ers a blow to his head and is knocked out, he knows nothing; for he is unconscious. How ridiculous to believe that if he is hit a little harder and is killed, he knows everything! Our only hope against the deceptions of the devil is complete faith and trust in the Word of God, interpreted so that there are no contradictions anywhere. Two more concepts which are poorly understood by most are the soul and the spirit. Many believe that at death their soul or spirit goes somewhere and continues to live apart from their body. Genesis 2:7 shows that a soul is a living human being. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Souls, therefore, are human beings. Ecclesiastes 12:7 describes the process of death. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” What is meant by “spirit” in this verse? The word “spirit” is a translation of the Hebrew word ruach, which means “breath.” Ruach is translated “breath” twenty-eight times in the King James version. One of these verses is Genesis 6:17. “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life [ruach], from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.” The spirit in Ecclesiastes 12:7, then, is the breath of life. When a man loses this, he dies. By way of analogy, suppose a man constructs a box from several boards and some nails. After the box is built, he pulls out all the nails, puts them in a pile, and places the boards in a stack. What happened to the box? It did not go anywhere; it just ceased to exist. This is exactly what happens to a soul at death; it just ceases to exist. By the hand of God a soul is made from the dust of the ground and the breath of life. At death the breath leaves, the dust goes back to the ground, and the soul simply ceases to exist, exactly as the box ceased to exist. At death the soul does not go anywhere: it is not immortal; it simply ceases to exist. Consider a few other verses which show that soul means “human being.” Joshua 11:11 is part of a description of a battle. “And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe.” This verse describes people who died in the battle. These souls were not immortal, for they were utterly destroyed. Since they were utterly destroyed, they could certainly not go anywhere. Acts 27:37 says that there were 276 people on board a particular ship. “And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.” Acts 2:41 tells us that 3,000 people joined the church in one day. “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Finally Revelation 16:3 tells us, “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.” We see here that not only human beings are souls, but also all the animals and fish in the sea. Every living entity of the animal kingdom is a soul. Dogs, cats, horses, cows, men, and women are souls, and here on earth none of them is immortal; they are all subject to death. Consider a few verses which talk about the spirit. You will recall that Ecclesiastes 12:7 showed that a person’s spirit is his breath. James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” In this case the word “spirit” is translated from the Greek word pneuma, which means breath or wind. We get our English word “pneumatic” from this word. Pneumatic means pertaining to air, or operated by air, as in pneumatic tires (tires with air in them) or pneumatic drill (a drill operated by air pressure). So here again we see that man’s spirit is his breath. The King James translation of the Bible was the work of a large group of scholars. When a disagreement arose as to how to translate a particular word, the translators would vote on which meaning should be used. They would then put the meaning which the majority wanted in the main text and put the alternate meaning in a margin, which ran down the middle of the page between the two columns of text. This marginal reference is usually printed in the more expensive copies of the King James version. If you have a King James version with the marginal references, you will notice that by the word “spirit” in James 2:26 there is a small number. Now, look in the margin under chapter two until you see that small number. This is the alternate translation of the word “spirit” and it is “breath.” Next consider Job 27:3. “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils . . . .” The nose (nostrils) is a rather strange place for the spirit to be if the spirit is what most people think it is. Again, the Hebrew word ruach, meaning breath, is used. The marginal reference for the word “spirit” in this verse also shows that the alternate translation is breath: “That is, the breath which God gave him.” We have seen here that human beings and animals are souls and that their spirit is simply their breath. In death, a person’s soul ceases to exist, for his breath (spirit) leaves him. He quits breathing, and his body goes back to dust. Death is exactly like a very deep sleep. With few exceptions, every time the word “spirit” is used in the King James version it is the translation of words that mean breath or wind. One of the qualities of breath and wind is intangibility. Thus the Hebrew and Greek words which mean breath or wind are sometimes used also to refer to other things which are of an intangible nature. These words are used, for instance, to refer to the Holy Spirit. In the original languages of the Bible the words for Holy Spirit literally mean “Holy Wind.” Likewise in the original languages the words which refer to unclean spirits literally mean “evil wind.” A few times the word “spirit” refers to a person’s mind. The only two texts where the word “spirit” is not translated from a word meaning breath or wind are found in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. Both instances refer to the appearance of Jesus to His disciples after His resurrection. The disciples thought they had seen a spirit. In these two cases “spirit” is translated from a word which means apparition or phantom, or ghost. Next, consider the words “immortal” and “immortality” as they occur in the Bible, and see whether such a thing as an immortal soul is mentioned anywhere. In the King James version, the only occurrence of the word “immortal” is in 1 Timothy 1:17: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” This is the only time in the entire Bible the word “immortal” appears, and it applies to God, not to man. Notice in Genesis 2:17 what God said when instructing Adam not to eat the fruit of one particular tree in the Garden of Eden. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God told Adam that he would die. Now, notice what Satan told Eve in Genesis 3:4. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” — a direct contradiction of what God had said. Whom did Adam and Eve believe? As we know, they believed the devil. Whom do men believe today when they claim that when a person dies he is not really dead but is living somewhere else? Isn’t it strange, when God has spoken so plainly, that men still choose to believe the devil’s lies? Romans 3:23 tells us that we have all broken the law of God. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 tells us that those who break God’s law earn wages, which is death. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” With these two texts in mind, notice that Ezekiel 18:4 tells us that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Since we have all sinned, broken God’s law, we are all subject to death. There is no such thing as an immortal soul, for all the souls who have sinned are mortal and are subject to death. Next, we shall consider each verse in which the word “immortality” is used in the King James version. First Timothy 6:14-16 says, “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality.” Only God has immortality. God is the only immortal being; He is the only one not subject to death. If only God has immortality, then no other being is immortal. Man has no immortal soul or immortal spirit, for only God is immortal. Romans 2:6,7 tells us that God “will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.” We do not have eternal life now, but we are to seek for immortality by well doing. Second Timothy 1:10 tells us that Jesus Christ “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Jesus has made it possible for us to gain immortality someday, although we do not have it now. First Corinthians 15:51-54 tells us when immortality will be granted to some. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump [trumpet]: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” The last trumpet signifies the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. It is then that immortality will be granted to the righteous men and women.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 03:08:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015