Soul Sleep** This is a work in progress – As the Holy Spirit teaches me, I endeavor to make it available here. ** One of the most vexing questions every person faces in life is, "What happens when I die?" The answer to that question is, therefore, one of the most crucial for any religious faith to provide for its adherents. Many “answers” have been offered up, but only one answer is biblical. Most denominations of Evangelical Christianity believe that Christians, when they die, go to Heaven, and they gander support for this view by taking a verse or two out of their context here and there (deductive reasoning), pasting them together, thereby forming a third idea; the subject thereof being completely different than that which was revealed by the verses before they were cut out of the text. This is how many of the “doctrines” of today's modern Christian have been formulated. Through the same sort of reasoning, non-Christians go immediately to hell. They do not pass go, nor do they collect $200.00. This is called, by some in the more wobbly sects of Christendom, “Spiritual Discernment”. Some have proposed what has been called "Soul Sleep" or, more accurately, the doctrine of "Conditional Immortality." This view asserts, simply put, that when people die, their physical body ceases to function and the life force of the spirit is removed. This means that one's conscious existence ends while they wait in the grave for a resurrected body restored by God at the end times. Their perspective is that human beings are not naturally immortal and do not survive, in any sense, after physical death. In this paper, because we believe the Bible is the Word of God, composed of the very Words of God, we will look at each of these positions from the standpoint of: “What does the Bible say?” The Bible is our final authority, and it teaches us that we are obligated to hear what God has said thereby and to believe and obey Him. An anti-biblical doctrine a dogma of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) which is called “Soul Sleep” by it's adherents and detractors alike, attempts to resolve the dilemma between traditional interpretations and the words of the Scripture. In their widely distributed book: “Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life” (Brooklyn: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 1995, p. 82) they state: "When
somebody dies, the spirit (life force) ceases to animate Further, in the same publication (p. 83) they assert: "Therefore,
God's Word refers to the dead as being asleep. For Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church also advocates a similar doctrine. In their official doctrinal publication, Seventh-Day Adventists Believe … A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Assoc., 1988, p. 353) they state: "The
grave is not a place of consciousness. Since death is a sleep, Both the Jehovah's Witnesses and the SDA base this "Soul Sleep" doctrine on their interpretations of certain key biblical terms and passages. For example, both agree that both the Old Testament Hebrew sheol and the New Testament Greek term Hades refer to the common grave of mankind. Thus, they do not infer any concept of natural immortality of the soul at physical death. There are some problems with the above statements. First, the organizations are the product of one individual's understanding of Scripture, which was later expounded upon by his successors. In that respect, they are anti-biblical. The organizations represented above are hierarchical in their structure, which is, for the Church at least, again, anti-biblical. In their doctrines they utilize terminology not found in the Bible to describe biblical concepts. This is confusing to readers. Lastly, they extrapolate from their point of understanding to the point of producing false doctrines and complete misrepresentations of the truth. To get to the Truth, we have to step away from all Man's Traditions, labels, denominations and doctrines, and allow God to teach us directly, by His Word, through the work of the Holy Spirit. Following after these traditions is one of the major reasons these splinter/fringe groups develop. It is also how so much Truth gets lost and corrupted in the shuffle. So, let's look now at a large collection of Scripture verses which are concerned with our subject. I have removed the verse numbers in an effort to drive home the point that you cannot remove individual verses here and there, paste them together and expect anything but confusion as an end result. Whole chapters and sometimes even whole books must be considered. From the Old Testament: Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 “or that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the 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?”; Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”; Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 ”Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”; Job 14 “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.”; Psalm 146:2-4 “While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”; Psalm 104:29-30 “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.”; Also, some