jeffersonvann

clarifying evangelical conditionalism

The process of theological debate requires a constant stating and restating of one’s position so that all parties are aware of where each other stands. If this does not happen, we run the risk of misrepresenting each other in the conversation. Some of my recent articles were presented in hopes of accurately defining the position of evangelical conditionalism.[1] This is another attempt to clarify what evangelical conditionalists believe.

1. Evangelical Conditionalists believe that only Jesus can save sinners.

Many in the theological debate wrongly conclude that anyone who challenges the traditionalist teaching on hell must be a theological liberal. In reality, conditionalists are usually quite conservative in their view of God, the Bible, and especially salvation. We believe that there is only one way to salvation, and his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”[2] Other religions, or inspired human effort might help people change their ways, but they are not the way back into a relationship with the Father. Only Jesus is the Way. Other religions, or inspired human effort might come to some aspects of the truth, but only Jesus is the Truth himself. Other religions, or inspired human effort may improve someone’s quality of life, but they can never impart eternal life. Only Jesus can do that.

At this juncture, traditionalists might argue that this is a point of essential agreement between themselves and conditionalists. Indeed it is. Yet we challenge our traditionalist brothers and sisters to embrace that final aspect of John 14:6 in its entirety. Traditionalism teaches that all human beings are born with a soul which has immortality regardless of whether that soul has accepted Christ or not. Thus, that immortal soul has no need for Jesus, and is in no danger of losing eternal life. Their destiny is to live forever whether or not they have come to Christ. Christ does not mean exclusive life to them, but life in a better location.

Conditionalists, on the other hand, believe and teach what we call life only in Christ. We see life not as an innate possession, but as a potential possession. The difference is Christ. Instead of trusting in an inborn quality in our nature, we trust in Christ. Our hope is built on nothing less that Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Christ is our life.

2. Evangelical Conditionalists believe that only God has immortality.

Although conditionalism is usually defined as an anthropological

tenant, it has just as rightful a place among the doctrines of theology proper. At the heart of our teaching is what Paul declared about God: that he “alone has immortality.”[3] That is, if there were a box in which all the beings of this universe who could not die were placed, it would be occupied by the LORD alone. No created being – not even the angels in heaven – share that attribute with him, for since they owe their existence and life to God, they cannot claim immortality.

Human beings (even human souls) are just as much created beings as the angels, and therefore share their mortality. The hope being immortal is just that: it is a hope. The Bible never speaks of human immortality this side of the resurrection at Christ’s return. Human immortality is a promise. We possess it only in that potential form. It is the inheritance of the saints.

3. Evangelical Conditionalists believe that only the Saved will Live Forever.

Biblical eschatology presents a series of prophesied events that will take place simultaneously with – or be initiated by – Christ’s second coming. At the end of that stream of events there will be an ultimate consummation of all things. The Judgment Day will be one of those events, but it too will have an end – “the second death.”[4] After this, Jesus will recreate heaven and earth for our eternal habitation and his eternal glory.[5]

Eternity is an exclusive club, and non-members are not allowed. Those whose names are not listed in the Lamb’s book of life will have been destroyed (soul and body) in hell.[6] That would make it impossible for them to participate in eternity. Traditionalists teach that God is obligated to keep human souls alive forever because he made them immortal. The Bible does not teach that. Traditionalists teach that God will torment these souls for eternity. The Bible teaches that those in hell will be tormented as punishment for their particular sins, some with few stripes, others with many.[7] That reflects the justice that was prescribed in the Old Testament law.[8] God is just. His justice does not require torturing people for eternity for the sins of a few years. But even if one could justify punishing people forever, it would still require immortality, which the Bible is clear that sinners do not have.

