The immortality of the soul is clearly seen in many places in Scripture. For example, in
Psalm 23:6 David says, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
What was “the house of the LORD” in David’s day?
What did the young Jesus say to his parents when he went missing and they found him in deep discussion with the rabbis? (Luke 2:46-49)
What did Jesus say when he found the merchants selling livestock on the Temple grounds? (John 2:16) “The house of the Lord” in those contexts was the Temple.
In
Ecclesiastes 12:7 the Preacher mentions two things that happen at death: “
The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
Yes, the
spirit is what returns to God, not the
soul. Do you understand the difference, as they are translated from the Greek? The spirit is the “breath” of life…..the soul is the whole person.
The spirit (breath) that returns to God metaphorically speaking, means that in the resurrection, God is the one who brings that soul back to life, giving them breath as he did to Adam, making him a soul……and just as Jesus did to Lazarus, whom he said was “sleeping”. He restored the breath of life. (John 11:11-14)
No immortal soul.
In
2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul says that to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord” (NKJV). All these passages indicate that the soul is immortal.
As one of the elect, speaking for the body of Christ, he knew that “being present with the Lord” in heaven meant being resurrected in a new spirit body, as flesh and blood cannot exist in that realm…..so dwelling in the flesh, once that anointing was given, was overpowering their natural desire to remain on earth.
Again, no immortal soul.
If the spirit returns to God, then it is immortal as we are also made in the image of God who is immortal.
The immortal spirit who is Yahweh himself, created all his children, both in heaven and on earth, with everlasting life as a given. But in all cases it was provisional and conditional, because that life can be ended if one is disobedient to the Creator. Death would only occur to mankind if they were disobedient.
Angels too must remain obedient or as Jesus says, they will be eliminated from existence in the “lake of fire” which is not “hell”, but a symbol of eternal death….the very opposite of eternal life.
Why would God create beings with enormous power whom he cannot destroy?
And what possible benefit is served by tormenting the souls of humans forever in a fiery hell?
There is no such place.
Of course God does this too.
Matthew 10:28
And do not fear those who kill the
body but cannot kill the
soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell.
Read it again….”soul and body” are “destroyed“ in “Gehenna”….which is not “hell” at all if you understand the meaning of this word in Greek. Do a bit of independent research and see that the church has introduced many foreign concepts, all borrowed from paganism…..the devil’s religious system. By adopting pagan beliefs and practices, the church made itself part of the devil’s empire of “Babylon the great”.
In that sense, the soul is immortal as long as God does not destroy it.
If you believe that then you have no idea what immortal means. An immortal cannot die. It literally means “the power of an indestructible life”.
There is no such thing as an immortal soul……that is merely a perpetuation of the devil’s first lie…”you surely will not die”…..so the devil invented a way for that to be true in the minds of senseless humans…..you don’t die, just your body dies, but your soul lives on…..there is not a single scripture that says that is true.
I don't view scripture as having to say it exactly to show souls are immortal. Al believing souls are immortal for example, it tells us that by saying they have eternal life and will never perish, Jesus gives that to them.
John 10
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
When Christ comes as judge, all who are living when that judgment is done, having been judged as a “sheep” rather than a “goat”, will inherit everlasting life….a life that like Adam’s will remain conditional as long as they are obedient. But with no satan or demons to derail God’s purpose for mankind again, all will proceed as it was intended at the beginning. God’s will can finally “be done on earth as it is in heaven”…isn’t that what Jesus taught us to pray for? How many people actually pray that prayer without knowing what God’s Kingdom is, and what it is for?…or how it “comes”?
A small portion of humans specially chosen (elected) by God to rule with his son, will die and be resurrected to spirit life in heaven as “kings and priests”…these will be resurrected “first”. (Rev 20:6) This group will all be in heaven ready to implement the rule of God’s kingdom as soon as the judgment is carried out on the unsuspecting “goats”. (Matt 7:21-23)
Those not chosen for a role in God’s kingdom will enjoy their rulership for a thousand years whilst all the damage done by satan and his followers is repaired, and God’s first purpose for us humans will be reinstated. (Rev 21:2-4)