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Pastoral Position
Paper - Mike Ferguson
Introduction
A godly man once told me that being biblical means holding and
teaching biblical truth in biblical proportion. Put another way,
he would say that we should use the most heat when teaching those
truths which have the most scriptural light shed on them. So while
I hope that God would give me the courage to go to the stake for a
doctrine like "justification by grace through faith", if the torch
man asked me to recant my position about who the sons of God were
in Genesis 6, I would flip-flop quicker than you could say Al
Gore. Having said that, we need to avoid the simplistic response
that if the Scriptures do not directly and explicitly address a
subject, then it must be unimportant. All things in the Bible are
not equally clear. The doctrine of the intermediate state can be a
confusing issue because it involves deep questions about the
relationship of body and soul and it doesn't have the same light
put upon it by the Holy Spirit as does the resurrection of the
dead or Christ's second coming. Should we conclude that it is not
very important? Pastorally speaking, can you imagine telling a
grieving person that it really isn't important where their loved
one is right now? What a great comfort. No, we must have
Scriptural answers to encourage the downcast and also to correct
speculation and error.
One
such error concerning the state of humans between death and the
resurrection is that the soul sleeps in the grave. This position
has been held sporadically throughout Church history. During the
sixteenth century, many Anabaptists and Socinians held this view.
It is also said to have been the belief of early reformers John
Wycliffe and William Tyndale and it is found in the early writings
of Martin Luther. Today, the Advent Christian Church, the
Seventh-day Adventists, and the Jehovah's Witnesses all hold to
some form of soul sleep. In this paper I will: 1. state the
doctrine of soul sleep, 2. show its scriptural support, and 3.
refute the position while stating and defending the orthodox
teaching.
The doctrine stated
As the name would indicate, "soul sleep" is the belief that the
soul, during the intermediate state, is held in unconsciousness
awaiting the resurrection. This applies to all men, good and evil
alike. While some hold that the soul still exists in this state,
others teach that the soul becomes nonexistent. The case for soul
sleep is derived from these basic considerations: 1. The unity of
soul and body is so vital to human existence that if the body
ceases to function, so does the soul. 2. The use of the term
"sleep" in the Bible for death. 3. A state of conscious bliss or
torment would anticipate the final judgment when the basis of
these conditions is provided.
Scriptural support
--If
the souls that sin die, then there is no such thing as the
immortality of the soul. (Ezek 18:4)
--Death
ends all thinking. (Ps 146:4)
--The
dead are unconscious, they do and know nothing. (Eccl 9:5, 10)
--Death
is called and represented as sleep. (John 11: 11-14, Acts 7:60, 1
Cor 15:51, 1 Thes 4:13)
Refutation of these arguments
The fact that man is a unity of soul and body in his normal state
does not negate the possibility of disembodied consciousness. Man
is made in God's image and as God is spirit, man may analogously
have conscious existence apart from the body. Again, this should
not be looked at as normal, for man was created with a body and
will be united to his new body at the resurrection. But the
Scriptures make it clear that the soul lives on after the death of
the body. Jesus teaches in Luke 20 that the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob is the God of the living, for all live to Him, and these
patriarchs, though physically dead are yet alive. On the mount of
transfiguration Moses and Elijah appear before the disciples.
Samuel appears to Saul in 1 Samuel 28. In Revelation 6 the souls
of the martyrs are crying out for vengeance from under the altar.
They are said to have white robes. These are not nightgowns for
the sleepers but show the commencement of glorification. In 2
Corinthians 5:1-9, Paul makes it clear that to be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord and thus his dilemma in
Philippians 1, for to depart to be with Christ was far better than
staying on earth. On the other hand, if Paul was simply to be
unconscious in the grave, I believe he would have had no dilemma
at all. It would have been better for him to remain alive and
teach the church. The thief on the cross was told that on that
very day he would be with Jesus in Paradise. (Luke 22:42) The
narrative of the rich man and Lazarus shows the estate of both the
wicked and the just as conscious after death. Many commentators
take this as an historical account rather than a parable because a
name is given. Either way Christ makes His point. On this evidence
alone the idea of soul sleep flies in the face of Scripture.
As for
the term "sleep" being used to refer to death, neither the soul
nor the body is said to fall asleep but only the person. Sleep
should be understood as a euphemism for the cessation of life.
This fits well with Jesus' use of the term in John 11. In verse 11
He says that Lazarus sleeps, and in verse 14 He says plainly that
Lazarus is dead. A better case needs to be made if "sleep" is more
than a figure of speech.
--Ezekiel 18:4 The Hebrew word for soul is nephesh and can mean
soul, person or living being. The context is teaching that one
person will not die for the sins of another, in this case the
fathers. Soul is clearly referring to person here.
--Ps
146:4 The context warns against putting trust in man who dies and
his thoughts, i.e. plans perish. The rich man thought about many
things after his death. Those who reject Christ gnash their teeth
and gnaw on their tongues as they contemplate their end.
--Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 10 Context, context, context! Solomon is
stating the way things appear "under the sun" that is from human
perception alone. Then Paul Harvey shows up with the "rest of the
story" and the way things appear aren't the way things actually
are.
But
what of the argument that a conscious state of bliss or torment
would precede the actual ground of such a state? Simply put, what
is the point of the final judgment when the righteous have already
been awarded heaven and the unrighteous already doomed? First of
all it must be noted that of all the passages that teach about the
great and dreadful day of the Lord, the final judgment, the
separating of the goats and the sheep, etc., none of them even
hint at soul sleep and it does not follow from good and necessary
consequences. The best way to answer this objection is to think of
the "already, not yet" concept. It does not follow to say that
because the kingdom has not yet been consummated that it doesn't
exist. History is moving toward the culmination of all things,
when God will be all in all. His kingdom properly comes when it is
completed and it is completed at the final judgment. Again I ask,
because the kingdom is not yet completed, does it not exist?
Likewise glory, blessing, salvation and even damnation are in
progress until the last day. To teach that men after death
experience conscious joy or conscious misery does not make the
final judgment of no effect but rather is the guarantee of its
sure fulfillment.
Conclusion
Should we divide brothers over our understanding of the
intermediate state alone? I certainly hope not. But as we press on
to maturity and unity we need to be able to refute errors from the
Scriptures and rightly handle His word. The sad thing is that soul
sleep is usually part of a web of errors and should not be viewed
as "no big deal". We disobey God's command to strive for
likemindedness and deprive believers of a very comforting
doctrine. |
