From the book "Life and Immortality" by Basil Atkinson, M.A.,
PhD. With some added comments by Keith Hunt.
INTRODUCTION
".......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.....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
resurrection 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 be
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?.....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......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 forbids us to interpret as the ONE Who only has no
beginning, but as the One Who alone has natural immortality in
Himself....."
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.....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....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....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......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......We find it in Genesis 1:20, 21, 24, and 30. In all
four verses the word refers to animals.....These verses show us
that the fish and seas- monsters (v.20,21) are souls, as are the
cattle, reptiles and other beasts (v.24). In verse 30 the land
animals and birds are spoken of as each having within them a
living soul.....The same expressions are used of men.....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 a 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 OT (Old Testament)
and ONE in the NT (New Testament) which use the word
NEPHESH or its Greek equivalent in connexion with animals.....Of
these nineteen passages FOURTEEN describe animals as souls
(Heb.nephesh), and FIVE are of peculiar interest. Thus
we have in Lev.17:11, 'For the life of the flesh is in the
blood.' 'Life' is the translation of the 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 read, '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 the
Hebrew NEPHESH,so the passage reads, 'For the blood is the SOUL
of all flesh; the blood of it is the SOUL.....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.....Soul and blood are identical.....Fifth and lastly we
find in Job 41:21, where Leviathan is being described.....the
words, 'His breath kindleth coals.' The word 'breath' is the
translation of the Hebrew NEPHESH......
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.....the psalmist tell us that, though man was in a
position of honour at the time of his creation, he has become
like the PERISHING beast (Ps.49: 12, 20). There is therefore an
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 the 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.....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 OT and about SIXTEEN times in the New. This and other uses
of the word have so confused our translators that it is
translated in FIFTY-FIVE DIFFERENT ways in the OT 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: Gen.17:14; four times in Ex.12; Lev.7:27 (twice);
Num.19:18 Deut.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
Sam.22:22; 2 Kings 12:4; Isa.58:10 (the second occurrence of the
word 'soul'); Jer.38:16 (a pointed and meaningful use);
Ezek.22:27 (where shedding blood is the same thing as 'destroying
'souls' ); Prov.19:15; 1 Chron.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 these passages in our second section, but it
seems desirable to list them here. They are Lev.19:28; 21:1, 11;
22: 4; Num. 5:2; 6: 6, 11; 9: 6, 7, 10; 19: 11, 13; Haggai
2:3. 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.....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.....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.....
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 OT. Examples are to be found
in Gen.27: 19, 'sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may
bless me' ; Ex.15: 9, 'my lust (Heb.nephesh, that is, I) shall
be satisfied upon them' ; Lev.16: 29, 'ye shall afflict your
souls (that is yourselves)' ; 'these sinners against their own
souls (that is, themselves)' (Num.16: 38); Deut.14:26, 'what
soever thy soul lusteth after' ; we notice here that what the
soul (that is, the person himself) desires is oxen, sheep, wine,
or strong drink; Josh.2: 13, 'deliver our lives (Heb.nephesh,
meaning us) from death' ; Judges 16: 16, 'his soul (that is, he)
was vexed unto death' .......
This usage of nephesh, 'my (thy) soul,' etc., for 'myself,'
etc., has so engrained itself into the Hebrew language that it is
used when speaking of the LORD GOD HIMSELF......Its use in
Isaiah 5: 14 is very striking and singular. The verse reads,
'Therefore hell (that is, sh'ol, the grave) has enlarged herself'
(Heb.naphesh, her soul). This instance is enough to prove how
UNEMPHATIC the word nephesh is in the phrase and that it is
simply equivalent to a pronoun......
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 OT
in which the soul (Heb.nephesh) is especially 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
boarder-line. 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)......
.....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 we see the combination of CONSCIENCE and
WILL (heart) with conscience BEING (soul - nephesh)......The
people are called upon with all their heart and soul to seek the
Lord (Deut.6: 5; 13: 3; 30: 6), to serve Him (Deut.10: 12; 11:
13; Josh.22: 5; 1 Chron.28: 9), to lay up His words (Deut.11:
18).....All of these engage the conscience, but some also the
emotions, the memory and 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......None of these....say a word about
IMMORTALITY or LIFE beyond death.....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 emphasises the MIND and the FEELINGS as opposed to
the whole man. They number about fifty and may be divided into
nine sections. (1) 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).....(2) The nephesh is spoken of as the seat of
feelings in general. Thus: 'for you know the heart of a stranger'
(Ex.23: 9).....(3) There are about fifteen examples the nephesh
as the seat of sorrow, the Hebrew often using the phrase
'bitter of soul'.....
Of course there are is an outer and an inner side of 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 the 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 OT 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).....(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 boarder 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 rises 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 the 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 OT
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.....Ex.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.....Deut.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.....1 Samuel 28: 9,
'wherefore then lay you a snare for my life, to cause me to die?'
The Hebrew says, 'a snare for my soul (nephesh).' Notice the
woman expects the death of her soul.....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 loose his
soul, that is, himself, by drowning.....
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.
The FIRST is in 1 Kings 17: 21,22, part of the story of the
raising to life of the widow's sone 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 you, 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....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 conclusion 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 part 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......"
If this passage proves the "immortality of the soul"
doctrine preached by some, then surely the child would have told
his mother and Elijah all about the after life he had
experienced, be it in heaven, or some other neutral place such as
purgatory [while he waited to see if he was going back to his
body and to live as human again on earth], and surely it would
have been recorded for us so we could know that the soul was
immortal and we did "go somewhere" after the death of the body,
still thinking and reasoning and conscious of all that was going
on around the activities of our physical body. But not one word
is said that this was the fact of human life or that the child's
mother and Elijah knew and believed that this was the truth of
the soul of men, that it was immortal (Keith Hunt).
Continuing from the book by Atkinson:
" 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.' .....The forest and the fruitful field are FIGURES for the
people and the 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.'
.....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, O Lord, take, I beseech you, 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 does 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
works God oftentimes with men, 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....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. "
TO BE CONTINUED
Death, Hell and Immortality #2
What the Bible teaches on the subject of what happens to us at death
Part 1B
THE NT CORRESPONDING WORD FOR NEPHESH
We here continue with the words and study of Basil Atkinson
from his book called "Life and Immortality."
" The Greek word used in the NT which corresponds to the
Hebrew nephesh and is found representing it in quotations from
the OT 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
thoughts. 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 association 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 read the idea BACK
INTO the word psychee as it occurred in the NT.
When dealing with important Greek words in the NT,
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 OT, where the ideas
originated. The link between the Hebrew of the OT and the Greek
of the NT is the great SEPTUAGINT version of the OT 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 NT follows the Septuagint.
The Septuagint version was not inspired, but in the providence of
God it provided a valuable LINGUISTIC LINK between the Old and
New Testaments.
Psychee and Animals
The Greek word psychee as used in the Nt 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 Rev.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 the conception of IMMORTALITY.
Psychee and Man
There are FOURTEEN occurrences in the NT 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 OT.
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 NT, 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 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 OT, 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 ir dies or is
destroyed when death comes to him in the way that is so
familiar with 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 on earth.
But this does NOT KILL the soul or PERSON HIMSELF. It only PUT
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......Parallel to this verse is the Lord's declaration that
Jairus' daughter was not DEAD but ASLEEP (Mat.9: 24). She was
ACTUALLY dead ( 'kill the body' ), but as she was going to wake
up (in a resurrection - K. Hunt) she could rightly be said to be
asleep. In the same way all the dead will rise on the day of
judgment, so that as they now lie in their graves their souls,
that is to say, they 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 it is NOT FINAL."
Jesus was talking to His disciples, then and for those down
through the centuries to follow. He was telling them that being a
Christian, having the Spirit of God and eternal life within them,
living and following His ways, would mean for some, at times,
that other humans would kill them, put them to death in the
flesh. Yet the Spirit of eternal life in them would mean they
themselves as Christian persons could not be harmed or put to
death or destroyed by any human being. They as persons would
live again, rise again, in a glorious resurrection that the whole
Bible spoke about, and that was a common theological believe
among all Jews in Jesus' day that took read their Bibles and
believed in the literal teachings that it contained. Jesus
pointed them to the one they really needed to have fearful
respect towards, the one who could raise to life and then finally
destroy the physical body and any hope of living for all
eternity, in the fires of hell, the second death spoken about in
the book of Revelation, chapter 20. You will notice Jesus said
that One could DESTROY (not keep it living) BOTH the body and the
soul. Whatever people may want to argue over as to any natural
immortality of either the body or the soul, it is clear here that
there is One who can DESTROY both the body and soul in hell.
(Keith Hunt).
Continuing with Basil Atkinson's study:
"Further examples of psychee meaning 'person' are to be
found in Acts 2: 41, in Acts 3: 23 and 7: 14, both in quotations
from the OT, 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: 3 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 DISEMBODIED
spirits of the martyrs. A difficulty lies in their STRANGE
POSITION UNDERNEATH the Altar......These verse 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 a PARALLEL with Genesis 4: 10,
'the voice of thy brother's BLOOD CRIES 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...."
Yes, the verse in Genesis 4: 10 is a key to much of this
study. Figures of speech and personification is used extensively
throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Many times
material things are made to appear as if human. We find this in
the first chapters of the book of Proverbs and how "wisdom" is
personified as a human woman. In Ge.4: 10 the blood of Abel (as
it was spilt on the ground by his brother Cain when he slew him)
is made to appear to be human and having a voice that cries out
to God for revenge. Hence so the lives of the Christian martyrs
that had already been slain as a sacrifice to God (so the altar
is mentioned) for truth and righteousness, are made to appear as
if still alive and with one voice are crying out to the Lord for
justice and revenge to be poured out on their enemies, the
unrighteous who would kill the righteous children of God (Keith
Hunt).
