THE TEACHINGS OF PAUL.—CONTINUED
By C. W. Stone
Is the Soul Immortal?—No. 17.
THE TEACHINGS OF PAUL.—CONTINUED.
ANOTHER reason for thinking that Paul did not believe in the immortal-soul theory is that he preached the resurrection. Both doctrines cannot be true. The immaterialist says that the body is a clog, that the spirit, the deathless soul, when freed from its prison house, the body, enters at once upon a higher life, and is capable of higher enjoyments. If this is true, why have a resurrection? Why call those pure spirits from Heaven, raise that old body, and thrust them into it again, when they are so much better off without it? No man would thank God for a resurrection so much worse than useless. But the resurrection is no such miserable farce as that. It is something very desirable. It is the great step in the fulfillment of God's “promises” to the prophets, the event in which the hope of the true church centers. Let us prove this by Paul. In Heb. 11 he speaks of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and others; and he says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.” Verse 40 indicates that they have not received them yet, and will not receive them until we are ready to join with them. These promises embraced eternal life and the earth for an inheritance. Gen. 22 : 17, 18 ; 26 : 4 ; Isa. 66 : 22, 24 ; Matt. 5 : 5. As they died not having received the promises, the first step in the fulfillment of God's promises must be the resurrection. In Acts 26, in his speech before Agrippa, Paul says, “and now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” Here we see that this hope for which Paul was imprisoned was a hope in the resurrection. He had been preaching it, affirming that Jesus had been raised from the dead, Acts 25 : 19, and he says the twelve tribes hope to come to that promise. Paul says that he was willing to lose all things in this world if he might by any means attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Phil. 3 : 8–11. He regarded it as something of very great importance, which it would not be, were the soul capable of living without the body, and did it go to Heaven at death. Finally, the imperative necessity of a resurrection in order to realize the promises is so clearly set forth in 1 Cor. 15 that the question of the condition of man in death is fairly settled thereby. Paul says, “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” Yes, if there is no resurrection from the dead, the righteous ones are lost. This proves conclusively that the righteous do not go to be with Christ at death, for if they did they would be just as well off without a resurrection as with one, and better too, according to the popular theory; but Paul says that if the dead rise not, even those who sleep in Jesus are lost. The only way to understand this is that they are DEAD, and then we can see why they are eternally lost without a resurrection. The points we have endeavored to sustain in this number and our last are these:— 1. That Paul teaches that men do not go to Heaven at death. Reasons. (a) Paul teaches that the Judgment is future, thus rendering it impossible to dispose of cases at death. (b) He teaches that in the Judgment day, one class to be judged are dead. These cannot be in Heaven; and it is evident that the other class, the quick, or living, are those living on the earth during the Judgment, just before the coming of Christ. 2. Paul declares that even the righteous who die cannot get to Heaven without a resurrection; for if the dead rise not, they are perished. On this point, he has given us the case of David to illustrate; and Paul and Peter establish the fact that David is yet in his grave.