CREATED WHOLISTICALLY

As seen above, the image of God

includes a variety of factors. Some scholars consider the image of God to be
wholistic, including all that is
humanbody, mind, and spirit. Irenaeus
definitively states, Man, and not [merely] a part of man, was made in the likeness of God.89 Herman Bavinck declares,
!e whole person is the image of the
whole deity and the human body is an
essential component of that image.90 G.
C. Berkouwer notes, Scripture is never
concerned with an independent interest
in immortality as such, let alone with the
immortality of a part of man which
defies and survives death under all

circumstances, and on which we can

reflect quite apart from mans relation to
the living God.91
In religious studies the tendency has
been to speak of humans as a soul within
a body, as if the soul is the real person,
and at death the soul moves out of the
body and continues existence apart from
110

89

Irenaeus, Against Heresies, !e AnteNicene Fathers; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989), 1:531 (5.6.1).
90
Bavinck, God and Creation, vol. 2 in
Reformed Dogmatics, 530.
91
G. C. Berkouwer, Man: !e Image of God,
in Studies in Dogmatics Series, 1st ed.
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), 276.

the body, but this way of thinking overlooks the fact that the entire Bible was
wri"en by Jews, who thought wholistically of humans, even though the New Testament was wri"en in Greek. !is means
that the word psych (soul), though it is a
Greek word, has a Hebrew meaning: the
seat of the will, desires, and aections,
or it is used to refer to a person or self
rather than an entity separate from the
body. !is warns against any mechanical
understanding of the New Testament
from classical Greek or contemporary
Hellenistic influences, since the writers
were Hebrews.92 Many biblical and theological scholars fail to grasp the Hebrew
meaning of psych, so the Greek meaning
supersedes the Hebrew meaning, and as
a result, a pagan interpretation replaces
the biblical interpretation. If the biblical
sola Scriptura hermeneutic is applied,
allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture,
then the Hebrew meaning is preserved.
!eology has been influenced by the
Greek translation of the Old Testament
and Greek categories (see my Systematic
!eology, volume 2, chapter 6). Both influences took theologians away from the
Hebraic thinking of Scripture. In 1950
George A. F. Knight referred to a number

92

See Jacques B. Doukhan, Israel and the

Church: Two Voices for the Same God (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002), 12.

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:47 PM August 25, 2016.

of Old Testament scholars (O!o Eissfeldt,

Johns Pederson, and Wheeler Robinson)
who studied Hebrew psychology and
documented how Hebraic thinking is
dierent from Greek ways of thinking
about humans:
#ey have made it abundantly clear
that the Old Testament writers drew
no line between what we, in our
Greek way of thinking, would regard
as two entities, mans body and mans
soul. How foreign to the Old Testament, for example, is the whole question of
the relationship of soul and body that
bestirs, say, the thoughts of India, or
the thoughts of the simple Westerner
who considers where the soul must
reside in the body. #ey have shown us
clearly that in the Old Testament souls
do not dwell in bodies; what we see
there are men, and men who are not
even aware that they might have souls.
When the Psalmist says: O thou my
soul bless God the Lord, he is not
addressing that part of himself which
the Greek or the Indian would designate by the word soul; he is addressing his whole person, as an independent human being. 93
p 111

In

1964, New Testament scholar

Oscar Cullmann said the idea of the

immortality of the soul is one of the
greatest misunderstandings of Christianity.94 I would add that it is the root cause
of a number of erroneous teachings, such
as saints and Mary dwelling in heaven
prior to the end-times resurrection (cf. 1
#ess. 4:1618), encounters with dead
loved ones, and eternal hell.
Medical science has long understood
the interconnectedness of mind and
body, with each aecting the other, and
knows that human beings need to be
understood and treated wholistically.
Treatment is not to a part but to the
whole. #e mind has a powerful impact
on the body, and the body on the mind.
Scripture says a happy heart makes the
face cheerful, but heartache crushes the
spirit (Prov. 15:13); A heart at peace
gives life to the body, but envy rots the
bones (Prov. 14:30).
HUMANS AS LIVING SOULS
Paul says, May your whole spirit, soul
and body be kept blameless (1 #ess.
5:23b).
Do humans have a soul? Or are they a
soul? When Christ breathed into Adam,

93

George A. F. Knight, A Biblical Approach

to the Doctrine of the Trinity, in Sco"ish
Journal of !eology Occasional Papers #1
(Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1957, 1st ed.
1953), 10.