Continuing with Atkinson:
Psychee meaning Self
"There are in the NT TWENTY-FOUR examples of the word
psychee used in the WEAK sense, seven of which are found in
quotations from the OT.
They are: Mat.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; ! Peter 1: 22; 2: 25; 4: 19; 2 Peter 2: 8; 3 John 2;
Romans 16: 4; 2 Cor. 1: 23; 1 Thes. 2: 8; Heb. 6: 19; 10: 38;
12: 4 and 13: 17.
In Mat. 12: 18 and Heb.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 Emotions
There are TWELVE occurrences of the use of psychee in this
sense in the NT. The first four are in the Gospels and are all
quotations from the OT, the soul being combined and contrasted
with the heart. They are: Mat.22: 37; Mark 12: 30, 33; Luke 10:
37. The remaining occurrences are as follows: Acts 4: 32; 14: 2,
22; 15: 24; Eph. 6: 6; Phil. 1: 27; Col. 3: 23; Rev. 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 OT, 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 possed 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 NT, there
being about FORTY-SIX occurrences. It will be necessary to look
at most of them, but to save space we will not quote the words of
the text, but ask the reader 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. Mat. 2: 20. This is quite straightforward. We notice
that, as in the OT, the soul (psychee) is put to death when the
body dies.
2 and 3. Mat. 6: 25. Here we see that the soul (psychee)
is associated with food and drink, as with the blood (Lev.17:
14), shows that it does not survive the body.
4 and 5. Mat.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. Mat. 16: 25, 26. The same applies here as in
numbers 4 and 5.
10. Mat. 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 numbers 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 Mat.24: 13.
26. John 10: 11. To lay down one's life is the same as to
give yourself.
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.
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 soul's' mean '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 NT passages in which the word
psychee bears a SIXTH shade of meaning which does not appear in
the case of nephesh in the OT.
It appears in ! 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.'
.....The key to this verse lies in the fact that it was 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 by regeneration. The former of these is called 'soul' and
stands for all that the nephesh stands for in the OT and for all
that psychee stands for in the NT. The body is of course the
outward visible 'flesh,' as the Hebrew of the OT would express
it."
I do not find that Mr.Atkinson's explanation here to be very
helpful nor clearly expressed. The Christian certainly has a
physical body like all other physical humans. That physical body
can be misused in relation to the ways, laws, and commandments of
the Eternal God. A good example of that would be Paul's
instructions to the Corinthians regarding the use of their
physical bodies in wrong sexual practices, such as being joined
in sexual union with a prostitute or harlot (1 Cor. 6: 15-20) as
well as incest (1 Cor. 5: 1-6). The Christian is to keep himself
sanctified from such suns in his body. The soul or life of the
Christian is also to be sanctified. soul being understood as we
have seen, meaning 'life' - the life, how a Christian lives as a
way of life, actions, deeds, practices, and all that people think
about when using the expression "his/her life style." The
christian is to have a life style that is sanctified or set apart
for the living by every word of God as Jesus taught (Mat. 4: 4).
Then the Christian has a part of themselves that the none
-Christian does not have. They have the Spirit of God within and
united to their minds (Romans 8), thus a regenerated heart and
mind, that thinks and reasons in a different way than those
without the Spirit of God.
The Christian as a "spiritual mind and aspect" within them
that truly does make them a three dimension person. A whole
person if you will, of a Holy Spirit mind-set, a life (soul) and
way of living according to every word of God, and a physical body
that is the Temple of God to avoid sins with that body. All
three aspects of the Christian are to be wholly sanctified or set
apart for the glory of God, to be under the grace of God, and
hence to be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This would be a very natural thing for Paul to desire in
every Christian. We shall study the words in Hebrew and Greek
for "spirit" in part two of this subject, especially with regards
to "the spirit in man" that is unique and different from any
other creature that the Lord God created, and which some knowing
that it is not the soul of man that is immortal, claim it is the
"spirit of man" that goes on living in a walking, talking,
thinking, consciousness manner after he dies (Keith Hunt).
Back to Atkinson:
"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.'......"
Again, I do not think Mr. Atkinson really explains the basic
truth of this verse as he proceeds to try to explain it. I will
leave what he says out and address it fully myself.
It is clear from the very context that Paul is using the
human body as his example "joints and marrow" and "thoughts and
intents of the heart." We must therefore I believe find the
truth of the phrase "soul and spirit" from the same context of
the human body. And indeed we so can.
Paul is saying that the word of God is so powerful and so
sharp it can cut asunder things that we as human would find in
some cases, very impossible. How do we as humans discern the
very thoughts and intents of another person's mind? So what in
the human body is the "soul and spirit"? We have seen that the
soul is the "life" of mankind, which is in the BLOOD of every
human. We shall later, in part two of this study, see that the
Hebrew and Greek words for "spirit" can also mean (and are often
translated) the "breath" of man, the "air" of man that is also a
part of him for him to be a living creation of the Lord. Without
air, wind, breath, coming into out bodies we would also die, just
as without blood circulating through our bodies we also would
die. The TWO go hand in hand. You must have BOTH! One without the
other is not good enough. BOTH air and blood are needed for human
being to live. The two MIX together so we have LIFE!
How do we as ordinary humans (without some pretty fancy
scientific equipment) see the difference or separate the two -
that is separate the "air" (breath) or "spirit" from the "blood"
or "soul" (life)?
Paul uses this probable impossibility on the human level of
doing these things with the physical body to draw his example
from. That God's living word, in fact He Himself, can divide such
matters. Those things that seem impossible to us are VERY
POSSIBLE to God, so he goes on to say in verse 13, "Neither is
there any creature that is NOT manifest in His sight: but ALL
THINGS are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we
have to do."
The phrase here for "soul and spirit" is better understood
and translated as "life and breath" - life in the blood and the
breath of air mixed with it (Keith Hunt).
And in the words of Basil Atkinson, "Thus we reach the end
of our study of the words NEPHESH and PSYCHEE with their
contribution to our understanding of human nature......."
TO BE CONTINUED
Compiled and written May 2000
All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,
e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr. Hunt trusts
nothing will be changed (except for spelling and punctuation
errors) without his consent.
Death, Hell and Immortality #3
What the Bible teaches on the subject of what happens to us at death.
Part 2A
Hebrew N'shamah - breath, wind, air
This Hebrew word appears 25 times in the OT (see The
Englishman's Hebrew Concordance) and is number 5397 in Strong's
Concordance. It first occurs in Genesis 2:7 where we read that
God, "...breathed into his nostrils the BREATH of life." In the
KJV it is rendered as "breath" "breathed" most of the time,
with a few times with such words as "blast" "spirit" and once
as "inspiration" and once even as "the souls." Its first and
primary meaning is "breath" - the wind or air that we breath in
each day as human beings. It corresponds, but only in part to
the Hebrew word RUAGH, which can also mean "breath" but which is
used in much broader ways also, as we shall see later when
we look at that specific word.
A study of all 25 places where N'SHAMAH is used will show
that it has no connection with any inherent IMMORTALITY within
the word itself (Keith Hunt).
Here is what Basil Atkinson has written on this word
n'shamah (all capital lettering is mine throughout this entire
study):
"If we turn again to Ge.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 seem 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 this, several times in the Bible (see Gen.3: 19; 18:
27; Ps. 103: 14; 104: 29; Job 34: 15; Ecc. 3: 20; 12: 7).
We notice 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 Gen. 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 OT. 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 Deut.20: 16; Josh. 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 (Gen. 7: 22; Ps. 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
This word n'shamah is sometimes used WITH and as a PARALLEL
with the Hebrew word ruagh, a kind of a repeat to give emphasis.
This is often done in the Hebrew language, and we in English may
do the same, using slightly different words in two phrases to say
the same thing such as, "What he told me BLEW me away, I mean
it just BASTED my mind-set, it was so revealing" (Keith Hunt).
Continuing with the words of Atkinson:
"If we look in our margins at Gen.7: 22, we shall see that
for 'the breath of life' the Hebrew says, 'the breath of the
spirit of life.' While we know that 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'shamah, but on a wider scale. The word for 'spirit' is ruagh
and we shall shortly be dealing with it. This passage then
teaches that the 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.....Isaiah 42: 5, 'he
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 33: 4, 'The Spirit
of God has 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'shamah....."
So there may be times when both Hebrew words (n'shamah and
ruagh) are used as a double emphasis or a repeat to say the same
thing, but with different words that carry within themselves the
same meaning when used under certain contexts (Keith Hunt).
Now we move to the great Hebrew word RUAGH and what Basil
Atkinson writes concerning it with its various meanings and
usages in the OT Scriptures.
The Spirit of God
" There is one more great word that we need to 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 NT equivalent PNEUMA, which we will leave until we reach the
NT as in the case of nephesh and psychee.
This word has a GREATER VARIETY of meaning than does
nephesh, but it 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 PERSON
BEING.
There are about EIGHTY-TWO references to the SPIRIT (Ruagh)
or HOLY SPIRIT of God......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 effect the subject we are treating.
