Why Does It Matter?

Wondering if it matters whether you were born immortal? You're in the right place.

The Biblical teaching on immortality (whether man is inherently immortal) matters firstly because it is true. There is no secondary reason to accept its truth than the words of Scripture themselves, so this article is not intended to point anyone toward the doctrine of exclusive immortality (granted to the believer) apart from Scripture. Yet, this article will present a series of reasons why the question of whether immortality is for the believer alone or unbeliever also is of great importance. This is due to its direct effect on:

A) The Gospel

Consider The Gospel for a moment. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on a cross to redeem us (complete the payment for our sin) by being judged on our behalf. Three days later, He rose again that we too would have eternal life through Him.

This is the Gospel, and yet many don't hear it. They use the biblical language all the time, yet don't believe exactly what they repeat. Jesus died to 'pay in full' the debt we owed to God for our sin (its wages being 'death'). Notice that Jesus (in order to pay our debt) did not have to suffer for eternity. Some invent reasons for this; most commonly, that the eternal God coming in the flesh to die is equivalent to a mortal suffering eternally. They claim that the immeasurable worth of Jesus is what makes His penalty so powerful to redeem us from a penalty of immeasurable duration. Sounds sweet, but this interpretation overlooks the more simple hearing of the Gospel; Jesus suffered and died in our place because the unsaved sinner will eventually suffer and die. If we took a whisk through the Biblical account of History from Genesis we would see a series of judgements for sin – each with temporary suffering, followed by death. From the flood, through Sodom and Gomorrah, all the way to the final judgement, every sinner who has ever been born will either suffer and die themselves or look to God's mercy by the blood of His Son.

From this (allegedly absurd, yet) biblical understanding that 'death' means 'death', the Gospel can finally be heard in all its splendorous glory. When one believes in Jesus Christ, they literally overcome mortality by inheriting eternal life. Jesus defeats mortality, death, the end – by giving unending life. Eternal life no longer obscurely means one's inherent eternal existence perpetrated by joy and bliss. 'Eternal life' – believe it or not – means (dare I say it) 'eternal life'. This is glorious. The Gospel no longer begins with the horrendous thought that one's birth was their consent to endless existence; by default, set to be lived out in a place of torment. The Gospel no longer merely steps onto those tracks and switches the train's destination. The Gospel says that though death and mortality would have eternally concluded suffering, resurrection would be the beginning of eternal life without suffering, with God – for all those who believe in Jesus for such a salvation!

The Gospel can also be greatly damaged by the teaching of eternal suffering since it presents a great (unbiblical) injustice. Firstly, for the unbeliever hearing this good news, the injustice of eternal conscious torment as the judgment ahead of them thwarts their view of God's goodness and justice and has kept many from believing the biblical gospel. Many have been put off by this injustice and have (by it) been blinded to 'the kindness of God', presented in Scripture, intended to lead them to repentance (as seen in Romans 2:4). Secondly, for the believer, there is the cloud that their friends and relatives may (with the entire unbelieving world) face an endless duration of suffering. This is not the Gospel and (being nowhere taught in Scripture) could be very damaging to one's understanding of the Gospel.

B) The Character of God

The character of God is greatly affected by the false doctrine of 'eternal conscious torment' – both for the believer and the unbeliever. We were made in God's image. When one considers that the kindest of humans most likely would never imagine sentencing the worst of criminals to an eternity of suffering, how could God? God is merciful. If He is not willing that any should 'perish' (as seen in 2 Peter 3:9), how should He sentence sinners to suffer unceasingly? I remember being asked to lead a children's talk one Friday on the parable of 'the rich man and Lazarus'. I was on the train reading the passage for preparation earlier that day and interpreted it through the lens of eternal suffering (what I assumed was biblical at the time). As I read, I was struck with confusion. That moment, I went onto my note-taking app and wrote these words: "Jesus. The Light. Says this? But this is dark. This is a shadow. This isn't Light." Now of course I didn't end it there, and was comforted by the following realisation; "Then it suddenly struck me. The Light never designed the shadow it shines to illuminate." In other words, I was comforted by the reminder of God's love to save sinners from judgment.

Yet, notice how I so struggled to reconcile my beliefs with my view of God. Believing what I did brought up contradictions between the Scriptural revelation of the goodness of Jesus and my assumptions concerning the nature of His judgements. I battled often to understand how or why God would judge sinners through unending torment. And though God thankfully quieted my wrestling thoughts with reminders of His salvation, I never fully could see the righteous justice of God in my view of His judgements. My view of the character of God had been thwarted by my assumptions handed down by tradition, rather than formed exclusively by the Words of God in Scripture.

Unbelievers similarly struggle and are often kept from faith in God due to the injustice of eternal suffering. The late Bill Hicks, an American comedian made the powerful comment; "The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love". Of course, we know this statement is meant to attack the God of Scripture, and we know it is not 'the whole image' in any sense, since it is one's own sins that a person will be righteously (and individually) judged for (according to what he or she has done) – not merely unbelief. Yet he is able here to use 'eternal suffering' as part of His attack on the 'infinite love' of God – and since we know from Scripture that this is not the judgment (death is) – we can see that he would have somewhat of a point there in attacking the false image of God's character. In reality, God is just and God is good; He is righteous in all of His judgments!

C) The Interpretation of God's Word

Ever since the immortal soul doctrine entered Christianity (from the outside), the words of God have been drowned out by our interpretations. Since unbelievers (with immortal souls) cannot ‘perish’ or ‘die’ in the judgment, these words no longer mean what we know them to mean. We imagine that God meant for us to hear ‘perish’ as ‘suffer unceasingly’ and, though well-meaning, end up interpreting rather than hearing God’s Word.

Take John 3:16 as a prime example. We read that anyone who believes in Jesus will 'not perish' but instead receive everlasting life. Taken literally, this is a two-fold promise, exclusive to the one who believes in Jesus, that they will be mortal (or lose their lives) but inherit immortality (eternal life) as a gift. By interpretation, we have overlooked the words presented to us based on our assumption that the Bible teaches the Greek idea of the immortal soul. This has greatly corrupted our hearing of the Word of God.

The clarity of God's Word is now overlooked by a series of interpretations. If these interpretations were born by other Scriptures, there would be an argument for their reliability. However, the assumption of the immortal soul has crept in from external (Greek) influence and corrupted the plain meaning of the Word of God. It is most sad that today John 3:16 (though so popular and clear as can be) is not heard. The interpretation of God's Word by unbiblical assumption has led to unbiblical conclusions (such as eternal conscious torment being God's just and fair judgment). In reality, God's Word is clear. As it was spoken, so it is to be taken. Whilst there may be some poetic verses in Scripture, these are clearly identifiable by context and common knowledge (such as, that rivers do not literally have hands to clap in Psalm 98:8).