. (4). In 2 Kings 2:21 “death” (maveth) seems to be put for the bitterness of the waters unless it be used quite literally for the result of drinking them. (5). In 2 Kings 4:40 “death” is used for “deadly poison”. In none of these passages can the meaning of maveth be changed, although possibly the first, Exodus 10 17, might cause us to hesitate for a moment.

Greek Thanatos in the New Testament

The word thanalos can be traced in the Greek language as far back as the Homeric poems. Its meaning is quite simple, and is identical with that of English “death”. In the New Testament except for three instances of a different Greek word with which we need not be concerned (Matthew 2:15; Acts 8:1; 22:20) “death” is always the rendering of thanatos. The word occurs between seventy and eighty times and bears generally the literal simple meaning.

The word is used about twenty‑seven times either solely of the second death or to include it with the death of which we now have experience in a general reference to death as being the result of sin. The passages are Matthew 4:16 and Luke 1:79, both in quotations from the Old Testament; John 8:51,52; James 1:15; 5:20; 1 John 5:16(three times),17; Romans 1:32; 6:16,21,23; 7‑5,10,13 (twice); 8:2; 2 Corinthians 3:7; 7:10; Revelation 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8.

The word is also used in three figurative senses. (1). It is used for the spiritual death which is clearly spoken of in Ephesians 2:1 and defined in 1 Corinthians 2:14. This spiritual death is insensitivity to spiritual things. Those thus dead have no regenerate life and their death is spoken of from the point of view of regenerate life. The meaning of the figure depends entirely on the literal meaning of the word. It cannot rightly be concluded from the occasional use of this figure as against the large number of occurrences of the word in its literal sense that death is consistent with consciousness in some form or some state. If we do this, we make an occasional and quite intelligible figurative use govern the meaning of the word. This runs counter to literary and grammatical canons and cuts away the point of the figure. The occurrences in which we find a probable use in this sense are John 5:24 and its parallel 1 John 3:14; Romans 7:10; 8:6 and perhaps 2 Corinthians 2:16, four at most out of nearly eighty occurrences.

(2). The word is used in a figurative sense in Romans 6:4 for being dead to sin. The apostle says that we are buried by baptism into death. This death, as the previous verse shows, is really the literal death of Christ. The word thanatos here refers to the effects of Christ’s death upon the believers.

(3). The word is used in 2 Corinthians 11:23 for nearness to death or risk of death.

The first of these three figures is the only one that appears to give us a foothold for regarding death as consistent with consciousness and meaning separation from God, but when we look at the word as a whole and at Scripture as a whole our foothold crumbles.

Though the meaning of death is in no way affected by it, it is perhaps worth our while to notice the quaint reference in Acts 2:24, where the Holy Spirit tells us that at the resurrection of Christ God “loosed the pains of death”. The pains of death are birth-pangs (odines in Greek) and death is regarded as a mother being delivered of a child.

Before we leave our study of this word it is important that we notice John 11:11‑13, where the Lord Jesus quite definitely describes death as sleep. There are differences between sleep and death, but the analogy must completely break down if death is not a state of unconsciousness. This leads directly on to our next paragraph.

Death as Sleep

Three words in the Old Testament meaning sleep and two Greek words in the New are used to describe death. In Hebrew we have shachav used in the frequently occurring expression, so‑and‑so “slept with his fathers”. Shachav really means “to lie down” but in a quotation in Acts 13:36 it is rendered by the Greek word koimasthai, which means “to sleep”. Thus the kings and others who died are said to sleep with their fathers. If their spirits were alive in another world, couid this possibly be regularly said without a hint that the real person was not sleeping at all?

Next we have the Hebrew word yashen. This occurs as a verb in Jeremiah 51:39,57 and in Psalm 13:3, a text to which we have already called attention (see P. 36) and as an adjective in the well‑known verse Daniel 12: 2: “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake”. This is a reference to the resurrection at the last great day and the prophet describes the condition of the dead before their resurrection consistently with the rest of Scripture. They are sleeping in the dust of the earth.

Lastly we have the Hebrew shenah. This is a noun and occurs with ydshin in Jeremiah 51:39,57. We also find it in Psalm 76:5, “the stout‑hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep”. This sleep can clearly be nothing but death. The word occurs again in Psalm 90:5, “thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep”. This is the sleep of death, the figure being reinforced in the following verse by the figure of the grass being cut down and withered.

Job 14: 10-15: The final occurrence of shenah is in the very important passage Job, 14:10‑15 with special reference to verse 12. We cannot cavil at these verses as being uninspired as they are the words of Job, not of any of the three friends (42:7). Here we read that when man dies he wastes away, or according to the margin is weakened or cut off. When his spirit leaves him, “where is he?” that is, he is no longer in being. This is man’s state in death. It would be final were it not for the resurrection both of the just and of the unjust, which makes it temporary and turns death into a sleep. We continue to read in verse 11 following that man lies in the grave without rising (as he does morning by morning in the case of natural sleep). The dead do not awake and are not raised from sleep till the end of the world. Job then asks in his troubles to die and lie in the grave. He asks if a man will live again after death and he answers yes. He waits in the grave all the time that God appoints till his change comes. This is the change described in 1 Corinthians 15:51. Then, he says, God will call and His sleeping servant will hear His voice, answer and come forth in resurrection (John 5:28). Now is it reasonable, is it possible, that this detailed description of man in death would be given us here if it only concerned the lower and unimportant part of him and if dying introduced Job and every godly man immediately into the presence of the Lord in heaven or paradise where he could be perfectly satisfied without his body in eternal glory? If such is the case, what is the purpose of the resurrection at all, at the very least what is the purpose of the emphasis laid on it throughout the Bible? No hint is given in this passage in Job or anywhere else in Scripture that the dead are alive in an invisible world. It is a matter of great thankfulness that most evangelicals who believe that they are have been able to resist successfully the errors that rise from such a belief, yet there is no doubt that it makes easier the road to prayers for the dead, to spiritualism, to Mariolatry and saint worship and to purgatory.

Death as Sleep in the New Testament

Death is described as sleep in the New Testament more frequently than in the Old. The reason may be that resurrection, which turns death into sleep, is more closely in view.There are two Greek words meaning “sleep” used in the New Testament. The one that is usually employed for the sleep of death is koimasthai. From it derives the Greek noun koimeeteerion from which comes eventually our word cemetery, and incidentally it is interesting that the root of koimasthai is also the root of our word “home”. So the home and the cemetery are the same thing! Both mean sleeping‑place.

Koimasthai is used in the New Testament fourteen times of death. The references are: (1). Matthew 27:52, “Many bodies of the saints which slept arose”. Attempts have been made to connect the words “which slept” with the bodies instead of with the saints, but the original Greek absolutely forbids this. The word is in the genitive case agreeing with “saints”, not in the nominative to agree with “bodies”. In fact the original says “bodies of the sleeping saints”. (2). John 11:11, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth”. These are the Lord’s own words. (3). Acts 7:60, “When he had said this, he fell asleep”. If Stephen’s martyrdom had taken place today and been described in one of the evangelical periodicals., these words would never have been written. Instead we should have read, “When he had said this, he was called home”, or possibly, “he entered the presence of his Lord”. The expression “called home”, which is a favourite euphemism for death today, never occurs in the Bible. Is it not better and easier and safer and happier to believe God’s Word exactly as it stands and thus to believe that Stephen “fell asleep”? (4). Acts 13:36, “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep”. This is a quotation from 1 Kings 2:10, where Hebrew shachav is used. It confirms the apostle Peter’s words in Acts 2:34 that “David is not yet ascended into the heavens”.

(5). 2 Peter 3:4, “Since the fathers fell asleep”. (6). 1 Corinthians 7:39, “the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will”. The word translated “be dead” is koimeethee, “be asleep”. Thus sleep is here contrasted with life. (7). 1 Corinthians 1l:30, “many sleep”. The probable meaning of sleep here is death. (8). 1 Corinthians 15:6, “but some are fallen asleep”. Some of those to whom the Lord had appeared had died. (g). 1 Corinthians 15:18, “then (that is, in that case) they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished”. This verse will come up again in our fourth section (see p. 83). (10). 1 Corinthians 15:20, “but now is Christ risen from the dead., the firstfruits of them that slept”. Thus Christ Himself slept during His three days in the grave, as do the great majority of His people. (A few will be alive at His coming.) (11). 1 Corinthians 15:51, “we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed”. Some believers will be alive at the Lord’s coming, but all, living and dead, will be changed in a moment (compare Job 14:14). (12). 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “concerning them which are asleep” that is, about Christians who have died. (13). 1 Thessalonians 4:14, “so also them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”. The more accurate meaning is that God on the great day of resurrection will bring the sleeping saints from the grave through Jesus (that is as a result of the work of Jesus) with Elim (that is, with Jesus, just as He brought Jesus). (14). 1 Thessalonians 4:15, “we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep”. To prevent here means to anticipate. Those who are asleep are called the dead in the next verse.

Greek Katheudein with reference to Death

The second New Testament Greek word, the one more often used or ordinary sleep, is katheudein. It is used for death certainly four times and possibly five. It is used by the Lord of Jairus’ daughter in the three parallel passages in the Gospels, Matthew 9:24; Mark 5:39; and Luke 8:52. In each case the Lord is recorded as saying that she was not dead but asleep. She was in fact quite dead. What He meant was that, since He was going in a moment to raise her to life, her death, which would have been permanent, was turned into a temporary sleep. This illustrates one of the reasons why believers who have died are referred to in the New Testament as sleeping.

In Ephesians 5:14 we find sleep and death as parallel conceptions: “awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead”. It makes no difference that the passage does not refer to literal death.

Finally in 1 Thessalonians 5:10 we read, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him”. This probably refers to being alive or dead at the time of His coming. In view of the use of the same words meaning spiritual sleep and spiritual watchfulness in verse 6 of the same chapter it seems more natural to see the same meaning in them here in verse 10, but if we do so the verse becomes extremely antinomian. Not that such a meaning is impossible, God’s grace in Christ being so marvellously deep.

The Rephaim

We have now examined in both languages the words “to die” and “death”. These two words include among their forms the participle or adjective meaning “dead”. No occurrence of these words gives any hint that death means anything but the simple deprivation of life. There is however a difficult Hebrew word, sometimes translated “dead”, which needs examination. This word is r’phaim. It occurs several times as a proper name or with the translation “giants”, and refers to a race of the past, thought of as extinct. It was this that probably led on to the meaning “dead”.

The Rephaim have been often said to have been thought of as shades or ghosts rather in the Homeric sense. Not only does such an idea never occur elsewhere in Scripture, but we have already collected more than sufficient evidence to show that the Scriptures consistently contradict and deny it. The idea may well have arisen from the poetic figure in which the word occurs in Isaiah 14:9, a passage with which we shall deal when we come to study the word sh’ol. It may be that some among ancient Israel and Judah believed that the Rephaim were shades, but such a false belief would never be connected with the Scripture of truth, at least without a clear warning.

In Isaiah 14:9 and 26:14 the word refers to dead kings or lords of the past. In Isaiah 26:19, where the Rephaim appear at the end of the verse (translated “dead”), they appear to be in contrast to the blessed dead. The reference is best taken to the resurrection of the wicked. In Psalm 88:10 we have “Shall the rephaim arise and praise thee?” Here the rephaim are parallel to muth, also translated “dead” in the first part of the verse. In Proverbs 2:18; 9:18; and 21:16 the word seems to be put for the dead in general. Lastly in Job 26:5, whatever be the meaning of the verb, which is very difficult, the word connects with Mul and destruction in verse 6. There is nothing in any of the occurrences that obliges us to put the meaning “shades” upon the word, and it seems unreasonable to force it upon it in face of the combined and consistent testimony of the rest of Scripture.

The Death of Sisera

The Hebrew verb shadad in the passive participle of the Kal mood is once translated “dead” in Judges 5:27. The meaning of the verb is “spoil” or “rob”, and it is occasionally translated “destroy”. The meaning seems to be that Sisera was robbed of his life.

Nekros in the New Testament

The Greek word nekros meant originally a corpse and later came to be used as an adjective meaning “dead”. It is an original word in the Greek language stemming from a root having the general meaning of “death”, which appears in the Slavonic and Aryan languages and also in Latin. It is known in Greek literature since the Flomeric poems and is used in the plural to mean “the dead” just as we speak in English of the living and the dead. In Homer the dead (hoi nekroi) are thought of as existing in an underworld as ghosts, but such an idea never occurs in the Bible.

The word nekros meaning “dead” occurs over one hundred and twenty times in the New Testament often in the phrase “raised (rise, etc.) from the dead”. The word is used figuratively of the prodigal son in Luke 15:24,32, where Arndt & Gingrich’s lexicon explains it as either “thought to be dead” or “morally dead”. It would be quite unsafe and unreasonable to conclude from this figurative use that death is consistent in a literal sense with some sort of life. The point of the figure lies in the literal meaning of the word. The same is true of the figures in Romans 6:11; Ephesians 2:1,5; Colossians 2:13; Matthew 8:22; Luke 9:60. We also find dead works (Hebrews 6:1; 9:14), a dead church (Revelation 3:1), dead faith (James 2:26), dead sin (Romans 7:8) and the dead body of the believer as opposed to his living spirit (Romans 8:10). This last means that the believer’s body still has the old Adamic nature (but his spirit is regenerate and born of God‑his new spirit of course (see P. 24). None of these figurative uses affects our argument. They reinforce the literal meaning of the word as it occurs in well over a hundred further instances. We may compare the verb nekro in Colossiaus 3:5; Hebrews 11:12 and Romans 4:19 and the noun nekrosis in 2 Corinthians 4:10, where the reference, as Amdt & Gingrich again explain, is to “the constant danger of death in which the apostle lives”.

The Grave

The last division of this section is perhaps the most important of all. When the Scriptures speak of death they often couple it with the grave. The significant original words are sh’ol in Hebrew and haidees in Greek. As they occur in the Bible they correspond exactly in meaning. Haidees was the word used in Greek mythology for the underworld or abode of the dead and it is quite likely as a result of this that so many have sought to retain this meaning for it in the New Testament and to transfer the meaning back to Hebrew sh’o1. The Greek word however in the New Testament is as always governed by the meaning of the Hebrew in the Old. Both mean in fact the abode of the dead, but not at all in the sense of heathen mythology.

Hebrew sh’ol occurs sixty‑five times in the Old Testament. It is translated “grave” thirty‑one times in the text and twice in the margin, “pit” three times and “hell” thirty‑one times. “Grave” and “hell” are inconsistent translations and this fact shows that the translators were in some confusion over the meaning of the word. In the New Testament haidees occurs eleven times, ten times translated “hell” with “grave” once in the margin and “grave” once with “hell” in the margin. The translation “hell” is confusing, especially in the New Testament. There is there a competing word geenna occurring eight times, seven times in the Gospels and once in the Epistle of James. It is invariably translated “hell” and rightly so, as it refers to the lake of fire, the place of the doom of the lost. We shall be examining it closely in our fourth section. Here we shall look carefully at the occurrences of sh’ol and haidees and shall discover that their true meaning is “the grave”, where the dead lie buried in the earth in deep unconsciousness until the day of resurrection.

The two words occur about forty‑one times meaning “the grave” without any special emphasis. Thus we have Jacob saying that he would join his son in the grave (Gen. 37:35). Again he says that if Benjamin came to any harm it would bring him down to the grave (Gen. 42:38). The words of Jacob are repeated by Judah to Joseph (Gen.44:29,31). In 1 Kings 2:6 and 9 David instructs his son Solomon not to let Joab go down to the grave in peace and to bring Shimei down to it with blood.

In Isaiah 5:14 the prophet speaks poetically of sh’ol (hell) enlarging itself and the people of the Lord going down into it. In Isaiah 14:11 the pomp of the king of Babylon is brought down to the grave sh’ol, and in verse 15 the king himself is brought down to it. The eight occurrences that we have had hitherto do not tell us whether we are to think of sh’ol as the grave or an underworld of ghosts, but here in the context of Isaiah 14:15 we have “the sides of the pit”, the kings lying in glory in their own tombs (ver. 18), “thy grave” and “the stones of the pit”,  “carcass” (ver. 19), “burial” (ver. 20). All this points strongly to “the grave” where the dead lie buried as the meaning of sh’ol. In Isaiah 28:15,18 we find death and hell (sh’ol) as parallels. Our study of the words muth and maveth earlier in this section have shown us that death in Scripture means the cessation of life, and unconscious sleep without remembrance and without the possibility of praising God. The parallelism here thus again tends to “the grave” as the meaning of sheo1. In Isaiah 38:10 king Hezekiah says that he had thought that in his illness he would go to the gates of the grave By itself this reference is inconclusive as to the meaning of sh’ol, but its connection with verse 18, which we shall look at later, brings out the meaning well.

In Ezekiel 31:15,16 and 17 there are three references to the king of Assyria, and the great kings with him going down to sh’ol. In verse 15 it is called “the grave” and in verses 16 and 17 “hell” and described a “the nether parts of the earth”. This means underneath the earth where the dead lie buried. Few Bible‑believing Christians will believe as the heathen did, that there is a world of spirits or shades in “the nether parts of the earth”. Ezekiel 32:27 is a text that shows conclusively that sh’o1 is the grave where the dead lie buried. It speaks of those who have gone down to hell (sh’ol) “with their weapons of war and they had laid their swords under their heads”. They are said to be lying there. These are the great warriors and generals buried with their weapons.

The enormous capacity of sh’ol and death to devour men is mentioned by the prophet Habakkuk (2:5). The passage couples sh’o1 with death but in isolation throws no light on the question of the nature of sh’ol.

There is an important passage in Psalm 49:14. The psalmist is encouraging the godly not to be afraid or envious of the wicked Twice he says that man’s fall has made him like the beasts that perish. Twice in verse 14 he mentions the grave (sh’ol). He says that men are laid in it like sheep. So sheep lie in sh’ol. This is proof positive that it cannot be a world of shades or spirits. There in the grave man’s beat consumes away, but on the resurrection morning the righteous will have dominion over the wicked. There is another reference in verse 15 which we shall deal with shortly. Another proof of the meaning of sh’ol is found in Psalm 88:3, where the psalmist Heman says that his life draws nigh to the grave (sh’ol). In verse 5 he compares himself to the slain that lie in the grave. The word here is kever meaning a tomb. To be in sh’ol is thus to be buried in a tomb. The “pit” in verse 4 is Hebrew bor which we shall look at shortly. The psalmist Ethan in Psalm 89:48 tells us that no man can prevent himself dying nor can he deliver his soul (see P. 3 fol.) from sh’ol. In Psalm 141:7 David says “Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth”. The grave here is Mil. It normally receives bones (not ghosts), but here they lie unburied.

There are seven references in the book of Proverbs: 1:12; 5:5; 7:27; 15:11; 23:14; 27:20; 30:16. The only one that needs comment is 15:11. There we are told that sh’o1 is before the LORD. If we are inclined to conclude from this fact that sh’ol is a place of departed spirits all of whom are known to the Lord, we are prevented from doing so by the addition to sh’ol of the word “destruction”. The Lord knows an the living and all the dead as well. All will appear one day before His throne of judgment.

In the book of Job there are six references, most of which are important. In Job 7:9 Job tells us, “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave (sh’ol) shall come up no more”. Thus the man that goes down to sh’ol is like a vanishing cloud which disappears into nothing. This does not give the impression of a surviving spirit. Job also says that no one will come up from sh’ol.

He does not mean to deny the final resurrection of which he himself elsewhere speaks. He means that the dead will never return to their houses and their old life, as the following verse shows. We have already noticed the important passage Job 14:10‑15 (see P. 39). There is a reference in it to sh’o1 (verse 13). It is a place in which man lies down and sleeps (verse 12). In Job 17:13 job again refers to sh’ol. It is a place of darkness, corruption and the worm (ver. 14). It is again mentioned in Job 17:16 and translated “the pit”. There in sh’ol men rest together in the dust. These references are proof positive that sh’ol means the grave. “Departed spirits” do not rest in the dust. In Job 21:13 there is what we might call a neutral reference. In isolation sh’ol might here be a lower world of ghosts or shades. We have however noted several passages in which sh’ol could not have this meaning, but must mean the grave. This shows how hasty conclusions from isolated texts can lead into error. All that Scripture says on a given subject must be taken together and compared. In Job 26:6 there is a reference which is practically identical with that in Proverbs 15:11 (see p. 44). In Song of Solomon 8:6 Solomon tells us that “love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave”. For “cruel” the Hebrew word means “hard”. The king means that the grave goes on obstinately receiving men.

When we come to the New Testament there are three references in the Apocalypse which we should notice here. In Revelation 6:8 we have death and haidees mentioned together, the reference probably being to Hosea 13:14. A very interesting and informative reference occurs in Revelation 20:13. The verse is speaking of the general resurrection and makes a significant distinction between the dead in the sea, in death and in haidees. Now if haidees were a world of “departed spirits” or shades, all the dead would be there, whatever the circumstances of their death, but we see from this verse that this is not so. It is easy to understand how the dead can be in the sea, but what is the difference between death and haidees? It is quite easy to understand if we remember that, as so many occurrences of sh’ol have shown, sh’o1 (haidees) is the grave where the dead lie buried. Obviously it is different from the sea. Death therefore, in this verse the abode or condition of those dead neither in the sea nor buried in the grave, must refer to those who are burnt, blown to bits or eaten by wild beasts, etc. The purpose of this threefold distinction in this verse is to emphasise that all the dead, whatever their condition or position, will rise in the resurrection on the day of judgment. In the next verse (Revelation 20:14) we find death and haidees cast into the lake of fire. This means that at the end of the world they are consigned to final and utter destruction and will never appear or function again.