We next find ruagh used WIDELY in the sense of LIFE
PRINCIPLE, and here it concerns us deeply. In Gen.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 Gen.7: 22 we find this n'shamah referred to (margin) as
the breath of the spirit (ruagh) of life. The n'shamah 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 in 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'shamah
FIRST in Gen.6: 17, 'to destroy all flesh, wherein is the BREATH
(ruagh) 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 Gen. 7: 15 and 22 or Ecc. 3: 21, which plainly state that
animals posses the ruagh of life.
There are FORTY-NINE passages in the OT in which ruagh
refers to the life principle.....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 Num. 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....Then in Jeremiah 10: 4 we find, 'for
his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath (spirit) in
them.' This means that the image, though a god to the
idolator, 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 nations
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: 9 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....(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 examples 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 He had 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....He possessed as
a man, so it could be restored to Him in resurrection."
(We shall study that special part of that special spirit of
the human that God the Father can keep and restore in
resurrection later, at the end of this second part, after we
have given more from Basil Atkinson - Keith Hunt)
Back to the words of Atkinson:
"Death again is the theme of Ps.76: 12, 'He shall cut off
the spirit of princes,' that is, take away their lives.
Death and creation are the theme in Ps.104: 29, 30, 'You
take away their breath (ruagh), they die, and return to the dust.
You send forth your spirit (ruagh), they are created.'.....
In Ps.146: 4 we have an important passage dealing with
death.....'His (that is man's) breath (ruagh) goes forth, he
returns to the 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 thereof
drinks 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.....Ecc. 3: 19, 21 (twice); 8: 8 (twice);
12: 7. On each occasion the Hebrew word is ruagh......"
(Those important passages Basil Atkinson treats fully and
in-depth later - Keith Hunt)
Ruagh as the Disposition and Seat of Emotions
Mr. Basil Atkinson continues:
"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.....We shall NOT FIND a
single reference that would lead us to look upon man's ruagh as
CONSCIOUSLY surviving his death.....
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 Gen. 26: 35, 'Which were a
grief of mind (ruagh) unto Isaac and Rebekah.' Exodus 6: 9, 'but
they harkened 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)'.....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
you shall speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have
filled with the spirit (ruagh) of wisdom.'....Deuteronomy 34: 9,
'And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit (ruagh) of
wisdom.'......we find FIVE times in the book of Daniel the
heathen kings declaring that in Daniel was 'the spirit (ruagh) of
the gods'....by this they mean a spirit of wisdom.....
There are TWO instances in which we find the ruagh governing
the WILL, 'every one whom his spirit (ruagh) made willing' (Ex.
35: 21) and in an opposite sense, 'for the Lord your God hardened
his spirit (ruagh)' (Deut. 2: 30).
In Numbers 5 we find THREE times 'the spirit (ruagh) of
JEALOUSY' (verse 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: 4
(three times); Proverbs 18: 14 and 2 Chronicles 9: 4.
There are SIX passages in which 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 shows 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 25: 28 we find the man who cannot control his own ruagh.
In Job 15: 13 we find the charge, 'you turn your 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.....
In about SEVEN passages the ruagh is seen as the seat of
CONTRITION or 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.'.....
In Proverbs 11: 3 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.......
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 (Ezek.
13: 3; Hosea 9: 7; Micah 2: 11). However we interpret these
passages our argument is not affected. "
The passage in Ecclesiastes 12: 7 that talks about the
spirit returning to God at death, as well as the passages of 1
Corinthians 2: 11 and Hebrews 12: 23, I shall give special
attention to shortly, after we have seen what Mr. Atkinson says
about the corresponding Greek word for ruagh. There is a special
spirit within the human that is not a part of any animal in the
sense and for the reason that it is in man, which makes him
unique in all of God's physical creation (Keith Hunt).
Spirit in the New Testament
We continue with the words of Basil Atkinson:
"We saw that the Greek word psychee corresponded in the NT
to Hebrew nephesh. In the same way the corresponding word to
Hebrew ruagh 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 NT.
Pneuma as a Person
There are about TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOUR instances in the
NT of the use of pneuma with or without the adjective hagion,
'holy' - to denote the HOLY SPIRIT of God......The references 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)'.......Then again in 1 Cor. 15:
45, a text we have already touched on when dealing with psychee,
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.....Father in John 4: 24, the Son
in 1 cor. 15: 45....This bears sufficiently on our theme by
showing that God as Spirit is the source of all life. "
Let me say here that what these above verses are clearly
showing and what they are teaching us is that God the Father and
Jesus the Son, in their glorified state are composed of Spirit
not physical matter. They live in a different world than us
humans live in. Their realm, is a spirit world not a physical
matter world. And the spirit world is un-seen by the human eye,
unless God chooses to manifest that spirit world to the human
eye, or in the minds-eye through visions. The Bible also clearly
shows that God and/or an angel of the Lord can manifest
themselves in the form of flesh and bone if it is the will
of God to do so. Jesus was able, after His resurrection, to
appear to His disciples as flesh and bone, so they could touch
Him, then vanish before their eyes. I have covered that
truth in another study. God created this whole physical universe
it is written, out of NOTHING, turning spirit into physical
matter, what we would say as creating matter out of nothing, so
it is very easy for the Lord who is then Spirit, to manifest
Himself as matter if He should so wish to do so, in order that
mankind could talk, walk, have a meal with, even touch and
handle, as did take place a number of times since the creation of
mankind (Keith Hunt).
Pneuma as Wind
Continuing with the words of Atkinson:
"Pneuma only ONCE means 'wind' or 'blast' in the NT. 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 NT in which pneuma means
'life principle' just as does ruagh in the OT.....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 OT show
that this means that God gave back to the child the life
principle which He had taken at death......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....we have the
significant word, 'For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy' (Rev.19:10). The vital principle of prophecy, that
which gives it meaning and life, is its testimony of Jesus. This
is a figurative use of pneuma on the analogy of its literal use
in connection with human life. "
The verses in the Gospels where Jesus released His spirit to
the Father at His death, will come under the last section I will
cover when I explain the "spirit of man that is in him" - that
which is unique to mankind (Keith Hunt).
TO BE CONTINUED
Death, Hell and Immortality #4
What the Bible teaches on the subject of what happens to us at death
Part 2B
Pneuma as the Regenerate Nature
Basil Atkinson writes:
"There are about TWENTY-NINE occurrences in the NT of
pneuma used in 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......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 a 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.....The regenerate nature is represented by pneuma in
Romans 2: 29, where the apostle says it effects circumcision
of the heart. 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
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 (Rom.8: 11)......
Further references to the regenerate nature occur in 1 Cor.
5: 5; 6: 17, 20; Gal.3: 3; 6: 18; Phil. 4: 23; I Thes. 5:
23. where it is contrasted with psychee; Heb. 4: 12, where, the
same contrast occurs; .......We also have references to the
regenerate nature in 2 Tim. 4: 22 and Philemon 25.
Pneuma in 2 Corinthians 7: 1
There is a strange use of pneuma in 2 Cor. 7: 1, which seems
to be unique in the NT, '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.....Pneuma here cannot mean the new
nature because filthiness cannot be thought of as affecting the
new nature.....Flesh and spirit are put here for CARNAL
THINGS.....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....."
I would add that the defilement of the spirit can be much
more than false religions. It can be any defilement of the mind,
such as hate, lust, jealousy, coveting, revenge, all and
everything that is against the laws and holiness of God.
Certainly defilement of the body would be using the physical body
in ways of sexual immorality, and today it would also include
defilement of the body through drug abuse and the like, which has
the effect of destroying the body, which is the temple of God,
note 1 Cor. 3: 16-17 (Keith Hunt).
Pneuma as Man's Disposition and Character
Mr. Atkinson continues:
"There are rather under FORTY passages in the NT 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 OT. 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 sense 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: Mat.5: 3; 1 Cor. 4: 21 and Gal. 6: 1.
In the following it is the seat of KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM:
Mark 2: 8; Luke 2: 40; Acts 6: 10; Eph. 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.
In four passages the pneuma is the seat of JOY: Luke 1: 47;
1 Cor. 16: 18; 2 Cor. 2: 13; 7: 13.
In Luke 9: 55 is an instance of 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 to think of the regenerate spirit. They
are: Rom. 1: 9; 8: 16; 1 Cor. 5: 3, 4; 7: 34; 14: 2, 14; 16:
18; 2 Cor. 4: 13; Phil. 1: 27; Col. 2: 5......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 NT. 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 found in the verse itself.
The Pneuma of the Prophets
Apart from possibly Luke 1: 17 the NT adds ONE instance to
the TEN to be found in the OT 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.
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.......
The Heart
....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 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. 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.....We appreciate his difficulties....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 L'VAV, and the
Greek word is KARDIA. These words have certain parallels with
ruagh and pneuma. They are sometimes used in a strict parallelism
with ruagh. They are used in much the same sense 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 (Ex.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 Sam. 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 like the heart could be
conscious while its owner 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 has made everything beautiful in His time: also He has
set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the
work that God makes from the beginning to the end.' 'The world'
translates in 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 or
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 ('everything 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. "
The Hebrew/English Interlinear by J.P. Green translates this
verse as : "Everything He has made beautiful in its time. Also
eternity He has set in their heart, without which man can not
find out the work that God makes from the beginning even to the
end."
Notice, God has set in the heart of man "eternity" - man
has a mind that desires to know and understand the WHY about the
beautiful works of God from the beginning to the end. He has that
eternity seeking mind WITHOUT WHICH he cannot find out, search
into, examine, and seek to discover the meaning and reason as to
why God created the beautiful works that He did create. A heart
that wants to know the answers as to why God created the physical
works of the universe and what is to be the end or destination of
all God's beautiful works, the plan of God for the universe and
for mankind.
