The Sabbath-School

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 36.

The Sabbath-School.

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—OCT. 11.

What is the meaning of the word "immortal"?
What is the appointed lot of mankind? Heb. 9:27.
Are any exempt from death? Rom. 5:12.
Then can it be that any of the human race are immortal?
What exhortation did Paul give to Timothy? 1 Tim. 6:12.
Until what time did he charge Timothy to keep this commandment? Verses 13, 14.
What did he say that Christ in his times should show? Verse 15.
What did he say further concerning this "blessed and only Potentate?" Verse 16.
Who is this "blessed and only Potentate" here referred to?
Then who alone is possessed of immortality?
Does Christ share this attribute equally with the Father? John 5:26.
What contrast does the apostle Paul institute between God and man? Rom. 1:23.
What is the meaning of the words "corruptible" and "incorruptible"?
Since God only hath immortality, what term must be applied to man? Job 4:7.
Who has eternal life to bestow? Rom. 6:23.
Through whom may it be obtained? Ib.
To what class of persons will it be given? Rom. 2:7.
If men have immortality, would they be exhorted to seek for it?
How are we to seek for it? Rom. 2:7.
Then if none get it but those who seek for it, what can you say of those who do evil?
Who is it that has brought immortality to light? 2 Tim. 1:10.
By what means is it presented to mankind? Ib.
Then where are we to seek for immortality?
What can you say of those who do not accept the gospel?

THE definition which Webster gives of the word "immortal" is this: "Not mortal; exempt from liability to die; undying; imperishable; lasting forever; having unlimited existence." To say, then, that any being is immortal, is equivalent to saying that he cannot die. This will be the case with the redeemed saints, for Christ says: "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Luke 20:35, 36. When they obtain the resurrection from the dead, they are immortal, for they cannot die any more. But they did die once, and therefore they were not always immortal. And so Paul says that "it is appointed unto men once to die" (Heb. 9:27), and that "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12. To say, then, that the Scriptures teach that men are by nature immortal, is to say that words have no meaning. Death is the appointed lot of mankind; and there are only two men (Enoch and Elijah) who have been favored above their fellows, in that they did not see death.

IN 1 Tim. 6:12 Paul gives the exhortation to "fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." If we are already in possession of immortality, it would be impossible for us to heed this exhortation, for we could not "lay hold on" that which we already held; and no matter how earnestly we might fight the good fight of faith, it would have no effect on our immortality, if we already possessed it. Immortality is absolute; no man can be more than immortal. But in the thirteenth and fourteenth verses the apostle says that this charge must be kept until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. From that we learn that we are to continue the fight of faith until the Lord comes; and since it is by that means that we lay hold on eternal life, we must also conclude that eternal life will not be gained until that time.

THE apostle goes on to say that Christ will show who is "the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality." The reference here can be to no other than to God himself. Nothing, then, can be plainer than this statement that God alone has immortality. That is, he has "life in himself" (John 5:26). Immortality is an attribute of God, just the same as infallibility, omniscience, omnipotence. Christ, as the Son of God, possesses the same attributes, and is therefore equal with God and worthy to be called God. But man has no more right to claim one attribute of God than all; he may as well put himself on a level with God in respect to knowledge, as to claim equality with respect to life. The simple fact is, as the text shows, that God alone possesses immortality; and therefore if man ever gets it, it must be as a gift from God.

THIS distinction between God and man is clearly defined throughout the Bible. Paul, in showing the depth to which the heathen had fallen, says that they "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man." Rom. 1:23. This might with equal propriety be translated: "Changed the glory of the immortal God into an image made like to mortal man." In Job 4:17 the question is asked, "Shall mortal man be more just than God?" In Isa. 51:12, the Lord, through the prophet, asks: "Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?" In contradistinction to this, God is everywhere spoken of as "the living God," that is, the one who ever lives, who can never die. If man were possessed of immortality, then he might with propriety have the same titles applied to him that are applied to God.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. Here we have the statement that eternal life comes alone from God, and the additional fact that it comes only through Christ. In Rom. 2:7 we learn still further that God will give it only to them who "seek" for it, by patient continuance in well-doing. And in 2 Tim. 1:10 we learn that we are to seek for it in the gospel. The apostle says that Christ has "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." From these three texts we are forced to the following conclusions: No sinner can have eternal life, for "the wages of sin is death." No one can have eternal life unless he seeks for it, and the proper way to seek for it is by patient continuance in well-doing. Again; since it is only through the gospel that immortality is brought to light, and eternal life comes only through Christ, it is evident that no one who rejects Christ and the gospel can have immortality.

IT may be argued by some that, while it is true that immortality comes from God alone, and he alone has life in himself, he has implanted it in all human beings. But this will not harmonize with the Bible. If men were by nature immortal, then it would not be true that immortality comes through Christ and the gospel. If we accept the Bible as authority, then immortality cannot be bestowed until it is seen who have accepted Christ, and have persevered in well-doing. And this cannot be seen in this life, for there is always a possibility of the best man's falling from his steadfastness. And still further, if it be true that all men have in them an immortal principle, then there can be no such thing as sin. For immortality means exemption from death. Whoever is immortal cannot die. But "the wages of sin is death;" that is, whoever sins will die; and no one will die except those who sin. Now, then, if we claim that all men are immortal, and that none can die, the logical conclusion is that none are sinners. In other words, wages will be given wherever due; and if death, the wages of sin, is given to no man, then it follows that no man is deserving of it. Thus immortal-soulism is pure universalism.

THE following extracts from standard commentaries will be read with interest, and will show that the conclusions which we have drawn from the texts used in the lesson, are warranted by the best scholarship.

ON 1 Tim. 6:16 Olshausen says: "Who only hath immortality. He is therefore the source of immortality to all who are partakers in it; out of him is death."

Dean Alford quotes Justin Martyr as follows: "God is said only to have immortality, because he hath it not by the will of another, as the rest who possess it, but by his own proper essence."

Dr. Bloomfield says: "'ho monos echon athanasian,' i. e., immortality self-derived; by which it is implied that he alone can confer it."

Dr. Barnes says: "'Who only hath immortality.' The word here—athanasia—properly means exemption from death, and seems to mean that God, in his own nature, enjoys a perfect and certain exemption from death. Creatures have immortality only as they derive it from him, and of course are dependent on him for it."

ON Rom. 5:12 Dean Alford says: "Literally 'on ground of,' 'on condition that,' which meaning, if rightly applied, suits the case in hand. Life depended on a certain condition, viz., obedience; death, on another, viz., disobedience. Mankind have disobeyed; the condition of death's entrance and diffusion has been fulfilled; death extended to all men, as a consequence of the fact that all have sinned."

ON Rom. 2:7 Dr. Barnes has the following: The word immortality means that which is not corruptible, or subject to decay. It is applied to Heaven as a state where there will be no decay or death, in strong contrast with our present condition, where all things are corruptible, and soon vanish away. These expressions are undoubtedly descriptive of a state of things beyond the grave. . . . 'Eternal life.' That is, God will 'render' eternal life to those who 'seek' it in this manner.