Bible, King James Version

The Biblical State of the Dead

• The physical body plus the breath of life from God constitutes a living soul... a person is a living soul; as opposed to having one distinct from the physical body.

Gen.2:7  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.

Job.33:4  The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

1Cor.15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; 

 

• The breath of life, present in all living creatures, returns to God at death and the individual living soul ceases to exist.

Job.14:10,12  But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?... [12] So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

Eccl.3:19,20  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. [20] All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Eccl.12:7  Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Jas.2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

 

• The very purpose of the resurrection is to re-unite a physical body and the breath of life to again constitute a living soul.

Luke.24:39, 41-43  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have... [41} And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? [42] And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb, [43] And he took it, and did eat before them.

 

• Paul makes a clear distinction between where Christ and King David are presently.

Acts.2:29-32, 34  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.  [30] Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;  [31] He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.  [32] This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses...  [34] For David is not ascended into the heavens:

Acts.13:35-37  Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.  [36] For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:  [37] But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

 

• There are actually two deaths & two resurrections.

Acts.24:15  And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Dan.12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Rev.20:4-6, 12-14  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. [5] But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. [6] Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years... [12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [13] And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. [14] And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev.21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

 

• Resurrection and immortality are not neccessarily co-existent.

Gen.5:24  And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.

Matt.27:52  And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

Luke.20:36  Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

John.11:43,44  And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. [44] And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

1Cor.15:44, 51, 52  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body... [51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

• God states that sin ultimately results in death.

Gen.2:17  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.

Prov.8:36  But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Ezek.18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Rom.6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jas.1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

 

• Jesus agreed with the Old Testament, comparing death to sleep as far as our conciousness is concerned.

Matt.9:24  He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

John.11:11-13  These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. [12] Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. [13] Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

Job.14:14  If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

Pss.6:5  For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Pss.13:3  Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

Pss.115:17  The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

Eccl.9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Isa.38:18  For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

• Symbolism, figures of speech and parables (stories where a point is being made, but the details used to make that point are not of significance... as opposed to an allegory where every detail has an important meaning) must be allowed to remain as such.

Rev.6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

Matt.10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mark.9:44  Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

John.8:51,52  Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. [52] Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

1Thes.5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Phil.1:21  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Luke.16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

• God is able to maintain the individual identity of each person through death and resurrection by means not revealed in Scripture.

Job.19:25-27  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: [26] And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; [27] Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

Eccl.3:21  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

1Thes.4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

 

• Death is the last enemy to be vanquished.

1Cor.15:21, 26, 54, 55  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead... [26] The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death... [54] 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. [55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Webmaster's Commentary:

It would all be so much simpler if Christians would get their theology on the state of the dead from the Bible instead of from intellectually inherited Greek philosophy. Who do you suppose was the first to contradict God on this issue?

...And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (Gen.3:4)

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