This in part is answered in my study called "A Christian's
Destiny." And the book of Revelation, the last number of
chapters give us an over-view of the plan of God for this
earth and the works thereupon (Keith Hunt).
The Great and Wonderful "spirit" in Man
I personally, Keith Hunt, will finish this second study on
this subject with the verses that tell us about the spirit of man
that does go back to God in heaven upon our death. There are a
number of passages in the OT and in the NT that when put together
would show that man has a "spirit" in him that does return to God
upon his death. Some have seen this, in fact they have seen that
the soul of man is NOT immortal, but because of the Scriptures we
shall now look at, they proclaim, it is the "spirit" within man
that goes on consciously living, thinking, talking, walking, etc.
after man dies.
We need to look at these verses, admit what they do say, try
not to fancy foot around them, yet at the same time we need to
use common human logic as we meditate on this "spirit in man" or
"spirit of man" in relation to the physical facts pertaining to
this human life on earth, as well as the other revealed
Scriptures that state clearly what happens to the actions, works,
and thoughts of the human person when they die this physical
death that we have been experiencing for thousands of years.
In Psalm 31; 5 a foreshadowing of the Lord's words on the
cross, we have, "Into thine hands I commit my spirit." At the
point of death the Lord Jesus committed the spirit which was
leaving Him into the safe hands of the Father.
We read in Job 34: 14, 15 these words, "If He (God) set His
heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself his spirit and his
breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again
unto the dust." It would seem from this verse that clearly man
not only has breath that God can reclaim, but there is also his
"spirit" in him that He can also reclaim. When God does claim
them both, the man is dead. Let us not be too swift to say the
spirit here is the man's mind, thoughts, emotions. That is also
true that these stop functioning at death, as other Scriptures
plainly teach ( and as we shall see in our third section on this
study) , but when we have finished looking at all the verses we
must under this section, it may well be we shall have to admit
mankind does have something very unique within them, that is part
of the mind but yet not the physical mind or brain itself.
Job 32: 8, "But there is a spirit in man: and the
inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding." Again, we
must not be too quick to answer that this is referring to the
human brain or mind in its purely physical state only. For
modern science has studied the human brain with all its modern
space age technology and with all its marvellous machines, and
cannot find WHY the human brain can think and reason the way it
does over and above some of the other brains of animals that it
has also studied with its same high-tech equipment. Modern
science has no answer as to why mankind has this inspiration that
gives them understanding, far out classing the rest of created
things. Some of the animals can do wonderful things in their
sphere of life, but none of them can type research and read the
Bible and type what I am typing in this study, and come to
understand some of the truths and wonders of the Almighty. It
would seem then that there is something within man, given to man
by God, that is not material or physical. A something that works
WITH the human brain to give man inspiration and understanding
that is then unique in all of God's physical creation.
We shall now turn our attention to Ecclesiastes 3: 19-21.
"For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one
thing befalls them; as the one dies so dies the other; yes, they
all have one breath; all are of dust, and all return to dust
again. Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the
spirit of the beast that goes downward to the earth?"
Better sense is made of verse 21 by the rendering not only
from the Hebrew, but from the Greek Septuagint, the Targum on the
passage, the Syriac Peshito and the Latin Vulgate, which say,
"WHETHER it goes upward...WHETHER it goes downward." It is really
a QUESTION that Solomon is asking. The spirit of men and animals,
does it go upward or downward at death, is that spirit reclaimed
by God?
Solomon answers his own question later in the same book he
wrote, and that answer we shall look at presently. but in
passing we see from this passage that death in all its basic
elements is exactly the SAME for BOTH man and the beast. This
teaching of sameness for both in death we shall investigate more
closely in part three of this study.
Now to Solomon's answer to his question. He gives his answer
in chapter 12 and verse 7. "Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave
it."
It is true that we could say that the ruagh here is the
breath of life that God gave to man by breathing into his
nostrils that air or breath of life that must come into a man
and be part of man, to be mixed with his blood, in order for him
to survive as a human being on this earth. We could say that at
death that air or breath leaves the person (as it surely indeed
does) and in that sense returns back to God who first gave it. In
a figure of speech, and the Bible is full of figures of speech
(so much so that Bullinger wrote a large 1000 page book on the
subject), we could here say that God reclaims the breath of life
on death that He gave to man in order for him to live. Yet,
because of the other Scriptures we have already seen and ones we
shall yet see in the NT, there is really more to this verse than
God just taking away the literal air or breath from a person on
death. God is accepting and keeping safe something other than
air, something that is a part of man, given to him by God, that
makes mankind very unique in all of god's physical creation. It
is something we can hand over, ask God the Father to keep safe
until the resurrection, just as Jesus said upon His death, "into
thy hands I commit my spirit."
We do need to notice here in this passage in Ecclesiastes
that God receiving the spirit of humans is NOT talking just about
godly or Christian persons, that if a Christian your spirit lives
on in heaven, but if not a Christian, it does not, but as some
would teach, goes to hell-fire and is tormented for all eternity.
This verse here in chapter 12 is talking about ALL people! As we
saw in chapter 3, so dies one so dies the other, all people have
a spirit, all people do die, all people do return to dust, so the
spirit of ALL PEOPLE shall return unto God who gave it.
I suppose some would argue that is indeed the case but after
the spirit has returned or been reclaimed by God, then God
decides if that spirit will live in heaven or live in
ever-burning hell-fire. They would say God judges them at that
time. that could be a valid argument if it was not for the
Scriptural teaching that judgment comes for the Christian at the
visible coming of Christ in glory and power.
Then we could add that if judgment for everyone comes at
death, when the spirit of man goes back to God, to either be
judged to live in full consciousness in heaven or in hell-fire,
then why BOTHER, why the NEED, of a future RESURRECTION? To be
sure some come up with a few fancy ideas as to why a resurrection
is still needed, but common logic and as we are seeing, and shall
see, such ideas and theories are merely the imagination of the
mind of men who must try to reconcile the teaching of the
immortal soul or spirit with the clear teaching of a resurrection
to life, as taught throughout the word of God.
We must now turn our attention to a few important verses in
the NT as to the spirit of man that returns, upon his death, to
God.
The Christian upon earth is a child of God, as shown by
numerous passages in the NT. As a child of God that Christian can
come before God's throne as clearly taught in Hebrews 4: 15-16.
Picking up that same teaching the apostle Paul elaborates on
coming before that throne in Hebrews chapter 12, starting in
verse 18. He takes us in the mind's eye to many of the things
both in the literal and in symbolic "written" in heaven,
in the verses that follow verse 18.
Notice verse 23. As we as Christians on this earth come
before the throne of heaven, we also come before the "spirits of
just men made perfect."
So, the spirits of these righteous ones do go back to God at
death, and they are in heaven with God at His throne. Clearly
then we can (as Jesus and Stephen did, see Acts 7: 59) commit our
spirit to the Father upon our death, and He does place it in
heaven at His throne.
We must now put all this together and make sense of it all.
To do this we need to look at one more important NT passage on
the teaching of the spirit of man. It is found in 1 Corinthians
2: 10,11.
The same one Greek word pneuma is used for "spirit" in both
verses. Verse 10 tells us that to know and understand the deep
things of God, it requires the Spirit (pneuma) of God in us to
understand such things of God (see also verse 12). It takes the
Spirit of God to know and understand God, who is, as we have seen
already, SPIRIT (John 4: 24). Notice that truth in the last half
of verse 11.
Now, notice the first half of verse 11, "For what man knows
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him..."
Only mankind can know the things that mankind can know about
the things of mankind. The animals, some with as large a physical
brain and some with even larger, cannot know the things of
mankind. My little dog cannot know and cannot understand the
situations and circumstances in life that lead me to cry, or to
laugh, or to be angry at someone. Animals with the brain and
spirit they may have, cannot begin to figure out and to know and
to understand all the simple or complicated ways of the human
life with all of its emotions and wonders that the human being
can do, accomplish, invent, investigate, and discover, plan and
bring to pass those plans.
Science as I've already stated, can collect the physical
brains from humans and from animals, and dissect them, probe
them, scan them, use all the scientific space age machines on
them, but they still, from a physical function of knowledge,
cannot figure out why the human brain is far above the animal
brain in knowing the things of man, or as Paul put it, "what man
can know the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in
him."
There is something PUT WITHIN mankind that is unique. The
Bible calls it "spirit." It is invisible, cannot be seen by any
space age technology of any kind. It is a human "spirit" that is
united with the physical brain, to make mankind very unique in
all of God's physical creation. It then makes man, mankind, gives
them the ability to think and reason and know what only mankind
can know about the world of mankind. It enables mankind to do the
wonders that mankind can do and is doing. That spirit which is
in man is only for man as living on this earth in his physical
world. That spirit of man, cannot understand he Spirit of God, or
the mind of God, the ways of God, the living of God as God lives,
thinks, and wills. God is Spirit. He lives in a different world
dimension, a Spirit world. Hence as Paul was inspired to tell us
in this passages, it takes the Spirit of God placed within us, to
unite with our spirit mind, to understand the mind or Spirit of
God.
There is an invisible spirit essence placed within us by God
(sometime after onception, the Bible does not tell us when God
exactly gives us that spirit), which then nites with our physical
brain, much like putting gasoline into the engine of the car to
make it fire up and work. This spirit united with our brain makes
us uniquely mankind, and s the two work together human character
can be formed. If the Spirit of God also comes o unite with the
spirit of man, then righteous Godly character can be produced.