Another point in which traditionalists and conditionalists disagree is that most traditionalists insist that punishment in hell begins the moment the sinner dies. Conditionalists place reward and punishment at the point in time that the Bible does. The Bible says “the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”[9] Both destinies begin at the second coming of Christ. Neither the believer’s eternal life nor the damnation of hell begin at death. Instead, death is a period of unconscious sleep for both. For traditionalists, hell begins at death, is interrupted by an unnecessary second judgment, and then resumes again.

Conditionalists love the message that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life..”[10] We do not choose to redefine that message – by changing the reward to something else besides eternal life. Immortal existence in God’s recreated universe is OK with us. We do not have to go to our reward at death. We prefer to wait for our reward to come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Only after he returns will eternal life be meaningful.

Conditionalists believe that this present world consists of haves and have nots. The Bible says “that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”[11] Only the saved will live forever. The lost will be … well… lost.

[1] http://www.afterlife.co.nz/2012/featured-article/defining-conditionalism-conditional-immortality/ and http://www.afterlife.co.nz/2012/featured-article/what-is-an-evangelical/ and http://www.afterlife.co.nz/2011/featured-article/the-logic-of-conditionalism/

[2] John 14:6 ESV.

[3] 1 Timothy 6:16.

[4] Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8.

[5] Revelation 21:1-2.

[6] Matthew 10:28; Revelation 20:15.

[7] Luke 12:48.

[8] Deuteronomy 25:3.

[9] John 5:28-29 KJV.

[10] John 3:16 ESV.

[11] 1 John 5:11-12 ESV.

ACST 53. The Testimony

God’s work of regeneration opens the mind to the reality the Bible reveals about God, Christ, sin, Satan, the world, and the Church. The believer’s self-awareness is forever altered. This new way of thinking is called repentance. One major result of this new way of thinking is how it is reflected in the believer’s testimony.

The first disciples said that Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection because they were “chosen in advance to be his witnesses” – which included preaching and testifying about Jesus.[1] He told them “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”[2] They shared their testimony and turned the world upside down with it. Most of them gave up their lives sharing that testimony. In fact, the word “witness” soon took on the predominant meaning of someone who died for their faith.[3]

What made these believers witnesses was not merely the fact that they were willing to die for what they believed. They were passing on the reality of Jesus Christ. They were God’s means of testifying to the existence, work, and significance of his Son. He could have chosen to prove his existence some other way. He could have endowed places or symbols with his power. He did not. He could have written the life of Jesus on tablets of stone for people to idolize. He did not. He entrusted the good news to those who received it.

The process of passing on the most significant news in the history of the universe was not delegated to angels. Human beings were both the recipients and the messengers of this good news. Long before the New Testament was completed, ordinary people were sharing the story of Jesus and its importance to humanity. It was God’s choice to spread this good news through this method. It still is.

What They Testified To

The Bible mentions some specific details that were part of the testimony of early believers. Jesus called this testimony “the facts about me.”[4] They included…

1. the fact that Jesus was God’s choice to judge the world.[5]

2. that God’s righteousness is available to all.[6]

3. the good news that God saves people by grace.[7]

4. that Christ had been with the Father, and appeared to humanity.[8]

5. that the Father had sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.[9]

6. that Jesus was the Messiah whom the Jews had waited for.[10]

7. that Jesus is the King of God’s Kingdom, of whom the Old Testament speaks.[11]

8. that Christ gave himself on the cross as a ransom for all.[12]

9. that God raised Christ from the dead, which guarantees our resurrection.[13]

10. that Jesus is the Lord in whom we must put our faith.[14]

11. that God has promised eternal life for those who are in Christ.[15]

The gospel is not about us. It is not the fact that if we do something, then God is obligated to save us. The gospel is about Jesus Christ. It is the story of what he did for us. It is the glorious truth that God has a solution for humanity’s failure, and invites us to accept it, and experience it. It is the revelation of a divine plan, which began in eternity past, and will result in a glorious future eternity.

