087. Do the Scriptures teach conditional immortality?

Do the Scriptures teach conditional immortality? By the doctrine of conditional immortality is meant the doctrine that man is naturally mortal and only gains immortality in Christ.

There is an element of truth in the doctrine, namely, that man is naturally mortal. As man could begin to be, man could of course cease to be. But it is the plain teaching of Scripture that all the sons of Adam get endless existence in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:22 we are told that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” If we deal fairly with these words, one “all” is as comprehensive as the other. Every one that loses existence in Adam, who returns to the dust (Genesis 3:19; Genesis 5:5), is raised from the dust in Christ. The whole race gets back in Christ what it lost in Adam. But whether this existence, this resurrection life, that we get in Christ, shall be a resurrection unto life or a resurrection unto judgment and everlasting shame and contempt (John 5:28-29; Daniel 12:2) depends entirely upon what we do with the Christ in whom we get it. Every man’s endless existence becomes an existence in unspeakable blessedness if he accepts Christ, but that existence becomes an existence in unspeakable misery if he rejects Christ. It is the second death (Revelation 21:8), a part with the Devil and his angels in the lake of fire prepared for them (Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46), a portion in the lake of fire where there is no rest dav nor night for ever and ever (Revelation 20:10).