That human godly character can be likened to a cassette tape
placed within a assette machine. The character of all that is
righteously you is being recorded and reserved. All that is not
desirable in that righteous character is cleansed and washed
away by say, brushes and liquid, while and as long as the tape is
moving and rogressing. The analogy in reality is this. As a
Christian the Spirit of God united with our uman spirit essence
is producing godly character, and it is being preserved. All the
unwanted and damaging specks of dirt and sin are being washed
away by the Jesus lood and by His advocating work as our High
Priest in heaven, because of our basic umble and repentant
attitude. All that is on the tape is holy righteous perfectness.
When he tape comes to the end of its length of life and it STOPS
in our DEATH, we have only PERFECT RIGHTEOUS character tape in
our physical body. That perfect character pirit tape is reclaimed
by the one who gave it and made it all possible. He takes that
perfected character and brings it back to Himself in heaven, to
His throne, where it is kept n safe keeping, committed safely to
His trust, until the day of RESURRECTION and IFE, when that
perfect spirit character is given a perfect spirit body and life
for evermore, just as Paul was inspired to tell us about in that
wonderful resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15.
Is this spirit within man somehow the real man that lives on
in full and complete consciousness, talking and walking, thinking
and doing, crying and sighing or laughing? Can this spirit in
man take over or carry on IF the physical brain or some part of
the physical body breaks down or is lost? NO it can not! That
should be readily seen by the daily history of the workings of
the unfortunate lives of people on this earth. If someone
looses a bodily limb in an accident, say an a hand, or an arm, or
a leg, the spirit in man does NOT take over and give out an
invisible hand or leg, and work as if the physical limb was not
missing at all. If a part of the physical brain is damaged by
whatever means, the spirit of man in him does not automatically
take over and work for the part of the brain that is lost, as if
it is not lost at all.
The spirit in man that is united to his mind and that makes
mankind unique, can only work its work correctly in this human
life time, with a full and natural and orderly physical body.
As we shall see very clearly from the Scriptures in our
future studies on this subject of DEATH and IMMORTALITY, the
spirit in man is NOT the man, it is not an immortal person that
keeps on living consciously after death. It is a spirit essence
that working with the brain of man, makes mankind able to know
the things of mankind in a way that only mankind can know, which
no other physical creation of God can know or understand.
Upon the death of a Christian that perfected spirit
character returns to God in heaven who first gave it.
Actually the spirit of all persons, as we have seen, return
to God in heaven for safe keeping until their resurrection, for
it is written that in God's plan and time, ALL will be
resurrected (John 5: 25-29).
So I, Keith Hunt end this second section of our study on
Death and Immortality.
We shall continue with a third section.
.................................
Compiled and written May 2000
All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,
e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr. Hunt trust
nothing will be changed (except for spelling and punctuation
errors) without his consent.
Death, Hell and Immortality #5
What the Bible teaches on the subject of what happens to us at death
Part Three
New Testament Teaching
".......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 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 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.' It is clear from the story that
what happened at the Endor seance was one 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 seance. The
woman said 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. was in fact in touch with a demon, this would
account for demoralisation and death the next day. On the other
hand the woman may have been particularly clever and crafty, as
are some is today. She may have invented the whole scene. She
would 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 she thought Samuel would have been likely to say,
describing the 'ghost' in a way that would suggest Samuel to
Saul. She may have the opportunity to take a hand by suggestion
in the death of 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 I 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 tamam 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 m 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......... 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'...... 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 m English
today........
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?
(2). 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 Him 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 ....... 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........(I). Thus death (maveth) can be put for a
deadly plague (Exodus 10. 17).......(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.....(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'.......
Greek Thanatos in the New Testament
The word thanatos 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 Mat.4. 16 and Luke 1. 79, both in
quotations from the OT; John 8. 51; James 1. 15; 5. 20; 1 John
5. 16 (three times), 17; Rom. 1. 32; 6. 16, 21; 7. 5,10,13
(twice); 8. 2; 2 Cor. 3. 7; 7. 10; Rev. 2. 11; 20.6,14; 21.
8. The word is also used in a figurative sense. (1). It is used
for 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......(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 thamatos 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.......
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 un-consciousness. 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, could 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....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 yashen 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.
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 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 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 from sleep till
the end of the world. Job then asks in his to die and lie in the
grave. He asks if a man will live again 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 Corn. 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 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 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 arise 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). 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 11. 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. (9). 1 Corinthians 15. 18, 'then (that is, in that case)
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished'...(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). I 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 Him (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 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
for 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 as not dead but asleep. She was
in fact quite dead. What He meant as 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 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........
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 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
sh'ol 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 Homeric 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; Eph. 2. 1, 5; Col. 2. 13; Mat. 8. 22; Luke 9.
60. We also find dead works (Hebrews 6.I; 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. 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 Colossians 3. 5; Hebrews 11. 12
and Romans 4. 19 and the noun nekrosis in 2 Corinthians 4. 10,
where the reference, as Arndt & Gingrich again explain, is to
'the constant danger of death in which the apostle lives.' "
End of Quotes from Basil Atkinson M.A., PhD.
We shall continue in our next study from Atkinson's book with an
in-depth look at death as coupled with "the grave."
.....................................
Compiled in July 2000 by Keith Hunt
6. Death, Hell and Immortality
What the Bible teaches on the subject of what happens to us at death
From the book "Life and Immortality" by Basil Atkinson
Part Four
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'ol. The Greek word however the New
Testament is as always governed by the meaning of the in 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, three times
and 'hell' thirty-one times. 'Grave' and 'hell' 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
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.....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
unconscious- ness 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 I 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,' 'a carcase' (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 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 sh'ol. In
Isaiah 38. 10 king Hezekiah says that he had thought that in his
illness he would go to the gates of the grave (sh'ol). By itself
this reference is inconclusive as to the meaning of sh'ol, but
its connection with verse 18, 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 as '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'ol 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'ol 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 beauty 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 from
sh'ol. In Psalm 141. 7 David says 'Our bones are scattered at the
grave's mouth.' The grave here is sh'ol. It normally receives
bones (not ghosts), but here they lie unburied.
There are seven references in the book of Proverbs: I. 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'ol 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 all 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
≪ 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. There is a reference
in it to sh'ol (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. 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
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 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 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'ol (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
emphasize 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 emphases there are three points which it would be well
to We sometimes hear the phrase spoken of someone who has '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
take it to mean 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
realize 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' Greed 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 (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'ol 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
language of the Bible).............
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 when dealing with the
soul (Hebrew nephesh) .
(5). Psalm 30. 3. This is not a direct reference to
resurrection, but 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.
(7). Psalm 86. 13. The meaning is the same as that of No. 5.
(8). Matthew 16. 18. This is the saying of the Lord Jesus
that the gates of 'hell' shall not prevail His church. Very many
believe this to be a declaration that Satan will never overcome
the church. But 'hell' is never used in 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.'
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 by
the apostle from Hosea 13. 14. If haidees is the right reading,
it means 'he grave,' as it is defeated by the resurrection of the
righteous.
No one doubts the meaning in this case, but perhaps few
realize 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 Sh'ol
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 recensions 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. 21 we find 'the strong among the
mighty' speaking to Pharaoh 'out of the midst of hell' (sh'ol,
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) cried I.' 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.........."
Basil Atkinson next tries to answer the questions about
Lazarus and the Rich Man parable found in Luke 16. His effort is
commendable, but serves little justice and help in the overall
subject of what the Bible teaches on death, hell, and
resurrection. I have covered this parable of Jesus' in a
separate in-depth study. I ask the reader and searcher for truth
to study my article (Keith Hunt).
Atkinson continues:
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'ol. 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. 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.
The third passage shows us sh'ol 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 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........
The Pit
In a few instances the Hebrew word bor translated 'the pit'
is used as the equivalent of sh'ol. 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'ol, 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'ol, 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........ 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 Him 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 hope of resurrection. Only once in the Old Testament do
we find poor suffering Job speaking of the grave as a relief,
where 'he 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 sh'ol.
(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 avad (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........"
Basil Atkinson, while a short mention of Elijah and Moses
appearing with Christ on the mount of transfiguration, does not
attempt any real depth explanation of the event.
This I do in a separate study, to which I refer the reader
(Keith Hunt).
With this we conclude up to about half the book written by
Atkinson. We shall put most of the second half of the book under
two separate studies. One will be called "The Resurrection"
and the other "The Doom of the Lost."
......................................
Complied August 2000
All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,
e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr. Hunt trusts
nothing will be changed (except for spelling and punctuation
errors) without his consent.
7. Reward of the Wicked #1
The Doom of the Lost
From the book "Life and Immortality" by the late Basil
Atkinson PhD.
Compiled by Keith Hunt
.......We must now complete the picture (the first part of
the picture from Akinson's book is under the studies called
"Death, Hell and Immortality" and "The Resurrection") by
examining carefully what the Scriptures teach 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 idea that springs 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 period 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 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......
DEATH THE WAGES OF SIN
We will begin with the great principles 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 (under "Death, Hell and Immortality"
on this Website -Keith Hunt) 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 the 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.....When they speak of the
death of their dog, they mean the cessation of life......
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 the
second death.
.....death as we know it is a cessation of life, and would
indeed be cessation of being if it were not for the fact of
RESURRECTION (1 Cor. 15: 18). 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 sometimes 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 friend's definition of
the SECOND death as being SEPARATION from God. In a spiritual
sense the lost cannot be more separated 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......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 Psalms
56: 13. This passage may certainly 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......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 19 times to
the second death, on 10 occasions in direct connection with sin:
Matt.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 Cor. 3: 7; 7: 10.