God’s primary means of turning the world to himself is the testimony that believers communicate. His plan includes an eternal destination, and he has chosen us to get the news out, so that others can join him there. That eternal destination has often wrongly been called “heaven.” It is an unfortunate choice of words because the destination to which we aspire is not a particular location (heaven as opposed to earth) as much as it is an inheritance. God’s plan is to redeem all creation. That is why the Bible speaks of a new heaven and a new earth.[16]

The testimony of faith looks at all the ugliness of this present reality and chooses to trust Christ and his promises. The believer does not wish to escape earth and go to heaven, but longs for the redemption and restoration of the whole universe so that it once again can be called “very good.” The goal of faith is not to escape the evil but to outlast it. The key to doing that is the resurrection of the righteous. By faith, the believer looks beyond her own death, and embraces the promise of a resurrection unto eternal life at Christ’s return.

In the mean-time, the believer chooses to live in the kingdom of Christ, and occupy herself with proclaiming the good news of that kingdom’s existence. It is a kingdom which is both now and later. It is a dominion of a king who is willing and able to rule in the lives of those who submit to him. But it is also a promise of a future rule of that same king over the domain of the entire universe. The testimony is a declaration of salvation both here and now and there and then. It is the good news that Jesus can cleanse and restore our broken lives and relationships today. It is also the good news that another, future life awaits those who put their faith in him, with a glorious transformation unlike anything that we can experience in the present. Gospel witnessing includes these three messages:

1. what Christ did for us on Calvary’s cross,

2. what Christ can do for us today,

3. what Christ promises for eternity.

How to witness

Jesus testified of himself by means of the spoken word, and has commanded his church to do the same. He testified by public preaching and teaching and by small group and private conversation. At no point did he restrict his intentions by allowing only the professional to witness.

“Then he opened their minds to understand

the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is

written, that the Christ should suffer and on

the third day rise from the dead, and that

repentance and forgiveness of sins should be

proclaimed in his name to all nations,

beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses

of these things.”[17]

The first obligation to witness was upon those who observed his death and resurrection. That observation of those events, however, did not especially qualify them as witnesses. To be a witness in the New Testament sense is not to have observed something, but to testify of it. It is something you say, not something you see. A person was a witness in court not because he had seen something, but because he had been chosen to testify of what he had seen (or heard). The emphasis was always on the saying, not the seeing. Also, the reason they got into trouble with the authorities was not that they had observed Christ and his resurrection and ascension, but that they talked about those facts and used them as proof that he is alive and is Lord of all. It was not what they saw, but what they said.

We who follow after those first witnesses are just as obligated to speak about who Christ is, what he has done, and what he is going to do. Jesus prayed for us when he prayed for “those who will believe in me through their word”[18] – that is, those who carry on the faith that the apostles propagated. He wants us to share that faith utilizing the same means: public speech and private conversations.

The testimonies were not limited to speeches and conversations. The gospel truth soon became incorporated in the Gospels and epistles. All media available at the time was utilized to get the good news out to those who needed it. The words of the gospel found their way into the songs and stories and art of the witnesses. As time progressed new media were developed. Each of these has also become a means of testifying to the truth that Jesus exists, what he has done, and what he is going to do.

Witnessing was more than an individual responsibility. Witnesses naturally gathered together to encourage one another. Associations with others who named the name of Christ became a means of testifying as well. Communities of believers witnessed to each other as a means of building one another up and promoting the act of witnessing to the lost. By being associated with other believers, witnesses showed that Christ was more than a mere ideology. Those who congregated (when possible) showed that they shared a relationship with Jesus and with each other. The Church became the social network of all social networks. It became one of the visible witnesses to the work of the invisible Holy Spirit.

Before long, traditions developed in the churches that reflected the reality of what was preached in the pulpits. It became clear that some of the things that Christ had commanded his disciples were meant to be carried on by each successive generation of the church. The act of baptizing new converts as a means of confessing the reality of the new life and the hope of a resurrection was one of those traditions. The meal celebrating the new covenant initiated by Jesus with his disciples in the upper room was another.

