Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

The body of Jesus was missing from the tomb because He had been resurrected bodily (not just as a spirit or disembodied soul). Jesus Himself emphasized this to the apostles when He appeared to them on Easter evening (Luke 24:36-43), and invited them to handle Him to convince themselves of the fact that He was not just a spirit. (However, His resurrected body -- although it contained flesh and bones, as Jesus pointed out -- was not subject to the same physical constraints as natural bodies, as He showed by being able to appear and disappear at will, and also later to ascend to heaven.)

When Christians are resurrected bodily at the time of Christ's return at the close of the present age, they will have the same type of immortal physical body (not just a spirit or disembodied soul) that will live eternally.

March 31 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Aurel Gheorghe Supporter

There is no Bible text saying that upon death the spirit or the soul transcends to heaven. This is what the Bible is teaching regarding the dead: 

1. God alone is immortal: (1 Tim 6:16). Immortality is conditional on our connection with God (Acts 17:25, 28; James 4:14; Ps 78:39). Eternal life is always dependent on our faith in Jesus. Without Him there is no everlasting life, not on earth, nor in heaven, nor in hell (Rom 6:23; John 3:36; 5:24; 1 John 5:11, 12).

2. Humans die because of sin (Rom. 5:12) and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23; Ezekiel 18:4). 

3. Death is an unconscious state (a “sleep”). At Creation, God breathed the “breath of life” into “the dust of the ground” and “man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). 

Dust + Breath of Life = Living Being (soul). The word “soul” used in some translations refers simply to a living being: 
a. Humans do not have a “soul” but are a “soul” (1 Cor 15:45; Gen 2:7).
b. Animals are “souls” also (Gen 1:20; 9:10; Rev 16:3).
c. "Souls” can be baptized (Acts 2:41).
d. The “soul” can die – is not immortal ((Ezekiel 18:4; Ps 89:48).

The term “soul” designates the entire human being. It is not used in connection with immortality. The concept of an immortal soul is not found in the Bible. When a person dies they “return to the ground (Gen 3:19). The “breath of life,” or the “spirit,” returns to God (Eccl. 12:7; Ps. 146:3, 4). The dead doesn't know anything and doesn’t do anything (Eccl. 9:5, 6, 10). 

Jesus referred to death as sleep (Matt 9:24; Mark 5:39; John 11:11-14; 1 Cor 15:51, 52; 1 Thess 4:13-17; 2 Peter 3:4; Dan 12:2; Job 14:10-12; Ps 13:3). 

4. The saved will be resurrected at Jesus’ second coming - those who have fallen asleep in Jesus will be resurrected to life (1 Thess 4:16, 17). 

5. God gives the gift of eternal life to all who believe in Jesus (John 3:16; Rom 6:23). 

Only, at the second coming of Jesus the saved will be transformed and will “put on” immortality” (1 Cor. 15:52, 53).

6. The wicked will be resurrected after the millennium to face judgment and destruction (Rev 20:5; John 5:28, 29).

March 31 2019 • 20 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report