THANATOS occurs between seventy and eighty times and, as we
sought to show....bears with only about nine exceptions to 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......We also find it in 11
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; @ Samuel 12: 13;
Jeremiah 31: 30; Ezekiel 3: 18-20; 18: 4-31; 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 the cessation of life, which comprises, as we sought
to show, cessation of consciousness, how can the same term be
used for both 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 hold 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 meanings 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 these 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 14 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 (slightly
different in pronunciation). We may add OVED translated "perish."
OVED is used only of nations. Of the other forms there are 9
occurrences altogether, of which 8 refer to 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 ES is usually translated "calamity," in a minority
of cases "destruction." It is used 4 times in a general sense.
These occurrences do not add anything to our argument. It is used
9 times of peoples, where it means "downfall." It occurs in 2
samuel 22: 19 and Psalm 18: 18, two recensions of the same psalm.
The psalm is Messianic and is one of the wonderful type 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
facts, which we shall examine later, that the Lord Jesus suffered
the very punishment due to sinners.
The word ED is used 9 times out of its total of 24
occurrences of the second death. The passages are (1) Deut. 32:
35, "the day of their calamity is at hand." (2 and 3) Proverbs 1:
26, "I also will laugh at their 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 (verse 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 with undergo before their
destruction. We shall be noticing this later in the course of
this section. (4) Proverbs 6: 15, "Therefore shall his
calamity come suddenly." The day of judgment shall 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 site 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; and 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...In
the same passage we have sorrows, destruction and the wrath of
the Almighty (verses 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 suffering of the death of
Christ.
In Micah 2: 10 the word 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 stretched 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
occurrences 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 the doctrine that the wicked is
conscious after 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 an 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 11 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: 18. It occurs again only in Psalm 74: 3,
where it means "destruction," and this is probably its root
meaning.
The form QOTEV from the root QTV is found once in Hosea 13:
14 and applied to SH'OL, "the grave." It conforms what we read in
Revelation 20: 14, that SH'OL (Greek HADEES) 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 meaning is "breaking,"
as many of its other occurrences show.
Another word sometimes translated "destruction" is SHOD. 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 12 times in all means destruction
or ruin and is sometimes translated "destruction." It is 6 times
translated "desolation" or "desolate," once "storm" (Ezek. 38:
9). It is used once as death as we know it (Psalm 63: 9) and 4
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 3 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 thy Holy One to see
CORRUPTION."
8 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 forever, 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 out first section (under
"Death, Hell and Immortality"). (8) Job 33: 22, "Yea, his soul
draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers."
This same word is used 8 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 if 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, 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 15 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.....(3) Acts
8: 20. Here the apostle Peter says: Thy money perish with thee,"
literally, "be with 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) @ 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 8: 22. Here the
apostle Paul speaks of "vessels of wrath fitted for 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 draw 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 whore 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 APOLEIA 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 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 makes it reasonably
certain. They speak of the great political and ecclesiastical
power going into perdition, and this can 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 we need
to 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.
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, actually did it change its form in any way.
What happened to it was that it was put to 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 16 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 expression "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," "lose," and "lost," can be properly used of
persons.
The SECOND NT word meaning "destruction," OLETHROS, occurs
only 4 times, but it is important from our point of view because
it is the word used in the phrase "everlasting destruction" (2
Thes. 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 occurrences of the word in 1 Thessalonians 5: 3 where it
refers to the same thing as 2 thessalonians 1: 9 does not define
OR EXPLAIN THE DESTRUCTION, SO WE GET NO HELP. 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.
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.
(I do not agree with Atkinson here. I do not see 1 Cor.5: 5
as proving that this Greek word in that passage means total
elimination. destruction of the flesh, in the way Paul uses it in
! Cor.5: 5 can mean less than total elimination or death as we
know it. Paul may have been simply saying that the man would be
put out of fellowship with the church, out of the covering
protective hand and Spirit of the Lord, because of his
unrepentant sin, and so could have Satan doing many things to his
flesh or physical life, yet not dying from such physical
troubles. The purpose being for such disfellowshipping and
allowing the man back into the world of Satan, was to bring him
to repentance and so back into a saved condition. The troubles of
the flesh this man could experience would be destruction
to a point, but not necessarily total elimination in death -
Keith Hunt).
Everlasting destruction means the total elimination of those
subject to it. We shall find ample proof of this as we continue
our study of the use of words in the original languages.
(This is how some of the words will need to be understood.
In the light of the totality of the Word of the Lord on this
particular matter. And within that totality Atkinson is very
correct - everlasting destruction is total elimination in the
lake of fire which is the second death - Keith Hunt).
On the OTHER NT word translated "destruction." It is
SYNTRIMMA. It occurs only ONCE, in Romans 3: 16 in a quotation
from Isaiah 59: 7 and represents the Hebrew SHOD. Its underlying
meaning is "breaking." The verse does not seem to point to
eternal destruction but rather to the hard way of transgression
in this life.
HEBREW VERBS MEANING "TO DESTROY" OR "TO PERISH
There are 23 Hebrew verbs in the OT which are sometimes
translated "destroy," of which 13 refer in one or more instances
to the second death.
The MAIN word in this connection is the great root AVAD,
which occurs about 150 times. It refers directly to the second
death 7 or 8 times.
The word refers 9 times to the destruction of inanimate
objects, such as pictures, images, places of heathen worship,
gates and bars.....It is worth noting that no one would
think of the idols when cast into the fire as existing in the
flames for ever.....
In 9 passages the word means "bring to ruin" rather than
physical destruction.....It will be noticed that no person is the
object here.
The word is used about 43 times of the destruction of the
nation of Israel.....It is used over 30 times to mean "fail" or
"perish" of such things as counsel, wisdom or heathen
gods....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 40 times of ordinary death.......
The passages in which we may see a direct reference to the
second death are as follows: (1) Numbers 24: 19.....(2) Deut. 7:
9, 10.....(3) Judges 5: 31.....(4) Psalm 9: 5.....(5) Psalm 9:
6.....(6) Proverbs 11:7.....(7) Job. 18: 17.....
Twice the great root appears in the form OVED. Though the
reference in each case is to a nation, the passage (Num.24: 20,
24) are striking and significant. They speak of perishing forever
and well illustrate the phrase "everlasting punishment."
There are 7 passages in which the word means "lost" in a
literal sense. Except for one general reference in Ecc. 3: 6 they
all refer to lost animals, oxen, asses or sheep.
We must not make these references a bias 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 AVAD. 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......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 NT.
The next word to which we call attention is BALA. It means
"to swallow up." It is used of the second death once in Psalms
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 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......The palmist goes on to say that the Lord will destroy
their fruit from the earth and their seed from among men. If the
palmist 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 NT teaches differently, we have a
direct contradiction between the Testaments, an idea that no
Bible-believer ought to entertain for a moment.
Now we come to the word DACHA, translated "destroy" in Job
6: 9. It has a reference to the second death in Psalms 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 (Psalms
144: 6) is HAMAN. 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 a
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 deut.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.
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 bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be 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 is more likely to represent violent destruction, or eternal
life in misery? It is worth continuing through to the following
verses, "As a snail which melts, 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 a previous
section. We shall remember that it stands for death in general as
a 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 the Hebrew MAGHAH, which means "to blot
out." In the light of such a statement can the idea of the
eternal conscious like 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 Psalms 52: 5.
David here says that the wicked man will be broken down for ever
and 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 a 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 yourself 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 56 times of a family, once of a
land and 8 times of inanimate objects. It has 18 references to
death and 6 to the second death. These are in 2 Samuel 22: 38;
Isaiah 13: 9; Lamentations 3: 66; Ezekiel 34: 16; Psalm 37: 38;
92: 7.
TO "DESTROY" IN THE GREEK NT
The main word expressing this idea in the NT 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 9 times of inanimate objects. Wineskins are
destroyed when they burst (Mat.9:17). In the parallel passage in
Mark 2: 22 both the wine in the skins and the skins are
destroyed. I the further parallel passage the skins are again
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.
I 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 Peter 1: 7).
Finally in Hebrews 1: 11 quoting Psalm 102 we find that the
heavens will perish.
In these 9 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 Peter 3: 7). All of these senses are applicable to the
destruction of the lost.
Linked with these 9 passages is the meaning "to lose." We
find 18 occurrences with this meaning, which we remember to have
been shared with the great Hebrew root AVAD. In the NT all the
passages are in the Gospels with one exception (2 John 8). It
is interesting and significant that 11 of these occurrences refer
to the losing of things, or to lost things, which can
subsequently be recovered or found, and 7 to a final loss from
which there is no recovery. This shows how the meaning of the
word changes with 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 (Mat.10: 6; 15: 24); that which was lost
that the Son of man came to save (Mat.18: 11; Luke 19: 37); the
lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son of Luke 15 (verse
4 (twice), 6, 8, 9, 24, 32). This shows 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 the final condition, as the usage in the
remaining 7 passages shows. These are Matt.10: 42 with its
parallel in Mark 9: 41 and all 5 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. I 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 10 times in the Gospels in the famous and
heart-searching sayings of the Lord about losing or destroying
the soul (Greek PSYCHE) in contrast to saving or finding it (Mat.