Rest in the Grave

Before we go on to look at certain uses of sh’ol and haidees which show Particular emphases there are three points which it would be well to notice. We sometimes hear the phrase spoken of someone who has died, “He has passed to his rest”. This phrase is unscriptural if we take it to mean rest in heaven or paradise, but it is quite Scriptural if we take it to mean rest in the grave. The word “rest” is used of the grave in Job 3:17,18. In that chapter (verses 11‑19) Job asks why he did not die at birth. Had he done so, he would have lain still, been quiet, slept and been at rest (ver. 13). There is no world of living ghosts here. He would have been as unconscious as an unformed foetus born untimely (ver. 16). There in death or in sh’ol “the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest” (ver. 17). “There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor”. So that death and the grave can come as a relief to sufferers such as Job was. How could these inspired words of Job be true if the spirits of the ungodly are suffering in hell after their death?

All Men together in the Grave

It is important to notice that in no reference to sh’ol is any distinction made between the godly and the ungodly. Sometimes the one are spoken of and sometimes the other. All are together in the grave. Efforts to overcome what is a difficulty to those who believe in survival have resulted in such theories as that of two divisions in sh’ol or haidees. Even paradise has been placed in haidees. For such theories there is no biblical foundation whatever. But if we understand that haidees is the grave, all difficulty vanishes. There is no distinction between the godly and ungodly in death. The great difference comes in resurrection.

The ancient Creeds

All who know the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed will realise that they follow Scripture in omitting reference to survival after death and emphasising “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting” and “the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come”. Various theories have been built on the statement in the Apostles’ Creed of Christ that “He descended into hell”, which is commonly connected with the idea of the survival of His soul or spirit while His body lay in the tomb. In fact this statement was originally an alternative to the statement that He was buried. The latter was the usual expression. The former appeared in the Creed as used in a few churches. When the superstitious ages began to set in, the descent into hell was completely misunderstood and the statement was combined with that of the burial. The fact that it originally meant the same thing is confirmed by its absence from the Nicene Creed, the two Creeds being parallel in their phraseology.

In the same way the phrase “the communion of saints” is sometimes taken to imply an active fellowship between the church on earth and the “departed” in heaven. Again the absence of this phrase or its equivalent in the Nicene Creed shows that it is a part of the preceding phrase. It is simply a definition of “the holy catholic church”.

Passing Alive into Sh’ol

There are two passages in Scripture which speak of men going down quick, that is, alive, into sh’ol. They are (1). Numbers 16:30‑34. Moses declares that the proof that Korah, Dathan and Abiram had provoked the Lord would be their descent alive

into sh’ol. In the sense in which many understand sh’ol, a land of living spirits, everyone descends alive into it. But it is obvious from this passage that to do so is a strange and exceptional thing. Immediately the ground split beneath them and swallowed them up and they went down alive into sh’ol (here translated “the pit”) and the earth closed over them. This shows conclusively that sh’ol is the grave where the bodies of the dead lie buried under the earth. (2). Another passage is to be found in Psalm 55:15, where David prays that his enemies may go down alive into sh’ol.

The Depth of Sh’ol

There are nine passages in which the depth of sh’o1 is emphasised. It is down below us. Few would believe today that there is a world of living ghosts below the surface of the earth, but it is exactly there that the dead lie buried. Some of these passages contrast the depth of sh’ol with the height of heaven (or the sky, there being no distinction between the two in the languages of the Bible). The passages, which do not need full quotation, are Deuteronomy 32:22; Isaiah 57:9; Amos 9:2; Psalm 139:8; Proverbs 9:18; 15: 24; Job 11: 8; Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15.

Sh’ol and the Resurrection

There are twelve passages in which sh’ol and haidees appear in special connection with resurrection. We shall be dealing with these in detail in our next section and will only touch on them briefly here. (1). 1 Samuel 2:6: Here Hannah in inspired language tells us that the Lord brings men down to sh’ol and brings them up in resurrection. (2. and 3). Hosea 13:14 (twice). This is the prophet’s great prediction of victory in resurrection over the grave. (4). Psalm 16:10. This is David’s prediction of the resurrection of Christ. We discussed this passage when dealing with the soul (Hebrew nephesh) (see P. 4). (5). Psalm 30:3. This is not a direct reference to resurrection, but rather to prevention from descending into the grave, as the second part of the verse shows. (6). Psalm 49:15. This is a prediction of resurrec­tion. (For “souls” (nephesh) (see P. 3). (7). Psalm 86:13.The meaning here is the same as that of No. 5. (8). Matthew 16:18 This is the famous saying of the Lord Jesus that the gates of “hell” shall not prevail against His church. Very many believe this to be a declaration that Satan will never overcome the church. But “hell” is never used in this sense for the devil in Scripture. The word is “haidees” meaning “the grave” and the saying is a promise of resurrection for every true believer. (9 and 10). Acts 2:27,31. Here we have the apostle Peter’s quotation from the sixteenth Psalm, which is a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ. We dealt with the passage when we were studying the Hebrew word nephesh, when we found that “my soul” means “me” (see P. 4). Haidees here as elsewhere means “the grave” where the Lord Jesus was lying. (11). 1 Corinthians 15:55. It is customary now for Greek editors to substitute thanate meaning “death” in this passage for haidees meaning “the grave”, but judgment on literary grounds might well appear to favour the latter. The passage is adapted sheol and Resurrection  The meaning by the apostle from Hosea 13:14. If haidees is the right reading, it clearly means “the grave”, as it is defeated by the resurrection of the righteous. No one doubts the meaning in this case, but perhaps few realise that the Greek word is the same as is often confusedly translated “hell”. (12). Revelation 1:18. Here we find the risen Christ declaring, “I have the keys of death and of hell”. “Hell” here is haidees, meaning “the grave”. There are no keys of hell, if we confine the meaning, as we should do, to the lake of fire, the place of destruction of the lost. No one will ever come out of it. The Lord’s words here mean that He will open the doors of death and the grave and bring His people out of them in a glorious resurrection.

The Sorrows of Sheo1

There are two passages which speak of the sorrows or pains of sh’ol. These are to be found in 2 Samuel 22:6 and Psalm 18:5, two rescensions of the same psalm of David, where speaking in the name of Christ he says, “The sorrows of hell (sh’ol) compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me”. Misled by the translation “hell” and by the idea of hell as a place of eternal torment, many have supposed that the psalmist was speaking of the torments of hell. However, had he experienced them, he would not have been alive in this world to say so. These sorrows and pains are those that accompany dying. They came in acute measure to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. The same is true of verse 3 of the anonymous Psalm 116: “the sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me”.

Figurative Language about Sh’ol

There are three passages in Scripture in which figurative, allegorical or poetic language is used about sh’ol and one in which the word itself is used in a figurative though easily intelligible sense. As we approach these passages, we must bear in mind the consistent and unmistakable language of Scripture about sh’ol, which describes it as the grave where the dead lie buried in the dust in profound and unconscious sleep. Our first passage is Isaiah 14:9‑20. The prophet is addressing the great king of Babylon (ver. 4). When the king comes down to the grave, the kings and leaders are pictured as rising from their thrones on which they were seated in the grave and taunting him with his weakness. The impossibility of this passage being literal is proved by the fact that, if the kings were “departed spirits” in sh’ol, the last thing that they would be doing would be sitting upon thrones. In verse 11 the actual state of the great king in the grave is described: “the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee”. Again in verses 18 and 20 we read that all the kings lie in magnificent tombs and are buried. This is the real state of things. Of the king of Babylon it is said (ver. 19, 20) that he is cast out of his grave like a carcase trodden under foot and will not be joined with the rest in burial. This language does not fit “departed spirits”, but it fits the buried dead.

Similarly in Ezekiel 32:1 we find “the strong among the mighty” speaking to Pharaoh “out of the midst of hell” (sh’o1, the grave). In verse 31 the prophet says that when Pharaoh sees them there he is comforted over his own fate. This means that the sight and memory of great kings of bygone days dead and buried bring a message to Pharaoh and he is less troubled when he approaches defeat and death at the thought of them.

Jonah 2:2 needs to be mentioned at this point. Jonah called to the Lord when he was inside the fish. He says, “out of the belly of hell (sh’ol) I cried”. He here confuses intentionally in a poetic phrase the grave in which men are normally buried and the inside of the fish in which he himself was at the time buried. He emphasises his burial and his helplessness by comparing his position to one buried in the grave. He was not actually in sh’ol, but he was in a place which in many respects was like it. The phrase also carries the meaning that the place in which he was was as terrible as sh’ol.

The Rich Man and Lazarus: We now reach the strongest figurative language about the grave (haidees) to be found in the whole Bible. This is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to be found in Luke 16:19‑31. Before looking at the parable we should remember that in contradistinction to an allegory the details of a parable are irrelevant to its meaning and form part of the story only, the point of the parable being concentrated in one verse or phrase. Here the point is in verse 31. Many have seen in this parable a literal description of the world to come and have rushed to the conclusion that it teaches the survival of the “soul” or spirit after death, forgetting that if it does so it contradicts the consistent teaching of all the rest of Scripture. However, if we study the parable in detail, we shall see that it is utterly impossible to regard it as literal teaching about the world to come.

The opening words of verse 19 have led some to say that the story that follows is history and not parable. It has been argued that the Lord said, “There was a certain rich man” and that therefore there must have been such a man actually in existence. But several parables in Luke’s Gospel begin with a statement similar to, or identical with, this for instance 12:16 (where the story is called a parable); 14:16; 15:11; 16:1. We might add 13:6; 18:2,10; 19:12; 20:9. In verse 22 we are told that the poor man died and was carried by the angels into Abraharn’s bosom. We should notice that nothing was said about the poor man’s “soul” or spirit being carried into Abraham’s bosom. The parable says that he was carried there. He must have been carried bodily as he was, because this action of the angels is directly contrasted in the same verse with the burial of the rich man. No one would suppose that the rich man’s “soul” or spirit was buried. He must have been buried as he was, and the direct comparison or contrast with what happened to the poor man compels us to understand that the poor man’s journey was also an actual and bodily one. Then what and where is Abraham’s bosom? We are told that Jewish documents show that the Jews believed in and spoke of such a place, but it is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. All this shows that the situation in this parable cannot correspond with reality. Possibly the Lord chose to clothe the lesson that He wished to teach in this language in order to show the Jews that if they thought that dead people were carried into Abraham’s bosom, the only way that it could be done would be by carrying them bodily there. The story shows that such a thing is just as impossible as carrying on a conversation when buried in the grave.

As the story goes on with a situation developing in Abraharn’s bosom, we should notice that God is never mentioned as being there. Abraham presides over it, not God. Indeed many readers unconsciously put God in the place of Abraham in these verses. Abraham performs the func­tions of God. All this adds to the unreality of the story as a statement of literal facts. A place where God is not can be nowhere.

When the rich man had been buried, he is rightly according to all Scripture teaching found in haidees (“hell”). This really means “the grave” and the sixty‑five references to sh’ol and the three to haidees that we have already read before reaching Luke 16 should have con­vinced us beyond doubt that haidees is a place of profound unconscious sleep, where the dead lie in the dust. The conversation carried on therefore by the rich man from it is a forceful if poetic way (like the conversation in Isaiah 14) of bringing home to the Lord’s hearers the lessons that He designed to teach.

Verses 23 and following show that the rich man could not have been thought of as a ghost or “departed spirit”. Ghosts have no eyes, they cannot speak, they cannot be tormented by flames and they have no tongues that can be cooled by a drop of water. And what is “this flame”? The flame of haidees is the loss of life and for the ungodly of all hope, unless indeed we are to take the flame consistently with the nature of a parable as being simply an adjunct of the story.

What then are the lessons of this moving and forceful parable? (1). That the Pharisees who were covetous (ver. 14) and lived for money and the world, as the rich man in the parable did, could have no hope beyond the grave. (2). That the destinies of the godly and ungodly are fixed at death and are totally distinct (ver. 26). (3). That there is no communication between the dead and the living (ver. 27‑30). (4). The main point is that the way of salvation lies on faith in God’s Word, which is absolutely sufficient, so that one refuses to believe in it would be persuaded by any experience of however convincing a nature (ver. 29‑31). Notice the points in which the Lord moulds the details of the story to the consistent teaching of God’s Word. He says that the rich man was buried (ver. 22) and thus arrived in haidees (ver. 23). He also speaks in verse 31 of someone rising from the dead, showing that this is the only way to leave the dead. He knows nothing of ghosts appearing from another world.

The Silence of the Grave

There are four passages which speak of the absence of praise, the silence and the lack of activity in sh’o1. The first is Hezekiah’s utterance in his beautiful inspired song of thanksgiving (Isaiah 38:18). We have already noticed this passage in which death is spoken of as well as sh’ol (see P. 36). Hezekiah says that the grave (sh’ol) cannot praise the Lord. In Psalm 6:5 David says the same thing: “in the grave (sh’ol) who shall give thee thanks?” Here too sh’ol is joined with “death” and we have already noticed the passage (see P. 36). The third passage shows us sh’o1 as a place of silence: “Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave (sh’ol)” (Psalm 31:17). Finally we find absence of activity and consciousness in the grave (sh’ol): “there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Sh’ol used for the Second Death

There are three passages in the Old Testament where it is possible that the word sh’ol is used for the second death. There is no Hebrew word in the Old Testament corresponding to the New Testament geenna meaning “hell”, the place of the destruction of the lost, so that it is possible that sh’ol could be used to express it, although we know from Revelation 20:14 that haidees (sh’ol) will itself be destroyed in the lake of fire. The passages are Psalm 9:17; 31:17; Job 24:19. We will look at them more closely in our fourth section.

The Pit

In a few instances the Hebrew word bor translated “the pit” is used as the equivalent of sheol. The passages are Isaiah 14:15,19; 38:18; Ezekiel 26:20 (twice); 31:14,16; 32:18,23,24,25,29,30; Zechariah 9:11; Psalm 28:1; 30:3; 88:4; 143:7; Proverbs 1:12; 28:17. The only two passages that need comment are Zechariah 9. 11 and Proverbs 1:12. In the former the pit without water is sh’o1, the grave. The prisoners are the godly dead, whose Lord (“thy prisoners”) has the keys of the grave (Rev. 1:18). With these keys He opens the pit and sends out the prisoners as a result of His blood‑shedding by which He made a covenant with them (Matthew 26:28). In Proverbs 1:12 the thief compares the damage that he intends to do to his victims to their consumption by sh’o1, which he identifies with the pit.

The pit of destruction in Psalm 55:23 and the pit in Psalm 69:15 are the same thing, but the Hebrew word here is b’er, which means literally a well, not bor, a water cistern, or pit.

Conclusion

Our study of the Hebrew words for “death” and “the grave” with their Greek New Testament equivalents and their usage has shown us that men lie asleep in death till they are raised at the last day and that the grave (sh’ol, haidees) is a place of darkness and silence where there is no activity, no remembrance of God and no praise of Him. Man’s death is caused by the departure of his spirit, which is the life­ principle that keeps him alive, and its return to God by Whom it was originally given. We can but conclude that natural immortality, what is called “the immortality of the soul”, does not exist, and we are prepared to go on to our third section and examine the glorious victory over death by which God brings His children home to Elim in eternal life. Death thus emerges as the deprivation of life, the “enemy” of Mankind (1 Corinthians 15:26), the first instalment of the penalty of sin, a deprivation that would have been permanent and final, as it is in the case of the beasts, were it not turned into sleep by the assured in hope of resurrection. Only once in the Old Testament do we find poor suffering Job speaking of the grave as a relief, where “the wicked cease from troubling” and “the weary be at rest?” and his utterance is matched by that of the Holy Spirit in Revelation 14:13, telling us that the blessed dead rest from their labours. This rest is not in a life of activity in glory, but temporarily in the grave.

We may strengthen this conclusion by referring to the following Hebrew and Greek words used on occasion to describe death. We need not burden the reader with full quotations, but urge all those who are interested or who may still doubt our conclusions to look up the occurrences of the words in a concordance: (1). shaghath, translated variously “pit”, “corruption”, “ditch”, “destruction”, “grave” and used eight times directly of death. (2). shoah, translated “desolation”, “storm”, “wasteness”, “destruction”, “to destroy”, “desolate” and referring once directly to death in Psalm 63:9. (3). sho, translated “destructions” and referring to death in Psalm 35:17. (4). mashghith, translated “destroy”, “corruption”, “trap”, “destroying”, “utterly” (marg. “to destruction”), “destruction” and referring several times to death. (5). ed, translated “calamity” and “destruction”. (6). avaddon, translated “destruction”, used with reference to death and Mil. (7). avaddoh, translated “destruction” and connected with sh’ol in Proverbs 27:20. (8). apoleia, the Greek word meaning “destruction”, used once of death in Acts 25:16, though the reading is doubtful. (9). olethros, a second Greek word meaning “destruction” used once with the probable reference to physical death in 1 Corinthians 5:5.

The usage of the following verbs will strengthen the case still further: (1). avad, meaning “to destroy”, “perish”, “be lost”, used directly of death some thirty‑nine times. (2). gharam, meaning to devote or utterly destroy, used some twenty‑three times directly of death. (3). saphah, meaning to consume, used directly of death seven and perhaps eight times. (4). shaghath, meaning to destroy, and used five times directly of death. (5). shamad, meaning to destroy and used eighteen times directly of death. (6). apollumi, the Greek word meaning to destroy, perish or be lost, corresponding to Hebrew dvad (see Revelation 9:11), used about twenty‑eight times directly of death. (7). exolothreuo, a strong word meaning to destroy utterly, used of death in Acts 3:23 in quotation from Leviticus 23:29. In all the occurrences of these words whether in the Old Testament or the New there is no hint that death as we know it means anything but destruction in the sense in which we speak of an animal being destroyed. We shall meet with most of these words again in our fourth section.

Note

Some have concluded that the appearance of Moses and Elijah with the Lord on the mount of transfiguration proves survival after death. This is not so. Elijah never died (2 Kings 2:1‑11). Moses died and was buried (Deuteronomy 34), but the archangel Michael had a dispute with the devil over his body (Jude 9). What could this dispute have possibly been about if the archangel had not come to raise him from the dead and his action been opposed by the devil, who has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14)? It is possible that Moses was raised for the special purpose of taking his place on the mount of transfiguration, though it may of course have been many years before.

3. RESURRECTION AND GLORY

We have sought in our first two sections to look as thoroughly as possible into the teaching of Scripture on the nature of man and the meaning of death. We found that what the Bible says on both these great subjects consistently agrees that the dead are lying in their graves in a sleep of profound unconsciousness, in which they neither know nor remember anything of what happens in the world. In this section we study the joyful teaching of God’s victory over death, first in the Lord Jesus Himself, and then in all His believing people. How are these promises fulfilled? The teaching of the Bible on this matter is clear, definite and unmistakeable. It has been rejected and despised by destructive critics and unconverted theologians, but never by any Bible‑believer however tenaciously he may cling to the idea of natural immortality, because no one can fail to see the teaching in the Bible.

Revelation or Inference?

Those believers who hold to natural immortality add to it the doctrine of resurrection and accept both. On this point we will ask three questions. First, how is it that the doctrine of resurrection is taught clearly and definitely in Scripture, exactly as we should expect in the case of so momentous a theme, while the doctrine of survival or immortality of the “soul” is not once taught definitely? This theme is just as great and momentous. There are a few passages from which, if they are taken in isolation (but only so), such a doctrine can be inferred, but even assuming that such an inference could stand up against the consistent testimony of Scripture as a whole, is it reasonable, is it conceivable that such a tremendous truth about the nature of man and the real meaning of death should be left to be understood by us by inference? We are left to fall back on the writer mentioned on page 28, who stated, “The Bible does not anywhere state the immortality of the soul, it assumes it”. But surely all readers will agree that it is the Word of God alone which is basic and axiomatic.

Relationship of Survival and Resurrection

Our second question is this. If the believer at death is released from the “burden” of his body, is “called home”, enters immediately the presence of his Lord and is reunited with his loved ones, enjoying complete satisfaction and spiritual bliss, what is the need or purpose of resurrection? This very question was once asked of the writer by a thoughtful Christian lady. If a human being can live in perfect happiness without his body and exercise all the functions of a full human life, why should he be burdened again with his body? An answer of course can be given: “Because the whole man has been redeemed”. This is a theoretical answer which does not really touch the question, but as we sought to show in our first section the whole man cannot exist apart from his body. This question is sometimes met by speaking of “paradise” instead of heaven and assuming incomplete satisfaction until the last day, but evangelical Christians do not generally speak like this.

Those brought back to Life

There is a third point that needs to be raised. In the Old Testament there were three restorations of dead persons to life in the days of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. In the Gospels there were three people raised by the Lord Himself and in the period of the Acts there were two raised by the apostles. If these eight persons had been enjoying a life of bliss in glory, was it not greatly to their disadvantage, if not positive cruelty, to bring them back to the weaknesses and troubles of the world? Again, how is it that not so much as a hint is recorded to have been given by any one of them of experiences passed through during the time between death and restoration, which varied from a few minutes in the case of Eutychus to four days in that of Lazarus? We may reasonably believe that, had they enjoyed such experiences, they are likely to have spoken often of them for the rest of their lives. The stories as they stand all give us the impression that these persons awoke from profound sleep.

Everlasting Life

There runs throughout the Old Testament a recurring note of Messianic blessing to come. In the law and the prophets this is almost wholly national in character. In the Psalms and Wisdom writings it becomes more personal. It is clearly outside our scope to follow through all these promises. The absence of direct references to resurrection in the books of Moses and the smallness of their number in the rest of the Old Testament has been remarked upon, the main reason being the occupation of the Old Testament with the typical temporal blessings of the typical people of God, all of which may be read in the light of the Gospel and turned, as it were, into spiritual realities.

