Immortality of the human soul.

One of the issues on which there is no unanimous opinion among Christians is the fate of the dead. The Catholic Church, Eastern Churches, and several Protestant churches teach that the immortal soul lives on after physical death – either in bliss with God or in rejection. On the other hand, there are opinions that all life ends with physical death, and the dead will only rise in the general resurrection at the end of history, and only then will their fate be salvation or rejection. There is a rare opinion that only “good” people will be resurrected and the bad will never be resurrected /Jehovah’s Witnesses/. Opponents of the immortality of the soul and, thus, the immediate continuation of life after death claim that only the doctrine of resurrection at the end of time is supported in the Scriptures. The principle of the soul’s immortality is clearly stated in tradition, but since some Christian congregations do not recognize it, we confine ourselves to Scripture.
The Old Testament mentions this problem only in passing; the question of death, or the fate of the deceased, appears sporadically. Among the few mentions, let us say the prophet, Daniel /Dan, 12, 2/: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting disgrace.” In the 2nd Book of Maccabees, one of the tortured brothers says: “You shut us out of the present life, but the King of the world will raise us to eternal life!”/2 Macc, 7, 8/, the others and their mother express themselves similarly. There is also the prayer for the dead ordered by Judas Maccabee: “For if he had not hoped that the fallen soldiers would rise from the dead, it would have been useless and unreasonable to pray for the dead … he ordered an atoning sacrifice to be offered for the dead so that they might be freed from sin ” /2 Macc, 12, 44-45/. /It should be mentioned that the Jewish canon was established in Javna at the end of the 1st century; he did not recognize the books of the Maccabees. These passages use expressions about the “resurrection of the dead” and thus seem to contradict the soul’s immortality even after physical death. Some statements from wisdom books are also used in support, such as “For the living at least know that they will die, while the dead know nothing more” /Ecclesiastes 9, 5/, or in Psalm 6: “No one among the dead remembers you, who praises you in the underworld?” /Ps 6, 6/. Some conclude that according to the Scriptures, the deceased is dead until the day of judgment and will only be revived at the end. But let us mention another statement about the deceased: “They no longer have a share in anything that happens under the sun” /Ps 9, 6/, so that in these contexts, we can rightly assume that we are dealing with reflections on the fate of the deceased according to earthly circumstances. The eternal existence of the soul, i.e., life even after bodily death, is also found in hints in the Old Testament writings. For example
Several passages in the New Testament also describe the resurrection of the dead; the apostle Paul often addresses this subject. He writes more extensively in 1 Thessalonians, and in 1 Corinthians, he devotes the entire 15th chapter to this subject. Among other things, he writes: “For as all men die in Adam, so shall all be made alive in Christ” /1 Cor, 15, 22 – the apostle speaks here of the resurrection of all, not only of the good/, respectively “… because the trumpet will sound and the dead will rise incorruptible…”/1 Cor 15, 52/, “… and those who died in Christ will rise first.” /1 Sol 4, 16/. In early Christian times, there was a belief that the coming of the Lord would take place during the lifetime of their generation, so Paul continues, “… and we who are alive, who are still living, will then be caught up with them in the air to meet the Lord” /1 Sol, 4, 17/.
It should be noted that if we follow the Old and New Testaments in their entire context, we see a straightforward “pedagogical approach” – God gradually reveals Himself to man and teaches him. It sets solid moral standards but is lenient and often adapts to a person’s current abilities. Let us mention the polygamous practice of the patriarchs and kings, although Christ clearly defines this area as a relationship between a man and a woman. Similarly, the question of a person’s posthumous existence is profiled in stages in Scripture. However, in the Old Testament, it is clearly stated that a person consists of a body and a soul. At the creation of Adam, “God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” /Gen 2:7/ – this is an essential point of the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul. However, this was still the prevailing view in Old Testament times that after bodily death, the “breath of life” ascends to God. “Who knows whether the breath of life of the sons of Adam ascends to the heights and the breath of life of the animals descends to the earth?” /Ecclesiastes 3, 21/. However, these statements do not testify to the death of the soul; they only express the uncertainty of the preacher in this question and do not mean a final confirmation. It must clearly state what happens to the breath of life – the soul – when it ascends to the Lord. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians: “For if there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual one … The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a quickening spirit.” /1 Cor 15, 44-45/. “But I say, brethren, flesh and blood have no part in the kingdom of God, nor corruption in incorruption.” /1 Cor 15, 50/. Although he writes these words in connection with the necessity of the transformation of the mortal body during the resurrection, from them can also be deduced the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and, thus, of the continuation of life after physical death. For all others, we quote the passage from the 1st Epistle of the Apostle Peter: “… for the highest fruit of your faith, the salvation of souls; you will receive.” /1 Petr, 1,9/. We find several similar passages in the Apostolic Letters.
