DOES MAN POSSESS INHERENT IMMORTALITY.
By A. A. Phelps
A CAREFUL, prayerful, and scriptural investigation of the subject has compelled us to renounce the popular theory—which we once believed and preached—of man's inherent immortality. We will give a few reasons for rejecting this doctrine:— 1. It has an unfavorable origin. Satan—the great falsifier—first announced it in the garden of Eden. God had assured man that disobedience would certainly eventuate in death. The serpent flatly contradicted this by saying, "Ye shall not surely die." If God told the truth, Satan told a lie; for the two statements are antagonistic. For ages after this first Satanic victory, the doctrine of man's immortality slumbered in silence. At length it was imbibed by certain heathen philosophers, who coupled with it the pre-existence of souls, and the transmigration of souls. The Egyptians, according to Herodotus, first advocated the immortality of the soul. It became, at length, quite common among heathen nations. The Jewish people, during their seventy years' captivity in Babylon, became somewhat corrupted by this and other heathen dogmas. Some of the heathen, who were converted to Christianity, retained their old belief in man's essential immortality. Thus the leaven continued to work, until the church of Christ, degenerating into the Romish church of the Dark Ages, became thoroughly saturated with a sentiment which mystifies the Bible and dishonors Jesus. 2. It is inconsistent with the Bible account of man's creation. "The Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Not a single word, not the faintest intimation, about an invisible, intangible, imponderable, immaterial, indivisible, indestructible, immortal, conscious entity, called "the soul," without length, breadth, or thickness, and capable of living forever independent of the body. 3. It clashes with the scriptural record of man's fall. The penalty for transgression was first announced in these words: "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Hebrew: "Dying: thou shalt die." Arabic: "Thou shalt deserve to die." Targum of Jonathan: "Thou shalt be subject to death." Greek of Symmachus and also the Syriac: "Thou shalt be mortal"—that is, liable to die. Did Adam understand the penalty to include499eternal misery? And yet, if there was any possibility of such a doom, was not every attribute of God pledged to make it known? What was the fact? God drove fallen man from the garden, and guarded the "tree of life" with cherubim and a flaming sword, "lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." The hand of love pushed him away, and thus cut off all possibility of his becoming immortal in misery. Adam lived 930 years in toil and sorrow, and died. 4. The penalty of sin, to be executed upon every impenitent sinner, forbids the supposition of his immortality. Every child of Adam has a distinct probation, and is accountable to God for his probationary career. The Adamic death comes to all as a common calamity; but the "second death" will be visited upon man for his personal sins. Whoever accepts Christ escapes the distinctive penalty; but whoever rejects him, must bare his own bosom to the stroke which fell upon the innocent Jesus. That penalty stroke will involve "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish," terminating in utter destruction. About two hundred passages teach that sinners will be ultimately exterminated—"burnt up root and branch." This could not be, if they were inherently immortal. 5. The Bible doctrine of death disproves the theory of natural immortality. According to the Scriptures, life and death are the exact opposites. If life means continued conscious existence, death means the cessation of it. "The living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything." Death is called a land of "darkness" and "forgetfulness," where there is "no remembrance" and even the "thoughts perish." It is such a state of blank unconsciousness that there is "no work nor device" performed, and "no knowledge nor wisdom" possessed, by its quiet sleepers. Without a resurrection, even they that are "fallen asleep in Christ are perished." See Job 14: 7–21; Ps. 115:17; 146:4; Eccl. 3:19, 20; 9:4–10; 1 Cor. 15:12–22; Rev. 20:13. With this Bible statement of unconsciousness in death, philosophy and fact perfectly agree. Surgery and Scripture unite in proving that the brain is just as really the organ of thought as the eye is the organ of vision. Hence, when the brain loses its vitality, the tide of conscious life ceases to flow. 6. Immortality is nowhere in the Scriptures ascribed to man. In our common version the term "immortal" occurs only once, and is there ascribed to God. 1 Tim. 1:17. The term "immortality" occurs five times, but is not once applied to man in his present condition. See Rom. 2:7; 1 Tim. 6:16; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:53, 54. We learn here that "God only hath immortality," and hence no other being ever received it as a natural birthright. But "as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." Being thus constituted the "Resurrection and the Life," Jesus Christ has "brought immortality to light," by showing how and when it can be obtained. We are to "seek" for this priceless boon. If we secure a right to it by a vital connection with Christ, we shall "put on immortality" in the resurrection morning. We are mortal now, as all human experience testifies. Whether we shall ever be anything more, depends upon our compliance with gospel conditions. 7. The doctrine of inherent immortality supersedes the necessity of a resurrection. The Bible attaches great importance to the resurrection of the dead, for upon this alone it predicts a future life. Current theology largely ignores this glorious doctrine of inspiration. If the "real man" is more fully alive after death than before, there is no need of a resurrection. If the body is only a clog to the spirit, why have any more to do with this cumbrous clay, when once the prison doors are open and the fetters fairly broken? Many see the point and are giving up all faith in any resurrection except what takes place at death, when "the spirit assumes a spirit body" and soars away to the spirit land! 8. It reduces the scenes of the Judgment-day to a solemn farce. Why send men to a heaven of happiness or a hell of misery at death, and then rally them from their respective abodes, and judge them, thousands of years afterwards? Is not this like trying a man after he is hung? Does the Bible sanction any such procedure? Never! Jesus declares that rewards and punishments are meted out when he comes to judge the world. "Then shall he reward every man according to his works." The wicked are "reserved until the day of Judgment to be punished. If the destinies of men can be adjusted at death, there is no need of a solemn Judgment-day, such as the word of God so fully reveals. No part of retribution takes place before the great day of destiny, when Jesus ascends his majestic throne! 9. It is subversive of the doctrine of Christ’s personal coming. If the Scriptures teach anything plainly and positively, they teach that Jesus Christ is coming literally and personally the second time, to raise the dead, judge the world, destroy the wicked, crown the saints, purify the earth, and establish an everlasting kingdom. And yet the doctrine of immortalsonism renders the second advent of Christ entirely unnecessary. If men are rewarded and punished at death, there is no need of Christ’s coming as Judge. If the saints are to live forever in Heaven, there is no necessity for Christ to fit up a "new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." The reason why there is no more stress laid on the personal coming of Christ, is the fact that popular theology is constructed on such a basis that the second appearing of the Son of God can be entirely dispensed with. Is it not time to pause and see whether theology and Scripture have not parted company? 10. It is the fruitful source of error. The doctrine of inherent immortality is the foundation of the worst religious developments that have ever cursed the world. Swedenborgianism, Shakerism, Spiritualism, Mohammedanism, Mormonism, Purgatory, and Mariolatry, are based upon this doctrine as a fundamental plank in their platform. This statement will hardly be questioned by those who have taken any pains to investigate the matter. Spiritualism lays great stress on inherent immortality. In this growing system we see the ripened fruits of the very seed which current theology has scattered with so liberal a hand; and we shall see more of it as time rolls on. Eternal torment is another result of the doctrine; for if man is immortal, the sinner must be eternally miserable, unless the doctrine of universal salvation is true. The latter is often a rebound from the former. If the doctrine in question is false, then all these systems are proved to be without foundation. "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." All who accept Jesus as their Life-giver will live forever in Paradise restored. All who reject him will be accounted as useless rubbish, fit only to be "burned up" and cleared out of the way. Thus God’s universe will one day be divested of every unholy element, and purity, harmony, and love will be the grand consummation! May we be among those who shall swell the everlasting song of victory through the blood of the Lamb!—A. A. Phelps, A. M., in Bible Banner.