When we reach the New Testament, we find that the kingdom of God and everlasting life, two aspects of the same thing, form the blessings promised to the individual believer through faith in Christ. References to resurrection are many more in number in the New Testament, illustrating the fact that life and immortality have been brought to light through the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). We will examine these references in both Testaments and we shall find that God’s purpose for His people is to give them victory over death by a glorious resurrection to take place instantaneously at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory at the end of the world. At the coming of the Lord, which will be sudden and instantaneous, the generation of living believers will be transformed in an instant by the same change as the dead at the resurrection and be caught up to meet the Lord, abiding with Him henceforth in eternal glory. The resurrection of believers will be on the same model as the resurrection of Christ. God’s way of victory is far more glorious and triumphant and far happier for the believer than the way of survival and natural immortality. Christian people shrink from the idea of their loved ones lying for years in the gave, but they forget that the unconsciousness of the dead is so found that time does not pass for them. Children will sometimes go to bed early to make the morning come quickly. The moment after the believer draws his last breath and closes his eyes he opens them again in the presence of Jesus in resurrection glory with all his loved ones and the whole loving brotherhood of the church of Christ around him. He has his resurrection body, his house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. He never has, nor will have, nor can have the experience of a strange kind of life without a body, separated from his loved ones left on earth, a life which, when all is said and done, can only be described as that of a ghost.

Victory over Death

We will divide our Scriptural references into four sections: (1) those dealing in a general sense with victory over death, of which there are only two examples; (2) those dealing with resurrection; (3) those dealing with the coming of the Lord; and (4) those dealing with the glory to come.

If we turn first to Isaiah 25:8, we shall find the first promise of victory over death: “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces”. This passage is quoted by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54 and its fulfilment explained to take place at the resurrection of believers at the coming of the Lord. The connection with the coming of the Lord is implied in the following verse Isaiah 25:9, when the people of God are found expressing their joy at the presence of God and His salvation.

The second passage that promises victory over death is to be found in Hosea 13:14: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: 0 death, I will be thy plagues; 0 grave I will be thy destruction”. The second part of this passage differs widely from the Hebrew in the Greek version and is quoted, again with some alteration, from that version by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55, being joined there with Isaiah 25:8. We thus have the direct testimony of the New Testament that victory over death comes at the resurrection of the people of God. If resurrection meant only the restoration to the godly of a part of their being which they could live in perfect happiness without, there would be little point in celebrating it so emphatically as a victory.

Resurrection in the Old Testarnent

Our first passage is Isaiah 26:19. Here we find six separate points:

(a). The resurrection of the people of God. The dead who belong to Him will live, the context showing that by “live” the prophet means “live again” a usage we so often find in the New Testament. (b). The resurrection is personal and individual. “My dead body” will arise at the same time as all the godly. (c). The godly dead are called upon to awake and sing. When the call Comes to them, they are asleep, and they will hear the call just as Lazarus heard the Lord’s loud call to him to come out of his grave (John 11:43). Thus one day we shall hear and shall share in the great song of victory over death raised by millions of voices. Now would this be a natural way to address the dead if the were alive in heaven and had been joining in a song of triumph for centuries? Would they under such circumstances be told to awake? (d). The dead who are called upon to awake are said to be dwelling in the dust, not in heaven or paradise. As we have seen in our second section, this is the consistent teaching of the Bible about death. (e). The dead will arise to life, strength, freshness and youth on the resurrection morning. All this is indicated in the prophet’s words, “thy dew is as the dew of herbs”. (f). There will also be a resurrection of the unjust.

When dealing with the rephaim (P. 41) we saw that this was the probable meaning of the last sentence of this verse. In the immediate context we find the coming of the Lord to judgment connected with the resurrection (ver. 21).

In Ezekiel 37:1‑14 we find the then future Gospel revival and restoration described in terms of resurrection. It is scarcely possible to see an account of literal resurrection in verses 1 to 10, though some have done so. In verses 12 to 14 we may well see a continuation of the figurative description of spiritual revival (compare John 5:25), though based on actual resurrection as it will take place at the last day. We may thus perhaps look to these verses to be a promise, prophecy and picture of our resurrection. We find (a) the opening of the graves, (b) our coming up out of our graves, (c) our being brought into the land (Greek gee) of Israel. This land is the new earth (Greek gee) in the eternal glory to come (2 Peter 3:13). (d) We find the spirit of life put within us (see p. 18).

We now come to Psalm 16:10,11, a passage which the apostle Peter tells us is a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ. We have dealt with this passage before (see PP. 4, 47). The soul (Heb. nephesh) of Christ, that is Himself, the whole Man, was in sh’ol, that is, the grave, but He was not left there. After three days He rose again. He was shown the way of life and joy in the presence of God with pleasures at His right hand for ever more.

In Psalm 17:15 we find David’s prophecy of resurrection for himself and each individual believer. Here we find (a) that we shall see the Lord’s face, (b) that we shall be righteous before Him. Our sanctification will then be as perfect as our justification is now. (c). We shall enjoy satisfaction, (d) we shall awake, that is, from the grave on the day of resurrection, (e) we shall be like the Lord. We have exactly the same message in 1 John 3:2.

In the book of Job there are two important passages dealing with resurrection. The first is found in Job 14:14,15. We have already had occasion to touch on this passage (see PP. 39, 44). Job has spoken of the sleep of death, from which a man does not awake till the end of the world (ver. 12). He asks to be hidden in the grave and remembered at last  (ver.13). He asks in verse 14 if a man will live again after death. The unexpressed answer is yes. He will wait in the grave (sleep­ing and unconscious) all the time that God appoints for him, till his change comes. This is the great change to take place at resurrection (1 Cor. 15:51,52). On that day the Lord will call to each sleeping saint and he will answer (ver.15), just as Lazarus answered the Lord’s call (John 11:43).

Job 19: 25-27: The second passage in the book of Job is the well‑known Job 19:25‑27. Here we find (a) that Job has been given by inspiration knowledge of the last day and the resurrection, (b) that the living Redeemer will stand at the last day on earth. The Redeemer is of course the Lord Jesus and Job’s reference may well cover both His first and second comings. (c) Job’s body will come to corruption in the grave, (d) yet he will see God in a risen and glorified body. There is doubt here about the preposition translated “in”. It may be translated “without”. In this case it means that Job will see God without the old weaknesses and sinfulness of the natural body which was sown in the grave. The preposition is perhaps best translated “from”. In this case it means that Job will see God on the resurrection morning from the very eyes which he possessed at the time of speaking, although they would be transformed and glorified. (e) We are taught the identity of the individual in resurrection with the person that he was before death. The last sentence of verse 27 is better rendered in the margin, “my reins within me are consumed with earnest desire (for that day)”.

The last which looks beyond the Gospel age to the resurrection: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever­lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt”. A difficulty here lies in the words “many of them”, which appear to imply that there will be some among the dead who will not awake at all. This may be the slender foundation of the teaching of the Christadelphians on the subject. The explanation seems to be in the Greek version which translates “some . . . some” by “houtoi . . . houtoi”, “these . . . these”. This allows us to take the “many” to refer to those who rise to life and the residue to those who rise to shame. The Apocalypse teaches us that there will be an interval between the resurrection of the just and that of the unjust (Rev. 20. 5).

The dead here are again described as “them that sleep in the dust of the earth”. This cannot refer to bodies apart from the real persons who are their owners. Bodies as such can neither sleep nor wake. Only the whole conscious person, of whom indeed the body is a vital part, can sleep or wake. It would be untrue to describe as sleeping those who had been for centuries enjoying fulness of joy in the Lord’s presence.

Verse 3 goes on to describe the blessed and glorious condition of the righteous after their resurrection.

Before we leave the Old Testament there are two points that should be noticed. Firstly there are at least two general references to the power of God to make alive as well as to kill (Deut. 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6), in which we may see an indirect reference to resurrection. We notice that if a man is killed he may be made alive. He is not kept alive at death.

Secondly we may notice that references in Scripture to death, though they may touch only indirectly upon it, tend to give the impression that a person as such descends to the grave and never suggest that he may be alive in some other world. Naturally it is impossible to follow all these out, but we may take an example from 2 Samuel 18:17: “And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him”. Most modern Christians would have written, “And they took Absalom’s body, and cast it into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon it”. We would venture to ask our readers when reading their Bibles to keep an eye open for any such references and carefully judge the impression which they obtain from them.

The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ

It becomes clear as we read the New Testament that the model for the coming resurrection of the people of God is that of the Lord Jesus Christ, on which it is based and with which its nature is essentially identical. This is made specially clear by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. Thus if we turn to the Gospels we shall find that His resurrec­tion has the following characteristics: (1). His tomb was empty, so that He rose in the very body that He had taken from Mary (Matt. 28:6). If we have been able to follow the findings to which our study in our previous sections has led us, this is exactly what we should expect. (2). He met with and spoke to His disciples after His resurrec­tion (Matt. 28:9,10,16‑20). (3). At their first meeting with the Lord after His resurrection His disciples did not always recognise Him (Luke 24:16). (4). He was recognised later by a characteristic action or word (Luke 24:31). (5). In His resurrection body He was capable of vanishing and appearing suddenly, so that the nature of His body was completely changed and raised to a higher plane (Luke 24:31,36). This is what the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:45,51. (6). The marks of the nails were still in His hands and feet (Luke 24:39). His body was still composed of flesh and bones (Luke 24:40). (7). He ate food after His resurrection (Luke 24:42,43). (8). The body of the Lord at the moment of resurrection had passed through the grave­ clothes (John 20:4‑9) and presumably through the stone at the grave’s mouth. (9). The Lord told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him (John 20:17), although the other women shortly afterwards clung to His feet (Matt. 28:9). The significance of this is not easily understood. (10). The spear wound was still in the side of the Lord as well as the nail prints in His hands and feet (John 20:27).

To sum up the nature of the resurrection appearances of the Lord we find two principles underlying them, (a) identity of Person and (b) change of nature. It is clear from Scripture that our own resurrection will be governed by these as well.

Resurrection in the Gospels

We turn first to the direct teaching of the Lord about the resurrection in answer to the Sadducees who denied it. This is found in parallel passages in the first three Gospels, Matthew 22:23‑33; Mark 12:18‑27; Luke 20:27‑40. The Sadducees invented an artificial objection to resurrection with which they foolishly supposed that they could catch the Lord. They based it on the law to be found in Deuteronomy 25:5,6, which ordained that a man should marry the widow of his deceased elder brother and raise up children in his brother’s name. They told the story of seven brothers who all married the same woman one after the other in accordance with this law and asked whose wife she would be in the resurrection. The Lord answered this foolish conundrum at once by explaining that there was no sex or marriage in glory after the resurrection. He then went on to tell the Sadducees that the fact of resurrection is contained in the words of the Lord to Moses at the bush, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exod. 3:6). He states that God is not the God of the dead but of the living. It is extraordinary that so many have read into these words the doctrine of survival and natural immortality, drawing the conclusion that if God declares Himself the God of the living and not of the dead therefore Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the departed people of God must be alive now. It is extraordinary because such a conclusion destroys the whole point of the passage, which is to prove the resurrection. If the dead are now living in a disembodied state, to say that God is the God of the living and not of the dead does not in any sense prove resurrection. Instead it removes the necessity of it. The Lord’s argument requires that the dead are not now living in a disembodied or any other state. God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are now dead. Therefore they must come to life in resurrection in order to fulfil and vindicate God’s declar­ation. Thus the resurrection is proved, as the Lord says.

The evangelist Luke makes this clearer by adding the sentence, “For all live unto Him”. He means that all the dead live (not indeed in an absolute sense), but in the sight of God. They do so in view of the glorious resurrection in which they are to be restored to life and live for ever with Him in glory.

These passages are among the strongest in Scripture against survival and natural immortality. It is impossible to reconcile them with them.

We now turn to Luke 14:14. Here we find the Lord telling those who entertain the poor and those who cannot entertain them in return that it will be recompensed them in the resurrection of the just. Notice that there is no word about recompense at death. If, as the Lord here distinctly states, recompense does not come till resurrection, it follows that the departed, if they are alive, have not got perfect satisfaction and fulfilment. This is a dangerous and unscriptural doctrine. But difficulty vanishes if we believe the teaching of Scripture that the dead are sleeping in their graves.

Resurrection in the Gospel of John

In the Gospel of John the Lord Himself gives us four wonderful promises of resurrection: 1. Raising the dead and making them alive is the work both of the Father and the Son (John 5:21). 2. All who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the One Who is Son of God and Son of man and will come forth, the good to a resurrection of life and the bad to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:28). Many have deduced from this verse that there will be a simultaneous resurrection of the just and the unjust, but it need not bear this meaning and it seems from Revela­tion 20:5 that there will be an interval between the resurrection of the one and that of the other. 3. The Lord Jesus will not lose a single one of His believing people, but will raise up each one at the last day, because it is the Father’s will that everyone that believes on the Son should have everlasting life and the Lord Jesus will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40). Thus we are taught that the way to everlasting life in the final glory is by resurrection on the last day. 4. We find the marvellous and well‑known promise of the Lord Jesus at the grave of Lazarus: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoso liveth and believeth in Me shall never die”. (John 11:25,26). We are here taught that resurrection and everlasting life are the gift of Jesus alone, that the believer will be raised to life even if he dies, as most believers have done already. Here “live” means “live again”, as so often in the New Testament. Thirdly we are taught that every believer living at the last day when Christ returns in glory will never die. We may also give to these words the undoubted meaning that when once a believer is raised he will never die (Luke 20:36).

We notice that not only in making these promises did the Lord never say,  “Whoever believes in Me I will take home to be with Me in glory when he dies and will also raise his dead body at the last day”, but that no such promise is once found in any verse of the New Testament.

Resurrection in the Acts and General Epistles

From the references to resurrection in the Acts of the Apostles we learn that the apostles preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead (Acts 4:2). It is never said that they preached any disembodied life between death and resurrection. At Athens the apostle Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18). Again it is never said that he preached any other hope. In the course of the same address he announces the day of judgment with Christ Jesus as judge, the proof of this being His resurrection (Acts 17:31). Some of his hearers mocked at the resurrection and some postponed a decision (Acts 17:32). If he had preached like some of the great Athenian thinkers the immortality of the soul, they are not so likely to have mocked. When the apostle was before the council in Jerusalem, he declared that the issue at stake was the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6). These references show the extent to which the resurrection was on his heart and mind. Before Felix the Governor the apostle declared that he shared with the Jews the hope that there would be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15). The Jews must have known this from Isaiah 26:19. In Acts 26:8 the apostle asks King Agrippa and the other distinguished members of his audience why it should be thought incredible among them that God should raise the dead, and he connects the resurrection with the promise made to the fathers (Acts 26:6,7). We may search the book of Acts in vain for any reference whatever to a disembodied survival between death and resurrection.

Resurrection in the Apostle Paul’s Epistles

Nowhere in Scripture do we have clearer or more glorious promises of the resurrection than we do in the writings of the apostle Paul. Thus he tells us in Romans 6:5 that, if we have been joined to Christ in His death, we shall be joined to Him in His resurrection also. In Romans 8:11 he tells us that, if the Spirit of the One Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, the One Who raised Jesus from the dead will also make alive our mortal bodies. Both these passages may include a reference to the power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to live in newness of life by sharing the resurrection life of Christ while still in this world. In Romans 8:23 in the context of the whole creation groaning and travailing together he says that we also groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. We may notice that he does not say that we groan within ourselves waiting for the release from our body. What we wait for is the redemption of our body from the grave by resurrection, which will make real and external to us the blessings which we now enjoy in our spirits by faith. But there would be no sense or point in saying this if we are to be “called home” at death to glory and perfect satisfaction.

It is in the epistles to the Corinthians that we find the clearest and most definite teaching about the resurrection in the two great passages 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 4 and 5. Before these there is the statement in 1 Corinthians 6:14: “God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by His power”. Our future resurrection follows from the resurrection of the Lord.

The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is the great chapter which deals with the resurrection from every aspect, perhaps in answer to a question on the subject which had been asked the apostle by the Corinthian believers. He occupies verses 1 to 8 by affirming the burial and resurrection of Christ and lists six post‑resurrection appear­ances of which the last had been to himself. In these verses we may notice the apostle’s statement in verse 6 that some of the five hundred brethren who had seen Him had fallen asleep. Many Christian writers today would have said, “Some have been called home”. We may also notice that the whole of the apostle’s teaching in this chapter is based upon the resurrect and resurrection. Some have thought that such a survival is taught in 1 Peter 3:18, where Christ is said to have been put to death in flesh but quickened (that is, made alive) in spirit. But if this text had referred to survival it could not have said “made alive”. It must have said “kept” or “preserved alive”. The “spirit” is the resurrection nature of Christ (1 Corinthians 15: 45) and the “spirits”  of verse 19 are “the angels that sinned” (2 Pet. 2:4), (see p. 23).

In verses 9 to 11 the apostle diverges for a little from his main topic to emphasise God’s grace to him and his own unworthiness to be entrusted with the Gospel. He goes on in verses 12 to 18 to ask his readers how it can be possible for them to deny that there is any resurrection. He points out that if this is so then Christ is not risen. The consequences of this are three­fold: 1. Faith is vain; 2. Believers are still in their sins; 3. Those fallen asleep in Christ are perished. This last is very important. It means that believers sleeping in their graves would never wake up.

Now the apostle triumphantly declares that Christ is risen. Resurrec­tion and life came by man, just as death came by man. Christ rose as the first‑fruits, then will rise those who belong to Him at His coming. Then comes the end. We cannot tell for certain all that the apostle means by the end, but it will comprise the complete victory of Christ over all His enemies, the last to be destroyed being death. God will then be all in all (verses 20 to 28).

Here the apostle diverges again to introduce arguments for the truth of the resurrection drawn from the experience of his readers and of himself (verses 29‑34). If there is no resurrection, he says, there is nothing left in life but to enjoy the present, and he gives a solemn warning against sin and ignorance.

From verses 35 onwards he works up to his grand climax at the end of the chapter. Dealing with the question of the method of resurrec­tion he compares death and resurrection to the sowing of seed in the ground and the appearance of the grain when it comes up. The one is utterly unlike the other, yet an identity runs through them. The bodies of those who rise differ as the various earthly creatures differ and as the heavenly bodies differ. The body is sown in weakness, but raised in power. It is sown a natural (Greek psychikon) body, it is raised a spiritual body. This agrees with the fact that the first man Adam was made a living soul (Greek psychee) and the last Adam, Christ Jesus, was made a life‑giving spirit (Greek pneuma). As we have borne the image of the earthly, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly.

The apostle goes on in verse 50 solemnly to declare that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. He continues, “Behold, I shew you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed”. Dead and living will be changed instan­taneously and glorified at the coming of the Lord when the trumpet sounds. Now could the apostle have said, “We shall not all sleep”, if none of us are ever going to sleep at all, but to live in glory in a dis­embodied state? It would be a strange way of putting the facts. It is a  person who sleeps, not a dead body as such. Waking and sleeping are not words which can properly apply to a body apart from a whole person. If a modem Christian had written this passage, he would have written somewhat as follows: “We shall not all die, but those who die will be changed at the moment of death. When the trumpet sounds, the glorified spirits will be reunited to their bodies, and we shall be changed”. But we shall find that it is safer and happier and better to believe that the inspired writers meant exactly what they said and used words according to their accepted meaning among their con­temporaries.

When the resurrection to incorruption and immortality has taken place, then the final victory over death will have been won. In view of these wonderful facts we may know that our labour in the service of the Lord is not in vain (verses 53‑58).

2 Corinthians 5:1-8:  Another great passage relating to the resurrection is to be found in 2 Corinthians 4:14 to 5:10. In 4:14 the apostle says that in all the trials and pressures of his ministry he is sustained by the knowledge that the One Who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise him up also with Jesus and present him with the Corinthian believers. But if he knew that he was going to be in glory in a disembodied condition immediately upon his death, is not this the very place where he would have men­tioned this as being at least part, if not the whole, of the hope that sustained him? Yet no; he fixes his hope on the resurrection. He knows, at least he does not mention, any other hope. And it is after his resurrec­tion, not before, that he expects to be presented in the presence of God.

In verse 16 his outer man is his Adamic nature, his soul, himself as he is in this world. His inner man is his regenerate nature, obtained from the Spirit of God at his new birth. In verse 18 he contrasts tem­poral things and eternal things.

If we turn on to 5:1, we find the apostle speaking of our earthly house of this tabernacle and the possibility of its being dissolved in death. This earthly house is the natural body of 1 Corinthians 15:44 and the tabernacle which the apostle Peter knew he must soon put off (2 Pet. 1:13,14). If this is dissolved, that is, if we die, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This is the spiritual body of 1 Corinthians 15:44, which we are given in resur­rection. We do not have this building immediately upon death and the apostle does not say here that we do. A verse or two later on he denies it. Now if the apostle had expected to be with Christ in glory in a dis­embodied state, could he have passed this expectation entirely over in a context such as this and fixed his whole hope on his resurrection body? “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved . . . why this is exactly the place to say . . . we shall be in spirit in the presence of the Lord in heaven”. But he did not say it. The only reason can be that he knew of no such hope.

He goes on to say that in this tabernacle we are in distress. We long to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, that is, our resurrection body (ver. 2), “if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked” (ver. 3). An equally possible translation of the Greek words ei ge (if so be) is “inasmuch as”. Whatever exactly is the apostle’s meaning in this verse, it is clear that he is not looking for, nor does he desire to be “naked”, that is, in a disembodied condition. He repeats this in verse 4. Though distressed in this tabernacle, his desire is not to be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. This is the same thing as he describes in 1 Corinthians 15:53. It has been thought that to speak of the body as a building or a garment implies a spirit or person that continues to live separately from it. But this natural figure of speech need mean no more than that there is a mind within the body and joined to it and indeed in view of the direct Scriptural teaching that we have reviewed can mean no more. Man is indeed what is called today a psychosomatic unity. He has an outward physical man and an inward man of thought and emotion. This readily intelligible figure of speech cannot by itself sustain the doctrine of the survival of the spirit or the imortality of the soul, especially in the absence of any Scriptural statement of either.