10: 39; 16: 25; Mark 8: 35; Luke 9: 24; 17: 33). We have
covered these passages before. 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 28 cases in which human death is expressed
in the NT by the word APOLLYMI. The passages are quite
straightforward. They are Mat.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 Cor. 10: 9; 15: 18; 2
Cor. 4: 9; Heb.11: 31.
Only 4 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 Cor. 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 Cor. 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 the prefix
to the main verb, so that we have the compound verb SYNAPOLETO.
The meaning is the same.
Thus in the minds of the NT 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 30 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.
(4) Matthew 10: 38; whoever find his life (Greek PSYCHEE,
"soul") will destroy it.
(5) Matthew 16: 25; again the same in rather different
words.
(6) Matthew 18: 14; the heavenly Father does not will any
little ones to perish.
(7) Matthew 26: 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 number 4.
(10) Luke 4: 34; the same as number 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 number 4.
(13) Luke 9:25; parallel with the last.
(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 number 4.
(17) Luke 17: 33; the same as number 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, but the two concepts 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 number 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 effects, it clearly refers to the
final fate of the wicked. The following verses show that the men
of whom the apostle wrote alive at the time of the writing.
(25) Romans 2: 12; to perish is the consequence of sin. The
following sentence says this will happen at the judgment.
(26) Romans 14: 15; the use of the word APPOLLYE "destroy"
in this passage raises difficult theological problems, discussion
of which does not come within our scope here. Perhaps the
translation "lose" 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 Cor. 8: 11; the facts and problems are the same here
as in number 26.
(29) 2 Cor. 2: 15; salvation is again contrasted with
perishing.
(30) 2 Cor. 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 Thes. 2: 10 ; the perishing are again of 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 eternal life and destruction or perishing,
and that never once has salvation or eternal life been contrasted
with everlasting misery or suffering. Some have thought that they
have seen it in Matthew 25: 46, a passage we shall take up in 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 never be
directly stated or made clear when the contrast is made in
scripture, so faithfully and lovingly full as it is of warnings,
between the destines of the saved and the lost?
FURTHER GREEK WORDS IN THE NT
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 OT 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 for
everlasting destruction in 2 Thes. 1: 9.
Another word is PHTHEIREIN. It occurs twice in 1 Cor.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 Rev.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 rev.8: 9.
Finally the word KATHAIREIN is used of the destruction of
the seven nations in Canaan (Acts 13: 19) (in quotation from
Deut. 7: 1). It is not used of the final destruction of the
wicked.
................................
End of part one from the chapter called "The Doom of the Lost" in
Basil Atkinson's book entitled "Life and Immortality." To be
continued with part two from the same chapter.
8. Reward of the Wicked #2
The Doom of the Lost
Yes, Jesus shall come with angels, on a cloud, to punish
many wicked and to raise the dead saints and glorify them. All
this I have covered in detail in many other studies.
This passage in 2 Thessalonians is the same time as that in
Revelation 14: 9-11.
Jesus will use some kind of fire power to torment and
destroy His enemies. If fire is thrown at you, and you are on
fire, it is indeed torment and pain until you are dead.
So far, nothing too unusual here. The enemies of Jesus, will
upon His return, be put to death in the torment of fire and
brimstone. Their death will not be some painless "lethal
injection" of a drug that puts you to death quietly and
painlessly, but the death of Jesus' enemies at His coming will be
fire-fully horrific, and be torment until they are dead from the
fire and brimstone.
Then we have the words in verse 11, "And the SMOKE of their
torment ascends up for ever and ever...."
Notice, it does NOT say, "And they were living for ever and
ever in painful torment" or "And they lived forever in the fire,
with painful suffering."
It is the SMOKE of their TORMENT, yes the end result of the
fire and brimstone that will kill them, put them to death (and we
have seen in the many other studies on this Website exactly what
death IS), is that they will die, and the atom particles of the
smoke of the fire that burns up those physical humans, will in
one sense, go up floating around for ever, or as the Greek reads,
"the ages of the ages."
When do atoms, that you can no longer see with the human
eye, of burned things that fire consumes, ever not be atoms?
Then, the phrase "the ages of ages" in this context (it is
used of God Himself in chapter 5: 14, and that context is
obviously meaning "eternity" as God is and will live for
eternity) may well be a figure of speech used by the inspired
writer, John the apostle, to tell us that their destruction by
fire and brimstone, is very permanent, for the conditions
of their death at this time. Sometimes in the Old Testament, the
word "forever" in regards to some things was "forever, within the
limit of conditions." The reader can look at the word "forever"
in Strong's Concordance, and see that sometimes as used in the
OT, it was forever within conditions, and did not mean for
eternity.
Here I think John has ended his thought on the enemies of
God, which he started back in verse 9. He has finished his
telling us that those enemies of God who worship the beast and
his image, and who are living right up to the very coming of
Jesus in a cloud, with the angels, will be killed with fire and
brimstone and will be burned up as that is what physical fire
does, it burns things up, and the smoke ascends, the atoms of
fire and smoke eventually become invisible to the human eye, but
they are still up there, for all practical purposes (maybe no
practical purpose) for ever so to speak. For again I say,
when does physical atoms of anything physical give up being
physical atoms. I think only if God tells the physical to not be
physical and to not exist as physical any longer. Remember it is
written that God created all the physical and none physical
(spirit creatures etc.) of the whole universe from that which did
not exist (Colossians 1: 15-17).
I believe this is where we should have a full stop. After
the words "for ever and ever."
Then John goes back to another thought and to another time
period. The time period is when those enemies of God are fully
worshipping the beast and its image. They are living their
physical lives under the beast and its image. They have decided
to follow and live as the beast and its image tell them. They are
in a "big brother is watching you" life and society. Think what
it will one day be like to have the beast power and its image
ruling over millions of people. A dictatorship, a power that
governs your every move, how you must think, how you must act,
how you must live your life 24 hours a day. It matters
not whether it is day or night, if you are awake, if you are
doing anything while not sleeping, you must be governed by this
beast and its image power. Step out of line with its teachings,
orders, wishes, governance, and you are heading for such trouble
that such actions could cost you your life. The book of
Revelation tells us that many true Christians will indeed die
under the end-time Babylon beast and its image, when it rules
many nations.
Those who live under its power will have to watch their
every step, even their words of speech, certainly how they act in
their work time and in their leisure time. It will indeed be the
time when the all seeing eye of the Babylon beast will be
monitoring every person alive under its rulership. Such a way of
life for those under the beast and its image can hardly be said
to be "rest." God through the apostle John, said such people
living and worshipping the beast and its image will have "no rest
day or night."
This has nothing to do with after they are dead. It has
nothing to do with them having a natural immortal soul, that will
be punished forever in some fire that gives them pain but never
burns them up. It has all to do with when they are living their
physical life under the dictatorship of the Babylon beast power.
Truly they will have no peace of mind, they will have no mental
rest, no emotional rest, they will be in constant mental turmoil
knowing they are being watched in everything they say and do, at
night time or in the day time.
Christians will have peace of mind, they will have rest in
mind, for although they may be put to death for NOT worshipping
the beast and its image, they know they are one with God the
Father and Jesus Christ. Those who will keep the commandments of
God and have the faith of Jesus, may die under the beast
government but they will have "rest" both in their minds and in
the grave, until Jesus returns to raise them from the dead
into glorified life (Rev. 14:12,13; 11:15-19).
I see this passage of Scripture in Revelation 14 being
divided into two sections, two thoughts if you will. The first
starts with verse 9 and ends with "for ever and ever" in verse
11, and there we should put a full stop. It is the thought and
the teaching of what will happen to those who worship the beast
and its image, and who are alive at the coming of Jesus in power
and glory. They will be killed in a death of fire and brimstone.
Then the second thought and teaching begins in verse 11 with
"And they had no rest." This thought is concerning "rest" of the
peace of mind. Those worshipping the beast and its image will
have no rest of mind when awake either night or day, while those
who serve God and keep His commandments and have Jesus' faith,
will have rest in peace of mind, even if they rest in the sleep
of death from the persecution of the beast power.
This section of inspired Scripture does not in any way
contradict all the plain easy to understand passages of Scripture
that tell us that man does not have a natural immortal soul, that
if a person dies being a sinner and unsaved, that they will burn
in a hell-fire that will give them physical pain for all
eternity.
God is a kind and merciful God. If someone does not want to
be "saved" into His Kingdom and eternal life, then they will one
day be burnt up and be ashes under the feet of the righteous.
They will die and will never exist again, their punishment for
turning down God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ will be
that they die and do not exist in any way, shape, or form, with
no thoughts, mind....just simply not existing. For those
accepting Jesus as their savior and serving God, there will be
GLORIFIED LIFE that can hardly be imagined, so great and so
wonderful will it be for all eternity.
..........................
Written June 2003
All studies by Keith Hunt and on this Website, may be copied,
published, emailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr.
Hunt trusts nothing will be changed (except for spelling and
punctuation errors) without his consent.
Revelation 14:11?Will sinners live in a painful hell-fire for eternity? by
Keith Hunt
The subject of DEATH, natural immortality of the Soul, the
RESURRECTION, and the reward of the wicked (do they burn in a
hell-fire for ever?), has been covered by the late Dr. Basil
Atkinson, and by myself, in numerous studies on this Website (see
under "Death, then what?" - "Enoch, Moses and Elijah" - "Mansions
in the Sky?" - "Will we get to heaven?").
There is one other passage, that gives people trouble, and
that is Revelation 14:9-11. It has not been covered in-depth, so
I want to try and do that in this study. But first there are
important Bible study principles we must understand.
