Attic Fables

In today’s episode, I want to explore the concept of immortality. What does the Bible say about the immortality of our souls?

If you’ve been watching my recent podcasts, then you know we are in a series discussing the nature of hell. Specifically, I’m interested in knowing what the Bible says about the duration of hell. How long will the wicked suffer in hell?

First, we looked at God’s justice and learned that God’s punishment of sinners in hell is a good thing because it serves the justice of God. We also took note that the Bible says that God does not take pleasure in their punishment.

Next, we saw that the idea that sin is infinitely sinful is not found in the Bible. Therefore, the argument that sin is infinitely sinful cannot be used to support the idea of eternal suffering. I encourage you to watch those podcasts.

We are getting closer to an answer concerning the duration of hell, but first, we need to think about the immortality of the human soul. Does the Bible teach that our souls are immortal?

The answer to this question is significant because many Christians believe that the soul is inherently immortal, and because the soul is intrinsically immortal, it cannot be destroyed in hell. This is a philosophical argument for the belief that the wicked suffer in hell for all eternity.

If, however, our souls are not inherently immortal, meaning not intrinsically indestructible, our souls can be destroyed in the fires of hell. As Jesus said, “Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).”

In our last episode, we looked at eternal life and saw that eternal life is conditional. Only those who believe in Jesus gain eternal life. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life (John 5:24).”

This promise is repeated throughout the New Testament. Belief in Jesus is a necessary condition for eternal life. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Belief in Jesus is a necessary condition for eternal life.

The conditional aspect of eternal life suggests that the human soul is not inherently immortal. Think about the story of Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, God cast them out of the Garden of Eden. The reason God cast them out of the garden was to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life, which would give them immortality, Genesis 3:22-24.

God created Adam and Eve as mortal beings. They were mortal and needed the fruit from the Tree of Life to allow them to live forever. From this story in Genesis, we can conclude that Adam and Eve were not created immortal.

Finally, the Bible explicitly says that God can destroy the soul in hell and that God alone has immortality, Matthew 10:28 and 1 Timothy 6:16.

So, the Bible seems to indicate in three ways that our souls are not inherently or intrinsically immortal. 1) Salvation and eternal life are conditional. 2) The story of Adam and Eve seems to teach that they were created mortal. 3) The Bible says that God can destroy our souls in hell and that only God has immortality.

Since the Bible does not teach the inherent immortality of the soul, what happens to our souls when our bodies die? The body dies, but what about our soul? After our physical body expires, what happens to our spiritual part?

The Bible says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27).” We will all die physically. What happens next? What happens to our soul?

The fate of our souls after we die depends on our spiritual condition at the point of death. Jesus said that unless we believe in him, we will die in our sins, John 8:24. The Apostle Paul said that unbelievers are dead in their trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1.

Before we believe in Jesus, we are dead in our sins, and if we die physically before we believe, we will remain in this state of sin and spiritual death.

There are, therefore, two kinds of death: physical death and spiritual death. Furthermore, spiritual death has at least two dimensions: death while alive physically and death after physical death.

Let’s look briefly at each kind of spiritual death.

Spiritual death before eternal life is life without God. The Bible says,

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5).

Prior to believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we did not have spiritual life.

In our previous episode about eternal life, we defined eternal life as a personal relationship with God, see John 17:3. A person who does not have a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus lacks spiritual life. They have a soul and spirit, but they do not have spiritual life. Unbelievers are spiritually dead.

The other kind of spiritual death happens after physical death. The Bible says that the fate of unbelievers is death, Romans 6:23. The Bible calls this death the second death, Revelation 20:14. Those who never believe in Jesus will “suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).”

The Bible says that those who do not believe in Jesus perish. They are like chaff blown away by the wind. They will be destroyed. They will suffer the second death, which is eternal death.

Physical death has been described as the separation of the soul from the body. If this is an accurate description, then the eternal death of unbelievers can be described as eternal separation from God.

A relationship with God must start in this life before we die. There is no opportunity to find God after we die. You only have this life to believe in Jesus. There is no second chance in hell.

If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God will give you eternal life, but you must believe now, in this life, before you die. As Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die (John 11:25-26).”

Death is not the end for the believer. All those who put their faith in Jesus will continue to live even after they die. Unbelievers, however, must face God’s judgment, where they will be consigned to the fires of hell, where they will suffer eternal destruction.

So, my question to you is, have you put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

You may not have tomorrow, but you do have today. Why wait another moment? God is waiting for you to believe. Put your faith in Jesus. Ask him to forgive you your sins and believe that when he died. He died to take away your sins.