As a book that claims to be God’s saving message to human beings, we would expect the Bible to be clear on what happens to us when we die. The Christadelphians believe that the Bible is definitive on this topic. We believe that the dead decay away, returning to dust like an old apple core and with just as much consciousness. Furthermore, it is our conviction that the only hope beyond the grave is resurrection from the dead. By resurrection we mean being brought back to life, to be the same person we were before we died.
This is very different from what many Christians believe. Most Christians believe that when we die a part of us lives on. It is described as an immaterial, immortal soul that is separate from the body, living on after the body dies. In line with this belief, countless of the deceased have had their immortal soul commended to a blissful existence in heaven.
It would be a surprise for some to learn that the term ‘immortal soul’ never occurs in the Bible. In fact, quite the opposite! In Ezekiel 18:1 God explicitly states, “…the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” So, we ask the question, what is the meaning of the word ‘soul’ in the Bible?
The word ‘soul’ first occurs in the Bible’s Old Testament, at Genesis 2:7, “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.” The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language and the term ‘living soul’ consists of two Hebrew words:
Living = (Chay), which means ‘alive.’
Soul = (Nephesh), which means ‘a breathing creature.’
When we read ‘living soul’ it simply denotes a living, breathing creature. This is an accurate description of our current state. In fact, the same term is used in Genesis 1:21 of whales and other creatures, “And God created great whales, and every living creature [‘Nephesh Chay’] that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” There is no implication of immortality in the Hebrew words ‘Nephesh Chay’ (translated ‘living soul’ and ‘living creature’).
Let’s look at some other examples of how the word ‘soul’ is used in the Bible. The word ‘soul/s’ can describe people such as those who went with Abram out of Haran. Genesis 12:5 says, “And Abram took … the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”
The word ‘soul’ can describe animals as well as people, for example in Numbers 31:28, “And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:”
‘Souls’ are spoken of in the Bible as being capable of hunger. We can see this from the following quotations: Proverbs 19:15, “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger,” and Lamentations 1:11, “All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul:”
In the Law of Moses, souls could be considered unclean if they touched an animal carcass. Refer to Leviticus 5:2, “Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.”
After reading the quotes above, we understand that souls are simply living, breathing creatures with a tangible bodily existence. Although the word soul occurs 700 times in the Old Testament and 180 times in the New Testament, it is never spoken of as being immortal or immaterial. Living souls like us are not only capable of death but naturally liable to it. That’s why we read words in the Psalms like: Psalm 22:29, “… none can keep alive his own soul,” Psalm 89:48, “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” and Psalm 78:50, “He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence…”
Jesus Christ speaks about the possibility of souls being lost in Mark 8:35-37. It is important to note that the words ‘life’ and ‘soul’ in these verses are the same Greek word in the original text: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” The absurdity of interpreting the word ‘soul’ to mean ‘immortal soul’ comes to light when we substitute it into the same passage: “For whosoever will save his immortal soul shall lose his immortal soul; but whosoever shall lose his immortal soul for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save his immortal soul. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own immortal soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his immortal soul?”
If we correctly understand the word soul to mean the life we have as living, breathing creatures, then the words of Jesus make sense and have a compelling moral implication. If we are willing to give up our life for Jesus Christ and the Gospel, then we have a hope of being saved from eternal death. If we gain all the riches in the world and lose our life what does it profit us? We will be no better off than a dead animal (refer to Ecclesiastes 9:4). Israel’s wise King Solomon contemplated the vanity of human life without God and came to this conclusion in Ecclesiastes 3:18-21, “I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.”
The Bible is clear; when we die, we return to dust. Psalm 104:28-29 says, “That thou [i.e. God] givest them they [humans] gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” When we die, we simply become a decaying corpse. When we are a decaying corpse there is no surviving consciousness, as we read in the following quotations: Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun,” and Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
Truly the plight of human life is serious! We are all going to die. If you believe in the Bible there is no reason to think that we are going to float off to heaven for eternity, after we die. Thankfully, the Bible does offer a REAL HOPE! The hope of the Bible is the resurrection! God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and he is described as the first fruits from the dead. 1Corinthians 15:20-22 says, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
If Jesus is the first fruits from the dead, that means that there is more fruit to come off the tree. We can be that fruit by being raised from the dead as well! Resurrection is the hope of the Bible.