of these New Testament passages are cited: Matthew 9:24 “He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.” (This verse introduces real confusion, because Jesus was telling those who heard that the maid was really asleep, not dead. She may have been very close to death, being so weakened by her illness, but she had not yet died.); Mark 5:39 “And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” (See above); John 11:11-14 “These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” (Here, the idiom of sleep is first used in reference to Lazarus' death, but it is misunderstood. Then Jesus speaks clearly to remove all doubt as to his meaning.); Acts 7:59-60 “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 “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.” (Here, the subject is resurrection and the idiom of “sleep” is used to refer to the condition of being dead); 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (The traditional interpretation that the “dead in Christ” are already in Heaven with God and Jesus introduces some “interesting” problems here.) 2 Peter 3:4 “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” In many of the above citations, dead people are referred to as "sleeping" or "asleep". When looking at these evidences, it's helpful to remember that for the dead, time does not exist. Their spirit has returned to God who gave it (and God exists outside of time and is not bound by the physical laws of the universe He created), and the body is returning to dust. Words themselves are important, and since these are God's Words, given by the Holy Spirit, we would do well to notice that the Holy Spirit chose different words in Greek which have all the same English renderings. N.T. Greek words rendered sleep/asleep, etc. ὕπνου, hupnos: sleep - spiritual torpor καθεύδετε, katheudo - to fall asleep/to lie down to rest κεκοίμηται, koimao – to sleep/slumber/die ἔξυπνος, exupnos – to awaken from sleep We need to ask, however, do these passages actually prove unquestionably the “Soul Sleep” crowd is correct, or is it the Traditionalists? Obviously, we do not have space here to exegete every passage above. That task, our readers can undertake. However, once we look carefully at these Scriptures, particularly from the New Testament and the words of Jesus, we will find, once these Scripture referenced are rightly understood, that we are not lead to a different conclusion than those presented above. The "Soul Sleep" crowd are basically correct in saying that there is no dualism taught in the Bible between the human soul and physical life. Clearly the Bible does not teach that man "has a soul," totally separate from his body, but that he "is a soul" which consists of his mortal body and immortal spirit, combined. For instance, in Matthew 22:31-32, Jesus, in response to a pointed question about marriage, life after death, and the resurrection, quoted Exodus 3:6 and then added His authoritative comment to it. "Have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." Jesus' words, if taken put of context do seem to imply that the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were even at that point in Jesus' day still alive, in some way. The actual teaching is concerning resurrection. Jesus is here rebuking the Sadducees' teaching, that there is no resurrection, by giving an assurance of the coming resurrection. Likewise, in Luke 16:19-31 Jesus told the story of Lazarus and the rich man, which we will examine closely, since this is where most of the errors arises. According to His story, the poor Lazarus died and went immediately to "Abraham's bosom," while the rich man (unnamed outside of tradition, which named him Dives), died and went to Hades. Here is a Traditionalist argument: “In both cases, they were presented as conscious, aware, and communicative. Soul Sleep advocates sometimes argue that the story was only a parable and not to be understood literally. If that is so, then it would be the only parable Jesus ever told that could not have been at least conceivably possible in real life. Even Jesus' other parables were true to life, even if they were not actual events. So, why in this case alone would the Lord use false information to convey such a critical truth as that regarding the fate of the dead?” The story of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16:19-31 is traditionally considered to be Jesus' teaching on concerning death and hell, yet careful study reveals that such an interpretation could not be further from the truth of the subject. You will search the Scriptures in vain looking for an Old Testament teaching like it. So, why did Jesus render such a teaching? What the O.T. does reveal contradicts it. If we look at the context of the "parable" it instantly becomes clear what Jesus was doing in telling the story. First, the context reveals that Jesus is rebuking the Pharasees' teaching of the "traditions of the Elders" (which nullify the Word of God for they imply two final authorities, which is pure nonsense). These traditions, also known as the "Oral Law", have been recorded in the Talmud. Here's a small sample of where in the Talmud the teachings