The apostles insisted that Christ-like character was to be expected of all believers. This was to be the means of witnessing to the reality of our words. The words were to be validated and verified by our actions, attitudes, and relationships. Thus, when the apostles encountered problems in their churches, they responded with strong rebuke and discipline. The words of the epistles continue to minister to us by drawing attention to our transgressions. The reason for this is that our task of witnessing to the reality of the gospel is just as pertinent today. The first mission is still the foremost mission. Anything that we do that subverts that mission must be corrected.

Distorted Testimony

Not only should we watch our lives to make sure that they are reflecting what we testify, we should also constantly watch what we are saying. Our witnessing needs to be a careful balance between two extremes. We can distort the gospel by making too much of it. That is, we can pack so much content into our presentation of the good news that we overwhelm those we are trying to reach. We need to develop the skill of saying the words that people need to hear about Christ, and just those words.

On the other hand, if we say too little, we run the risk of presenting a message other than that “once for all delivered to the saints.”[19] A message that is too simple runs the risk of leading people to a faith that is too simple. A truncated gospel leaves too much out. It makes a person religious without being devoted to Jesus. Also, it becomes a self-perpetuating mistake. Whole communities have been encouraged to come to Jesus without repenting from their sins. A gospel without true repentance is not the gospel at all. While that may be a way of gaining popularity with the world, it is also a way of making the church irrelevant.

The true good news is good news because it takes into account the bad news of sin, failure, and depravity. For the church to be a reliable and faithful witness to Christ, she must share the reality of Christ’s rescue along with the backdrop of humanity’s failure and sin. But we must remember that we are witnesses, not judges. We have to be honest about our own failures and problems, and share the reality of our own struggles. Then, those who struggle with the same things will know how Christ helps. If we are not honest, the world will get a wrong idea about what Christianity. A witness to hypocrisy only breeds more hypocrisy.

Those who truly seek to share the good news are going to have to adjust their methods to meet the current culture. Tried and true methods of the past will have to be surrendered when it becomes obvious that they are no longer practical or effective. New methods will have to be developed which scratch where today’s society itches. Care must be taken to ensure that vital content is not lost in the process. This is all part of the process of witnessing wisely.

The most effective means of verifying and validating one’s testimony is the subject of the next chapter. The life lived in faith makes the gospel real to the believer, and confirms his testimony.

[1] Acts 10:41-42.

[2] Acts 1:8 ESV.

[3] The Greek word martus is one of several which took on this connotation.

[4] Acts 23:11.

[5] Acts 10:42.

[6] Romans 1:16-17.

[7] Acts 20:24.

[8] 1 John 1:2.

[9] 1 John 4:14.

[10] Acts 18:5.

[11] Acts 28:23.

[12] 1 Timothy 2:6.

[13] 1 Corinthians 15.

[14] Acts 20:21.

[15] 1 John 5:11-13.

[16] Revelation 21:1.

[17] Luke 24:45-48 ESV.

[18] John 17:20 .

[19] Jude 3.

set free

In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates is in prison, awaiting his execution. A number of his faithful disciples are gathered around him, discussing his fate. Socrates seeks to cheer them up by explaining his belief that he will soon be set free from his incarceration. The prison he expects to be released from is that of his body. Plato uses the dialog between these people to prove his belief that the soul is set free from the prison of the body at death.

“Do we believe that there is such a thing as death?

To be sure, replied Simmias.

Is it not the separation of soul and body? And to be dead is the completion if this; when the soul exists in herself, and is released from the body and the body is released from the soul, what is this but death?”[1]

“And what is purification but the separation of the soul from the body … the release of the soul from the chains of the body?”[2]

So, Socrates could comfort his disciples by assuring them that death would not be a defeat for him. He could confidently drink the hemlock because it would offer him true freedom – not just a physical release from his body’s bondage, but a greater release – release from the prison of his body itself.