In  verses 6 to 8 the apostle says that when we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord. Yet we desire rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Many have taken this to mean present with the Lord in a disembodied state. But this is not so because (1) the whole context of the passage deals with resurrection (4:14 and onwards), (2) the apostle does not desire a disembodied condition (5:3,4), (3) “the body” in verses 6 and 8 means this earthly body, as is clear from verse 10, (4) the only possible way in which the apostle can be present with the Lord is by resurrection (1 Thess. 4:17, which we shall study shortly). The apostle has in mind only two states, the present earthly one in this “natural” (Greek psychikon) body and the one in resurrection glory. Here we are absent from the Lord. There we shall be present with Him. He knows of course that the generation living at the end will pass from the one to the other instantaneously without experiencing death, and he was like us completely ignorant of the time when that moment would be. This view of the apostle’s meaning is confirmed by his references to the judgment at the conclusion of the passage (ver. 10), which takes place at the end of the world. The apostle’s language here is also consistent with the fact that in the dying believer’s subjective experience he passes instantly from this world to resurrection glory. So profound is his unconsciousness in death that on closing his eyes he opens them at what to him is the next instant on the resurrection morning. This fact, as our next passage shows, formed an important element in the apostle’s hope. We pass on to Philippians 1:20‑27. The apostle speaks of his expectation and hope that he will be ashamed in nothing, but that in all boldness both always and at the moment Christ would be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death. He is ready to live or die, whichever brings greater glory to his Lord. To him, he says, to live is Christ. This is one of the great, deep, heart‑searching statements of the Bible. The apostle was absorbed in the interests and glory of his Lord. His whole life was devoted to them alone. For him to die was gain. There were two reasons for this. One was his own personal gain in passing out of this toilsome and troublous world and finding himself in an instant of time on the resurrection morning, as he will do. The other reason was the ultimate gain to the Lord’s cause and the increase of the Lord’s glory that his death would bring, if it proved to be God’s purpose and way of witness for him. He says that he is being pressed between the two, his desire being fixed on “departing and being with Christ”, as this is very much better. The “departure” is his disso­lution in death (Greek analusai), but this will bring him instantly into the presence of Christ with his far greater glory, joy and wonder than possibly could be the case if they were in a disembodied state. Indeed we shall see from 1 Thessalonians 4:17 that the only way of being with Christ is by resurrection. Here we may indeed see the reason for the statements of the New Testament that “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh”. It is nigh to every believer, who only has to wait for it till he closes his eyes in death, loved ones and the whole church about him in resurrection glory.

The words “to depart and be with Christ” are represented in Greek by two infinitives prefixed by a single definite article, the effect being to bring together in a startling way two things which are different and apart. Thus in the believer’s experience. the moment after closing his eyes in death he is in his glorified body in the eternal state. How much better, more joyous and more triumphant is God’s promise and God’s purpose for His children than the expectation that so many of them have of going at death to heaven in a disembodied state, leaving behind their loved ones on earth and obliged to wait for years or centuries as ghosts for the final consummation. Some dread the idea of lying for years in the grave. But they know nothing of this interval. They are translated in experience to final glory and will awake to look in the face of Jesus just as they have been hoping to at death, but yet such was the devotion of the apostle’s life that in spite of this Wonderful prospect before him he realised that to remain in this world would be more necessary and more profitable for the believers under his care, and he was content to do so.

In the same epistle the apostle mentions again the great change that will take place at our resurrection (see 1 Corinthians 15:43,49,53). He speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ Who at His coming will change the body of our humiliation and fashion it like unto the body of His glory, and he says that it is for this Saviour that we look (Phil. 3:20,21).

We pass on for a moment to 1 Thessalonians 4:16. We will study the whole context when we come shortly to deal with the predictions of the coming of the Lord. Here the apostle says, “The dead in Christ shall rise first”. This does not mean before the dead out of Christ, but before the living believers are changed, even if it be only an instant before. At the end of verse 17 we find the words “and so shall we be for ever with the Lord”. The words “together with them” a little earlier in the verse make it clear that these final words apply to the dead as well as the living. Now the word “so” is Greek houtis, which means “in this way”. Its place here at the beginning of the sentence makes it emphatic, so that the meaning of the sentence becomes “And this is way that we shall be for ever with the Lord”, implying that there is no other way and leading us to conclude that we shall not be with the Lord till the day of resurrection.

We conclude the references which occur in the apostle Paul’s writings by looking at Hebrews 6:2, the epistle being included in the Pauline corpus, if not directly by his hand. This is a rather striking passage. The apostle lists six subjects which he calls elementary principles of the Christian faith, which believers are to leave behind and build upon. The fifth of these is the resurrection of the dead. Now if this is an elementary principle, part of the foundation, how much more would the immortality of the “soul” be if it were an actual fact? Yet it is not mentioned among the fundamentals of the faith, just as it is not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture, though it is definitely contradicted in such passages as Ezekiel 18:4.

Resurrection in the Apocalypse

Only two passages concern us here. The first is Revelation 1:18 Here the Lord Jesus as He gives to the apostle the great vision of Himself in His risen glory says to him, “I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore”. He goes on to explain that as a consequence of His own resurrection He has the keys of death and the grave (see P. 48). This means that He will unlock the gates of death and the grave and let His people out of them in resurrection. The same thing is said of the Lord in Psalm 68:20. Our last passage is the rather mysterious Revelation 20:4‑6. It remains mysterious because it has not yet been fulfilled and therefore we cannot yet be certain of its meaning, though it has caught the imagination of many who have dogmatised fiercely upon it and con­tradicted each other. The quotations at the beginning of verse 4 from Daniel 7 make it probable that this is a picture of the day of judgment With the saints judging the world (Matt. 19:28; 1 Cor. 6:2,3). In any case the passage deals with resurrection. Misunderstanding of the Scriptural meaning of the word “souls” (Greek psuchas) in verse 4 has caused some to regard those here seen sitting upon thrones as being in a disembodied state. The word in fact leads us to the opposite conclusion. Here are the souls, the persons, the very selves, of the martyrs living and reigning in resurrection and life. This must be an actual resurrection, because all are agreed that the resurrection of the rest of the dead, who are the wicked dead, mentioned in verse 5, is their actual resurrection. The two resurrections referred to in verse 5 cannot be of a totally different nature. The language would be forced and harsh. Thus there seems to be an interval of the period called in this chapter a thousand years between the resurrection of the just and that of the unjust. Here we see the saints risen and reigning.

The Second Coming in the Old Testament

The New Testament makes clear the close connection between the resurrection and the coming of the Lord. The two take place at the same moment of time. It will therefore be desirable to look at the more prominent of the passages which predict the second coming in order to see how the Scriptures present it as the one great hope of the church.

The Old Testament writers have much to say of the future Messianic blessing, but it was not generally given to them to dis­tinguish the interval between the first and second comings. The passage that is perhaps clearest on this point is Psalin 110:1. There are however three passages in the later Minor Prophets and two in the Psalms where we can definitely distinguish the second coming. 1. Haggai 2:6, where we have the prophecy that it will not be long before the Lord of hosts shakes the heaven and earth. This is quoted by the apostle in Hebrews 12:26 and referred to the end of the world. 2. Zechariah 9:14. Here the prophet says that the LORD will be seen over the people. This we may take to refer to the gathering and rapture of the saints. His arrow will go forth as lightning. Here we see His destroying wrath against the wicked. The Lord God will blow the trumpet. This is the trumpet that will summon the blessed dead. 3. Zechariah 14:5. Here is a quite definite prediction of the second coming. “And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee”. The saints here are the angels. 4. and 5. Psalm 96:13 and 98:9: “for he cometh to judge the earth”. Here the last judgment appears, which is the other great event associated with the resurrection and the second coming.

The Second Coming in the Gospels

In the Gospels we have the wonderful account of the second coming given us by the Lord Himself in the great parallel passages in Matthew 24:3 Mark 13 and Luke 21. It comes as the climax of the apocalyptic prophecies dealing with the siege of Jerusalem and the subsequent troubles both of the Jews and of the church. We find (1) that it is to take place immediately at the end of the Gospel age (Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24). (2) It is to be preceded by signs, astronomical or international., or both (Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25,26). (3) The people of the earth will mourn in despair (Matt. 24:30). (5) They will see Christ coming on the clouds with power and great glory (Matt. 24:3; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). (6) He will send His angels (Matt. 24. 31; Mark 13. 27). (7) With the loud sound of a trumpet (Matt. 24:31). (8) The angels will gather the elect (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27). We also learn that the day and the hour of the coming are unknown and that the world will not expect it up to the last moment. We find the same picture in Luke 17: 24‑37. Here we find the instantaneous suddenness of the day (ver. 24); the continuance of the world socially and commercially until the day (vers. 26‑30); the revelation of Christ (ver. 30); the urgency of being ready (ver. 31‑33); the separation of the righteous and the wicked (ver. 34., 35).

In Luke 18:8 we find a suggestion that when Christ comes He will not find many believers on the earth. In John 14:3 we have the Lord’s lovely promise that He will come again and receive us unto Himself. He would hardly have said this if He had been going to receive each one of us unto Himself at our death. It is His coming that He teaches us to look to, that glorious coming at the end of the world, which has the twofold purpose of receiving His people and judging the world.

The Second Coming in the Acts and General Epistles

We find an important reference to the second coming in Acts 1:11. It immediately follows the account of the ascension of Christ. It consists of the promise given to the disciples by the two angels that the same Jesus Whom they had seen going into heaven would so come in like manner as they had seen Him go, that is, that there would be a personal bodily return from heaven. Thus the Scriptures build up for us a clear picture of the Lord’s glorious return.

In the General Epistles there are twelve references to the Lord’s coming. In James 5:7 we read, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord”. It is then that the reward will come and the coming draws nigh (ver. 8). It draws nigh to every believer because it is the very next thing that he will know after he closes his eyes in death. At the same time we should notice that the apostle does not say, “Be patient until your ‘home‑call’ at death”.

In the same way the apostle Peter tells us to hope to the end for the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:13). Again our hope is directed to the second coming.

In 1 Peter 4:5 we are directed again to the day of judgment, when the wicked will give an account of their lives and in 1 Peter 4:7 the apostle tells us that the end of all things has drawn nigh. The way in which it is near to all men we have already seen. In verse 13 of the same chapter the apostle tells us to rejoice in sharing the sufferings of Christ, that we may rejoice at the revelation of His glory. He does not speak of rejoicing at any “home‑call” at the time of death.

Again he tells the shepherds that when the Chief Shepherd appears they will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away (1 Pet. 5:4). We may notice that he does not say that they will receive it when called into the Lord’s presence at the time of their death. He knows nothing of such a call. It would not be a victory over death but an evasion of it.

The third chapter of 2 Peter is unique in describing the end of the world from a different aspect. It does not speak of resurrection or of the personal coming of the Lord, but describes the destruction by fire of the present heavens and earth (2 Pet. 3:7‑12). This is to take place on the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The apostle says that the heavens will pass away with a loud noise. This may be identical with the sound of the trumpet mentioned in Matthew 24, 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4. He also says that the elements will melt with fervent heat. By the elements he appears to mean the stuff of which the world is made.

There are three references to the coming of the Lord in the first Epistle of John. The first is in 2:28: “And now, little children, abide in him, that if he appear we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming”. The word “if”  does not indicate a condition but is used simply as argument. He certainly will appear. His coming is His appearance or manifestation. It is then that we shall meet Him with confidence or with shame, but this could not be said if our meeting with Him was going to be centuries or years beforehand at death.

Again in 1 John 3:2 we read, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not

yet appear what we shall be. We know that if he appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”. We notice that it is when He appears that we shall see Him as He is, not as disembodied spirits at death.

Again in 1 John 4:17 the apostle speaks of our having boldness in the day of judgment. Thus he consistently sets before us for our expectation the coming of the Lord and the day of judgment.

The apostle Jude refers to the same great event as having been foretold by Enoch the seventh from Adam: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all (Jude 14).

The Coming of the Lord in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul

We have seen that none of the apostles who were the authors of the General Epistles mention any hope or promise of being with the Lord in a disembodied state at death. All point us to His coming at the end of the world as the time when we shall see Him and be with Him. In the same way in the writings of the apostle Paul (including Hebrews) there are eighteen references to His second coming.

Thus in Romans 2:15‑16 the apostle gives us his prophecy of the great day of judgment. He calls it the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, in which both just and unjust will receive their reward. It is the day when God judges the secrets of men. The judgment of this great day forms the whole back­ground of his doctrine of justification by faith. Similarly in Romans 14: 10 he says, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ”, or, as other manuscripts say, “of God”.

The apostle connects the coming of the Lord with the judgment in 1 Corinthians 4: 5: “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts”. All judgment of others is to be left to the Lord.

In Ephesians 4:30 the apostle reminds us that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the day of redemption. This is the day of the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:23). We may notice that he does not say “unto our home call at death”. But would he not surely have done so, if he had known of such an event and been looking forward to it?

We have already noticed the apostle’s statement of the resurrection in Philippians 3:21. We may add here that he connects this imme­diately with the coming of the Saviour (Phil. 3:20). He says that we look for the coming of the Saviour, thus clearly fixing our hope for the future upon that event and not upon death.

The apostle directs our attention to the same event in Colossians 3:4: “When Christ who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory”. To appear here means to be revealed or made manifest. It is when Christ comes that we shall be made manifest with Him in glory, not at death.

The epistles to the Thessalonians are the most explicit of all the apostle’s writings on the subject of the coming of the Lord. Thus in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 he tells us that to wait for God’s Son from heaven is one of the two main purposes of conversion. If we are to wait for His coming, it is clear that we cannot also be waiting for a “home call” to enter His presence at death.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:19 the apostle tells us that any whom we may by grace have led to Christ will be our joy, crown and glory before our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. But if they had been going to meet us in heaven in a disembodied state between death and resurrection, would they not have been so there?

1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17:One of the great passages of Scripture relating to the second coming of the Lord is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13‑17. We have already dealt with it in connection with resurrection. It ranks with Matthew 24:30,31, on which it is based, and 1 Corinthians 15:51,52. In verses 16 and 17 Of this chapter the apostle speaks of a shout and the voice of the archangel (Matt. 24:31: the angels); the trumpet of God (Matt. 24:31: the loud sound of a trumpet); the descent of the Lord Himself from heaven (Matt. 24: 30: the Son of man coming); the clouds (Matt. 24:30: the clouds of heaven); we shall be caught up (Matt. 24:31: the angels will gather together His elect). We have already noticed that this is the way in which we shall be for ever with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).

In 1 Thessalonians 5: 23 we have the apostle’s prayer that our whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto (R.V. “at” which is better) the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We noticed this text in our first section (see p. 15).

There is an important reference to the Lord’s coming to judgment in 2 Thessalonians 1: 7‑10. The apostle says that troubled believers will all have rest together at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven. This surely, to say the least, suggests strongly that the apostle never thought of any of them having rest before that great event. He speaks also of mighty angels; flames of fire; the punishment of the wicked, which we shall study in our fourth section; of Christ being glorified in His saints and admired in all those who believe.

When we turn to the Epistle to the Hebrews, we find three references to the coming of the Lord: 1. Hebrews 9:28: “To them that look for him he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation”. Our salvation will be completed at the appearance of the Lord. 2. Hebrews 10:37: “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry”. The coming of the Lord will not be long delayed. We have seen how this will be so in the case of every believer (see p. 66). 3. Hebrews 12:26: “Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven”. The first shaking was at Sinai, the second will be at His coming.

We find five references to the coming of the Lord in the Pastoral Epistles. In 1 Timothy 6:14,15 it is called “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate”. This tells us that God knows the time of the appearing and will bring it about when it is due.

In 2 Timothy 1:12 we find the well‑known confident expression of the apostle: “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”. It is worth noting that the apostle does not say “against my home call”.

In 2 Timothy 4:1 the apostle speaks of the judgment by Christ Jesus of the living and the dead, His appearance and His kingdom.

We turn to the apostle’s famous words in 2 Timothy 4:6‑8. He speaks of his approaching departure and looks back over his victorious life. “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” Now if he expected this at death here is just the place to say it­ “which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me” – when I am called home to be present with Him at my departure? No ‑“shall give me at that day”. Till then the crown is “laid up” in waiting and it will be given to “all who love his appearing”  the whole number of the people of God together.

Our final passage is in Titus 2:13. Here the apostle tells us that we are to live in this world “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus”. His appear­ing is the hope of the church. We are to live looking for it, not looking for glory or blessedness at death.

The Second Coming in the Apocalypse

In Revelation 1:7 we have a great declaration of the coming of the Lord, which we might say is here set before us as the goal of history: “Behold, he cometh with clouds”. This is taken from Daniel 7:13 and agrees with the declaration of the angels in Acts 1:11. “Every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him.” This is taken from Zechariah 12:10. He will be universally visible. Probably the Jews as a whole are meant by those who pierced Him. Those actually active in His crucifixion will rise in the judgment to see Him. “All the tribes of the earth shall wail because of him.” This also is taken from Zechariah 12:10 and refers to the despair of the wicked at the last day, though it may also refer to the mourning of repentance that comes in greater or or less degree to every believer at conversion.

In Revelation 20:11‑15 we have the second of the two grand des­criptions in the New Testament of the day of judgment. The first is in Matthew 25:31‑46. We find the great white throne, the judge seated upon it, the vanishing away of heaven and earth, the dead standing before the throne, the opening of the books including the book of life and the judgment of the dead in accordance with their works. We have already dealt with verse 13 and we shall look at verses 14 and 15 in our fourth section.

In the last chapter we have the promise “Behold, I come quickly” (Rev. 22:12). None of us, as we have seen, has long to wait (see p. 66). Almost at the very end of the Bible the promise is repeated in Revelation 22:20: “Yea, I come quickly”, and the waiting church echoes back the prayer, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”. Thus throughout the New Testament the coming of the Lord is prominently emphasised and set before the believer as the one great hope towards which he is to press.

The Glory to Come

This section would be incomplete without a study of what God has revealed to us of the glory to come. “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into. the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them which love him”

(1 Cor. 2:9). And the psalmist David tells us, “At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11) and, “We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple” (Ps. 65:4).

The main passage in which the glories of the world to come are revealed is found, as we might expect, in the last two chapters of the Bible (Rev. 21:1‑22:5). This passage is a great summary based upon many Old Testament passages, especially the great chapters Ezekiel 40‑48, which are concerned with the world to come. We will look carefully at the passage in the Apocalypse, turning back as we do so to the Old Testament passages which it echoes. Much of the Old Testament is concerned with Messianic blessings and the glories of the world to come, generally couched in the typical language of the Old Testament and in terms of the geography of ancient Palestine. We think of such passages as Isaiah 2:1‑4 and Isaiah 4:1‑6. It would be impossible within our scope to make an exhaustive review of all such Old Testament passages. We shall find that if we look carefully at the great description in the Apocalypse and at those Old Testament passages on which it rests we have as complete a view as is necessary of the wonderful life in the city and home of God to which He invites His believing children for eternity.

Before we turn to this passage in the Apocalypse the more convenient arrangement would be to look through such passages in the New Testament as touch on the glory to come and reveal various glimpses of it earlier than Revelation 21.

The Judgment

We will begin with the great judgment scene in Matthew 25:31‑46. This coincides with, or immediately follows, the coming of the Lord and stands at the opening, as it were, of eternity future. It is the first of the two great judgment scenes in the New Testament, the second, which we have already looked at, being Revelation 20: 11‑15. In it we read of the eternal separation of the righteous and the wicked and the invitation to the rightous to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. In this eternal kingdom they will be both subjects of Christ and kings themselves (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 5:10). The second part of this passage beginning at verse 41 will be carefully studied in our last section.

 

Paradise

Twice in the New Testament the world to come is referred to as Paradise. This is a Greek word borrowed from the Persians meaning an orchard or fruit garden. It suggests the restoration of the garden of Eden with the innocence and happiness that man enjoyed there and we may be sure that the eternal garden will be greater and better than the one on earth which Adam lost.

The first of the two occurrences of this name is found in the Lord’s words to the dying thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). These read in our version, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise”. These words might possibly be taken in the apostle’s sense in Philippians 1. 23 (see p. 66), but not very honestly. As they stand they strongly imply, if they do not require, the survival both of the Lord Jesus and of the thief in a disembodied state after their death and their presence together in Paradise on that day, and in this sense they are very often taken, with every excuse in the case of those who do not know the original although they contradict everything that the Bible has to say elsewhere on the subject.

When however we look into the original we find that, although the words can quite well be translated as they are in our version, they can be translated even more agreeably to the Greek, “Verily I say unto thee today, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise”. The point of saying, “I say unto thee today” is twofold. First it is an accustomed, phrase for emphasis in Hebrew. We often find Moses saying, “The commandments which I command thee this day”. Secondly the day on which the Lord spoke to the thief was the very day which made the thief’s entry into Paradise possible by the mighty event of the Lord’s suffering and death, which was taking place upon it. Thus the Lord’s answer was an exact response to the poor thief’s request that He would remember him when He came into His kingdom (ver. 42).

That this is the right interpretation of the Greek is made clear by the second occurrence of the name Paradise, which is in Revelation 2:7. Here the overcomer is promised access to the tree of life, “which is in the Paradise of God”. Now the tree of life is on the new earth (Rev. 21:1; 22:2) which does not come into being till the day of judgment is finished and this world burnt up (2 Pet. 3:13).