In the Revelation of John /Apocalypse/, there is a passage where the Apostle, after opening the fifth seal, “…saw under the altar the souls of those who were killed for the word of God and the testimony…”/Off 6, 9/They cried, “…when will you avenge our blood?”. Each of them was given a white robe and told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow servants was filled…” /ZJ 6, 10-11/. Some claim that the Apocalypse must be understood exclusively figuratively, without referring to realities. And so that this passage means that those who have died in the Lord are to “rest in their graves” until the Day of Judgment, as interpreted by the instruction given for them / some Slovak translations have the expression “rest”; others “give up.” “/. The fact that they are in the tombs also expresses their placement under the altar, and the white robes are only a symbolic expression of their future resurrection.
Furthermore, in the next sequel, we read: “A great multitude from all nations … stood before the throne and before the Lamb; they were clothed in white robes, they had palms in their hands, and they shouted with a loud voice” / Revelation 7:9/ One of the elders next to the throne explains: “These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they stand in his temple day and night…. .” /Revelation 7:13,14/. Several Old Testament quotations follow. The objection that this is a description of the righteous after their resurrection is not relevant since it is about their service to God in the present “day and night” moreover, this paragraph is followed by a series of events /the seventh opening seal, the sounding of the seven trumpets, the seven bowls of wrath, three witnesses, etc./in addition, the writer then mentions the “first” resurrection and only in St. 20 Judgment Day. Thus, the righteous serve the Lord before the Last Judgement and the general resurrection. Since, according to Paul, flesh and blood “cannot participate in the kingdom of God,” only the soul can have this participation, which therefore does not disappear with death but continues to exist without a body. It is also worth mentioning the statement in the 1st letter of the apostle Peter about Christ. After his crucifixion and before his resurrection, “So he went and preached in the spirit in prison. They were once disobedient when God’s mercy awaited them…. .” /1 Pet 3, 20 /. This passage is traditionally used as the article of faith, “descent to the dead” in the Creed. Still, the important thing is that one can only preach to those alive – if not physically, they must be alive within the framework of spiritual existence. Only the soul can have this participation, which does not disappear with death but continues to exist without a body. It is also worth mentioning the statement in the 1st letter of the apostle Peter about Christ. After his crucifixion and before his resurrection, “So he went and preached in the spirit in prison. They were once disobedient when God’s mercy awaited them…. .” /1 Pet 3, 20 /. This passage is traditionally used as the article of faith, “descent to the dead” in the Creed. Still, the important thing is that one can only preach to those alive – if not physically, they must be alive within the framework of spiritual existence. Only the soul can have this participation, which does not disappear with death but continues to exist without a body. It is also worth mentioning the statement in the 1st letter of the apostle Peter about Christ. After his crucifixion and before his resurrection, “So he went and preached in the spirit in prison. They were once disobedient when God’s mercy awaited them…. .” /1 Pet 3, 20 /. This passage is traditionally used as the “descent to the dead” article of faith in the Creed. Still, the important thing is that one can only preach to those alive – if not physically, they must be alive in the context of spiritual existence.
Perhaps the most famous passage in the New Testament is Christ’s response to the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection and tried to catch him up with a combined story about a woman who caused seven men to die one after another. Whose will it be after the resurrection when they rise from the dead? In answer, Jesus says: “When they rise from the dead, they no longer marry or are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” /Mk 12, 25, Mt 22, 30/. Lukáš presents the extended words of Christ: “Those who are recognized as worthy of the world beyond and the resurrection will no longer marry or be given in marriage /Lk, 20, 35/. “And as for the resurrection from the dead, have you not read in Moses in the story of the thorn bush how God said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living!” /Mk, 12, 26-27, Mt 22, 31-32/ In Lukáš, he adds: “…everyone lives for him” /Lk, 20, 38/. At first sight, it seems that these words of Christ exclude the existence of the soul’s life after death and only confirm the final resurrection at the end of time. Is it so?