Many Christian theologians and preachers have suggested that Socrates was right in that confidence. They teach the same thing about death that Socrates taught: that it brings freedom. Does the Bible affirm this, or did these theologians and preachers borrow the idea from pagan philosophers?

Death to be Feared

The Bible consistently teaches that death is an enemy to be feared,[3] rather than a solution to our present problems. God’s warning to the residents in Eden was “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”[4] If death were a good thing, bringing release from the prison of their body, God’s warning would not make sense.

Death is Darkness

The Bible associates death with darkness, not freedom and light.[5] It is pictured as a place void of all awareness, a place where the souls and bodies lie and await the next event – a resurrection and its accompanying judgment. The dead are described as unconscious of what is going on around them. This is not freedom.

Death is Sleep

The term “sleep” is the single most used description of death in the Bible. It is used in the Old Testament and in the New. It is used of believers and unbelievers. It is used of people before the atonement and afterward.

“Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death”[6]

“After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died”[7]

“The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised”[8]

“Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.”[9]

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”[10]

“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.”[11]

The image of sleep is especially important as a description of death because it speaks of the reality that death is not permanent. To die is to sleep, but to be raised is to be awakened. In the interval, people reside in a state of unconsciousness called (in Hebrew) Sheol, and (in Greek) Hades. In a previous article I wrote on this intermediate state, I concluded:

“Sheol, then, is a silent, dark state or condition in which everyone exists at death, and can only live again by a resurrection from the LORD. It is always contrasted with heaven, and never equated with it. It is not the hope of the saints; rescue from it is the hope of the saints.”[12]

Resurrection: rescue from death

The biblical hope is not death itself, but rescue from it. Jesus is the one who has the keys to set people free, and the prison that we are incarcerated in is not our physical body, but death and Hades.

“I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”[13]

“And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.”[14]

The New Testament consistently presents the hope of believers as their resurrection to full bodily life by Jesus at his return.

“for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”[15]

“Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.””[16]

“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection”[17]

“that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”[18]

Paul made it clear that his hope was not a disembodied state (being unclothed) but a resurrection to eternal life.

“For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”[19]

Believers will be set free only at that time. Until then, we are still suffering the consequences of our ancestors’ sin – we die and return to the dust.[20] But Jesus can raise us to life again. That is the blessed hope: “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”[21] who comes to rescue us from death.

Summary

Teaching that death sets people free fails to reflect the Bible in three crucial areas. It is inconsistent with what the Bible says about death, it contradicts the Bible’s description of the intermediate state, and it detracts from the importance the Bible places on the resurrection.

[1] Plato, Phaedo, Kindle version, location 705.

[2] Plato, location 754.

[3] 1 Corinthians 15:26.

[4] Genesis 2:17 ESV.

[5] Job 38:17; Psa. 107:10, 14; Matt. 4:16; Luke 1:79.

[6] Psalm 13:3 ESV.

[7] John 11:11-14 ESV.

[8] Matthew 27:52 ESV.

[9] 1 Corinthians 15:6 ESV.

[10] 1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV.

[11] 1 Thessalonians 4:15 ESV.

[12] Jefferson Vann, Sheol: The Old Testament Consensus.

[13] Revelation 1:18 ESV.

[14] Revelation 20:13 ESV.

[15] Luke 20:36 ESV.

[16] John 11:24 ESV.

[17] Philippians 3:10 ESV.

[18] Philippians 3:11 ESV.

[19] 2 Corinthians 5:2-4 ESV.

[20] Gen. 3:19; Job 10:9; 34:15; Psa. 90:3; 104:29; Eccl. 3:20.

[21] Titus 2:13 ESV.

rooted in God’s Word

ORO BIBLE COLLEGE just celebrated their 42nd anniversary. Advent Christian missionaries and national leaders started the school in 1971 because the new churches being planted needed leaders who were equipped for service. That mission still remains, and so does OBC.

