Life and Death by B. F. Snook

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 30, 1863

Life and Death.

By B. F. Snook

THE subject of life and death is the first of all Bible subjects. Man first enjoyed life. He received it from the hand of his Maker, and next lost it by sin, and from that time onward only lives by permission of the divine Law-giver; and the object of all subsequent revelation to man, is to present to him eternal life with the conditions necessary to be complied with, in order to the enjoyment of this inestimable blessing in the world to come.

Man's nature and destiny is a subject of great interest. A correct understanding of it is indispensably necessary to an understanding of the Scriptures. What is man? is a question on which philosophers have descanted, and theologians have theorized much, to but little profit. He that made man, knows him best, and has given the best treatise upon his present and future conditions.

We present the following proposition for the subject of investigation in this article: Man in his organization is material and mortal. The proposition consists of two predicates:

I. It is predicated of man that in his organization he is material; that is, he is altogether earthy in his composition. We are informed by the learned theologians of the day that man is a compound of soul, body, and spirit, and that it takes all these to make or constitute the man. We ask for the proof of their vain assumption, but are never furnished with a single text in its support. We turn from them to the sure source of unerring light, and ask wisdom of Him who never turns a faithful, humble child away without the truth.

1. Abraham, the father of the faithful, said, "Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes." Gen. xviii, 27. Had the faithful Abraham but been instructed by some of his pretended sons, he would have said, "I am mortal and immortal, matter and spirit;" but as he lived in a day in which God led his people, and they hearkened to his word, they could not have the benefit of the popular theory.

2. Job says, "How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust; which are crushed before the moth." Job iv, 19. Here man's whole foundation is spoken of as being in the dust. But, says the querist, may not the man be one thing, and the house of clay in which he dwells another? We will answer by referring to another testimony from the same book, chap. x, 8-11: "Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about, yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, and wilt thou bring me into dust again?" Here it is plainly taught that the one dwelling in a house of clay is the me that is made like the dust, and is to be brought to dust again. Hence there is no ground left for the assumption that the me is an immortal soul, unless that soul is made of the dust, and will return to it again.

3. Ps. ciii, 14. "For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust." From this testimony one of three conclusions must follow: (1.) That there is nothing in man's nature but materiality, or (2.) That God does not know it if there is anything besides; but the text says he knoweth our frame, or (3.) That if he ever knew it has forgotten it, and hence has a poor memory.

4. To get the whole truth on this part of the subject, we will go to the history of man's creation, and there avail ourselves of the benefits of the revelation of Him who knoweth our frame.

1. Proposition to make man. "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Gen. i, 26.

2. We learn of what man was made. Chap. ii, 7. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Three important points are involved in this scripture: (1.) Man's formation of the dust of the ground. This is not a predicate of his body, or a part of him, but of the whole man. All that constitutes man is of the dust of the ground. (2.) As man, he received the breath of life from God himself. But be it remembered that he was man before he received the breath of life, but was unconscious. This breath was not an immortal soul, or He who knoweth our frame would have said so, and would not have forgotten it. (3.) Having received the breath of life, he became conscious and active—a living, intelligent agent, with whom God conversed freely. But all of man's consciousness and life depended upon the breath of life. Having proven by the above pointed and clear testimony the materiality of man as a unit, we will show,

II. That he is, as a unit, wholly mortal. The word mortal signifies that which can die. Immortal is a negative word, and signifies that which cannot die. Adam was on probation for immortality and eternal life, which he would have received by obeying God and partaking of the tree of life. This is most forcibly proven in Gen. ii, 22 . "And now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." "Therefore the Lord sent him forth from the garden of Eden." Verse 23. "So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." Verse 24. Why was God so careful to guard the tree of life? Lest man should eat and become an immortal sinner. Man had no immortality before he left the garden, and after he was driven out of it his access to the only source whence he could get it in the garden was cut off. This is positive proof of man's entire mortality.

The testimony of Paul throws much light on this part of the subject. "And so it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual (pneumatikos, spiritual pertaining to the nature of spirits—partaking or relating to the influences of the Holy Spirit, pertaining to that spirit or disposition of mind produced in Christians by the Holy Spirit, Greenfield), but that which is natural (psuchikos, animal, having animal life, existing by breathing, natural, accomodated to animal existence, Greenfield) and afterward that which is spiritual." The first man is of the earth earthy (choikos, of dust, earthy, terrestrial, corruptible, frail, mortal, Greenfield), 1 Cor. xv, 45-47. This settles the question. It shows clearly that all that constitutes man is of the earth, earthy, frail, and mortal. No exception is made for an immortal soul, for the reason that revelation knows of no such thing. Additional

testimony is given in the Scriptures in which man as a whole is called mortal. "Shall mortal man be more just than God?" Job iv, 17. Justice is predicated of the intelligent man. Mortality is predicated of the same beings. "Behold, happy is the man (enoush, mortal) whom God correcteth." Chap. v, 17. "Is there not an appointed time to man (enoush, signifies mortal) upon earth?" Chap. vii, 1. "I know it is so of a truth; but how should man (a mortal) be just with God?" Chap. ix, 2. "Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man (a mortal) seeth?" Chap. x, 4. "What is man (a mortal) that thou art mindful of him?" Ps. viii, 4.

It is useless to multiply witnesses upon a point already sustained by evidence that can never be overthrown. Having proved the entire mortality of man, we will close this with a list of questions for the consideration of the believer in the immortality of man:

1. As the word soul, or rather the Hebrew and Greek from which it is translated, occurs in the Bible eight hundred and seventy-three times, why is it not said to be immortal, deathless, or never-dying, even once?

2. As the word rendered spirit occurs in both Testaments eight hundred and twenty-seven times—if it is immortal, is it not a great wonder that it has been overlooked by all the divine writers who have spoken of the Spirit?

3. If all men are now immortal, how can the scripture be true that says that God only hath immortality? 1 Tim. vi, 16.

4. If all men are naturally immortal, how could Christ bring it to light by the gospel? 2 Tim. i, 10.

5. If all men are now immortal, why are Christians commanded to seek for it? Rom. ii, 7.

6. If all men are now immortal, how can the saints, only, put it on in the resurrection? 1 Cor. xv, 54.

7. If all men are now immortal, in the resurrection the immortal soul, as they teach, will put on immortality; and if so, how can the scripture be true that says, "This mortal shall put on immortality?" 1 Cor. xv, 53.

8. If the immortal soul puts on an immortal body in the resurrection, then the immortal soul must of necessity be corruptible and mortal; for Paul says, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Verse 53. The thing that puts on immortality is both corruptible and mortal.