relevant to this subject may be found: Kiddushin (Treatise on Bethrthal), fol. 32; Juchasin, fol. 75.2; Midrash Echah, fol. 68.1;Midrahs on Ruth, fol. 44.2; Midrash on Coheleth (Ecclesiastes) fol. 86.4; Beracoth, fol. 18.2; Chagigah, fol. 77; Midrash on Coheleth, 103.2. Many of these traditions found their way into the thinking of early Christian writers. The Apocryphical books from the first and second centuries B.C. were embraced in Romanism and form the seedbed for some of their most awful errors. The 5th century "Te Deum" speaks of the Apostiles, Prophets and Martyrs as praising God now. As the list is almost endless, I'm not going to litter this post with quotations from the Talmud (few people have access to it for verification anyhow), and these early writings, but I'll instead focus on what Jesus said in the "parable". There are many logical absurdities which are manifested if we assume that this is a teaching parable about the afterlife. Some of the words have to be taken as literal, while others have to be taken as symbolic. Was Lazarus ever buried? The Rich Man was. Lazarus apparently was "carried away by the angels". (Maybe this is really a teaching on the Rapture?) How does a dead man "think" without a brain? How does he "speak" without a tongue? Then there is the moral problem. Lazarus is referred to as being "poor". That's it. Just poor. No mention of being righteous at all. While the Rich man's only recorded sin was that he "enjoyed good things" and neglected Lazarus . Is is to be believed that this is Jesus' teaching concerning salvation and one's destination after death? In verse 31 it is recorded: "He said to him, ‘If they (the people from v29), do not hear Moses and the Prophets, [Matt. 28:11-15; John 12:10, 11] neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ " If we "hear Moses and the Prophets", it should be impossible for us to even entertain the thought that Jesus is teaching anything that is the very opposite to what whole of O.T. revelation teaches. He must be doing something else here. Jesus was condemning these traditional teachings of the Pharasees, pitting them against themselves and thereby the Pharasees' own teachings convicted them out of their own mouths. To answer the question posed above will require hearing God and believing Him. Believing what God has said is the foundation of true faith. We cannot learn the Truth about anything or receive God's blessings when we cut pieces of Scripture from their context (like Jehoiakim who cut up the Word of God with his penknife [Jer. 36]), glue them to other pieces similarly removed and then interpret the whole patchwork through Tradition and form a theology that is anti-biblical. The Scripture teaches us little about what the spirit of man does, apart from being joined to the body (which is the definition of Man's life; being called a "living soul". Gen. 2:7; the biblical expression of Man's triune nature). As others have pointed out, that spirit, upon death, separates from the body and returns to God who gave it. The body returns to dust. The two will come together again in resurrection, but other than that, the Scripture is basically silent on the matter. I know that this is a sensitive subject, and I have no desire to provoke hostility, but rather to encourage each reader to study the Scripture for themselves. Learn from God using the Words He spoke, guided by the Holy Spirit, and for each to divest themselves of the imaginations and opinions of men which have been the bane of the Church since, even before the Apostle John died. Another key event wherein Jesus' words contradict Soul Sleep is when He spoke to the repentant thief on the cross (see Luke 23:39-43). Following the thief's confession and appeal to Him for mercy, Jesus answered, "Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." This statement begs the question of the Soul Sleep position. What did Jesus mean by "today you will be with me." if the thief would have no conscious life when he died? Some have argued that translators have misrepresented the passage by placing a comma between the word "you" and "today." Their view is that since the original Greek text had no punctuation it could just as well correctly be read, "Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise" (a promise of the resurrection). This interpretation seems unlikely, however. Jesus used the phrase "Truly I say to you" many times as recorded in the Gospels as a validation of His divine authority. In no instance did He ever attach to it any temporal conditionality such as "today." Clearly the term "today" in the context was to be attached to the promise--that day the thief would be with Jesus in Paradise. One of the most dramatic events that weighs on this issue was that of Jesus' transfiguration (see Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36; and 2 Pet. 1:16-18). Peter, James, and John all personally heard the voice of God and witnessed the visible appearance of Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. The obvious problem for Soul Sleep advocates is to explain how Moses, who had died centuries before (see Deut. 34:5, 6), could suddenly appear and converse with Jesus and Elijah (Elijah had not died but was taken to heaven in a fiery chariot--see 2 Kings 2:11). Perhaps Jesus' classic statement in this regard was when He received the news of His friend Lazarus' death. Told by his sister Martha of her brother's demise Jesus comforted and answered her by stating, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies." The apostle Paul in his letters, likewise, presents evidence that there is no cessation of conscious life at death, at least for the believer in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NASB) Paul was contemplating death. "Therefore,