1. There are passages in the Bible that are indeed hard to
understand. The apostle Peter acknowledge such was the case in
referring to the apostle Paul's writings. "And account that the
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved
brother Paul also according to the wisdom given him has written
unto you. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these
things; in which ARE SOME THINGS HARD TO UNDERSTAND, which they
that are unlearned and unstable, wrest, as they do also the
other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2 Peter 3: 15-16).
God has at times, inspired some passage of Scripture to be
"hard to understand" on the surface, or putting it another way,
seemingly to contradict many plain easy to understand passage and
verses of the Bible.
2. People "unlearned" as Peter said, do often west or
misunderstand these hard to understand passage, to their own hurt
and even destruction. I do not think Peter had in mind here, when
he said "unlearned," those who did not have "theological degrees"
or theological training in some established Theology school,
after all Peter himself had none of that, for he was a fisherman
by trade. No, I think Peter meant by using the word "unlearned"
as those who had not studied the Bible from cover to cover,
reading it all, and able to rightly put together ALL passages and
verses on a particular subject, knowing that you understand the
hard verses in the light of the easy plain verses, not the other
way around. And that there cannot be any contradictions in God's
word, although there may seem to be some.
3. On just about all Bible subjects there are plain easy to
understand verses on that particular subject. Those verses should
be taken first and THEN the hard verses SECOND. When we do this,
in that order, we can usually come to understand and interpret
the hard verses.
4. It is important to remember that the original Old
Testament and the original New Testament of Hebrew and Greek (the
old being written in Hebrew and the New written in Greek) did NOT
have punctuation of sentences and paragraphs.
5. It is important to have in mind some of the keys to be
able to understand some of the passages in the prophetic books,
like Revelation. I have covered the basics of those in another
study called "Points on Prophecy" which I ask the reading to
study. It is under the heading "Prophecy" on this Website.
6. The Bible does use "figures of speech" at times. So much
so, that Dr. Bullinger thought it necessary to write a one
thousand plus page book on the subject of "Figures of Speech in
the Bible."
Now, with the above in mind and in hand, I think we can come
to understand Revelation 14: 9-11.
We enter by knowing that the Bible has many clear, plain,
easy to read verses, that show us that mankind was not ever given
a natural immortal soul, that death is death, not life, and that
people do NOT continue to think, speak, and walk around a heaven,
if they have been "good Christians" nor do they burn forever with
moans of pain in some fire that never burns them up, if they died
being "unsaved."
These verses then in Revelation 14: 9-11 do NOT contradict
the rest of the Bible passages on this subject of natural
immortality and hell-fire.
The context of Revelation 14 9-11 is NEAR the very end of
this age, when the end-time Babylon will come crashing down. It
is very near the time when the Son of man comes in a cloud with a
crown on His head, to reap the harvest of human lives (verses
14-20). We see that those who worship the beast and his image
shall "drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out
without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb" (verse 10.
This ties in with 2 Thessalonians chapter one. "And to you
who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be
REVEALED from heaven with His mighty angels. In flaming FIRE,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction (the destruction is everlasting or as the
Greek can be read, "age-lasting" destruction - the 1,000 year age
that is now going to commence with Jesus' coming in powerful
glory) from the glory and power. When (the time frame) He shall
COME to be glorified in His saints (when the saints will be
resurrected to glory in the resurrection at Jesus' return) and to
be admired in all them that believe...in THAT day" (verses 7-10).
Yes, Jesus shall come with angels, on a cloud, to punish
many wicked and to raise the dead saints and glorify them. All
this I have covered in detail in many other studies.
This passage in 2 Thessalonians is the same time as that in
Revelation 14: 9-11.
Jesus will use some kind of fire power to torment and
destroy His enemies. If fire is thrown at you, and you are on
fire, it is indeed torment and pain until you are dead.
So far, nothing too unusual here. The enemies of Jesus, will
upon His return, be put to death in the torment of fire and
brimstone. Their death will not be some painless "lethal
injection" of a drug that puts you to death quietly and
painlessly, but the death of Jesus' enemies at His coming will be
fire-fully horrific, and be torment until they are dead from the
fire and brimstone.
Then we have the words in verse 11, "And the SMOKE of their
torment ascends up for ever and ever...."
Notice, it does NOT say, "And they were living for ever and
ever in painful torment" or "And they lived forever in the fire,
with painful suffering."
It is the SMOKE of their TORMENT, yes the end result of the
fire and brimstone that will kill them, put them to death (and we
have seen in the many other studies on this Website exactly what
death IS), is that they will die, and the atom particles of the
smoke of the fire that burns up those physical humans, will in
one sense, go up floating around for ever, or as the Greek reads,
"the ages of the ages."
When do atoms, that you can no longer see with the human
eye, of burned things that fire consumes, ever not be atoms?
Then, the phrase "the ages of ages" in this context (it is
used of God Himself in chapter 5: 14, and that context is
obviously meaning "eternity" as God is and will live for
eternity) may well be a figure of speech used by the inspired
writer, John the apostle, to tell us that their destruction by
fire and brimstone, is very permanent, for the conditions
of their death at this time. Sometimes in the Old Testament, the
word "forever" in regards to some things was "forever, within the
limit of conditions." The reader can look at the word "forever"
in Strong's Concordance, and see that sometimes as used in the
OT, it was forever within conditions, and did not mean for
eternity.
Here I think John has ended his thought on the enemies of
God, which he started back in verse 9. He has finished his
telling us that those enemies of God who worship the beast and
his image, and who are living right up to the very coming of
Jesus in a cloud, with the angels, will be killed with fire and
brimstone and will be burned up as that is what physical fire
does, it burns things up, and the smoke ascends, the atoms of
fire and smoke eventually become invisible to the human eye, but
they are still up there, for all practical purposes (maybe no
practical purpose) for ever so to speak. For again I say,
when does physical atoms of anything physical give up being
physical atoms. I think only if God tells the physical to not be
physical and to not exist as physical any longer. Remember it is
written that God created all the physical and none physical
(spirit creatures etc.) of the whole universe from that which did
not exist (Colossians 1: 15-17).
I believe this is where we should have a full stop. After
the words "for ever and ever."
Then John goes back to another thought and to another time
period. The time period is when those enemies of God are fully
worshipping the beast and its image. They are living their
physical lives under the beast and its image. They have decided
to follow and live as the beast and its image tell them. They are
in a "big brother is watching you" life and society. Think what
it will one day be like to have the beast power and its image
ruling over millions of people. A dictatorship, a power that
governs your every move, how you must think, how you must act,
how you must live your life 24 hours a day. It matters
not whether it is day or night, if you are awake, if you are
doing anything while not sleeping, you must be governed by this
beast and its image power. Step out of line with its teachings,
orders, wishes, governance, and you are heading for such trouble
that such actions could cost you your life. The book of
Revelation tells us that many true Christians will indeed die
under the end-time Babylon beast and its image, when it rules
many nations.
Those who live under its power will have to watch their
every step, even their words of speech, certainly how they act in
their work time and in their leisure time. It will indeed be the
time when the all seeing eye of the Babylon beast will be
monitoring every person alive under its rulership. Such a way of
life for those under the beast and its image can hardly be said
to be "rest." God through the apostle John, said such people
living and worshipping the beast and its image will have "no rest
day or night."
This has nothing to do with after they are dead. It has
nothing to do with them having a natural immortal soul, that will
be punished forever in some fire that gives them pain but never
burns them up. It has all to do with when they are living their
physical life under the dictatorship of the Babylon beast power.
Truly they will have no peace of mind, they will have no mental
rest, no emotional rest, they will be in constant mental turmoil
knowing they are being watched in everything they say and do, at
night time or in the day time.
Christians will have peace of mind, they will have rest in
mind, for although they may be put to death for NOT worshipping
the beast and its image, they know they are one with God the
Father and Jesus Christ. Those who will keep the commandments of
God and have the faith of Jesus, may die under the beast
government but they will have "rest" both in their minds and in
the grave, until Jesus returns to raise them from the dead
into glorified life (Rev. 14:12,13; 11:15-19).
I see this passage of Scripture in Revelation 14 being
divided into two sections, two thoughts if you will. The first
starts with verse 9 and ends with "for ever and ever" in verse
11, and there we should put a full stop. It is the thought and
the teaching of what will happen to those who worship the beast
and its image, and who are alive at the coming of Jesus in power
and glory. They will be killed in a death of fire and brimstone.
Then the second thought and teaching begins in verse 11 with
"And they had no rest." This thought is concerning "rest" of the
peace of mind. Those worshipping the beast and its image will
have no rest of mind when awake either night or day, while those
who serve God and keep His commandments and have Jesus' faith,
will have rest in peace of mind, even if they rest in the sleep
of death from the persecution of the beast power.
This section of inspired Scripture does not in any way
contradict all the plain easy to understand passages of Scripture
that tell us that man does not have a natural immortal soul, that
if a person dies being a sinner and unsaved, that they will burn
in a hell-fire that will give them physical pain for all
eternity.
God is a kind and merciful God. If someone does not want to
be "saved" into His Kingdom and eternal life, then they will one
day be burnt up and be ashes under the feet of the righteous.
They will die and will never exist again, their punishment for
turning down God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ will be
that they die and do not exist in any way, shape, or form, with
no thoughts, mind....just simply not existing. For those
accepting Jesus as their savior and serving God, there will be
GLORIFIED LIFE that can hardly be imagined, so great and so
wonderful will it be for all eternity.
..........................
Written June 2003
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