A.05 THE SOUL: MORTAL, OR WHAT?

THE SOUL: MORTAL, OR WHAT?
A great question, assuredly, with immense issues (some of us believe eternal issues) dependent upon it. If man is altogether mortal; if his every constituent part is capable of coming to an absolute end then farewell to all responsibility; for judgment is impossible. Man is just an animal, and no more. Accordingly, "let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die" (1 Corinthians 15:32).
Where may we find certainty concerning a matter so important? Not in the reasonings and speculations of men, but in the Word of the living God. Does it, or does it not, teach that there is something in man which does not perish with the body? The question is virtually answered in God's account of the beginning of things. We learn from Genesis 2:7 that the body of the man was first formed of the dust of the ground, and then, as a separate act, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The true life of man is thus not inherent in the outer frame; it is something distinct from mere bodily vitality. Add to this our Lord's words to His disciples in Matthew 10:28, "fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Supplement this with the Saviour's reference to the long-departed patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in Luke 20:38, "He is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him." These passages prove conclusively that when earthly conditions are ended there is another sphere, in which the released spirit lives and moves, where no persecuting hand can ever come. And need we remind the reader of the rich man and Lazarus, who are vividly presented to us in Luke 16:1-31 in their respective conditions of anguish and bliss when this world had by both been left behind for ever?
Man differs from other created beings in that he is made up of "spirit, and soul, and body" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Angels are spirits only (Hebrews 1:7); animals, etc., consist of soul and body (Genesis 1:20, see margin). The spirit is the seat of the will and of the intelligence — the mental and moral faculties (1 Corinthians 2:11); the soul is the seat of the affections and desires (1 Samuel 18:1;Luke 2:35); the body is the vessel by means of which these express themselves. The word "mortal" is only applied in Scripture to the body; never to either soul or spirit. It is sometimes objected that the term "immortal soul" is not found in Scripture. This is admitted; but what is the force of the objection if that which the orthodox mean by the expression is found there? Moreover, it should be remembered that "immortal" is a negative term; and could only properly be applied to that in man which at some time was "mortal." Since the soul never was mortal; there was no need for the Spirit of God to specifically describe it as immortal.
The Annihilationist will say, in reply to all this, that he believes in "life only in Christ." This is at first sound satisfactory enough, seeing that scripture emphatically declares that "he that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12). But the argument of the Annihilationist is fallacious nevertheless; for it confounds what God has given to all men in the way of nature with what He has given to believers only on the ground of Christ's redemption. "Eternal life" is not mere being, but life in association with the Son of God in His own sphere of blessedness above. This, while open to all, and proclaimed to all in the Gospel, is not entered into by all, being contingent upon faith in the Saviour's name.
The contrasted terms "death" and "life" are used in various senses in Holy Scripture, and it is well to note this carefully. Thus a man may be morally dead — "dead in trespasses and sins" — while full of bodily and mental vitality (Ephesians 2:1); he may be physically dead, and yet be alive unto God (Luke 20:38); and he may experience the horrors of the second death, the lake of fire, and yet continue in being for ever (Revelation 20:10-14) Happy is the man who, instead of contending with his Maker, humbles himself contritely at His feet; and then, as a confessedly guilty sinner, casts himself upon His sovereign mercy revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.