What Is Raised In The resurrection?

Biblegems #156

Question: If the saved go directly to heaven at death, what will rise at Christ's appearing, our bodies?

For more biblical teaching on the subject of the resurrection you may want to check out Bible Gems #129, “Resurrection & Reincarnation” and #150, “Our Age In Heaven.”

The Greek word translated “resurrection” in the Bible literally means, “standing up again.” It is a word picture that conveys the idea that our bodies that ceased to function at death will be reanimated, brought back to life. Fortunately, the bodies that will be raised will be perfect, immortal and imperishable (1Cor. 15:42-50)!

It is the body that is raised from the dead, not the soul, both for the believer and the nonbeliever. It is, after all, the body that decays at death and is in need of resurrecting, whereas the soul enters either Hades to await the Great White Throne Judgment, or else goes to be immediately with Jesus.

For the nonbeliever awaiting judgment, the soul resides in Hades, the realm of the unrighteous dead. Those in Hades will remain there in a bodiless state until after the Millennial reign of Christ is concluded and Satan has been totally and forever defeated. Then, at the Judgment, their bodies will be resurrected (Rev. 20:5). After that, the resurrected person—soul and body—is cast into Hell:

         Matt. 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

For the believer in Jesus, death means temporary separation from the body while the soul is present with the Lord. When the apostle Paul contemplated the distinct possibility that he and his companions might be martyred for their faith in Jesus he said:

         2Cor. 5:8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Likewise Job declares a similar confidence that he will see the Savior face to face in the resurrection:

         Job 19:25-27 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

This is the miracle of the resurrection—that the body that is raised is still our own recognizable, familiar body! Glorified, yes; transformed and immortalized, yes—but, as Job says,  we will see Jesus with our own perfectly sighted eyes and enjoy the wonders of eternity in our own wrinkle-free skin!

God made us physical as well as spiritual beings, designed to inhabit and enjoy His physical and spiritual universe. In the resurrection we will be able to live in both realms at the same time with ease. For the prayer that Jesus taught us long ago will then be our everyday reality:

         Matt. 6:10  …your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Does The Soul Ever Die?

Bible Gems #99

Question: Does the soul ever die?

In the Bible, the term “soul” (Heb. nephesh; Gk. psyche) typically refers to a “living being.” In Genesis 1:20-21 God created the creatures of the sea, which are called “living souls” (ie., “living beings”). Then, in Genesis 2:7, God breathed into the inanimate shell of a man, and the man became a “living soul.” From a biblical point of view, people do not have souls; they are souls.

In its most common sense, “soul” is another word for “person:”

         Ezek. 18:4 For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.        

Therefore, when Jesus said that He came to give His “life,” He used the word “soul” (Gk. Psyche), because He meant that He as a person would die:

         Matt. 20:28 …just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Death does not mean that the person ceases to exist. Rather, death means that the person as a “being” enters into a different state of existence. A person who dies apart from Christ goes to the “pit,” to Sheol (Heb.), or Hades (Gk.), the realm of the dead, to await Judgment at the end of history (Rev. 20:11-15).

This is why Jesus warned His followers about not giving in to fear over what their enemies might do to them:

         Matt. 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

The word translated “destroy” (aÓpole÷sai) means to wreck something beyond recognition, or to lose something beyond recovery.

A person’s soul exists forever. The question for each “soul” is “in what condition will I exist forever?” The answer depends upon what that soul is invested in during this earthly life. As strange as it may seem, a person who spends his or her life trying to fulfill, maintain and satisfy the soul will end up losing it. That soul will end up in sheol awaiting Judgment and an eternity in hell. Why? Because investing your soul in your soul is like stuffing your paycheck in your wallet. Where’s the benefit in that?

However, if a person invests his life, his soul, in Jesus he is investing in eternal life:

         Mark 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

And the only way we invest the soul in anything is through love:

Matt. 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So in answer to the question “does the soul ever die,” the answer is “yes.” But for those who truly belong to Jesus, that “soul” is kept, protected and made pure for eternal life by God Himself—because that’s what He does for those He loves and who love Him in return. He Himself is what our soul was made for.

         1 Th. 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dividing Soul And Spirit

Biblegems #77

Question: What is the difference in Scripture between “soul” and “spirit,” and does the “soul” die?

