IS SINFUL MAN IMMORTAL?
By A. O. Tait
(The first of a series of four Bible Readings.) What is the wages of sin? God gives the answer: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. Then sinful man has only death for his portion. 2. Who only can have eternal life? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24. Hearing Christ's Word, and believing on the divine Father, causes the sinful man to pass from death to life. 3. Where is immortality or eternal life to be found? "And this is the record, that God hath given to us 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. Eternal life is a free gift to all who will receive it, but the sinful man who refuses this gift shall not see life. 4. Then, since sinful man does not possess life beyond this mortal existence, can he be in possession of an immortal soul? "Which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting." 1 Tim. 6:15, 16. This text plainly says that the King of kings and Lord of lords,—even the Saviour Himself,—is the only one who "hath immortality." Other texts considered in this study show that He bestows this immortality upon those alone who will accept it as a gift in exchange for their worthless sins. 5. What is the effect upon the sinful man to teach him that he has an immortal soul that lives beyond the grave, whether he repents or not? "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." Eze. 13:22. Then it is not only a falsehood to tell the wicked that they have any hope of life while rejecting Christ, but it hardens them against turning from their wicked way. 6. It is true that the wicked man has a soul, but will it not die unless saved from the sinful condition? "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." James 5:20. Then the conversion of the sinner saves his "soul" from death. Thus do the Scriptures make it perfectly plain that in Christ and His pardon is the only way of life. O, that every sinful man may sense the enormity of the doom that hangs over him, and turn to the only Source of pardon. [This will be followed in our next special issue, November 16, by a reading on "Man's Condition in Death."]