Do we really have an immortal soul?
What does the Bible say about it?
It's time to UNLEARN the lies.
UNLEARN
Hey, welcome to UNLEARN.
My name is Lex, and I'd like to invite you to join us each week as we UNLEARN the lies
and dig deeper into the truth of God's Word.
Now, let's get started.
Popular teachings about life after death center around the idea that a person’s soul is
immortal and continues to live on after the death of their body.
This idea has been very popular throughout history, especially among the Egyptians and
Greeks.
Most religious and philosophical views about the afterlife suggest that this existence
takes place in a spiritual realm, not a physical one.
But what does the Bible have to say about life after death?
To get the proper understanding of life and death, we need to start in the beginning.
The first few chapters of Genesis explain the origin of life, the cause of death, and
the need for salvation.
“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.”
- Genesis 2:7
Notice the Bible does not say that God took a soul and placed it in the body.
This means the soul is not pre-existent, and that it was created by God in the body.
Historically speaking, in Christianity, the two main theories concerning where the soul
originates are creationism and traducianism.
Creationism teaches that God creates a soul for each body at conception.
This means that every time an embryo is formed in a womb, God actively creates a soul and
breathes life into the person.
This was the predominant belief in Eastern Christianity, while traducianism was more
dominant in the West.
Traducianism teaches that a person’s soul is derived from the souls of his or her parents.
This teaching is based on the idea that Adam’s soul was created directly by God, then Eve’s
soul was brought forth out from Adam, and when Adam and Eve conceived Cain and Abel,
their souls were derived from the combination of Adam and Eve.
This theory seems to help explain the transmission of original sin.
Both creationism and traducianism explain that the soul comes into existence at conception.
However, the pre-existence theory teaches that every soul existed before conception,
and enters the body sometime before birth.
Some adherents to this theory believe the soul is also eternal.
It’s important to note that Greek Philosophy, Hinduism, and Mormonism all affirm the pre-existence
of the soul, while it has been almost universally denied in both Christianity and Judaism throughout
history.
Hindus and Mormons also affirm the belief in the immortality of the soul, and not just
pre-existence but also the eternal existence of the soul.
This means that every person has existed eternally with God or as a god.
According to Hinduism, Krishna said,
“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future
shall any of us cease to be.”
(Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Deluxe)
The idea that we have an immortal soul plays well into the Hindu belief of reincarnation.
They believe that every person continues on an endless cycle of death and rebirth until
they reach the final point of liberation.
Their desire is to end the cycle, and cease to exist.
To them, salvation is the end of life, but for those who believe the Bible, salvation
is the gift of eternal life.
Similar to Hinduism, the Mormon Doctrine and Covenants states,
“Man was also in the beginning with God.
Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.”
(The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants)
The Mormons believe that we are co-eternal with God, and that our soul has always existed
with God, but if we’re immortal beings that exist eternally, then we were not created
by God.
When you say that humans have an immortal soul, you are essentially saying that we are
gods.
This doctrine is completely unbiblical, and has no place in Christian thought.
The Bible plainly tells us that only God is immortal.
“…He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone
has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to
whom be honor and everlasting power.
Amen.”
- 1 Timothy 6:15-16
This is why it’s so important for us to understand the Biblical account of creation.
The Bible tells us that man was created and that he “became a living soul”.
We did not exist eternally in an incorporeal state before putting on flesh, to live a short
earthly existence and later return to life without a body.
The Bible tells us that we were created with a body and did not exist prior to the formation
of our flesh.
By saying we have an immortal soul, we are robbing Yeshua of his glory and exalting ourselves
as equals with Christ!
He is the only pre-existent soul to put on flesh, we were created in flesh, but He descended
from heaven and put on flesh and dwelt among us for a time.
This is one of the glorious mysteries about the nature of the Messiah, and by claiming
that we share in his pre-existence, we diminish Him.
Listen to the way Paul describes the nature of the Messiah.
“…who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the
likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the
point of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those
on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
- Philippians 2:6-11
The Mormons have no problem with the idea of an immortal soul, because they consider
themselves to be co-eternal with Christ.
Their theology leads them to believe that they can be gods of their own planet someday.
However, if we take seriously the Biblical account of creation, then we cannot conclude
that we are anything more than created beings.