Technically, the word “soul” in the Bible refers to the self-aware life force that allows the physical nature of man to function. Genesis 2:7 describes how God formed Adam from the same elements that were in the soil, but that Adam was nothing more than an intricate clay model—until God breathed life into him. That action turned the clay model into a conscious being (“soul”) in physical form. The soul is what makes the body come to life.

Gen. 2:7 …the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (“soul”—KJV).

It would even be somewhat inaccurate to describe man as a body with a soul in it, because the soul and body were designed for each other permanently. They were designed to function together and never be separated. When the two are separated, the body dies:

         Matt. 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Therfore, “death” is not a ceasing to exist, but rather a change in condition. Both the body and the soul can be “destroyed” in hell, where the word “destroyed” (Gk. “apolesai”) means to be “lost,” not annihilated. The idea is that both body and soul have entered a form of existence from which there is no return.

In the same way, when a believer dies the body and soul are separated until the resurrection, at which time the body is raised imperishable:

         1 Cor. 15:42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable

The “soul” gives us self-awareness and emotional responses, such as Jesus experienced in Gethsemane:

John 12:27  “Now my heart (Gk. “psuche”—“soul”) is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

Human beings (souls) are spirit as well as body and soul, however. “Spirit” (Heb. “ruach;” Gk. “pneuma”) is what distinguishes humanity from the rest of the huge varieties of created, conscious, earthly life. Dogs and birds and fish are all forms of conscious life, and all are capable of varying levels of emotional responses, such as fear or desire. But only humanity has spirit.

Mankind is fashioned for existence in the spiritual realm. We are designed to live with God and to have interchange with other spirit-beings, such as angels and, of course, God Himself:

         John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Jesus, as a sinless man, functioned in this spiritual capacity with perfection:

         Mark 2:8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?

As with the soul, when the spirit and body are separated death occurs. When Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from death, her restored spirit re-animated her body and soul:

         Luke 8:55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.

Death is the result of sin and not part of God’s original design for man. Death is being cut off from God, our source of life, because of sin, and results in an un-natural separation of body, soul and spirit. Jesus came to restore us to God, and to a life that is imperishable:

1 Th. 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Last Adam

1 Corinthians 15:45

Biblegems #11

In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul refers to Jesus as the "Last Adam" where he says, "So it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being': The Last Adam a life-giving Spirit." The question is, why would Paul call Jesus the "Last Adam?"

Our reference verse tells us that the “First Adam” became a living “soul”: that is, God formed from earthly components the shape and biological functions of the person we know as Adam and gave him the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). In this respect, the “First Adam” became a proto-type of all other humanity to follow. All humanity would be living souls created in the image of God (see Biblegems #10) in the same fashion that Adam was a living soul.

The “Last Adam,” Jesus, is a new proto-type, the first in a series of a new kind of human being. Jesus is referred to here as “Adam” because the new proto-type still deals with beings formed of earthly components. In fact, the same human beings who descended from the “First Adam” are now about to undergo a dramatic change and become like the “Last Adam.” As human beings, we are born in Adam, so to speak, and have received from him our biological nature and our imageo-dei. However, those who surrender their lives to Jesus inherit from Jesus a new nature—a human life indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God.

Likewise, in Adam we inherit the sin nature, and death as its consequence. Both are passed on genetically and by example:

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother

conceived me (Ps. 51:5).

But, in the “Last Adam,” we inherit eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20).

The “First Adam” passed on to the human race a mortal body, while the “Last Adam” passes on to those who are in Him a glorious, indestructible, resurrection body fit for eternal life.

Finally (although there is much more that could be said about the subject), just as the “First Adam” was not followed by a series of other proto-types, but became the model for all subsequent humanity, Jesus is called the “Last Adam” because there will be no other transformations that humanity will undergo. All humanity will forever after fall into on of two categories: in Adam or in Jesus Christ; in the “First Adam” or in the “Last Adam.” As Paul says in our reference verse, Jesus, the “Last Adam” has become a life-giving spirit; and we who are in Jesus are recipients of that new life that only He can give!

Thanks for the question! Please post your comments and other questions below for future Biblegems posts.