The Source of All Life—The First Teacher of Inherent Immortality—God Has Immortality and Bestows It upon Man on Conditions
By HAMPTON W. COTTRELL
We read that it was God “who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9. And again referring to Christ, the apostle says: “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him.” Col. 1:16.
The Three Scandinavian Kings
The element of life as manifest in man and throughout all nature, is an essential factor in the creation of God and is in both heaven and earth. Surely then the life possessed by man is an element of the creation of God, as stated in the above quotation. Life may be eternal, or it may be limited in the length of its duration.
The Life of Man Limited
Relative to the creation of man we read, “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.” Note that the text declares that the organization made of the dust of the ground was man. But man did not live, so God breathed into him the element of life, that He had created for man’s use, and he—man—became a living soul. The text does not say that an immortal soul was breathed into man. Neither does it say that God breathed into him an immortal spirit. Neither does the text or the context affirm that the eternal, conscious, deathless Spirit of God was breathed into the nostrils of the lifeless man. Surely then no such act occurred.
God organized matter that He had made and called it man. This organization, or body of matter, was God’s body, for He made it. All bodies are God’s bodies in the restricted sense that He created them. But would any one venture to assume the premise, and to build a theory thereupon, that the man created of matter organized into a body, is the very body of the personal God, simply because God made it? We think no one would risk his reputation by so doing.
The statement is frequently made that man is by nature immortal, for God breathed into him the breath of life, and so he must live eternally, either in heavenly joy or in the distress of the condemned. From the same hypothesis one may reason that all the creatures that come from the hand of God, and to which He gave life, must likewise live eternally. The pantheist maintains that all life is eternal, because it is of God; and that wherever life is, God is. Thus he bows down and worships God in the tree, the flower, and the grass.
The Source of All Life
All life is of God. He is the fountain of life. But not all life is the very personal life of the spiritual Deity; for then there would truly be “gods many, and lords many.” The theory that God’s eternal life is the vitalizing, energizing power in every man, would array God against Himself. Would God in one man destroy, murder, debauch His own life—Himself—in other men? Christ said, “Every . . . house divided against itself shall not stand.”
A setting of terms that would prove the natural life of Adam and all men to be the personal, eternal life of God because it was “God breathed,” would equally prove all creation to be the spiritual, personal body of God; for the creation of matter and its organization, like the life of man and all nature, came from the hand of God.
Let us associate a few texts of Scripture, “And the Lord God formed man. . . . and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Gen. 2:7. Thus God did for man. Likewise God made all the animals of earth and sea. They lived. It is written of the time of the Flood: “And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life.” Gen. 7:21, 22, A. R. V. And again we quote: “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils [margin, ‘that is, the breath which God gave him’].” Job 27:3. Note that in all God’s animate creation He imparted life through the breath.
Satan Taught Inherent Immortality
Satan was the originator and first teacher of the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul. The Lord had said of the tree in the midst of the garden, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17. Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die.” Gen. 3:4. Of the character of Satan the apostle says: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44. Surely then no one ought to believe him.
Man Is Mortal
The patriarch Job believed that man was mortal, for said he, “Shall mortal man be more just than God?” Job 4:17.
The Creator Is Immortal
The term “immortal” is used but once in the Bible, and is applied to God only. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” 1 Tim. 1:17.
God Only Has Immortality
The apostle Paul, speaking of God, says He is “the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality.” 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.
Sentence of Death
The sentence of death was passed upon man by the Lord, “Thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17. Again He says, “Man dieth, and3wasteth away.” Job 14:10. But the immortalist will say, “God does not mean this of man—the soul—but has reference to the body.” But hear His further witness: “Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. 18:4, 20. We are again brought back to the inevitable conclusion that immortality is not an inherent nature in man.
Obtained Through Christ
Immortality is a quality to be sought, and may be found in Christ, for it is brought to light by Him in whom death is abolished. Note these words: “Who hath saved us [penitent sinners], and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Tim. 1:9, 10. “To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality [God will give], eternal life.” Rom. 2:7.
We have quoted in this article every text in the Bible in which the term “immortality” is used, except 1 Cor. 15:53, 54. The subject under consideration in these verses is that of the resurrection of the just, at which time immortality will be imparted to them. The Bible states very clearly that immortality is a quality to be obtained through Christ. “And,” said Jesus, “the Scripture can not be broken.”
Eternal Life in Christ
Eternal life is a gift to man through Christ, to be obtained only by those who accept Him. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23. Again: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36.
We read: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us [Christians] 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.” 1 John 5:11, 12.
But One Way to Get It
The acceptance of the divine Christ through true penitence is one’s only assurance of immortality and eternal life. And he who does not of his own free will respond to the pleading of the “still small voice” for admission at the door of his heart, will reap eternal death as his reward. We should not be blinded by Satan’s sophistry, for as elsewhere quoted, “he is a liar, and the father of it.”
The Bible—the word of God—is the only sure foundation upon which to stand. Based upon it we are assured of immortality and eternal life. But standing upon any other foundation, one will meet shipwreck on the shoals of Satan’s deceptions—go down to eternal loss. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” from eternal death, but by the name of Christ, who is from eternity and to eternity. Acts 4:12 and Heb. 13:8.
