DEATH: ITS NATURAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND BIBLE MEANING.
By William Penniman
The Greek word thanatos, from which death is usually translated in the New Testament, is defined by Liddell and Scott as "death, whether natural or violent." They do not say it does, or may mean, eternal life in misery. Greenfield gives its primary meaning as death, the "extinction of life, whether naturally or violently." He also defines it in the following texts: John 8:52; James 5:20; 1 John 5:16, 17, eternal death, "eternal unchanging state of wretchedness and misery." Here we have the same Greek word defined to mean extinction of life, and also an eternal continuation of existence in suffering. Can the word have two meanings diametrically opposed to each other? Buck, in his theological dictionary, says, "Death is generally defined as the separation of the soul from the body." Webster defines it as "that state of being, animal or vegetable, but more particularly of the animal, in which there is a total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions, where the organs have not only ceased to act, but have lost the susceptibility of renewed action. In theology, perpetual separation from God, and eternal torment, called the second death." We now notice the texts to which Greenfield refers, to prove that death sometimes means eternal torment:— "Then said the Jews unto Him, Now we know that Thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and Thou sayest, If a man keep My saying, he shall never taste of death." John 8:52. It is plain that in this passage Christ did not mean natural death, or the life of the body, but He evidently refers to the second death, brought to view in Rev. 20:6: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power." What is the first death?—The cessation of life, or of man's existence, or of the life of the body. Then what is the second death?—If there is any analogy between this and the first, it must mean the extinction of the life of the soul; or, as the second death occurs after the second resurrection, the extinction of all that makes a wicked being in the resurrected state. We read in James 5:20, "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." This text, instead of proving the eternal life of the soul, and its consequent suffering, proves its death, for the soul that is saved is not saved from eternal life in misery, but saved from eternal death, or cessation of being. Greenfield also quotes 1 John 5:16, 17, but the word "death" in these texts, and also in many others, refers to the second death. These words must not be wrested from their true meaning. Buck's definition (or, as he says it is generally defined, "the separation of the soul from the body") is simply a metamorphosing for a change from the chrysalis state to that of the winged being. This will accord pretty well with the notions of Spiritualists, with whom the so-called orthodox in their ideas of immortality are so closely allied. But as this general definition does not accord with its primary, we will let it go for what it is worth, remembering this, that death in Scripture means death, cessation of existence. WM. PENNIMAN.