The Only Source of Life
By Albert M. Dart
Is Man by Nature Immortal?—May He Secure Immortality?—If So, How? This is the first of several articles by Elder Dart on the general theme of the nature of man and the immortality of the soul. Each article will treat some phase of the subject independently. PERHAPS no theme studied by the human family has called forth more serious consideration, or deeper thought, from the ablest minds, than has the nature of man. It is our purpose to discuss the subject from the standpoint of the Scriptures, believing that man’s Creator has revealed His purpose concerning man in the Bible. Is it not reasonable to conclude that as man is a created being, all his efforts to solve the problems of his nature and destiny apart from the mind of his Creator would be futile? “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” Rom. 9:20. “This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.” Isa. 43:21. How formed? “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.” Gen. 2:7. Here is the source of life; and great though the efforts, no one has been able to show other source than this. Man’s relationship to his Maker is his relationship295to life. His relationship to his Creator is determined by his own choice; for God has endowed man with the power of choice, that he might be supremely happy; for who is happy when forced into something that he does not choose? Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, chose to be out of harmony with their Creator, and thus chose death; “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” “And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden.” Now man, whom God formed for His own pleasure (Rev. 4:11), is in a dying condition. “Dying thou shalt die.” Gen. 2:17, margin. If no provision is made for him, by his Creator, beyond the one indicated by the sentence pronounced upon him, he cannot live forever either in heaven or in hell, in bliss or in torment. It was “lest he live forever” in a sinful state that he was driven from his Eden home. Is his case hopeless? Must he be as though he had not been? Obadiah 16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Webster thus defines “perish”: “To be destroyed; to come to nothing; to be ruined or lost; to die.” The nature of man is apparent. In sin he is perishable, corruptible, mortal. As a believer in Christ he has everlasting life—the thing that he lost when he separated himself from his Maker by sin. But what shall we believe about Christ to get everlasting life? What did He do to secure life to us? “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8. How would a person be a believer in Christ if he did not believe that Christ died for him? Would it not be cruel to refuse to believe that He died for us, when God says that He did? But if we believe that Christ died for us, because we were sinners, we must believe that man dies; “because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead.” 2 Cor. 5:14. The Sinner Counted as Dead
Thus a man in sin is counted as dead. “And you, being dead in your sins.” Col. 2:13. So if one is not saved from one’s sins, he will “perish,” “come to nothing,” be as though he had not been; in short, will die. Again it is proved that man’s relationship to God determines his relationship to life. When man separated himself from God through sin, the provision for him to be restored to divine favor through Christ applied. His relationship now to Christ is his relationship to life. He cannot reject Christ and live; and if he does not live, he “comes to nothing,” ceases to exist. “He that believeth on the Son hath [by faith] everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. The wrath of God is against sin. Rom. 1:18. Unless man is saved from the wrath of God, he must meet the same end that sin meets. Who would claim that sin is to be eternally perpetuated? Nay, dear reader, Christ died for us. “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Rom. 5:9. Some one asks, “Does it make any particular difference what we believe about the nature of man? Just believe in Christ, and you will be all right.” But our belief in Christ is determined by our attitude toward His word—the record He has left. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” “He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.” 1 John 5:11, 12, 7, 10. Does it make a difference? Yes; the atonement is at stake. The facts concerning the nature of man strike at the very foundation of the plan of salvation; and to treat them with indifference is fatal. There is no provision for life outside of Christ. Yet it must be admitted that if man is immortal, he must live forever, whether rightly related to God or not; but the facts of redemption call for conditional immortality. This will be considered in our next article.