Penny and I came to OBC as professors in 1996. We stayed for 13 years, and enjoyed it tremendously.

We had the opportunity to pour ourselves into the lives of young people who wanted to make a difference in their world. We found the Filipinos passionate about life, and eager to learn how to serve the LORD. In the midst of an economically challenging life, sometimes made even worse by government corruption and political or sectarian violence, these young people had followed the Master’s call to serve, teach, and lead his church. Their commitment was motivation for us to stay true to ours.

The faculty and staff we worked with were top-notch. They were more than just co-workers. They were our friends – our best friends. Each had made a commitment like ours, and stuck with that commitment in spite of challenges that would have sent us home.

We still keep in touch with many of these former partners in ministry. But, sadly, some of them have since fallen asleep in Christ.

A new generation of leaders has emerged to take on the responsibility of training the students at OBC. Most of these had been our students; have gone on to receive further training at seminary, and have now returned to OBC. Knowing the passion these young men and women had while students, and their commitment to Christ, we are confident that they will succeed.

OBC is now facing new challenges. New government requirements are requiring another rework of the curriculum and other adjustments. A popular movement among Filipino churches has de-valued institutional ministry training. OBC and other bible colleges are seeing reduced enrollment as a result. The missionaries have gone on to other assignments. Please pray with us that OBC will not only survive, but remain an essential part of what the LORD is doing through his church in the Philippines.

excursus: scaling the wall (part 3)

When anyone dares to suggest that sleep is an appropriate way to describe someone’s death, opponents are often quick to respond. They tend to build a wall of evidence, consisting of texts which appear to support some kind of conscious survival after death. Those of us who hold to an unconscious intermediate state have scaled that wall. We see inconsistencies that exist with the popular interpretations of the texts when compared to the actual texts themselves.

Some of the texts have simply been misinterpreted, like …

2 Corinthians 5:1-10, which expresses Paul’s desire to put on his resurrection body at the return of Christ, not to go to heaven when he dies.
Luke 16:19-31, in which Jesus employs a scary tale about woe in Hades to show the Pharisees that just because they are rich today, their eternal state is not secure.
The bringing up of Samuel by the Medium at Endor (1 Samuel 28) was a miracle God allowed to rebuke Saul for his disobedience. It was an unusual event – all miracles are. It cannot prove that people are normally conscious at death.

Other texts have been mistranslated.

· There is some evidence to show that neither Jesus nor the thief on the cross actually went to heaven on the day that Jesus died. The traditional translation of Luke 23:43, then, is a mistake. Jesus was assuring the repentant thief that they would be together on the day about which he asked: the day Christ comes in his kingdom.

· Jonah’s cry “out of the belly of hell” (Jonah 2:2 KJV) was the cry of a man who felt he was about to die, and go to Sheol, the grave. It says nothing and proves nothing about the intermediate state.

Many of the remaining texts that serve as that wall of evidence fall into the misinterpretation category. They include the following:

“Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus” (Matthew 17:3).

The transfiguration involved a number of miracles, including the sudden appearance of two great men from Israel’s past. The Bible specifically tells us that Moses had died and was buried.[1] Many think the Bible teaches that Elijah never died. However, there is some evidence that his ride into the heavens on a fiery chariot was a round trip. Some time after his famous trip to outer space[2] — possibly as much as two years after – king Jehoram gets a letter from Elijah.[3] Unless one argues that the Israelite postal service was really efficient, it appears that Elijah returned to write that letter. In other words, Elijah lived a normal life and presumably died a normal death.

All of this is to say that if Moses and Elijah reappeared physically to talk to Jesus at the mount of transfiguration, then both had been resurrected for that purpose. Their appearance was miraculous, and it proved the power of God, but it did not prove that they had been conscious in the intermediate state.

