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  • Even worse than this, if mankind is already immortal, why did Jesus come to give immortality for the faithful if they already possess it? Peter Peckard observed in his book, “Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State Between Death and the Resurrection” (1756), page 19: “Jesus Christ came into the world on purpose to redeem men from death and to give them life and immortality. It is very certain the he could not redeem them from a state in which they were not, nor give them that life and immortality which they already possessed. So that by this scheme [the natural immortality of the soul] the whole notion of redemption by Jesus Christ is absolutely destroyed.”

“Jesus Christ came into the world on purpose to redeem men from death and to give them life and immortality. It is very certain the he could not redeem them from a state in which they were not, nor give them that life and immortality which they already possessed. So that by this scheme [the natural immortality of the soul] the whole notion of redemption by Jesus Christ is absolutely destroyed.”

  • Worse than all this is the problem of the consequences of Jesus’ atonement. If there is an eternally burning hell where sinners suffer an eternal punishment for finite crimes, then Jesus’ atonement was nothing of the kind – it was inadequate. However, Scripture tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all! See Rom 3:21-26, 6:10, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 7:27, 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18, among many other references. (See “Election”.) ThusThus, the doctrine of an immortal soul depreciates the centrality of the Cross, and its all-sufficient nature! Note this well – Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sin and endured our punishment. God will not administer a second lot of punishment on the wicked, other than to eternally destroy them (2 Thess 1:8, 9).
  • Isaiah 53:10 contains a fascinating prophecy that Jesus would give his “soul” as an offering for sin. If this is understood literally (as immortal soul advocates insist) then the text makes no sense at all. However, the NIV correctly renders the phrase, “the LORD makes his life an offering for sin”.
  • Even worse than this, if mankind is already immortal, why did Jesus come to give immortality for the faithful if they already possess it? Peter Peckard observed in his book, “Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State Between Death and the Resurrection” (1756), page 19: “Jesus Christ came into the world on purpose to redeem men from death and to give them life and immortality. It is very certain the he could not redeem them from a state in which they were not, nor give them that life and immortality which they already possessed. So that by this scheme [the natural immortality of the soul] the whole notion of redemption by Jesus Christ is absolutely destroyed.”
  • Worse than all this is the problem of the consequences of Jesus’ atonement. If there is an eternally burning hell where sinners suffer an eternal punishment for finite crimes, then Jesus’ atonement was nothing of the kind – it was inadequate. However, Scripture tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all! See Rom 3:21-26, 6:10, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 7:27, 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18, among many other references. (See “Election”.) Thus, the doctrine of an immortal soul depreciates the centrality of the Cross, and its all-sufficient nature! Note this well – Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sin and endured our punishment. God will not administer a second lot of punishment on the wicked, other than to eternally destroy them (2 Thess 1:8, 9).
  • Isaiah 53:10 contains a fascinating prophecy that Jesus would give his “soul” as an offering for sin. If this is understood literally (as immortal soul advocates insist) then the text makes no sense at all. However, the NIV correctly renders the phrase, “the LORD makes his life an offering for sin”.
  • Even worse than this, if mankind is already immortal, why did Jesus come to give immortality for the faithful if they already possess it? Peter Peckard observed in his book, “Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State Between Death and the Resurrection” (1756), page 19:

“Jesus Christ came into the world on purpose to redeem men from death and to give them life and immortality. It is very certain the he could not redeem them from a state in which they were not, nor give them that life and immortality which they already possessed. So that by this scheme [the natural immortality of the soul] the whole notion of redemption by Jesus Christ is absolutely destroyed.”

  • Worse than all this is the problem of the consequences of Jesus’ atonement. If there is an eternally burning hell where sinners suffer an eternal punishment for finite crimes, then Jesus’ atonement was nothing of the kind – it was inadequate. However, Scripture tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all! See Rom 3:21-26, 6:10, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 7:27, 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18, among many other references. Thus, the doctrine of an immortal soul depreciates the centrality of the Cross, and its all-sufficient nature! Note this well – Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sin and endured our punishment. God will not administer a second lot of punishment on the wicked, other than to eternally destroy them (2 Thess 1:8, 9).
  • Isaiah 53:10 contains a fascinating prophecy that Jesus would give his “soul” as an offering for sin. If this is understood literally (as immortal soul advocates insist) then the text makes no sense at all. However, the NIV correctly renders the phrase, “the LORD makes his life an offering for sin”.
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Dottard
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The phrase "eternal life" occurs very often in Scripture and always means the eternal life with Jesus and God.

