IMMORTALITY by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Feb 15, 1905

IMMORTALITY.

By G.

IN an advertisement in a popular journal, lauding the virtues of a new book that treats of the Greek philosophers, we find this peculiar statement:

In the words of Socrates, five hundred years before the New Testament was written, will be found a clearer statement of the doctrine of the immortal soul and its future states of probation, reward, and punishment, than can be found in any part of the Bible.

This is quite true, with one exception. The most direct and concise statement of the doctrine that we have yet seen is in the words of the serpent, when deceiving Eve, found in Gen. 3:4, 5: "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

This is not only a clear-cut statement of the doctrine, but it is an unmistakable indicator as to who originated and first promulgated it. It shows, too, that the original purpose of the dogma was to deceive the human race; and, alas! Satan and his agents have been making effective use of it to that end ever since.

This iteration by the serpent of the soul's immortality is the only instance in the Bible of such enunciation, while there are many that directly controvert the dogma. For instance: Gen. 3:19, 22-24; Job 4:17; Ps. 37:9-11, 20; Eccl. 9:5, 6; Eze. 18:4, 20; Mal. 4:1-3; John 3:16; Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:12-18, 32; 1 Tim. 6:13-16, etc., etc.

To say that Socrates has stated the doctrine of the soul's immortality clearer than can be found in any part of the Bible, is simply to say that he can outdo Satan in the statement of his favorite and most destructive deception; the only statement of it in the Bible being that quotation from the serpent's words. This is a rather doubtful compliment to Socrates.

Immortality comes to men only through faith in Jesus Christ, by a resurrection from the dead—and that by the "first resurrection." Compare 1 Thess. 4:13-18 with Revelation 20. Eternal life, which is the gift of God through Christ, comes to "them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality." Rom. 2:7. If men have immortality as an inherent possession, why the necessity of seeking for it through any one else? G.