Yet the Bible does not specifically say that they had been resurrected. It says they appeared. Then, after talking with Jesus for some time, they disappeared. Later, when Jesus spoke to his disciples who saw it, he told them that it was a vision.[4] The appearance, and then disappearance of these two Old Testament saints was a vision designed to draw attention to the one who believers today should be paying attention to. As the voice said from the cloud “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”[5] This story is about the doctrine of revelation: how God has definitively spoken to us through his Son. To make this story about consciousness after death is to highjack it.

“GOD … IS NOT GOD OF THE DEAD, BUT OF THE LIVING”

(Matthew 22:32)

Among the many opponents to Jesus and his message were the Sadducees. They had emerged as a sect from Second Temple Judaism who had jettisoned all belief in the supernatural. Chief among the supernatural concepts that they had rejected was the idea that God would resurrect the faithful. After a group of Sadducees learned that Jesus was in town, they approached him with a question. It was an elaborate question that (they felt) showed how ridiculous it is to believe that God would resurrect anyone.

“Now there were seven brothers among us.

The first married and died, and having no

children left his wife to his brother. 26 So

too the second and third, down to the

seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died.

28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the

seven, whose wife will she be? For they all

had her.”[6]

Perhaps these Sadducees imagined that Jesus would say “Now that you mention it, resurrection does seem a silly idea doesn’t it?” But Jesus attacked these Sadducees. He told them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” He was arguing that resurrection was not so silly. The Bible promises it, and God is able to deliver on that promise.

In defense of the resurrection, Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6, where God identifies himself to Moses as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” While the text does not tell us whether Amram was alive at that time, it is quite clear that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had been dead for some time. So how can that text prove the legitimacy of the resurrection? Jesus said that God “is not God of the dead, but of the living.”[7] what legitimizes the hope of resurrection is not that people survive their deaths, but that God does.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will live again, because God always lives.

Again, this text says absolutely nothing about the intermediate state. It does not say that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are asleep, but neither does it assert that they are awake. The proof of the resurrection that Jesus puts forth in answer to the Sadducees’ question is the existence of God. Since God is alive, those who died are alive to him. This is much like Jesus’ response to Martha who weakly told Jesus that she knew her brother would be raised at the resurrection on the last day. Jesus responded “I am the resurrection and the life.”[8] Her problem was not her concept of the resurrection, but her failure to see that the Resurrection was standing in front of her.

“A MAN … CAUGHT UP TO THE THIRD HEAVEN”

2 Corinthians 12:2

Arguing for the legitimacy of his apostleship to some obstinate Corinthians, Paul decided to prove that he was acceptable as a spiritual leader because of the “visions and revelations” he had received.[9] He told of a time some fourteen years earlier when he had been caught up to heaven and “heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.”[10] Paul’s experience was so real to him, that he was unsure whether he was transported to heaven bodily, or whether it was a vision. Let us, for the sake of argument, assume that Paul had been transported bodily to heaven. Would that event teach us anything about the intermediate state? Obviously not. It would only prove that such a trip is possible, for someone who is alive. It would teach us nothing about a person’s state at death.

Or, for the sake of argument, let us assume the opposite — that Paul’s experience was a vision in which Paul was allowed to see heaven, but his body did not travel there. That would not be substantially different from any of the other visions of heaven recorded in the Bible. There is nothing in the text to suggest that Paul was dead. Ergo, this statement teaches nothing about the nature of the intermediate state.

JESUS “DIED FOR US SO THAT WHETHER WE ARE AWAKE OR ASLEEP WE MIGHT LIVE WITH HIM” (1 Thessalonians 5:10)

Paul unashamedly used the sleep metaphor to describe the death of believers. In this text, he divides the Christian population into two groups. There are two groups today whom Jesus has died for: those who are awake, and those who are asleep. Those of us who are awake are obviously believers in Jesus who have not yet died. Those who are asleep are those who have already fallen asleep in death and await resurrection day so that they can live again.