It is an interesting fact that B. W. Newton, the well‑known leader among the early Brethren, a prolific writer and a firm upholder of natural immortality, wrote a pamphlet advocating the interpretation of this passage which we have reached here on the ground that Christ did not go that day to Paradise but to Haidees, which Mr. Newton took to be the abode of departed spirits. Though we think him wrong in his conception of Hades, we believe him to be quite right in his argument and his view of the punctuation and meaning of the passage.

Everlasting Life

This is the description that we find in John’s Gospel of the glory to come. In John 5:24 we have the assurance that the believer has ever­lasting life and will not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life. Everlasting life is present to the believer as well as future from the moment that he is born again. In John 8:51 we have the promise that the one who keeps Christ’s word will never see death. At the end of his life on earth his death is turned by the fact of the coming resurrection into sleep and he will never be touched by the second death. Again the Lord Jesus promises that He gives to His sheep everlasting life and they shall never perish (John 10:28). In John 14:2 we find the precious promise that the believer’s place in eternity will be in his Father’s home. “In my Father’s house are many mansions. . .  I go to prepare a place for you.” Again in the great prayer of John 17 the Lord Jesus tells us that the Father’s purpose is that the Son should give eternal life to all that the Father has given Him. Eternal life is the basis of the glory to come. It stands in contrast to the eternal death of the wicked and to the mortal condition of the believer and all men on earth.

The Inheritance and the Crown

If we turn to the Epistles of the apostle Peter, we find four references to the glory to come. In 1 Peter 1:4 it is called “an inheritance, in­corruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” and in the following verse it is called “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. This makes it clear that we reach the in­heritance by resurrection at the coming of the Lord. Had it been ready to be revealed at death, the apostle must surely have said so. This wonderful salvation is the inheritance of the people of God.

In 1 Peter 5:4 the pastors who feed the flock are told that they will receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away. We should notice that this crown will be received “when the chief Shepherd shall appear”, not at death.

In 2 Peter 1:11 the apostle tells us that if we do our diligence to make our calling and election sure, an abundant entrance will be ministered to us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The apostle also tells us that after the old heaven and the old earth have been burnt up we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13). The promise which the apostle mentions in the same verse is to be found in Isaiah 65. 17; 66. 22. We shall meet with this same promise again in Revelation 21:1. The special contribution which the apostle makes in this verse is the statement that the new creation will be the abode of righteousness. This is a wonderful prospect when we consider the abounding wicked­ness of the world around us.

Glory, Honour and Immortality

This is the comprehensive description of the eternal state which the apostle Paul tells us that the righteous seek (Rom. 2:17). He also calls it glory, honour and peace (Rom. 2:10). It stands in contrast to in­dignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish (vers. 8 and 9), to which we shall return in our next and last section. Some have said that the glory here described is fictitious in the sense that no one will ever attain to it, it being the reward of any who would have observed the law in perfection had they been morally able. But it seems more likely that those referred to are believers. Our version speaks of “patient continuance in well‑doing”. For “well‑doing” the Greek says “a good work”. What this good work is is explained in John 6:29. It is to believe in Jesus. It is in contrast to works (in the plural) both here and in John 6:28. The believer in the world to come will share the glory and honour of Jesus, will never die and will possess perfect and permanent peace. We notice that the apostle tells us that the righteous seek for immortality (as the Greek says, incorruptibility). Thus the apostle confirms our contention that immortality is not natural to all men but is God’s gift to those who believe in Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12 we find the moving description of the glory to come as the state in which we have a perfect vision of God’s face and perfect knowledge of Him.

A reference to eternal glory is found in Ephesians 1:18, where the apostle speaks of the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

The City of God

The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks to us of the eternal city of God. It also speaks of eternity as a rest or sabbath keeping for the people of God (Heb. 4:9), an inspiring contrast to the weariness and wickedness of this world. Later in the epistle we find that our father Abraham. looked for the city that has foundations, whose Maker and Builder is God. This is the eternal city for which we also look (Heb. 11:10). It is situated in a better country, a heavenly one (Heb. 11:16). The city and the country are described as something better, which God has provided, or foreseen, for us, where we shall be brought to perfec­tion in company with all the Old Testament saints (Heb. 11:39,40). This city is an abiding or permanent one of a kind that we do not possess here (Heb. 13:14).

We shall meet with this city again when we come to Revelation 21. It is on the new earth which is to be created after the day of judgment at the end of the world.

Reigning with Christ

Our life in the glory to come will be a life of responsibility. We shall live and reign with Christ (2 Tim. 2:12). All who have longed for His appearing will receive in that day the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8). The Scripture also tells us that we shall be the same persons as here known and loved by our friends. Philemon was to receive back his converted slave as a beloved brother for ever (Philemon 15,16). It is comforting to note that the mothers of the infants slaugh­tered at Bethlehem by Herod the Great will receive their children back again in resurrection (Jer. 31:16, 17).

The Overcomers’ Reward

The second and third chapters of the Apocalypse are occupied with the letters to the seven churches, which conclude with promises to the overcomers. Five of the seven promises definitely concern the world to come. Thus, as we have seen already (p. 74), we shall find Eden with its tree of life restored (Rev. 2:7). We may well believe that the heavenly tree of life is Jesus Himself. No doubt Paradise will be many times more wonderful and beautiful than the earthly Eden. A negative promise assures us that the overcomer will not be hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:11). This is a promise of everlasting life. A second promise of the same meaning is that the overcomer’s name will not be blotted out of the book of life and that the Lord Jesus will confess his name before His Father and His Father’s angels (Rev. 3:5). Again the overcomer is to be a pillar in God’s sanctuary. He will never thereafter leave home and he will be enrolled as a citizen of the new Jerusalem and as belonging to Jesus Christ (Rev. 3:12). Finally the overcomer is to reign as a king. He is to sit down with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3:21).

The Redeemed in Glory

In Revelation 7:9‑17 we find the moving and well‑known account of the redeemed in glory, read alas! nowadays often in the Burial Service with the implication that the dead are already in the condition that it describes, instead of the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians dealing with our resurrection hope, which the Scriptural Prayer Book prescribes. Here we find (1) the countless numbers of the redeemed, who though a minority on earth will be swollen as we may well think by the inclusion of all who have died as infants or young enough to be below the age of responsibility, comprising at least eighty per cent. of mankind, (2) their holiness and purity, (3) their palm‑bearing, which indicates that they are celebrating the eternal and anti‑typical Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40), (4) their perpetual praise of God, in which they lead the angels, (5) their standing in the presence of God, (6) their perpetual holy service, (7) the presence of God among them, (8) their complete satisfaction, (9) their being led by the Lamb to fountains of living water, (10) their freedom from sadness and sorrow.The book of Revelation also shows us that our Lord and His Christ will be the eternal Sovereign of the eternal world (Rev. 11:15,18) and gives us another picture of the redeemed with the Lamb on the heavenly Sion. They are seen playing harps and singing a new song, the song of the regenerate, in the presence of God (Rev. 15:1‑5).

 

The Last Chapters of the Bible

The great passage Revelation 21:1 to 22:5 brings the Bible almost to its conclusion with a triumphant account of the glory to come. The passage falls into two sections, a shorter and more general one (21:1‑8) and a longer one dealing with the holy city in greater detail (21:9‑22:5). We will look through the various features that it reveals one by one.

The New Creation

First we find that the scene of the immortal life of the saints in glory in a new heaven and a new earth, to be created after the destruction of the present creation by fire at the end. of the world (2 Pet. 3). This at once sets the scene after the resurrection and insures that it can never apply to any “intermediate state”. The new heavens and new earth were first promised through the prophet Isaiah (65:17;66:22), where we find them to be a place of complete satisfaction where former troubles are forgotten and a place of joy and rejoicing. There will be no childhood or old age there. Life there will be long, indeed for ever and ever. In that life there will be complete and immediate answers to prayer and perfect peace and harmony. These things will bring the most tender comfort to the people of God. God’s people will remain for ever and worship will be regular and perpetual (Isa. 65:13‑66. 23; Rev. 21:1).

The Holy city

The holy city new Jerusalem will be the abode of the saints. She is in fact identical with the true church and she is the Jerusalem of which all the prophets speak when they relate the Messianic blessings of the future. She is the bride of Christ and she comes down from heaven to earth in her bridal garments. The prophet Isaiah calls upon her to put on her beautiful garments of sanctification, because the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more enter her (Isa. 52:1). She will be a city of joy, salvation, righteousness and sanctification, known as such to all the nations (Isa. 6:10,11; 62; Rev. 21:2).

God Dwelling with Men

This will be the supreme blessing in the glory to come. Though God dwells in the hearts of His own people, He cannot come and dwell with men in this world, because of its abounding sin. God and sin are incompatible. But in the glory to come His tabernacle will be with the redeemed race. He will be openly present, loving, blessing, reigning, controlling and giving. Tears will all be gone and so will death, mourn­ing, crying and pain (Rev. 21:3, 4).

Old Testament Passages drawn on here are Zechariah 2:10, where Jerusalern is foretold; God’s presence among the people in Judah and Ezekicl 37:15‑27, where the unity of the Lord’s people is foretold, also their salvation and cleansing, their special relationship with God, the heavenly David to be their king and shepherd, their occupation of the new earth for ever and their eternal peace; Ezekiel 48:35, where we find the presence of the Lord in the heavenly city; Isaiah 25:6‑8, where we find foretold the eternal peace, the victory over death and the end of all tears; Isaiah 35:10, where we read of the joy of the redeemed in Zion; and Isaiah 65:19 again, which speaks of the joy in glory.

The Glory of God

If we pass on to the more detailed section of the passage, we shall find the holy city named as the bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). She is the true church and is to remain in that holy relationship with Christ (Eph. 5:25‑32) for ever. Next we are shown the large and high mountain on which the city stands (Rev. 21:10). The mountain is taken from Ezekiel 40:2 and 43:12. The city has the glory of God and light like a very precious jasper clear as crystal (Rev. 21:11). Isaiah prophesies that the glory of the Lord will rise upon the city and be seen upon her (Isa. 60:1,2).

The Walls and Gates

The walls and gates of the city are described in detail in Revelation 21:12‑21, the foundation of the description being in Ezekiel 48:31‑35; 40:3,5; 43:16,17; Isaiah 54:11,12. The quotations and allusions give us the key to the meaning of the Old Testament passages and to what they refer, as in the case of all New Testament quotations, a fact that is sadly forgotten by many writers on prophetical subjects today. The last nine chapters of Ezekiel give an inspired picture of the church and the glory to come.

The wall is great and high with twelve gates, twelve angels being upon them and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There are three gates at each point of the compass. The wall has twelve founda­tions with the names of the twelve apostles on them. The city is foursquare, indicating perfection, in fact a perfect cube. The material of the wall is jasper and the city pure gold like pure glass. The founda­tions of the wall each consisted of a different precious stone, each gate was a pearl, and the street was pure gold. This description gives us a picture, as far as words can convey it, of the beauty and magnificence of the city.

God Himself the Temple

The apostle says that he saw no temple in the city because the Lord God Himself and the Lamb were its temple (Rev. 21:22). He must mean no temple apart from the city itself, which as a whole is the temple or holy dwelling‑place of God. Thus we find the redeemed in heaven serving God in His temple (Rev. 7:15). The two temples wonderfully portray the mutual abiding of the Lord and His people (John 15:4).

 

The Light of the City

The glory of God shines on the city and the Lamb is its light, so that it has no need of the sun or die moon (Rev. 21:23; 22:5). Here we look back to Isaiah 24. 23 and to Isaiah 60, notably verses 1, 6, 10, 13 and 19.

Gentiles and Kings

The apostle speaks of the Gentiles walking in the light of the city and the kings of the earth bringing their glory into it. “Gentiles” is the same word as “nations” and some texts have the reading “nations of them which are saved”. This is a rather moving reading and perhaps has more point. It suggests that there may be some diversity among the groups of the redeemed and stresses the opening of salvation to the Gentiles. The gates will never be shut, because it will always be day and there will be no night, and they will bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. This appears to give a picture of continual traffic in and out of the city and of activity in the eternal state (Rev. 21:24‑26). Old Testament passages drawn on here are again Isaiah 60, specially verses 3, 5 and 11, and Zechariah 14:7, a rather difficult verse which is interpreted here in Revelation 21:25 and shown to mean that there will not be alternations of day and night, but always daylight.

Nothing Unclean

A great blessing expressed negatively is that nothing defiling, abomin­able, or false will ever enter the eternal glory, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life. There will be no devil there, no sin, no temptation, no false religion and no wicked men, nothing but cloudless love, joy and peace (Rev. 21:27). The Old Testament Scripture drawn on here is Isaiah 52:1.

The Water of Life

The river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flows in the glory to come from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). It reminds us of the rivers of Eden (Gen. 2:10) and is found in Ezekiel 47:1,7 and Zechariah 14:8. It comes out from the threshold of the heavenly temple and flows from the city. This water is the Holy Spirit Himself (John 7:38,39).

The Tree of Life

The tree of life which was in Eden (Gen. 2:9; 3:22) is restored in the glory to come (Rev. 22:2). It grows in the city street, or square, and on either side of the river. It brings forth fruit each month. It is found in Ezekiel 47:12, on which the apostle is inspired to model this passage in Revelation. We may well think that the tree of life is Jesus Himself.

No Curse

Following the prophet Zechariah (14:11) the apostle tells us that there will be no curse there in the eternal city and the glory to come (Rev. 22:3). All will be blessing and love and joy.

The Presence of God

The presence of God is the secret and cause of blessing in the future eternity. His throne will be there and His servants will be engaged in worshipping and serving Ilim. They will see His face, as they cannot do here (Ps. 17:15; 1 John 3:2). His Name will be marked on their foreheads as the sign that they are His for evermore (Rev. 22:3,4).

The Saints’ Eternal Reign

The life of the saints in glory will be one of activity and responsibility. They will reign for ever and ever, sharing in some measure with God and the Lamb in the sovereign control of creation or of part of it (Dan. 7:18,27; Rev. 22:5). They have been made a kingdom of priests.

Thus the inspired account of the glory to come reaches its conclusion in a picture of victory and blessedness, so that we can realise if only faintly what the Lord has won for us at such infinite cost.

 

4. THE DOOM OF THE LOST

In our last section we studied something of the glorious inheritance reserved for the people of God and of the way by which, and the occasion on which, they enter it. We must now complete the picture by examining carefully what the Scripture teaches us about the judgment and ultimate condition of the lost. As we sought to show that victory over death in resurrection at the coming of the Lord is a so much happier and more satisfying prospect than that of survival in a disembodied state, so we shall hope to show that the teaching of Scripture about the final state of the lost is far less burdensome, more satisfactory and more reasonable than the ideas that spring from belief in natural immortality.

Universalism Unscriptural

Before we turn to the teaching of Scripture about the lost it is worth reminding ourselves that in addition to the teaching that we are seeking to establish and the widespread theories that we seek to overthrow there is a third view of the eternal destiny of the wicked. This is the view that all men, whether believers or not, will be ultimately saved, believers in the way in which the Bible teaches us, unbelievers after long periods of suffering and purgation. We need not be ashamed of casting a wistful glance at this view. God Himself would have all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). But no one can honestly find it in the Bible. It can be traced back at least as far as Origen, a church father of the third century, a man who also held strange views on various subjects. There are liberals both ancient and especially modern who have adopted and taught it. There are a few isolated texts in the Bible which appear superficially to support it, and a few evangelical Christians have desperately clung to them, but the support quickly crumbles before a serious examination of the teaching of Scripture as a whole on the subject. We will not therefore take up space by seeking to refute this view, which is not likely to be held by more than a very few of those readers to whom this book is primarily addressed. If any who hold this view should be reading the book, we hope and pray that they may be convinced by a review of the positive teaching of Scripture rather than by a negative attempt to refute views to which they cling.

Death the Wages of Sin

We will begin with the great principle laid down in both Testaments: “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23); “the soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4,20). This punishment of sin of course comprises the death with which we are all so sadly familiar, but reaches far beyond it to include the final retribution, which the Bible calls the second death (Rev. 20:14; 21:8).

In our second section we examined carefully the Hebrew and Greek words used for death and found that the meaning of death in the Bible was the cessation of life. The minority of occurrences, we saw, in which the words are used in a figurative sense take their point from the literal meaning of the word and enhance it. Thus when we read of the second death the natural inference is that, whatever differences in detail there may be, the principle is the same in both cases. Our friends who believe and teach natural immortality make separation the underlying principle to be found in the word “death” as (and only as) it is found in Scripture. To them the first death means the separation of the “soul” from the body and the second death means the separation of the person from God. But our friends do not give death this strange meaning in ordinary parlance. When they speak of the death of their dog, they mean the cessation of its life and they generally mean the same when they speak of the death of their friends in a non‑theological context. Certainly the unbeliever does so.

Unless therefore the Bible gives us a definition of the second death in which it shows the term to have a special meaning, we surely have no right to read into the word anything different from its natural and ordinary meaning. No seeker coming fresh to the Bible would understand death in any sense but its ordinary and natural one. Some have thought that the second death is defined as the lake of fire, but an intelligent, even a quick reading of Revelation 20:14 and 21:8 Will show us that the opposite is true. The lake of fire is there defined as the second death.

The punishment of sin is thus cessation of life. We saw in our second section that death as we know it is cessation of life and would  indeed be cessation of being if it were not for the fact of resurrection (1 Cor. 15:13). Resurrection turns death into a sleep, from being final to being temporary. But there is no resurrection from the second death. It is final cessation of life. An argument to explain the term “second death” and similar expressions has some times been seriously put forward which says that the lost do not live in hell but exist there. This is a contradiction in terms. An inanimate object can exist without living, but a living being in which life is inherent, part of its essence, cannot cease to live without ceasing to exist. After natural death a dead body may of course exist for some time., but if a living being is consumed by fire cessation of existence follows at once, unless one may say that a person or an animal may exist in the form of smoke or ashes. These are the very two substances to which, as we shall see, the Bible directly informs us the wicked are reduced. A living being cannot exist without living. Indeed we may accept our friends’ definition of the second death as being separation from God. In a spiritual sense the lost cannot be more separate from God than they were before. God is everywhere. Therefore to be separate from Him in an absolute sense can only mean to be nowhere.

The Second Death

The ordinary Hebrew and Greek words for “death” and “to die” are used in a minority of instances to define the second death. The Hebrew word maveth, which we examined in our second section (PP. 36), has reference to the second death altogether about fifteen times. In Deuteronomy 30:15 and 19 we find Moses saying to the people, “I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil”; “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing”. If we think of these words as addressed to the nation as a whole, maveth means loss of nationality and independence, but if we think of them as primarily applied to the individual, as we surely must, maveth must signify the second death. It is set in contrast with life and equated with evil and cursing.

There is a possible reference to the second death in Psalm 56:13. The passage may certainly to be taken in an evangelistic sense as a reference to it, but David was perhaps thinking primarily of deliverance from murder or assassination at the hands of his enemies.

In the book of Proverbs the word maveth refers ten times to the second death. The references are Proverbs 8:36; 11:19; 12:28; 13:14; 14:12,27; 16:25; 18:21; 21:6: and the heart searching 24:11 with the following verse. The word maveth occurs in all about a hundred and fifty times and we sought to prove, we hope convincingly, in our second section that apart from a few instances of figure of speech it bears the natural and ordinary meaning of death as cessation of life. This fact provides a strong inference that its meaning is the same when it refers to the second death.

We find the same situation when we come to the Greek word thanatos in the New Testament. The expression “the second death”, ho deuteros thanatos, occurs four times in the book of Revelation: 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8. In addition to this we find thanatos referring nineteen times to the second death, on ten occasions in direct connection with sin: Matthew 4:16; Luke 1:79; John 8:51,52; James 1:15; 5:20; 1 John 5:16,17; Romans 1:32; 6:16,21,23; 7:5,10,13(twice): 8:2; 2 Corinthians 3:7; 7:10. Thanatos occurs between seventy and eighty times and, as we sought to show (PP. 37fol.), bears with only about nine exceptions the natural and ordinary meaning of death as cessation of life. The exceptions are not due to any change of meaning but to figurative use. Again the natural inference from the use of the same word is that the second death means cessation of life.

Muth and Apothenein

The Hebrew word muth meaning “to die” is used in the ordinary sense of both men and animals, as we saw in our second section (P. 34). We also find it in eleven passages in which it either alludes exclusively to the second death or includes it in a single reference with earthly death. These passages are Genesis 2:17; 3:4; 1 Samuel 1:3; Jeremiah 31:30; Ezekiel 3:18‑20; 18:4‑9; 33:8 ff; Psalm 34:21; Proverbs 19:16; 21:25; Job 5:2. Again the inference is the same. The second death is the same in principle as that which we know here. If the death that we know is cessation of life, which comprises, as we sought to show (PP. 36), cessation of consciousness, how can the same term be used both for it and for the second death, without comment or explanation, if the latter means something totally different? How can the same be used for cessation of life and ceaseless life in misery?

Exactly the same holds good in the case of the Greek word apothanein. It is used twice in reference to the second death, in John 6:50 and Romans 8:13. We have thus not yet found anything in the expression “the second death” or in the language in either Testament to define it.

Everlasting Destruction

In 2 Thessalonians 1:9 we find that the ultimate punishment of the wicked is everlasting destruction. This actual passage we will examine in greater detail later. In our own language the word “destruc­tion” has a range of meaning depending upon the nature of the person or thing destroyed and upon the agency which effects the destruction. Thus we may speak of the destruction of a reputation, of a nation, of an animal, or of a person. In all these cases the sense of the word is, or may be, different. Again the result will be different if a person is destroyed by a blow on the head, by drowning, or if he is consumed in flames, but it may in all three cases be called destruction. Again we may speak of a man being destroyed by financial ruin. What sort of destruction is the second death? Let us examine all the words that bear upon this final destruction in Scripture.