94

Oscar Cullmann, Immortality of the Soul

or Resurrection of the Dead? !e Witness of
the New Testament (London: Epworth,
1964), 15.

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:47 PM August 25, 2016.

he became a living being (Gen. 2:7, NIV)

or a living soul (KJV ). Just as the phrase
the breath of life is used of animals, so
living soul is used of animals (Gen.
1:20, 24; 2:19), and even of God (Lev. 26:11;
Isa. 42:1). Paul expressed creation as taking place when Adam became a living

commentary on His words you will certainly die (Gen. 2:17b), which is opposed
to Satans claim: You will not certainly
die (Gen. 3:4a). !e spirit/breath that
returns to God is not a soul that survives

being (1 Cor. 15:45a, NIV, RSV, NKJV, TEV), an

animate being (NEB), or a living
soul (NASB, KJV, Phillips). !e Hebrew
words for living soul are nepe ayy,
and the Greek equivalent is psych. Do
these words suggest a separate entity?
!e simple answer is noin biblical

!eres no truth to the popular idea that

when the body is dead the soul survives.
Rather, Scripture looks to an eschatological hope for all the redeemed at Christs
return (John 14:13; 1 Cor. 15:5153; 1 !ess.
4:1618).
Satan propagated the idea that death is

thinking, the soul is not considered a

separate entity in humans or animals.
!e creation account doesnt say Christ
gave humans a living soul. Nowhere in
Scripture are humans said to possess a
soul. !e word soul describes being
alive. To be alive is to be a living soul.
To be dead is to be no longer a living
soul. It follows, then, that humans dont
have a soul. !ey are a soul.
!ats why Solomon says about death
that the dust returns to the ground it
came from, and the spirit returns to God
who gave it (Eccles. 12:7). In Genesis 3,

not really death. Christ said of Satan that

he is a liar and the father of lies (John
8:44b). Yet Greek philosophy promotes
Satans view, as does paganism, which
claims that souls live forever. If souls do
not die, then souls do not need the death
of Christ to live forever; this is why the
Cross is foolishness to unbelievers (1 Cor.
1:1724). Believing their souls are immortal, unbelievers think they have no need
of Christs death. !ey believe immortality is a gi" received through creation, not
through redemption. So according to
their belief system, immortality is a natu-

the Creator-Christ described the future

death of Adam and Eve as dust you are
and to dust you will return (v. 19). !e
psalmist says that when you take away
their breath, they die and return to the
dust (Ps. 104:29b). !is was Christs

ral gi".
!ere is a breadth of meaning to the
Hebrew and Greek terms for soul in Scripture. !ey can denote various human
emotions and inner powers.

death, for then p 112 Satans claim, and

not Christs statement, would be right.

Man is called to love God with all

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
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his heart and soul (Deut. 13:3). Within

the soul lies the desire for food
(12:2021), the lust of the flesh (Jer.
2:24), and the thirst for murder and
revenge (Ps. 27:12). !e soul is said to
weep (Job 30:16; Ps. 119:28) and to be
exercised in patience (Job 6:11). Knowledge and understanding (Ps. 139:14),
thought (1 Sam. 20:3), love (1 Sam. 18:1),
and memory (Lam. 3:20) all originate
in the soul. Here the soul comes close
to what today would be called the self,
ones person, personality, or ego.95

In creation there were only good emotions, for human creation was also
included in the pronouncement, God
saw all that he had made, and it was very
good (Gen. 1:31).
Soul comes from the Hebrew word
nepe. O"en nephesh refers to desires,
appetites, or passions (cf. Deut 23:24;
Prov 23:2; Ec 6:7), and is sometimes translated appetite (Prov 23:2; Ec 6:7). It may
refer to the seat of the aections (Gen
34:3; Song 1:7; etc.), and at times it represents the volitional part of man, as when
translated pleasure ( KJV) in Deut 23:24;
Ps 105:22; Jer 34:16.96

95

Walter Elwell, ed., Soul, in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker, 1988), 2:1987.
96
Siegfried H. Horn, Soul, in Seventhday Adventist Bible Dictionary, vol. 8 in
Commentary Reference Series (Washington,