What is the hope of these two groups? Our blessed hope is that the Lord will return some day and reunite both groups. Jesus died for us in order to make that possible. He died for us on the cross so that whatever group we are in (dead or alive) we can be with him in eternity. There is no statement about the state of consciousness that dead believers are experiencing. In fact, this passage is about what Jesus has done, and our assurance of what he will do for us.

Those who use this passage as part of that wall of evidence hope to convince readers that it is saying that all believers are presently alive with Christ. However, behind that hope is a theological tradition that says that everyone is alive, Christian or not. The tradition affirms the concept that everyone has an immortal soul, which cannot die, and must remain alive forever. This text says nothing of such an innate immortality. The only immortality it promises is for those who are in Christ, who have benefitted from his sacrificial death on the cross.

“THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO HAD BEEN SLAIN …CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE” (Revelation 6:9-10)

It is really pulling from the bottom of the barrel to take a passage from an apocalyptic vision and try to use it to prove a doctrine, but people continue to consistently do it. We have no right to assume that beheaded souls can normally cry out than to assume that God’s throne normally has a literal lamb on it who is also a lion. The book of Revelation tells God’s truth using symbols, and to take those symbols as proof of their own existence is to misuse the text.

However, John probably knew some of those souls that he saw depicted in the vision. Some of them might have been his close friends. When he saw them crying out to God for justice, he was identifying with their cry. He wanted Christ to return and bring his judgment. But those who use this text merely as proof that disembodied souls remain alive do not believe that such souls are really crying out for justice. They think that once those souls were separated from their bodies they went to heaven and are experiencing the reward of eternal bliss. You cannot have it both ways. Either the righteous remain alive and go to their reward at death or they do not. In this passage, the righteous who have died are not yet vindicated. They wait for a resurrection.

“MY DESIRE IS TO DEPART AND BE WITH CHRIST” (Philippians 1:23)

Paul was contemplating the ramifications of his eventual death. He knew that whether he continued to live, or he died, either way Christ would get the glory. “Christ will be honored in (his) body, whether by life or by death.”[11] “For (him) to live is Christ, and to die is gain”[12] because all he has to look forward to is being raised at Christ’s second coming. That resurrection hope had become Paul’s obsession. His explained the “gain” that he hoped for later in this same letter to the Philippians:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because

of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ

Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered

the loss of all things and count them as

rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

9 and be found in him, not having a

righteousness of my own that comes from

the law, but that which comes through faith

in Christ, the righteousness from God that

depends on faith- 10 that I may know him

and the power of his resurrection, and may

share his sufferings, becoming like him in

his death, 11 that by any means possible

I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”[13]

As Paul was contemplating the consequences of whether or not he died in Christ’s service or continued to live, a third option emerged in his mind which he said was “far better.” He said “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”[14] He was saying that the best thing to happen for him is for Jesus to break the clouds and call him to himself. Then Paul would depart and be with Christ. That would be more glorious than either of the other options. But, until that happens, Paul is content to continue serving the Christ of the resurrection.

How stable is that wall of evidence looking now? God’s word proves many things, and it is profitable for doctrine. But it nowhere proves the conscious intermediate state. Our hope in Christ is not found in human nature, it is found in a divine rescuer. We hope not to survive death but to be raised to new life.

[1] Deuteronomy 34:5-7.

[2] 2 Kings 2:11.

[3] 2 Chronicles 21:12.

[4] Matthew 17:9 (ESV, KJV, NASB, NET, NKJV, NRSV, HCSB, LEB).

[5] Mark 9:7 ESV.

[6] Matthew 22:25-28 ESV.

[7] Matthew 22:32.

[8] John 11:25.

[9] 2 Corinthians 12:1.

[10] 2 Corinthians 12:4.

[11] Philippians 1:20.

[12] Philippians 1:21.

[13] Philippians 3:8-11.

[14] Philippians 1:23.