Destruction in the Old Testament

There are twenty‑eight Hebrew words for which the translation “destruction” among others occurs in the Old Testament and of these fourteen bear certainly or probably on the second death. We will begin with these and then pass on to deal with verbs meaning “to destroy”.

There are four forms which stem from the great root avd meaning “to destroy” “to lose”, “to perish” and corresponding almost exactly to the Greek apoleia, apollymi (see Rev. 9:11). The forms are avaddoh, avaddon, avdan and avdan. We may add oved translated “perish”. Oved is used only of nations. Of the other forms there are nine occur­rences altogether, of which eight refer to the death that we know and one (Job 31:12) to final destruction in the second death. This confirms the testimony of the words used for death that death and final destruction in the second death are the same in principle.

The word ed is usually translated “calamity”, in a minority of cases “destruction”. It is used four times in a general sense. These occur­rences do not add anything to our argument. It is used nine times of peoples, where it means “downfall”. It occurs in 2 Samuel 22:19 and Psalms 18:18, two rescensions of the same psalm. The psalm is Messi­anic and is one of the wonderful type of psalms in which the psalmist under the Spirit’s inspiration composed words suiting the situation of Christ Jesus Himself on the cross and to be thought of as spoken by Him in that situation. Thus the “calamity” here is the crucifixion, suffering and death of the Lord Jesus. It is significant that this can be defined by the same word as that used for the second death. It fits with the fact, which we shall examine later, that the Lord Jesus suffered the very punishment due to sinners.

The word ed is used nine times out of its total of twenty‑four occurrences of the second death. The passages are (1) Deuteronomy 32:35: “the day of their calamity is at hand”. (2 and 3) Proverbs 1:26: “I also will laugh at your calamity”. The calamity is described in the following verses as fear, desolation, destruction, a whirlwind. distress and anguish. The wicked will be slain and destroyed (v. 32). All this is a vivid description of the effect of the day of judgment upon the wicked. In the course of this description appears the suffering which we learn from certain New Testament passages that the wicked will undergo before their destruction. We shall be noticing this later in the course of this section (p. 102). (4) Proverbs 6:15: “Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly”. The day of judgment will come unexpectedly and instantaneously. (5) Job 18:12: “destruction shall be ready at his side”. These are words of Bildad, which we may take as Scripture in spite of Job 42:7, which means that the three friends applied their words wrongly in Job’s case and the Lord’s dealings with him, not that all that they said was untrue. This cannot be so, as we find words of Eliphaz the Temanite quoted by the apostle Paul as Scripture (Job 5:12,13; 1 Cor. 3:19). (6) Job 21:17: “how oft cometh their destruction upon them?” It comes to every wicked man when he dies, because once he is in the grave his final destruction is inevitable. This world alone provides opportunities for repentance. In the same passage we have sorrows, destruction and the wrath of the Almighty (M 17, 20). (7) Job 21:30: “the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction. They shall be brought forth (i.e. from the grave) to the day of wrath”. (8) Job 31:3: “Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?” The word “punishment” is not represented in the original. The fate of the wicked is called strange probably because it was not God’s original intention for mankind. (9) Job 31:23: “destruction from God was a terror to me”.

Thus we learn from the use of this word ed that the destruction of the wicked is accompanied by suffering and that there is an analogy between it and the sufferings and death of Christ.

In Micah 2:10 the words ghevel translated “destruction” could perhaps be applied to the sinner and the second death, but it does not throw light on our argument. Its meaning is a cord and the sense stretches very wide. The best translation in this verse would perhaps be “snare”, as in Job 18:10. It is right here to mention the word kid and its interesting occurrence in Job 21:20: “His eyes shall see his destruction”. It does not seem certain that the pronouns in this sentence refer to the same person, but assuming that they do it would not be right to rely on this verse for a doctrine that the wicked is conscious after his destruction. The word kid occurs nowhere else, and there is therefore no analogy by which we can understand its exact meaning. Even if we insist that it refers to the destruction of the wicked on the last day, it remains true that he will see his destruction up to the last moment of losing consciousness. The verse says nothing about what happens subsequent to destruction.

The word m’ghittah occurs eleven times. It is translated twice “terror”, once “dismaying”, once “ruin” and seven times “destruction”, all seven in the book of Proverbs. It is only in Proverbs 21:15 that we might think that the word refers to the final destruction of the wicked. Terror, dismaying and ruin are certainly accompaniments of this, whatever be its form and nature.

The word mashnoth is used once of the destruction of the wicked in Psalm 73:19. It occurs again only in Psalm 74:3, where it means “desolation”, and this is probably its root meaning.

The form qotev from the root qtv is found once in Hosea 13:14 and applied to sheol, “the grave”. It confirms what we read in Revelation 20:14, that sheol (Greek hades) will be cast into the lake of fire.

In Isaiah 1:28 the word shever, translated “destruction”, refers to the judgment of the wicked. Its real meaning is “breaking”, as many of its other occurrences show.

Another word sometimes translated “destruction” is sh’ol. We might think that in Joel 1:15 it referred to the final judgment of the wicked. Its root meaning is “robbery”, “wasting”, “spoiling”.

The word shoah occurring twelve times in all means desolation or ruin and is sometimes translated “destruction”. It is six times translated “desolation” or “desolate”, once “storm” (Ezek. 38:8). It is used once of death as we know it (Psalm 63:9) and four times of the second death (Psalm 35:8, twice, Proverbs 1:27 and Prov. 3. 25). In Proverbs 1. 27 we are brought back to a context in which we found the word ed (see above). The use of this word shows us that the second death is of the same nature as earthly death and describes its onset as violent ruin. We must look to other Scriptures to define and describe the second death more precisely.

Finally we have the Hebrew word shaghath. This corresponds to Greek diaphthora meaning “corruption”, by which it is translated in Acts 2:27 from Psalm 16:10. It is used three times in a general sense and translated “pit” or “ditch”. Twice it refers in poetic language to the captivity of Judah and is translated “pit” (Ezek. 19:4,8). It appears in Psalm 16:10 in David’s famous prophecy of the resurrection of Christ: “neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”. Eight times it is used of death as we know it: (1) Isaiah 38:17, which is Hezekiah’s reference to the pit of corruption, out of which he had been “loved”; (2) Isaiah 51:14, referring to death in the pit; (3) Jonah 2:6: Jonah’s thanksgiving to the Lord for bringing up his life from corruption; (4) Psalm 30:9: “what profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit?”. (5) Psalm 49:9: “that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption”. This is a very significant verse. It denies the immortality of man and says that instead he will see corruption in the grave. (6) Job 17:14, where the word is again translated “corruption”; (7) Job 33:18 “he keepeth back his soul from the pit”. We have looked at this chapter in our first section (see p.11). (8) Job 33:22; “Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroy­ers”.

This same word is used eight times in reference to the second death. Its use clearly shows that like the grave the second death is a place of corruption, the extinguishing of life. The references are Psalm 7:15; 9:15; 55:23; 94:13; 103:4; Job 33:24, 28,30. This last verse seems more likely to refer to preservation from eternal death than to resurrection. If we should feel that it refers to the latter, then of course it is the grave, not eternal death that is spoken of.

Greek Words for Destruction

The regular word used for the destruction of sinners in the New Testament, often translated “perdition”, is apoleia. It is used fifteen times of the second death. The passages are: (1) Matthew 7:13, where we find the broad way leading to destruction and destruction contrasted with life. (2) John 17:12, where Judas Iscariot is called “the son of perdition” that is, the one destined for perdition, and he is said to be “lost”. (3) Acts 8:20. Here the apostle Peter says: “Thy money perish with thee”, literally, “be with thee into perdition”. (4) 2 Peter 2:1: “damnable heresies”, that is, heresies which bring men to perdition. (5) 2 Peter 2:1 again. Those who introduce such heresies bring on themselves swift destruction. (6) 2 Peter 3:7. Here the apostle speaks of the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (7) 2 Peter 3:16, where the apostle speaks of those who wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. (8) Romans 9:22. Here the apostle Paul speaks of “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”. Destruction is contrasted with glory. (9) Philippians 1:28. The apostle says that the calmness of believers in the face of their adversaries is an evident token of destruc­tion to the adversaries. Destruction is contrasted with salvation. (10) Philippians 3:19. The end of the enemies of the cross of Christ is destruction. It is contrasted with the transformation of our vile bodies to be fashioned like His glorious body, that is, with a glorious resurrection. (11) 2 Thessalonians 2:3, where the man of sin is called like Judas Iscariot the son of perdition. (12) Hebrews 10:39. Here the apostle contrasts drawing back unto perdition with believing unto the saving of the soul. (13) 1 Timothy 6:9, where the apostle speaks of foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. (14 and 15) Revelation 17:8,11. In both these verses we read of the beast who finally goes into perdition. The beast is the great Roman empire, spoken of as a whole in verse 8 and thought of in its final form as the papacy in verse 11.

We see that in Romans 9:22 apoleia is contrasted with glory. Some may feel that this points to its meaning life in eternal misery. But this is not possible when we find it contrasted in Matthew 7:13 with life, unless we strain the meaning of the word “life” away from its natural sense to mean “eternal happiness” for which we have no scriptural warrant. If we do so, we force meanings on to words found in Scripture which they do not bear in any other literature (except theological literature embodying this idea), nor in ordinary speech, and so bring confusion into the minds of readers. The opposite of life is death. Again we find apileia twice contrasted with salvation (Phil. 1:28; Heb. 10:39). In the latter case the Scripture says “the salvation of the soul”. We hope that those who have followed our first section will understand that this means the preservation of a man as a living and conscious personal entity.

The use of the word “drown” in 1 Timothy 6:9 may perhaps be felt on the whole to strengthen our view of perdition, and the two verses (8 and 11) of Revelation 17 make it reasonably certain. They speak of a great political and ecclesiastical power going into perdition. and this can mean nothing but its total destruction and extinction. This shows us the way to the true nature of apoleia.

There are three further occurrences of apoleia which need study. We find it in Acts 25:16, where eis apoleian is translated “to die”. This refers to the death of course with which we are so sadly acquainted. It is true that some ancient texts do not contain these two words, but even if we accept their absence the argument is unaffected, for the word had this meaning for those who inserted it in the text.

Finally we have two important instances of the use of the word apoleia in two parallel passages in the synoptic Gospels. In Matthew 26:8 and Mark 14:4 we find, “To what purpose is this waste?” The word “waste” represents apoleia. Our friends who teach natural  immortality make much of these two passages. They say quite rightly that the ointment was not destroyed or put out of being, nor actuallys form in any way. What happened to it was that it was put to a use which those who asked the question considered a wrong one. To them it was a waste, the equivalent of being poured down the gutter. Our friends go on to argue wrongly that this is, or at least may be, the meaning of the word in all its occurrences and that therefore the wicked, when destroyed, continue to live, but not for the purpose for which they were created. They do not see that in these two passages the word refers to an inanimate substance but in all the other sixteen occurrences to persons. This fact makes a fundamental difference to the meaning of the word. The final loss of a person is something quite different from the final loss of some ointment. The meaning “waste” is an extension of the meaning “loss” and even in English there is a great difference of meaning between the expressions “I have lost my pencil” and “I have lost my husband”. When we come in a moment to examine the words meaning “to destroy” or “to perish”, we shall see the senses in which the words “loss” “close”, and “lost” can be properly used of persons. The New Testament word meaning “destruction”, olethros, occurs only four times, but it is important from our point of view because it is the word used in the phrase “everlasting destruction” (2 Thess.1:9), with which we began this part of our discussion. This is the description of the punishment of the wicked. Now of what does this everlasting destruction consist? For those ready to understand the word in its simple sense and natural meaning there can be no doubt. It can only mean loss of life and being. But our friends who believe in natural immortality are obliged to interpret the word in the light of that idea. Have they any justification for doing so?

The occurrence of the word in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 where it refers to the same thing as in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 does not define or explain the destruction, so we get no help there. In 1 Timothy 6:9 the word is joined with apoleia in a way that suggests that the meaning of the two words is the same. If we were right in concluding that apoleia when referring to a man means extinction of being, then olethros must mean the same. This seems to be put beyond doubt by the first of the four occurrences, which we find in 1 Corinthians 5:5. Here we find the apostle speaking of a man delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now what can the destruction of the flesh mean but its total elimination? So here we find a proof of the meaning of the word olethros. Everlasting destruction means the total elimination of those subjected to it. We shall find ample proof of this as we continue our study of the use of words in the original languages.

One other New Testament word is translated “destruction”. It is syntrimma. It occurs only once, in Romans 3:16 in a quotation from Isaiah 59:7 and represents the Hebrew sh’ol (see p. 87). Its underlying meaning is “breaking”. The verse does not seem to point to eternal destruction but rather to the hard way of transgressors in this life.

Hebrew Verbs meaning To Destroy or To Perish

There are twenty‑three Hebrew verbs in the Old Testament which are sometimes translated “destroy”, of which thirteen refer in one or more instances to the second death.

The main word in this connection is the great root avad, which occurs about a hundred and fifty times. It refers directly to the second death seven or eight times. The word refers nine times to the destruction of inanimate objects, such as pictures, images, places of heathen worship, gates and bars. The method of destruction is not defined except in the significant case of the parallel passages 2 Kings 19:18 and Isaiah 37:19, “And have cast their gods into the fire . . . therefore they have destroyed them”. It is worth noting that no one would think of the idols when cast into the fire as existing in the flames for ever, and if it were possible to conceive of so fantastic an idea no one would regard it as destruction.

In nine passages the word means “bring to ruin” rather than physical destruction. Among its objects are countries and lands, names, sheep (in the sense of scattering a flock,), valleys and plains, high places, a harvest, houses of ivory. It will be noticed that no person is the object here.

The word is used about forty‑three times of the destruction of the nation of Israel. It means bringing the national independence to an end. It is used over thirty times to mean ,”fail” or “perish” of such things as counsel, wisdom or heathen gods, once of kings, that is, of a line of kings as a whole. Nothing that is spoken of as failing or perishing continues after it has done so.

The word is used once of a plant (Jonah 4:10) and once of animals (Ezek. 32:13). All will agree that there is no question of survival here. It is used about forty times of ordinary death. The references are (1) Leviticus 23:30: “the same soul will I

destroy from among his people”. (2) Numbers 16:33: “they perished from among the con­gregation”. (3) Numbers 17:12: “we perish, we all perish”. (4) Deuter­onomy 11:4: “the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day”. This expression throws an interesting light upon everlasting destruction. (5) Deuteronomy 26:5: “a Syrian ready to perish was my father”  (6) 2 Kings 9:8: “the whole house of Ahab shall perish”. (7) 2 Kings 10:19: “to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal”. (8) 2 Kings 11:1: “she arose and destroyed all the seed royal”. (9) 2 Kings 13:7: “the king of Syria had destroyed them”. (10) Isaiah 27:13: “they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria”. (11) Isaiah 57:1: “the righteous perisheth”. (12) Jeremiah 6:21: “the neighbour and his friend shall perish”. (13) Ezekiel 22:27: “to destroy souls”. (14) Jonah 1:6: “call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not”. (15) Jonah 1:14: “let us not perish for this man’s life”. (16) Jonah 3:9: “who can tell if God will . . . turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not”. (17) Psalm 41:5: “when shall he die, and his name perish?” (18) Psalm 119:92: “1 should then have perished in mine affliction”. (19) Psalm 119:95: “The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me”. (20) Psalm 146:4: “in that very day his thoughts perish”. (21) Proverbs 11:10: “when the wicked perish, the righteous increase”. (23) Job 4:7: “Who ever perished, being innocent?” (24) Ecclesiastes 9:6: “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished”.

(25) Esther 3:9 “let it be written that they may be destroyed”. (26) Esther 3:13: “to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews”. (27) Esther 4:7: “the sum of the money that Flaman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them”. (28) Esther 4:16: “if I perish, I perish”. (29) Esther 7:4: “we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish”. (30) Esther 8:5: “let it be written to reverse the letters of Haman the son of Hamme­datha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews”. (31) Esther 8:11 : “to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them”. (32) Esther 9:6: “the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men”. (33) Esther 9:12: “the Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men”. (34). Esther 9:24: “Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them”. (35) Esther 9:24: “to consume them and to destroy them”. (36) Daniel 2:12:  “the king . . . commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon”.

(37) Daniel 2:18: “that Daniel and his fellows should not perish”. (38) Daniel 2:24: “whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon”. (39) Daniel 2:24: “Destroy not the wise men of Babylon”.

The passages in which we may see a direct reference to the second death are as follows: (1) Numbers 24:19: “Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city”. (2) Deuteronomy 7:9,10: “the faithful God, which . . . repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them”. (3) Judges 5:31: “So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord”. (4) Psalm 9:5: “thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever”. (5) Psalm 9:6: “their memorial is perished with them”. (6) Pro­verbs 11:7: “When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth”. (7) Job 18:17: “His remem­brance shall perish from the earth”. It is possible that we might add to these Ezekiel 28:16 though we may well feel that the reference is to a primeval fall of Satan. If so, here is a genuine instance in which the word does not refer to the end of life, but to utter ruin, though we shall find that its eventual outcome will be annihilation. If we think of this instance of the word as a figure of speech, the whole point of the figure, as always, lies in the literal meaning of the words.

Twice the great root appears in the form oved. Though the reference in each case is to a nation, the passages (Num. 24:20,24) are striking and significant. They speak of perishing for ever and well illustrate the phrase “everlasting destruction”.

There are seven passages in which the word means “lost” in a literal sense. Except for one general reference in Ecclesiastes 3:6 they all refer to lost animals, oxen, asses or sheep. We must not make these references a basis for forcing the meaning “lost” or “lose” on the word as a whole. It is quite easy to distinguish its meaning in Ezekiel 32:13 from that in Ezekiel 34:4,16.

Thus we have examined the usage and occurrences of the great root word dvad. There are passages from which we might gather the meaning to be “ruin”, “fail” or “lose”, but it can scarcely be doubted from the majority of occurrences that the root meaning of the word is to destroy in its literal sense. If there are readers who still doubt this, we would urge them to look up carefully in a concordance every occurrence of the word, preferably in a Hebrew concordance. The use of the word so often with reference to ordinary death confirms its meaning and we shall find it further confirmed by other Hebrew words and the New Testament.

The next word to which we call attention is bala. It means “to swallow up”. It is used of the second death once in Psalm 21:9. The whole passage is found in verses 8 to 10. David says that the Lord’s hand will find out all His enemies and His right hand those that hate Him. The time when this happens is the day of judgment at the end of the world. “Thou shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger.” The time of His anger is the day of judgment. Now does being made like a fiery oven mean being preserved and suffering in fire for ever? How does David go on? “The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.” To swallow up can only be a figure for disappearance and the fire does to them what fire as we know it always does and what we should naturally expect it to do. There is no hint anywhere in Scripture that the eternal fire functions in substantially any other way than the fire we know, as there must have been to avoid deception, had it been the case. The psalmist goes on to say that the Lord will destroy their fruit from the earth and their seed from among men. If the psalmist wished to convey to us the consumption and extermination of the wicked, what other language could he have used? Surely anyone coming simply to the Bible without preconceived ideas would understand this, and to force the psalmist’s words to mean life in eternal misery is simply to twist his language. If it be argued that the New Testament teaches differently, we have a direct contradiction between the Testaments, an idea that no Bible‑believer ought to entertain for a moment.

We now come to the word dacha, translated “destroy” in Job 6:9. It has a reference to the second death in Psalm 72:4: “He . . . shall break in pieces the oppressor”. The root meaning is to break. We may allow the reference to be figurative, but what does it sound more like a figure of? Eternal life in misery? Or violent destruction?

Another word used in reference to the second death (Psalm 144:6) is hamam. It is translated “destroy” both here and in Exodus 23:27, where it refers to the nations of Canaan. “Cast forth lightning and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.” The root meaning is “to break”. We can hardly imagine the shooting of arrows to lead to life in eternal misery.

In Psalm 28:5 David is speaking of the wicked and the workers of iniquity. He calls upon the Lord to destroy them and not build them up. “Destroy” here is haras, which means “to break down”. If this were an isolated passage, we might regard it as neutral to our argument. Our other passages explain the form and meaning of the breaking down.

The word kathath is translated “destroyed” with reference to the wicked in Job 4:20. Its root meaning is “to beat down” or “break in pieces”. It occurs in Deuteronomy 1:44. We have already seen that the fact of its occurrence in a speech of Eliphaz the Temanite makes no difference to its inspiration (see p. 86).

The last end of the wicked is referred to by David in Psalm 58:7: “Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces”. “Cut in pieces” represents the Hebrew mul, which is translated “destroy” in Psalm 118:10,11,12. The root meaning is “cut in pieces”. All will probably agree that this is a figure of speech, but is it more likely to represent violent destruction, or eternal life in misery? It is worth continuing through the two following verses: “As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away; like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath” (Ps. 58:8,9). We will leave the reader to judge what picture he forms from the words “melt”, “pass away”, “the untimely birth of a woman”, “take away as with a whirlwind”.

We examined the great Hebrew word muth in our second section (PP. 34‑35). We shall remember that it stands for death in general as the result of sin, thus covering both ordinary death and the second death.

In Psalm 9:5 we find another reference to the destruction of the wicked: “Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever”. To destroy here is Hebrew maghah, which means “to blot out”. In the light of such a statement can the idea of the eternal conscious life of the wicked in misery be any further entertained? They are blotted out and their name put out for ever and ever. If the psalmist wished to convey to us the idea of extermination, what other language could he have used?