The Bible also tells us that because of sin, humans have not been given access to the tree
of life, which is why we do not live forever.
“Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and
evil.
And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
forever…
So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming
sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
- Genesis 3:22,24
But, the Bible also tells us that those who are saved will be given access to the tree
of life.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of
the Paradise of God."
- Revelation 2:7
“Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of
life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”
- Revelation 22:14
The Bible never even mentions an immortal soul or life outside the body, yet many Christians
now believe in an immortal soul that continues living after our body dies.
So, where do these ideas come from and why have they become so popular today?
The Greek philosophers and Gnostics have had significant influence on this line of thinking.
“For we are influenced always more or less by the Greek, Platonic idea, that the body
dies, yet the soul is immortal.
Such an idea is utterly contrary to the Israelite consciousness, and is nowhere found in the
Old Testament.”
(The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
The Greeks believed the body hindered the soul, and they looked forward to the time
when the soul would be free from its shackles.
They thought the soul was immortal, but was trapped in a mortal body, and they looked
forward to the day when their soul would be set free from its body.
This idea is quite different from the Hebrew understanding about life being a gift from
God.
The creation is not something to escape, it’s a blessing that we should delight in.
We shouldn’t be seeking to escape our bodies, but rather, rejoicing in the life we have
been given.
Sadly, the Biblical understanding of these things has been forgotten, and replaced with
Greek philosophy.
“Unlike the Greeks, who largely understood a person as a soul entrapped in a body, the
ancient Hebrews depicted the person as a psychosomatic (body-soul) unity.
When this body-soul union failed in death, the Hebrews did not visualize the escape of
the soul from the body, but the actual death of the self.”
(Holman Bible Dictionary)
Greek philosophy has led believers away from Biblical truth, and I believe it’s this
type of Platonic thinking that has also led people to devalue life on earth.
Many people have the attitude that they are just passing time, waiting for the moment
they get to go to heaven.
They see this life as a hindrance to their “real life” that they imagine will take
place when their soul goes to heaven.
Traditional teachings about the afterlife are based on the belief that everyone has
an immortal soul, and that soul must go somewhere when their body dies.
This concept of an incorporeal and immortal soul is an ancient belief embraced by many
Pagan religions, and is not at all Biblical.
“The belief in a continuous life of the soul, which underlies primitive Ancestor Worship
and the rites of necromancy, practiced also in ancient Israel, was discouraged and suppressed
by prophet and lawgiver as antagonistic to the belief in Yhwh, the God of life…
As a matter of fact, eternal life was ascribed exclusively to God and to celestial beings
who “eat of the tree of life and live forever”, whereas man by being driven out of the Garden
of Eden was deprived of the opportunity of eating the food of immortality”
(The Jewish Encyclopedia)
The idea that we have an immortal soul goes against the very foundations of the Bible.
The Book of Genesis says that we were denied immortality because of sin, and the curse
of sin is death.
But the enemy continues to deceive people, by telling them, “You will not surely die...
you will be like God”
It’s dangerous to assume something that the Bible does not actually say, yet many
people assume the soul is immortal, contrary to what the Bible says.
Many false doctrines have been built on assumptions, and we need to be on guard against those things.
The Bible should be our source for doctrine, and not the assumptions and philosophies of
men.
“The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body
is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and
is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture.”
(The Jewish Encyclopedia)
The belief that we have an immortal soul was not taught by the first century apostles,
and appears to have been brought into Christian thought at a much later date.
We can see how the immortal soul concept is harmful to proper Biblical understanding by
simply looking at the heresies it gave rise to in the early church.
One particular heresy, known as Gnosticism, placed tremendous weight in the immortality
of the soul.
The most well known Gnostic in Church History was the heretic, Marcion.
He believed in a dualism between body and soul, and thought that humans were bound to
their evil physical bodies and could only escape by gaining knowledge.
Gnostic dualism led him to conclude that there are two coexisting gods, and the God of Creation
was an evil being, and the created world was an evil place that we must escape.
Marcion taught that Jesus was the “good” god who came to earth to redeem mankind from
the evil physical creation of the God of the Old Testament.
According to Marcion, Jesus came to save human souls from the world of matter.