  • John 3:31 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
  • John 4:36 - Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.
  • John 6:54 - The one eating My flesh and drinking My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. [That is, the wicked will not share this blessing!]
  • John 10:28 - I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. [That is, the wicked will not have eternal life.]
  • 1 John 3:15 - Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
  • Rom 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

... and so forth. Now, prevarications and confiscations about death not meaning death, etc, are just that. One cannot have eternal life in hell. Therefore, when Jesus says that we have eternal life only in Christ (1 John 5:11, 12, John 17:3) mean exactly what they say.

For more information, see appendix below.

APPENDIX - Theological Implications – the Nature of God

The idea of an immortal soul has other practical and logical problems quite apart from the explicit statements of Scripture as listed elsewhere; for example:

  • If the soul is immortal it does not depend on God for life. “He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else . . . For in him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:25, 28. “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:11, 12. Thus, the assertion that we are somehow immortal and do not depend on God for life and all else, is blasphemous! Further, by definition, people in hell do not have the Son and so cannot have life!
  • If the soul is immortal, God cannot destroy it - God would therefore not be omnipotent (not all powerful). See Job 42:2 and Matt 19:26. Thus, the assertion that the soul is immortal and indestructible (apart from contradicting the plain statements of Scripture, eg Matt 10:28, Eze 18:4, 20, 24), limits the power of God!
  • Some will object to the above assertion by suggestion that our souls are dependent on God for life and that God could destroy the soul if He so chose. However, this leaves us with an even bigger problem that God then keeps people (souls) alive in hell eternally in order to torment them! This makes God, as Ingersoll asserted, into some kind sadistic monster that is inconsistent with His fundamental essence of love (1 John 4:8, 16).
  • If the soul is immortal, God could not ultimately destroy evil and eradicate sin from the universe. See Heb 9:26, Nahum 1:9. In fact, God took specific steps to avoid sinful man living forever - see Gen 2:24. Again, the idea of an immortal soul for the wicked, limits God’s ability to solve the sin problem.
  • If the soul is immortal and the wicked are tormented forever in a fiery hell, God is not just because such an outcome for sinners is not justice when they would serve an eternal sentence for a finite crime. “God's judgment is right … God is just” 2 Thess 1:5, 6. See also Rom 3:23-26.
  • If the soul is immortal, what need is there of a resurrection? If the saints are already enjoying the heavenly paradise, what purpose does the resurrection serve? (Some say the resurrection is to reunite the soul with the body - but why if they already have their reward?) Paul asserts that if there is no resurrection then our faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:12-20). Even William Tyndale arrived at a similar conclusion in his book, “An Answer unto Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue” –

“Nay, Paul, thou art unlearned, go to Master More and learn a new way. We be not most miserable, though we rise not again, for our souls go to heaven as soon as we be dead, and there as in great joy as Christ that is risen again. And I marvel that Paul had not comforted the Thessalonians with this doctrine, if he has wist it, that the souls of their dead had been in joy, as he did with resurrection, that their dead should rise again. If the souls be in heaven as in great joy as the angels, after your doctrine, shew me what cause should be of the resurrection?”

  • Even worse than this, if mankind is already immortal, why did Jesus come to give immortality for the faithful if they already possess it? Peter Peckard observed in his book, “Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State Between Death and the Resurrection” (1756), page 19: “Jesus Christ came into the world on purpose to redeem men from death and to give them life and immortality. It is very certain the he could not redeem them from a state in which they were not, nor give them that life and immortality which they already possessed. So that by this scheme [the natural immortality of the soul] the whole notion of redemption by Jesus Christ is absolutely destroyed.”
  • Worse than all this is the problem of the consequences of Jesus’ atonement. If there is an eternally burning hell where sinners suffer an eternal punishment for finite crimes, then Jesus’ atonement was nothing of the kind – it was inadequate. However, Scripture tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all! See Rom 3:21-26, 6:10, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 7:27, 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18, among many other references. (See “Election”.) Thus, the doctrine of an immortal soul depreciates the centrality of the Cross, and its all-sufficient nature! Note this well – Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sin and endured our punishment. God will not administer a second lot of punishment on the wicked, other than to eternally destroy them (2 Thess 1:8, 9).
  • Isaiah 53:10 contains a fascinating prophecy that Jesus would give his “soul” as an offering for sin. If this is understood literally (as immortal soul advocates insist) then the text makes no sense at all. However, the NIV correctly renders the phrase, “the LORD makes his life an offering for sin”.

Therefore, mortal man is just that and dependent at all times on our heavenly Father via Christ for our life. “For to me, to live is Christ.” Phil 1:21.