The word nathatz means to break down. It is translated “destroy” in a reference to the second death in Psalm 52:5. David here says that the wicked man will be broken down for ever. He will be taken away and plucked out of his home and rooted out of the land of the living. Here is another consistent testimony.

The word tzamath means to cut off. In three instances (Lam. 3:53; Ps. 88:16; Ps. 119:139) it appears not to indicate the end of life, as the writer can speak of having been cut off. These can scarcely be taken as a norm, far less are they sufficient to build a doctrine of the second death upon in view of the unmistakeable meaning of the other words that we have examined. In other instances tzamath is just as clear as they. See for instance Job 6:17, where it is parallel with “be consumed” or “be extinguished”. Other occurrences are in Psalm 54:5; 69:4; 101:5,8; 143:12; Job 23:17. It is used of the second death in 2 Samuel 22:41; Psalm 18:40; 73:27; 94:23 (twice).

Our next word shavar means “to break”. It occurs in Daniel 11:26, translated “destroy”. It is used of the second death in Jeremiah 17:18; Proverbs 6:15; 29:1.

Shamad is a word of fairly frequent occurrence, usually translated “destroy”. It is used fifty‑six times of a family, once of a land and eight times of inanimate objects. It has eighteen references to death and six to the second death. These are 2 Samuel 22:38; Isaiah 13:9; Lamentations 3: 66; Ezekiel 34:16; Psalm 37:38; 92:7.

To Destroy in the Greek New Testament

The main word expressing this idea in the New Testament and covering all but a very few of the occurrences of the English word “destroy” is apollymi. It corresponds in its various shades of meaning almost exactly to the Hebrew avad. We shall do well to examine its usage and search out its meaning very carefully.

It is used nine times of inanimate objects. Wineskins are destroyed when they burst (Matt. 9:17). In the parallel passage in Mark 2:22 both the wine in the skins and the skins are destroyed. In the further parallel passage the skins again are destroyed on bursting (Luke 5:37) In Luke 21:18 we have the Lord’s promise that not a hair of our head shall perish. This is best taken in a figurative sense meaning that we shall not ultimately be touched or hurt in the very slightest by our enemies or by evil. In John 6:27 the Lord contrasts the food that is perishing with the food that abides unto life everlasting. This means food that is connected with a perishing world. The apostle James speaks of the flower that fades and the beauty of its appearance perishes or is lost (James 1:11). Again the apostle Peter speaks of gold that perishes (because it belongs to this world) (1 Pet. 1:7). Finally in Hebrews 1:11 quoting Psalm 102 we find that the heavens will perish. In these nine instances we have meanings ranging in emphasis from waste and loss through fading away and disappearance to complete literal destruction (Hebrews 1:11) and it is significant that this last passage alludes to destruction by fire (2 Pet. 3:7). All these senses are applicable to the destruction of the lost.

Linked with these nine passages is the meaning “to lose”. We find eighteen occurrences with this meaning, which we remember to have been shared with the great Hebrew root avad. In the New Testament all the passages are in the Gospels with one exception (2 John 8). It is interesting and significant that eleven of these occurrences refer to the losing of things, or to lost things, which can subsequently be recovered or found and seven to a final loss from which there is no recovery. This shows how the meaning of the word changes with the context and should prevent us from forcing a single meaning on all occurrences of the word.

Among things lost which can be recovered are the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 10:6; 15:24); that which was lost that the Son of man came to save (Matt. 18:11; Luke 19:37); the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son of Luke 15: (ver. 4 (twice), 6, 8, 9, 24, 32). This shows that God regards sinners as lost now already but found by Jesus and recovered by the Gospel.

This state of present spiritual loss or death is not however to be identified with their final condition, as the usage in the remaining seven passages shows. These are Matthew 10:42 with its parallel in Mark 9:41 and all five Johannine passages (John 6:12,39; 17:12; 18:9; 2 John 8). In all of them the word expresses finality and in numbers 2, 3 and 4 of the five refers to the final loss of the wicked. In John 6:39 it is contrasted with being raised up at the last day. In John 17:12 the noun apoleia, translated “perdition”, is used in close connection with the verb.

The word occurs ten times in the Gospels in the famous and heart-searching sayings of the Lord about losing or destroying the soul (Greek psychee) in contrast to saving or finding it (Matt. 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33). On these passages see pages 14‑15. The word carries in them the sense of finality.

Once it is used of the death of animals (sheep as representing men) (John 11:50).

Apollymi and Death

There are about twenty‑eight cases in which human death is expressed in the New Testament by the word apollymi. The passages are quite straightforward. They are Matthew 2:13; 8:25; 12:14; 21:41; 22:7; 27:20; Mark 3:6; 4:38; 9:22; 11:18; 12:9; Luke 8:24; 9:56; 11:51; 13:33; 15:17; 17:27,29; 19:47; 20:16; John 18:14; Acts 5:37; 2 Peter 3:6; Jude 5; 1 Corinthians 10: 9; 15:18; 2 Corinthians 4:9; Hebrews 11:31. Only four of these passages require any comment. In John 18:14 the word apolesthai “perish” has an alternative reading apothanein “die”. This shows the identity of the idea expressed by the two words. In 1 Corinthians 15:18 the apolonto “are perished”, though covering the death with which we are familiar, carries in itself the idea of finality. This passage shows us that only the fact of resurrection prevents death from being final extinction. In 2 Corinthians 4:9 in using the word apollymenoi “destroyed” the apostle is presumably referring to death. He may be speaking in very general terms. In Hebrews 11:31 the word “with” is expressed by a prefix to the main verb, so that we have the compound verb synapoleto. The meaning is the same. Thus in the minds of the New Testament writers to kill was to destroy and to die was to perish. They would hardly have used such words if they had thought of death as automatic translation to glory and survival there in eternal happiness. The significance for our present argument is that the same word is used to express both death as we know it and the final second death.

The word refers in about thirty passages to the second death, which it would be well to study one by one. (1) Matthew 5:29: the evangelist speaks of the perishing of a member of the body, which results from its being taken out and thrown away. The parallel is the whole body being cast into hell. (2) Matthew 5:30. This is the same in slightly variant language. (3) Matthew 10:28: both soul and body are destroyed in hell. On this text see page 12. (4) Matthew 10:38: whoever finds his life (Greek psychee, “soul”) will destroy it. See page 14. (5) Matthew 16:25: again the same in rather different words. See page 14. (6) Matthew 18:14: the heavenly Father does not will any little ones to perish. (7) Matthew26:52: the Lord’s reference here to perishing with the sword is presumably a reference to the final perishing in the second death. It may include temporal judgment. (8) Mark 1:24: the unclean spirit asks if the Lord has come to destroy them. (9) Mark 8:35. See No.4. (10) Luke 4:34: the same as No.8. (11) Luke 6:9: apolesai “destroy” in this verse is perhaps best taken as a reference to death. (12) Luke 9:24: the same as NO. 4. (13) Luke 9:25: parallel with the last. See page 14. (14) Luke 13:3: an important passage. The Lord speaks of perishing finally as identical with a violent death. This makes the conclusion certain that ordinary death and the second death have in common the destruction of life. (15) Luke 13:5: the same as the last. (16) Luke 17:33: the same as No. 4. (17) Luke 17:33: the same as No. 4. (18) John 3:15: to perish is the opposite of having everlasting life. Here is a simple contrast between death and life. There are no grounds in Scripture for twisting the word “perish” here or elsewhere to mean everlasting life in misery, or for twisting the words “ever­lasting life” to mean “everlasting happiness”. There are of course passages in Scripture to show that those who possess everlasting life will enjoy everlasting happiness (see PP. 73 fol. in our third section), but the two conceptions are distinct. (19) John 3:16: the same as the last. (20) John 10:28: here everlasting life is again opposed to perishing. (21) John 12:25: the same as No. 4. (22) James 4:12: salvation is again opposed to destruction, not to misery or suffering. (23) 2 Peter 3:9: again the final destiny of the lost is shown to be perishing. (24) Jude 11: Though the word here is in the past tense for grammatical reasons or literary effect, it clearly refers to the final fate of the wicked. The following verses show that the men of whom the apostle wrote were alive at the time of writing. (25) Romans 2:12: to perish is the con­sequence of sin. The following sentence says that this will happen at the judgment. (26) Romans 14:15: the use of the word apollye “destroy” in this passage raises difficult theological problems, discussion of which does not come within our scope here. Perhaps the translation “close” should be substituted, the word being used in the evangelist Luke’s sense as applicable to something or someone that is recoverable though lost. If “destroy” is the correct translation, the reference is presumably to the second death. (27) 1 Corinthians 1:18: perishing is here again contrasted with being saved. (28) 1 Corinthians 8:11: the facts and problems are the same here as in No. 26. (29) 2 Corinthians 2:15: salvation is again contrasted with perishing. (30) 2 Corinthians 4:3: as it stands in our version we again have a reference to the final fate of the lost. It is possible that the real meaning is “hid by the things that are perishing”. (31) 2 Thessalonians 2:10: the perishing are again or course the lost.

The reader will have noticed that in the foregoing passages there has several times (we might say many times) been a contrast between salvation or everlasting life and destruction or perishing, and that never once has salvation or everlasting life been contrasted with ever­lasting misery or suffering. Some have thought that they have seen it in Matthew 25:46, a passage which we shall take up m its appropriate place and shall see that no such idea is there carried. Now if the sinner were really faced with eternal misery or suffering, is it conceivable that this should be never directly stated or made clear when the contrast is made in Scripture, so faithfully and lovingly full as it is of warnings, between the destinies of the saved and the lost?

Further Greek Words in the New Testament

In the apostle Peter’s sermon in Solomon’s porch occurs the word exolethreutheesetai, “shall be cut off”, quoted from Leviticus 23:29. It refers in the Old Testament to death and here to final destruction, showing how the two can be spoken of in the same terms. This word has the same root as olethron, the word used for everlasting destruction in 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

Another word is phtheirein. It occurs twice in 1 Corinthians 3:17, translated both “defile” and “destroy”. Its original meaning is “to corrupt”, e.g. morally, or by false religion or propaganda. A recognised sense is “to destroy”. The form or method of destruction is not specified.

A stronger word of the same root and meaning is diaphtheirein,  used twice in Revelation 11:18, the first time meaning to destroy and referring to the judgment and the second death. It is used with reference to ships in Revelation 8:9.

Finally the word kathairein is used of the destruction of the seven nations in Canaan (Acts 13:19) (in quotation from Deuteronomy 7:1). it is not used of the final destruction of the wicked.

Silence and Darkness

Before we go on to study the fire which is the agency of the destruction of the lost, we will glance at a few revealing passages which place beyond doubt the meaning: and nature of that destruction. We turn first to Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:9: “the wicked shall be silent in darkness”. This truth leaves no room whatever for the shrieks and groans of the damned nor for the lurid light of the torturing flames nor for the red hot floor of hell, on which we have read of infants crawling. And if ever it could be conceivably true that they so crawl, would they do it in silence?

Destruction

The following passages repay study: (1) Isaiah 1:28: “And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed” would be given by these words to a reader who came for the first time to the Bible with a knowledee of the meaning of the words “destruction” and “consume” either in English or in Hebrew or in both? Can we honestly say that he would regard this destruction and consumption as an introduction to an eternal life of misery and suffering?

(2) Isaiah 26:11 : “the fire of thine enemies shall devour them”. This is plain, clear language and we shall find a considerable number of further statements to the same effect. To be devoured by fire is a normal thing. It is not the same thing as a. quite abnormal preservation in fire to be tormented by it. The fire of the Lord’s enemies may mean (a) fire prepared for them by Him, or (b) fire which their own wickedness will have kindled and made inevitable.

(3) Hosea 13:3: the final end of sinners is compared in this verse to four things: (a) “the morning cloud”. This dissipates and vanishes into the air . (b) “the early dew that passeth away”. This disappears off the grass, leaving nothing behind. (c) “the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor”. The chaff disappears in the wind.

(d) “the smoke out of the chimney”. Smoke disappears into the air. What impression do these four comparisons make upon us? Do the morning cloud, the early dew, the chaff and the smoke continue for ever? If they do not‑and we know well they do not‑then sinners finally disappear from God’s creation as these four things disappear from the face of the sky, the grass, the threshing‑floor and the chimney.

(4) Psalm 68:2: “As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God”. Here again we find the smoke and the added vivid picture of wax melting before the fire. Exactly the same picture is given us. (5) Psalm 73:18‑20: here we find the fate of the wicked described as destruction, desolation, being utterly consumed with terrors. This shows the condition and feelings of the wicked as they stand before the throne of judgment. Verse 20 goes on to say, “As a dream when one awaketh; so, O lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image”. We learn here that the wicked will have no more existence in that day than a dream of the previous night.

(6, 7 and 8) Proverbs 13:9; 24:20; Job 18:5,6: in these three passages we find written respectively: “the lamp of the wicked shall be put out”; “the candle of the wicked shall be put out”; “the light of the wicked shall be put out . . . and his candle shall be put out with him”. “What!” says an indignant believer in natural immortality, “do you mean to tell me that a man’s life will be snuffed out just like a candle?” Yes. This is the very thing that the Bible says in these three passages. What can this mean but the extinction of life? (9) Job 20:7: among many temporal judgments and terrors which pursue the wicked described in this chapter as well as in chapter 18 we find his final end in this verse. It is that he shall perish for ever like his own dung. This corresponds with the eternal destruction of 2 Thessalonians 1:9. It again gives us surely the strong impression that destruction and perishing in these passages bear their natural meaning.

(10) 1 Chronicles 4:41: this passage does not speak of the final destruction of the wicked, but it has a time note ‑“destroyed them utterly unto this day”‑ which well illustrates the meaning of “eternal destruction”.

Annihilation

There are five passages which directly teach the annihilation of the wicked, one of them referring to the devil. They are (1) Isaiah 41:11,12. These verses speak of the final condition of the enemies of the people of the Lord. The impression given is that of annihilation. (2) Ezekiel 28:19: in this vivid chapter we have in verses 1 to 10 an account of the prince of Tyre, the human ruler for the time being of the great merchant city. In verses 11‑19 we have an account of the king of Tyre, whom most Bible‑believers will agree to be the devil himself ruling Tyre (as other empires) from the invisible world. The prophet’s account of him bears out this view. It ends with the words, “thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more”. If the prophet had desired to tell us of the ultimate annihilation of this great personage, what different words could he have used? If he had desired to tell us of his eternal life in conscious misery and suffering, why did he use words which strongly impress our minds with the idea of annihilation? The words of the previous verse which lead up to this climax are also worth reading: “therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee; and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee”. The annihilation of the devil is to be by fire. This is confirmed by the New Testament (Rev. 20:10), where we find him cast into the lake of fire., and the prophet’s statement among those Old Testament Scriptures, which the Lord Jesus told us were authoritative and on which He built up His spiritual life as man, forms a clear basis for all that is said about the devil in Revelation 20:10.

(3) Obadiah 15:16: “the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen … they shall be as though they had not been”. No words could express annihilation so clearly, so strongly or so definitely.

(4) Psalm 37:20: “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away”. These words again can express nothing but extinction. They tell us distinctly that, unlike Moses’ burning bush which burnt with fire but was not consumed, the eternal flames will do to the wicked exactly what we observe and expect fire to do today.

(5) Proverbs 10:25: “As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more”. Again what can these words mean but extinction? We should note that such passages as Psalm 37:10 do not necessarily carry the idea of annihilation as may be seen for example from Genesis 5:24 and 1 Kings 20: 40 (text and margin).

Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth

Four times in the Gospel of Matthew we are told that on the day of judgment there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). The first, second and fourth of these passages speak of “the outer darkness” and continue immediately, “there (Greek ekei) will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. Those who believe in the eternal conscious existence of the lost believe that this weeping will be heard for ever in the outer darkness, which they rightly identify with hell. If however we look at the third passage (Matt. 24:51), we shall see that no place is mentioned. “There” means “on that occasion”. It is at the throne of judgment, as the real nature of the wicked is revealed to them in all its hideousness, in despair and misery because of what they have lost and missed, as they hear the sentence, perhaps through the temporary suffering, which, as we shall see, precedes their destruction, that the weeping and gnash­ing of teeth are heard.

Both are based on the Old Testament. We find the weeping in Zephaniah 1:14 and the gnashing of teeth in Psalm 112:10. The prophet like the evangelist uses the word “there” and confirms its reference to the day of judgment: “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly”. The psalmist confirms that the judgment upon the wicked is extinction: “The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall perish”.

Everlasting Punishment

Four times in the New Testament the final state of the wicked is referred to as punishment. First comes the famous Phrase at the Conclusion of the great judgment scene of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25:46: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal”. Many have relied on this phrase to support the idea of the everlasting conscious suffering of the wicked, reading it as if it said, “everlasting punishing”. This is not the meaning of the word. When the adjective aionios meaning “everlasting” is used in Greek with nouns of action it has reference to the result of the action, not the process. Thus the phrase “everlasting punishment” is com­parable to “everlasting redemption” and “everlasting salvation” both Scriptural phrases. No one supposes that we are being redeemed or being saved for ever. We were redeemed and saved once and for all by Christ with eternal results. In the same way the lost will not be passing through a process of punishment for ever but will be punished once and for all with eternal results. On the other hand the noun “life” is not a noun of action, but a noun expressing a state. Thus the life itself is eternal.

It is this phrase “eternal life” that is here set in contrast to “ever­lasting punishnient”. This should warn us that everlasting punishment is likely to mean everlasting death. This is exactly what we find in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, as we shall see. We cannot object that death is not punishment, having been accustomed to use the phrase “capital punishment” all our lives.

The word here translated “punishment” is kolasis. A glance at the word in Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary will show how it was used at the time for the pruning or cutting out of dead wood. If that is its meaning here, it reflects Moses’ frequent phrase, “shall be cut off from his people”. Thus the wicked will be finally cut off from mankind.

The same root occurs again in our second occurrence in 2 Peter 2:9: “the Lord knoweth how . . . to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” or possibly, as we have seen, “to be cut off”. The word here is the participle kolazomenous. Though the par­ticiple is in a present form, our translators were clearly right to render it as a future.

Our third passage is 2 Thessalomians 1:9: “who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come”. This makes it clear that the everlasting punishment Of Matthew 25. 46

is everlasting destruction, and this destruction must be annihilation or personal extinction, since it is destruction from the presence of the Lord. All will agree that the presence of the Lord is everywhere. To be destroyed from the presence of the Lord can therefore only mean to be nowhere. This seems the more probable meaning of the passage, but let us not press it, as it is possible, though we feel less likely, to interpret the presence of the Lord here as the time of His second coming when the everlasting destruction, as we all undoubtedly agree, will take place. The words used here for “shall be punished” are dikeen tuousin. They carry the idea of retribution.

Our fourth and last passage is Hebrews 10:29. The word for “punishment” is timoria. It also carries the idea of retribution. The apostle is contrasting the law with the Gospel. He says in verse 28 that anyone who despised Moses’ law died without mercy and goes on, “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?” This passage makes clear that death apart from suffering is a punishment. Eternal destruction is a “sorer” punishment. Therefore death (usually by judicial stoning) was a sore one. Now eternal destruction, preceded, as we shall find, by retributive suffering, is indeed much sorer than temporal death. Those put to death under the law will rise again at the end of the world, to judgment it is true, but who knows whether some may not have been, or become at the approach of death, believers at heart, who will therefore rise to eternal life? The terrors and despair of the lost at the throne of judgment, as we find them portrayed in the Bible, cannot be exaggerated.

The Lost in Prison

This seems to be the proper place to introduce the saying of the Lord in the sermon on the mount to be found in Matthew 5:25,26: “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing”. The parallel passage in Luke 12:58,59 says the same thing in rather different language. It may well have been this passage on which the late Sir Robert Anderson based his description of hell in his book “Human Destiny” as a large prison in which the lost lived for ever under restraint, though he rather curiously conceived of them as accepting their destiny. As he was an efficient and important official of police, we can easily understand this idea appealing to him. He evidently shrank from the conception of actual fire and literal torments. Many have felt that this passage justifies the view of the everlasting conscious existence of the lost. But is not the passage a little picture or parable of the wickedness and consequences of lack of forgiveness? Is not the adversary God Himself? Then who is the judge and who is the officer? They simply represent figures in the parable. And if so, the prison does the same. In any case can we pit these two isolated passages against what we have seen to be the consistent testimony of the rest of Scripture? What we indeed learn from these sayings is that once condemned the sinner can never hope for restoration. Not only can he never pay the last farthing, but he cannot even pay the first.

Suffering of the Lost

Though Scripture teaches, as we have sought to show, the extinction of the unrepentant sinners in eternal destruction, it does not lead us to think of an instantaneous snuffing out of their lives without exaction of full and complete retribution for wrong done to others by hateful and wicked lives and years of unbroken sin against God. We will select three passages which foresee this suffering.

(a) Obadiah 15: “the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head”. Here we find the law of retaliation in force and on reflection we may feel that this is what we should expect.

(b) Romans 2:9: “tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil”.

(c) Luke 12:47,48: here we find that future suffering will vary in degree according to responsibility. Some have been led to believe from the use of the word “servant” that this passage concerns believers., Apart from the impossibility of such an overthrow of the doctrines of grace the previous verse (46) tells us that it concerns “unbelievers”.

We thus learn that included in future punishment is a period of suffering which varies in degree and precedes the fulfilment of the, punishment in everlasting destruction. The length of this period of suffering, light or heavy as it may be, is not stated or mentioned in Scripture. Some with the idea of eternal suffering at the back of their minds put it at centuries or even millennia. There are no grounds for doing so.