No, Christ was answering a specific question of the Sadducees concerning the resurrection. However, He confirms the soul’s life after death in several places. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, he says: “… the poor man died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, in great agony, he looked up and saw Abraham and Lazarus from afar at his bosom.” /Luke, 16, 22-23/. So he is not saying that the rich man died and was buried after the resurrection of the dead and saw Lazarus at the end of the world. The plot shows the immediacy of the rich man and Lazar’s survival after death. Of course, it is a parable, so it has a symbolic meaning, but it testifies to the fact that the dead live after death – either in heaven or hell. When we look at Christ’s parables, they are all grounded in reality. These are not speculative ideas; Christ uses authentic life images to make people understand them – let’s look at his parables of the sower, the lost drachma, the lost sheep, the good shepherd, etc., to understand the meaning better. So if he used authentic life imagery in these parables, why would he spread false ideas about the life of souls after death in this parable if it were not true? We can also mention the words of Christ: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what will a man give for his soul?” / Mt, 16, 26,
If we realize that Christ used the phrase “God is the God of the living and not of the dead,” then if the patriarchs mentioned were dead and awaiting the final resurrection, they would no longer be alive, so this remark by Christ would be a contradiction. God would only be their God in the future after the resurrection. Moreover, in the scene of Christ’s transfiguration on Mount Tabor, it is written: “Then Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they talked with him” /Mk 9, 3, Mt 17,3/, Luke adds that they spoke of his “end which was to take place in Jerusalem”/Lk 9, 30/. It can be countered that according to the Old Testament, Elijah did not die but was taken alive from the earth /2 Cr. 2, 11/ and so he could speak to Christ, but this cannot be said about Moses, whose death is described in Dt 34. Opponents often argue that it was a particular case for which God “raised” Moses, similar to how he raised some of the dead during Christ’s crucifixion, who came to Jerusalem after his resurrection /Mt 27, 52-53/. However, this cannot be accepted; all the Synoptics write about the appearance, or “shown,” not the resurrection. Moreover, it is evident from the other descriptions /Christ’s facial expression changed, his clothes turned white, etc./ that this is a non-standard phenomenon and not a resurrection to ordinary life, as in the case of Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, etc., where the dead returned on standard terms and in a normal appearance.
The last words of Jesus on the cross have a solid message value. And here is a well-known passage with a repentant thief who says to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise! ” /Luke, 23, 42-43/. He did not say to him: In x thousand years after the end of the world, you will be resurrected, and then you will be with me. He said, “Today.” They both died that day, so the promise had to be fulfilled towards the immortal soul of the villain. He is alive and well before the final resurrection if he has been with him in paradise ever since. As early as the 1980s, I came across an interpretation that is still common today that the sentence is not to be understood as “Verily, I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise,” but: “Verily, I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.” It is a grammar game with punctuation marks. From the earliest times, Christians understood this statement to mean “Today you will be in Paradise,” not otherwise. Any other meaning would not even make sense. Why would Christ emphasize that he was saying this “today”? He knew he would die; he could not say it “tomorrow” and not even in the past because he had never spoken to the villain before. Why wouldn’t he phrase other statements this way, e.g., Why does he say “I thirst” in John’s Gospel and not “Today I thirst,” or why didn’t he use the word “today” in any other statement? There are many sayings in the Gospels where Christ begins with the phrase, “Verily, verily, I say unto you…” and never “Verily, verily, I say unto you today.” He only used the word “today” in this context when answering the thief on the cross. The logic of things and the faith of Christians from the earliest times prove that Christ promised the thief paradise on his death.
In conclusion, we can say that the belief in the immortality of the soul, that is, in the continuation of life even after physical death and not after the final resurrection of the dead is confirmed not only by tradition but also by Scripture.

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