being always of good courage, and knowing that while Taken out-of-context, as these verses are, it seems as though Paul implies that if he died he would be separated from his physical body for a time but, nonetheless, present with the Lord Jesus Christ-in some spiritual sense. This conclusion is arrived at via deductive, not inductive reasoning. Later in the same epistle (see 2 Cor. 12:2-4) Paul described "a man" who, fourteen years before his writing, had been caught up "to the third heaven" or "Paradise." Most New Testament scholars believe he was talking about himself. In any case, Paul twice stated, that he did not know if the man "had been taken up in the body" or "out of the body." If no conscious existence apart from the body can exist, then he would have to have been "in the body." But Paul said only "God knows," implying that only God understood the event, not, as some have implied, that this was evidence of “life after death”. Some argue that while Paul mulled his possible martyrdom in Philippians 1:12-26, he evidently did not think that he was going to be killed at that point since God still had much work for him to accomplish. Nevertheless, they say, he acknowledged that, even if he were to die, it would actually be to his advantage: "For
to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to Nevertheless, when read in context, it becomes clear that what Paul was making reference to was the spreading of the Gospel of Christ. “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian * guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted1 Corinthians 6:20 in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.” (Phil. 1:12-26, NASB) Do you see how context and inductive reasoning changes interpretation? Another of Paul's epistles also gives us some clue as to the fate of dead believers. Traditionalists argue that “in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul wrote about those who were "asleep" or "the dead in Christ." Those were believers who died before the Lord's return. He states that they would accompany the Lord at His return and be the first to be resurrected from the dead. Those who advocate Soul Sleep would likely say this fits their perspective well. However, in chapter five of the same letter Paul, in speaking of the present state of both the living and dead, in expectation of the Lord's future return says, "For
God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining
salvation The wider context of these statements clearly shows Paul speaking of resurrection, not of somehow being “alive” and “dead” at the same time. Conclusion Many Believers sincerely differ on some doctrinal issues. In the case of what some call "Soul Sleep" (or Conditional Immorality) and those who teach the Traditional belief of “Life after Death”, it is in my opinion that both the doctrines contradict both the Old and New Testament teachings, and especially the Words of Jesus. Many people believe that Dr. Bullinger was an advocate of the “Soul Sleep” doctrine I've tried to describe (and refute!) above. A careful examination of what he wrote on the subject should lead us away from that conclusion. We should not hold him responsible for the errors those who profess to follow his teaching, but violate his method every step of the way by hauling in their own imaginative ideas, doctrinal baggage, and traditions. Dr. Bullinger's belief was that upon death, Man ceased to be Man (because Man is is a “living soul” only when body and spirit are joined together). He taught that the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man was not a parable at all, but a rebuke of the Talmudic tradition of Sheol and Abraham's Bosom, since the doctrine is found not in the Old Testament, but, as we have shown, in the Talmud. For the record, biblically speaking, Man, was created in the Image of God as a “living soul” is composed of a “body of dust”, energized by a “spirit from God”. Two different things, when combined together, becoming a third thing. That is what constitutes the trichotomy of Man. Dr. Bullinger rejected the Traditional doctrines taught by the liturgical churches and Catholicism, but unfortunately, he didn't leave much for anti-biblical churches which demand answers to all questions, and solutions to all problems be rendered within the span of a 30-minute meeting and a quick prayer. This confusion is why it is so very, very important to derive our doctrines from the Word of God, interpreted by the Holy Spirit, and not to allow ourselves to become followers of men and their traditions. |