Marcion’s influence was significant enough that his teachings were opposed in the writings
of many church fathers including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian
and others.
Despite this opposition, Marcionite churches spread throughout the Roman empire, and persevered
until the fourth century.
Unfortunately, some of Marcion’s teachings have survived even unto present day Christianity.
A third century theologian named Origen, believed that each human soul was created prior to
conception, and he theorized that human souls were pre-existent in heaven before the creation
of the world (similar to what the modern day Mormons believe).
“but we know that the soul, which is immaterial and invisible in its nature, exists in no
material place, without having a body suited to the nature of that place…
When it comes into the world at birth, it casts off the integuments which it needed
in the womb; and before doing this, it puts on another body suited for its life upon earth.”
(Origen of Alexandria: Against Celsus)
In the thirteenth century, a Catholic theologian named Thomas Aquinas, taught that human souls
are immortal.
He postulated that the soul does not rely on bodily organs and therefore could exist
without a body.
Since he believed the soul is a form that does not consist of matter, he concluded that
it cannot be destroyed by any natural process, and is independent from the body.
“But the human soul always remains a substance capable of subsisting of itself apart from
the body, although the operations of its lower faculties would then necessarily be suspended.
Because of its intrinsic substantial union with the material of the organism, the two
principles result in one substantial being.
But since it is a spiritual being retaining spiritual activities, intrinsically independent
of the body, it is, as St. Thomas says, non totaliter immersa , not entirely submerged
in matter, as are the actuating forms of the animal and the plant.”
(The Catholic Encyclopedia)
The Roman Catholic church has long held to the belief in the immortal soul, and they
claim the idea of having a mortal soul is actually the heresy.
In doing so, they are denying the word of God which says, “the soul who sins shall
die.”
They seem to be in agreement with the serpent who said, “you will not surely die.”
This was actually one of the points of contention between the Catholic church and the Protestant
reformers.
Among the reformation leaders who taught against the immortality of the soul John Wycliffe,
William Tyndale, and Martin Luther are most notable.
They opposed the Catholic doctrines of the immortal soul, purgatory, and saint worship,
teaching that at death the soul sleeps until the resurrection.
Luther described the pope’s declaration about the immortal soul as being among the
“endless monstrosities in the Roman dunghill.”
The belief in our own mortality is foundational in the Bible, and vital to our understanding
of the power and significance of the gospel message.
We are mortal and will all face death, but thanks to our Messiah, we have the hope of
eternal life through the resurrection.
If we already possess immortality, then we have no need for a savior.
To claim that we have an immortal soul renders the gospel meaningless.
It should be unthinkable for anyone who claims to follow the Bible to believe in the natural
immortality of the soul.
The soul is not naturally immortal, that’s what makes the work of Yeshua so significant,
because He gives mortals the opportunity to become immortal.
In Christian theology, this view is commonly referred to as “conditional immortality”
(or conditionalism), because our immortality is based on certain conditions that must be
met.
This stands in direct opposition to the more popular belief in the “immortal soul.”
Conditionalism emphasizes our dependence upon God for life, and realizes that eternal life
is a gift from God that only the elect will receive.
In the Fifth Council of the Lateran, the Roman Catholic Church reaffirmed its belief in the
immortal soul, and condemned conditionalism as "erroneous assertions."
“we condemn and reject all those who insist that the intellectual soul is mortal…
For the soul not only truly exists of itself…
but it is also immortal” (Fifth Lateran Council 1512-17 A.D.)
They claim that the soul “exists of itself.”
That is pure blasphemy because any being that exists of itself is a god.
A being that exists of itself is one that exists by its own nature, without cause from
another.
To claim that we are self-existent beings is to claim that we were not created by God,
and that we have always existed on our own.
Yet, the Bible tells us that we were created by God, and that He is the one who “gives
life to all things.”
I acknowledge and accept the fact that right now I’m mortal, however, I also believe
the promise that we have been given in the Word of God that through Yeshua I can become
immortal.
I refuse to believe the Gnostic, pagan lie that has been endorsed by the Catholic church
that says I already possess immortality.
We are not self-existent beings, we exist only because God allows us to exist.
We will all die unless we are given the gift of eternal life.
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