The Suffering and Death of Christ

It has sometimes been forgotten that we have in history at the centre of our faith an open example and illustration of the punishment of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24). The use of the phrase “bear his (their) iniquity” several times in the books of Moses proves that to bear our sins means to bear the punishment of them and all Bible‑believers will agree that this was actually the case. Now at the time of His passion the Lord Jesus underwent a period of increasing excruciating agony culminating in death. The suffering lasted some hours. There is no reason why we should not take this as the model and example of the final punishment of sin. We are not likely to go far wrong if we conclude that His suffering was the most extreme that will be inflicted on the most defiant and responsible sinner (? Judas Iscariot) and comprised therefore in itself, and covered, all lower degrees of desert. When the Lord Jesus at last died, full satisfaction was made for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), God’s holy law was vindicated and all sins potentially or actually atoned for. If He bore the punishment of our sins, that punishment cannot under any circumstances be eternal conscious suffering or misery, for He never suffered this and it is impossible that He could have. Thus the facts of the suffering and death of Christ Jesus prove conclusively that the punishment of sin is death in its natural sense of the deprivation of life. By reason of His Deity and the sinlessness of His human nature the Lord could not be held by death. He was in the grave only so long as to prove to the world that He was actually dead and then, as we know and believe, rose to live for ever. The unrepentent and unbelieving sinner on the other hand has no escape from death but remains beneath its power eternally.

The Consumption of the Wicked            

We will now consider the usage as it bears on our subject of a few Hebrew words with the general meaning of “consume” before bringing our study to an end by an examination of the words used in passages which speak of the destruction of the wicked by the agency of fire.

(i) Achal is the ordinary word meaning “to eat”. Its significance for our purpose is that it was often used to express the action of fire. Fire, as we know, consumes, and there is nothing in the Bible to tell us that the eternal fire does not do the same. One of the earliest occurrences of achal with fire is in Numbers 21:28. (2) Kalah means “to finish”. We find it in Isaiah 1:28: “And the destruction of the trans­gressors and of the sinners shall be together,and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed”. Again we find it in Psalin 59:13: “Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be; and let them know ( i.e. let men know) that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth”. (3) Suph means “to bring to an end”. It is used of the wicked on the day of judgment in Isaiah 66:17. It appears again in Zephaniah 1:2,3 and Psalm 79:13. (4) The verb daach means to be extinct. It is used of the end of the wicked probably in Isaiah 43:17, Psalm 118:12 and Job 6:17; and certainly in Proverbs 13:9; 20:20; 24:20; Job 18:5,6 and Job 21:17.

Before leaving these words with the underlying notion of “consume” it will be interesting to remind ourselves that the common word achal occurs in Exodus 3:2 in the account of Moses at the bush, where we are told that the bush burned with fire but was not consumed. This is exactly what many people think will be the case of the lost in hell. We have however never heard of any argument for this doctrine based upon this incident, and with good reason, for not only does the Bible speak consistently again and again of those cast into hell being destroyed and consumed there, but the emphasis that it places upon the super­natural strangeness of the incident of the burning bush suggests that if the Holy Spirit desired us to believe that the same thing is to happen in hell He would have been at pains to make it perfectly clear to us instead of using expressions which would lead us to think that the action of hell fire is identical with the action of fire as we ordinarily know it.

Hell Fire

We now reach our final study, which is an examination of the agency by which the destruction of the wicked will be effected. This is said consistently throughout Scripture to be fire. We shall concentrate on the New Testament, but some preliminary remarks on the Old Testa­ment background must be made.

The ordinary Hebrew word meaning fire is esh. It occurs about three hundred and fifty times. A glance through a concordance will satisfy us that it bears the same elementary meaning as our own word “fire”. It is occasionally used in a figurative sense for something very hot or to describe the wrath of God, as in Leviticus 13:24; Habakkuk 2:13; Psalm 39:3 or Job 31:12. It is used of God Himself (Deut. 4:24). It is used of the fire that accompanies the presence of God (Deut. 5:23), and in this connection it is important to turn to Isaiah 33:14, where the prophet asks the question, “Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Some would reply, “The lost will do so for ever”. But that is a wrong answer. The next verse answers the question, “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly”. The sinners and hypocrites (ver. 14) are afraid that they cannot do so, and rightly. When they touch the devouring fire, they will be devoured by it. Only the righteous can dwell for ever unscathed in the burning fire of God’s presence. Hebrew esh is used in connection with the destruction of the wicked, as in Psalm 21:9: “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them”.

There are two significant occurrences of the verb lahat, which means “to set on fire”, “to burn up”. The first of these is of great importance. It is found in Malachi 4:1: “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch”. Is not this perfectly plain? How can we read into these words “burn up”, “leave neither root nor branch”, the conception of everlasting life in conscious misery? Verse 3 confirms the meaning by telling us the result: “Ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts”.

The verb lahat is used figuratively in Psalm 57:4, though it has nothing in that passage to do with our subject. In Psalm 97:3 it speaks again of the destruction of the wicked: “A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about”.

Greek Pyr in the New Testament

The ordinary Greek word for “fire” is pyr, corresponding in meaning to Hebrew ish, Latin ignis and our own fire. The Greek and English both stem from a root pur, which must have been in use four thousand years ago with the same elemental meaning. The Greek word occurs between forty‑seven and fifty‑one times in the New Testament, the difference of four being due to possible omissions from our text by what are generally held to be better texts in Mark 9:44‑47.

The word occurs twenty times without reference to the second death. The references are as follows: Matthew 17:15; Mark 9:22,49; Luke 9:54; 12: 49; Acts 7:30; 28:5; James 3:5; 2 Peter 3:7; Romans 12:20; 1 Corinthians 3:13,15; Hebrews 12:29; Revelation 8:7; 9:18; 17:16; 18:8; 20:9. More than half of these refer to fire as we know and recognize it, but there are some passages among them at which we should glance. In Mark 9:49 we have fire used as the symbol of fiery trial and persecution with which every disciple must be salted or made acceptable as a living

sacrifice to God. In Luke 12:49 fire is used as the symbol of separation between the members of families (vers. 51‑53) which was to result by the Gospel from the Lord’s first coming. In Luke 17:29 we are told of the rain of fire and brimstone which destroyed all the people of Sodom, described in Jude 7, as we shall see, as everlasting fire and symbolic of the eternal fire which will destroy the wicked. The martyr Stephen in his inspired speech refers to the Angel Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Acts 7:30). The fire here is the supernatural fire with which the bush burnt without being consumed, possibly the fire of the presence of God. In 2 Peter 3:7 the apostle speaks of the fire which will destroy the heavens and earth on the day of judgment. We may possibly identify this with the fire of hell or lake of fire. In Romans 12:20 the apostle quoting Proverbs 25:21,22 uses fire as a symbol of feelings of shame, conviction and repentance. In 1 Corinthians 3:13,15 the fire is symbolic either of the testing fire of judgment at the last day or of earthly tests and trials. Hebrews 12:29 quoted from Deuteronomy 4:24 speaks of God Himself as fire.

It remains to examine carefully the occurrences of the word pyr which relate to the destruction of the wicked. We will divide these into three: (1) those which speak of fire, or unquenchable fire, (2) those which speak of the fire of hell, to which we will add references to hell (Greek geenna) without mentioning fire, eleven in number, and (3) those which speak of the lake of fire.

Unquenchable Fire

(a) Matthew 3:10: “every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire”. What do we naturally expect to happen to a tree that is thrown into the fire? And why should we not expect it in this case also? (b) Matthew 3:12: “he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”. The meaning of “burn up” is surely unmistakable. Can it by any trick of imagination be made to mean “preserve alive in everlasting misery”? But many have felt that unquenchable fire expresses a special sort of fire which must go on burning for ever. Now even if it actually did so, it would not follow that the persons or things cast into it would exist for ever without being burned up. But there is no reason to suppose that it does. The idea of unquenchable fire is taken like so much else in the New Testament from the Scriptures of the Old. In Jeremiah 17:27 we read that the Lord will kindle a fire in the gates of Jerusalem which will devour her palaces and shall not be quenched. The king of Babylon was the instrument through whom God fulfilled this threat. and the palaces were devoured. But is the fire burning now? Of course not. No one in the world could quench it till it had fulfilled the purpose for which it was kindled, and then in the course of nature it went out. In Jeremiah 7:20 the Lord says the same thing about His wrath against Jerusalem. Unquenchable fire in Scripture is thus fire that cannot be put out until it has totally devoured what it was kindled to burn up. Such will be the fire that will burn up the wicked.

(c) Matthew 7:19: “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire”. The Lord Jesus here repeats the solemn words of John the Baptist. See (a) above. (d) Matthew 13:40: “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world”. Again can we force “burned” into meaning “exist for ever”? (e) Matthew 13:41,42: “they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire”. There is nothing to lead us to expect that those cast into the furnace will be preserved in it as Shadrach, Meshach and Abed‑nego were. (f) Matthew 13:49,50: “the angels shall . . . sever the wicked from among the just; and shall cast them into the furnace of fire”. (g) Matthew 18:8: “It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire”. This is the first time in the New Testament that we meet with the expression “everlasting fire”, which we have discussed above (p. 106). The expression has been thought to infer the everlasting life of the wicked in misery, just as has the expression “unquenchable fire”. But the Bible itself explains its meaning. The apostle Jude tells us (Jude 7) that the fire which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha was eternal fire (Greek aionios, “everlasting”, “eternal”). It soon burnt itself out, but it was everlasting in accomplishing a destruction from which the cities have never recovered nor ever will. It was everlasting in its results. Such will be the fire that destroys the wicked. The fire by the way of Jude 7 cannot be a fire in which the inhabitants of the guilty cities are burning today in another world, because they would not in such a case be “set forth for an example”. It must have been the historical fire. (h) Matthew 25:41: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”. Here we have the same everlasting fire and we learn it is prepared for the devil and his angels. Implied in the expression “everlasting fire”  as we saw above, is the everlasting destruction of the devil and his angels and of wicked men, agreeable to 2 Thessalonians 1:9. The same thing is stated in Isaiah 30:33. (i) Mark 9:44: “where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched”. This is a description of hell (Greek geenna), which is mentioned at the conclusion of the preceding verse. We will leave the whole clause till we deal shortly with the word geenna and note meanwhile the statement that the fire is not quenched. For this see (b) above. (j) Mark 9:46: This is identical with (i). (k) Mark 9:48. This is identical with (i) and (j). (l) Luke 3:9: see (a) above. (m) Luke 3:17: see (b) above. (n) John 15:6: “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned”. We notice that such branches are burned. The text does not say, “into the fire, where they are preserved for ever in suffering”. (o) James 5:3: “the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire”. This passage figurative language, but is best thought of as speaking of the fire of hell. (p) Jude 7: “Sodom and Gomorrha . . . are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire”. This is the fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, but we include it here because it explains and illustrates the meaning of eternal everlasting aionios) fire. See (g) above.

(q) Jude 23: “others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire”. When we save sinners by the agency of the Gospel, we save them from the fire of hell. (r) 2 Thessalonians 1:7,8: “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flames of fire”. This seems certainly to be the fire that accompanies the presence of God. It may be identical with the fire of hell. (s) Hebrews 10:27: “a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation (Greek pyros zeelos, “indignation of fire”), which shall devour the adversaries”. Here again the apostle tells us that the adversaries of God will be devoured by the fire. But the scheme of natural immortality says that they never will. (t) Revelation 14:9‑11: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and who­soever receiveth the mark of his name”.

We notice here (1) from the context that this is a Reformation message, that is, one of the principles arising from the Reformation and proclaimed by the Reformers; (2) that it is addressed to a certain class of persons. Worship of the beast is the sin of popery. Those who are blinded by popery are those who have refused to receive the love of the truth that they might be saved and to whom God sends strong delusion that they should believe the lie (2 Thessalonians 2:10,11); (3) their torment in fire and brimstone takes place in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. This is a powerful reason ‑ the first of two ‑ why this cannot be everlasting suffering in hell. Hell is in “outer darkness” (Matthew 8. 12). It is everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. not torment in His presence (2 Thessalonians 1:9). This torment may have taken place, or at least been begun, in the history of the world and been manifested in the last plagues (near the climax of which we appear to be living today). See for instance Revelation 16. 8. However that may be, we may well suppose it to be part of the “tribulation and anguish” (Romans 2:9) which sinners will suffer on the day of judg­ment. We notice (4) that the smoke of the torment goes up for ever and ever. This is the second good reason why the torment here cannot be eternal suffering in hell. The ascent of the smoke shows that the stroke of judgment is over (Gen. 19:24,25,28; Isa. 34:9,10). The torment is the suffering that like that of the Lord Jesus had its climax in death. The ascent of the smoke for ever and ever proves the judgment to be eternal destruction. In Revelation 19:3 we find the smoke of the Babylonish whore going up for ever and ever, for the same reason and with the same meaning. There can scarcely be anyone who believes that a great city or ecclesiastical system will exist in conscious torment for ever and ever. This is not the meaning of the ascent of the smoke, but something quite different. The torment is eternal torment in the sense of everlasting punishment (see p. 101). We notice that these sinners have no rest day nor night while their suffering lasts nor any restoration from the blackness of darkness for ever. This punitive destruction holds no rest for them such as the godly are pictured as having in their graves while they await their glorious resurrection (Rev. 14:13; Job 3:17).

Gehenna

We saw in our second section how the Hebrew word sh’ol and its corresponding Greek haidees were often inappropriately translated “hell”, when each should have been consistently translated “the grave” (P. 43). In the New Testament alone we find the word geenna, which if it ought to be translated at all is rightly and consistently translated “hell”. It occurs eleven times and is identical with the everlasting and unquenchable fire which we have just examined. The word is taken from the name of the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem where fires were continually kept burning to dispose of the rubbish of the city including unburied corpses. Hinnom was an abominable place. The idolatrous kings of Judah set up in a high place called Tophet a shrine to the heathen god Moloch at which they burnt their children alive in honour of the god, while drums beat loud to drown the screams of the children. The prophet Jeremiah denounced this abominable practice and foretold that Tophet would be destroyed and defiled (see 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31,32; 19:2,6; 32:35; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33: 6).

All references to geenna except the last come from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself. They are: (1) Matthew 5:22: “whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire”. Exact interpretation of this verse is difficult, but it is clear that the Lord is saying that a murderous, angry or unforgiving spirit makes a man liable to final destruction in hell. (2) Matthew 5:.29: here the Lord tells men to separate themselves at all costs from sins of lust so as to avoid being cast into hell. (3) Matthew 5:30: this is identical in meaning with the last. (4) Matthew 10:28: “but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. Hell means final destruction, not everlast­ing life in misery. We discussed this verse in our first section when studying the meaning in the New Testament of the Greek word psychee which corresponds to Hebrew nephesh (see p. 12). (5) Matthew 18:9: here we have the expression “hell fire” (Greek teen geennan tou pyros). The verse says the same thing as Matthew 5:29 (2 above). (6) Matthew 23:15: “when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves”. The reference is to a proselyte made by the Pharisees, A child of hell means one destined to go there. (7) Matthew 23:33: “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” The Lord is addressing the scribes and Pharisees. To escape the damnation of hell means to escape being condemned to hell. The obstinate self‑righteousness of the Pharisees kept them from repentmg and believing in Jesus. (8) Mark 9:43,44: here we find hell identified with the unquenchable fire with the added description, “where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched”. Verse 43 is identical in meaning with Matthew 5:30. We are aware of course that some texts omit verses 44 and 46 altogether, but the threefold warning of verses 44, 46 and 48 is so full of point and seems to be so much stronger in the context from a purely literary point of view that we will assume for our purpose here that the right readings lie behind our A.V. text. It has often been supposed that the words of verses 44, 46 and 48 describe an everlasting life of suffering and misery in hell. Even if they described a life of conscious suffering there, which we deny, nothing is said about its eternity. But it is often forgotten that the words are a quotation from Isaiah 66:24. There in the last verse of the great prophet’s book in a context where he is describing the world to come, we read, “And they (that is, the redeemed) shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh”. We may regard the going forth and looking as taking place on or immediately after the day of judgment, perhaps continually during its course after the condemnation of the wicked. The unique use of the word “carcases” in this connection need not create difficulty. It is not likely to be intended as a literal description of the lost at the time of their being cast into hell. Our friends who believe in natural immortality and everlasting life in hell are probably less likely than we are to regard it as literal and will agree with us that it is not. Surely the whole verse (Isa. 66:24) is expressed in terms describing the valley of Hinnom, of which it is a perfect picture. Fires were continually burning there to consume the rubbish of the city and all defilement. Carcases were consumed by the flames, or, till they were reached by the flames, lay there devoured by worms. In the fire we see eternal destruction and in the worm the suffering that precedes it. Thus the quotation by the evangelist of the prophet’s description of Hinnom and the taking over in the New Testament of the name of Hinnom to express and describe hell gives us a clear picture of hell as the bonfire and rubbish heap of creation, where everything that defiles (Rev. 21:27), including of course wicked men, is burnt up and utterly destroyed out of existence in the flames. Can we extract any other meaning from the evangelist’s words after finding that they are a direct quotation from the prophet without breaking the unity of the Old and New Testaments? (9) Mark 9:45,46: see No. 8. (10) Mark 9:47,48: see No. 8. (11) James 3:6: “the tongue is a fire . . . and it is set on fire of hell”. This is the only reference to hell outside the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Like much else in the epistle of James it is difficult. Some have thought that hell here means the devil, but there seems no Biblical warrant for this. Obviously the fire here is in no sense literal. If we are inclined to think that the fire of hell is burning today in another world, and that somehow the tongue is in touch with it, we abandon at once the actuality of the fire of hell. It could only be symbolic. But fire as the agent of destruction of sinners is spoken of so often in Scripture that we do not get the impression that it is a symbol, and a vague symbol at that. Perhaps the most proper way of regarding the apostle’s statement in this verse is to think of it as indicating a very fierce and dangerous fire, so fierce that it can only be compared to the fire of hell.

The Lake of Fire

There are five passages in the closing chapters of the Apocalypse in which the unquenchable and everlasting fire of hell is described as the lake of fire. These are: (a) Revelation 19:20. Here we read that at the great battle of the last day the beast and the false prophet were taken and cast alive both of them into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone. Now the beast is the great Roman empire and the papacy as its last manifestation and the false prophet is the ecclesiastical Roman hierarchy. It will be seen at once that great political and ecclesiastical systems can neither suffer torments nor remain alive and conscious in the lake of fire. It is quite clear that only their utter extermination can result. That they are cast in alive means that they were cut off in the height of their activities. We have here a clear proof that the lake of fire is the agency of utter destruction. The statement here agrees with that of Daniel 7:11. (b) Revelation 20:10: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever”. Quite strictly speaking this verse might be said to be outside our scope because it is not concerned with human beings. At the same time it is an important verse and clearly bears upon our argument. We have already found the annihilation of the devil foretold in Ezekiel 28:19 and here we see the fulfilment. This lake of fire is the everlasting fire prepared for his destruction (Matt.25:41) (see p. 107). The dependent sentence speaks of the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19:20). Some have concluded from the word “are” that the beast and the false prophet will be still existing in the lake of fire when the devil is cast into it, which is after an interval of a thousand years (Rev. 20:2,3,7), but careful readers will note that the word “are” is in italics, which shows that it does not occur in the original Greek. The preceding main clause demands that the words “had been cast” (not “are”) should be supplied. The beast and the false prophet had ceased to exist a thousand years previously. Our A.V. text continues “and shall be tormented”. This conceals the fact that the Greek verb basanistheesontai is plural and refers to all three, devil, beast and false prophet. Many have used this verse and Revelation 14:10 to sustain the view of eternal conscious misery for the wicked in hell. This verse is clearly connected with Revelation 14:10, which gives us the clue to its interpretation. There we read of the smoke of the torment going up for ever and ever and we saw from the Old Testament passages on which the words are based that the torment ends in everlasting destruction (see above). The meaning here must clearly be the same, or we should have an intolerable inconsistency. Here it is expressed by the verb instead of the noun. To be tormented for ever and ever means the same thing as the smoke going up for ever and ever, that the torment culminates in everlasting destruction. “Torment” here is used in the same sense as “everlasting punishment” (see p. 101), that is, torment with everlasting results. This could apply to the devil. The expression “tormented for ever and ever” can be more easily understood by comparing it with the expression “saved for ever and ever”, which can be said of the godly both in Greek and English. This does not mean that they are being saved for ever, but that they are once saved with an eternal result. Thus to be tormented for ever means to be tormented with the result of everlasting destruction. (c) Revelation 20:14: here we find death and the grave cast into the lake of fire. This can mean nothing but their utter annihilation and proves to us the function of the lake of fire. (d) Revelation 20:15: here we find all the wicked cast into the lake of fire. The previous verse has shown us conclusively that this means their complete extinction. (e) Revelation 21:8: sinners have their part in the lake of fire, which is here and in verse 14 (c above) defined and explained as the second death. In our second section we saw that the word “death” has in Scripture its natural meaning of the extinction of life and we have seen that there is every reason to conclude that when used in this verse the word has its natural meaning.

Thus we have seen that the devil, the wicked oppressive systems, death and the grave and all wicked men will on the great day be totally destroyed out of God’s creation. Indeed all evil will be destroyed. This adds point and meaning to the apostle’s great statement in 1 Corinthians 15:28. Universalists have looked to this text (for want of a more definite passage), but it will not sustain their theory. However, as long as we hold that the wicked live for ever in conscious misery in hell and especially if we hold what seems to be the most terrible aspect of that view, that they continue for ever to sin in hell, this word of the apostle’s raises grave difficulties. While sinners live and continue to sin, how can God be all in all? But when we come to realise the teaching of the Bible that the devil, sin, death, wicked men, and all suffering will be exterminated for ever out of God’s creation in the lake of fire, the apostle’s statement lights up with golden glory and it is easy to see that on that great day and for the eternity that follows it God will be ALL IN ALL.