A new soul comes into existence

whenever a child is born, each soul
being a new unit of life uniquely different, and separate, from other similar units. !is quality of individuality
in each living being, which constitutes
it a unique entity, seems to be the idea
emphasized by the Hebrew term
nephesh. When used in this sense
nephesh is not a part of the person; it is
the person, and, in many instances, is
translated person (see Gen 14:21;
Num 5:6; Deut 10:22; cf. Ps 3:2) or
self (Lev 11:43; 1 Ki 19:4; Is 46:2; etc).
On the other hand, expressions such as
my soul, your soul, his soul, etc.,
are generally idioms for the personal
pronouns I, me, you, p 113 he,
etc. (see Gen 12:13; Lev 11:43, 44; 19:8;
Jos 23:11; Ps 3:2; Jer 37:9 etc.). In more
than 100 of 755 occurrences in the OT
the KJV translates nephesh as
life (Gen 9:4, 5; 1 Sa 19:5; Job 2:4, 6;
Psa 31:13; etc.).97

A human being is described as a soul

by the Hebrew word nepe (and the corresponding Greek word) one hundred and
fi"y-two times in the Old Testament and
about sixteen times in the New. !is and
other uses of the word have so confused
our translators that it is translated in
forty-five dierent ways in the Old Testament alone.98

DC: Review, 1960), 1037.

97
Ibid., 10361037.

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:47 PM August 25, 2016.

In the New Testament, the word soul

encompasses the inmost being of the
person. !us we are to love God with all
our soul (Ma". 22:37), and the expression
from the soul means from the
heart (Eph. 6:6; Col. 3:23). !e human
Christ speaks of His soul as being

In his Encyclical Caritas in Veritate,

Pope Benedict XVI said, God chose to
endow [humans] with an immortal
soul (segment 29).100 So if the soul is the
total person, what does it mean that the
soul is immortal? !at would mean the
total person is immortal. If the total per-

crushed (Ma". 26:38; Mark 14:34; cf. Ps.

42:6).99 His total person is referred to
here. He was the Sin-Bearer (2 Cor. 5:21).
!e sins of the whole world crushed Him
and caused Him to suer. His whole
being was a guilt oering (Isa. 53:10).
!e Hebrew nepe (soul) means per-

son is immortal from creation, what

implications would follow?
!e term immortal means the inability to die. So if the total person is immortal since creation, then death is not an
option. Yet humans die. Scripture says
God alone is immortal (1 Tim. 6:16), and

sonality, while the Hebrew ra (spirit)

refers to the life principle that makes one
alive. !ere are times when the words
soul (psych) and spirit (pneuma) are used
interchangeably. !us Mary said: My
soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior (Luke
1:4647). In the same way Jesus can speak
of a human as soul and body (Ma".
10:28), and Paul refers to a human as spirit and body (1 Cor. 7:34).

the soul (Heb. nepe) that sinneth, it

shall die (Ezek. 18:20, KJV). Scripture
says that humans seek immortality (Rom.
2:6, 7). One does not seek immortality if

IS THE SOUL IMMORTAL?

98

one already has an immortal p 114 soul.

!is means that Adam and Eve were not
immortal. If they were immortal, then
their fall would have immortalized sin.
Many Christians believe the soul survives death, but apparently havent
thought through the consequences of
such belief, for the soul would necessarily not be subject to the wages of sin (i.e.,

Basil F. C. Atkinson, Life and Immortali-

ty: An Examination of the Nature and Meaning of Life and Death as !ey Are Revealed in
the Scriptures (Taunton, MA: Phoenix
Press, n.d.), 3.
99
Soul, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible,
2:19871988.

100

Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate,

June 29, 2009, accessed July 3, 2012,
h"p://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_benxvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html.

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
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death, Rom. 6:23) and therefore not be in

need of the Savior. And if the soul is the
real person, this means the plan of salvation is only for the resurrection of the
body. However, if the soul can live in
heaven detached from the body, and if
heaven is a spiritual experience (being in

land of oblivion? (Ps. 88:1012); It is not

the dead who praise the LORD, those who
go down to the place of silence (Ps.
115:17); For the grave cannot praise you,
death cannot sing your praise; those who
go down to the pit cannot hope for your
faithfulness (Isa. 38:18); For the living

the presence of God who is a Spirit,

which many refer to as the Beatific
Vision), then why bother to resurrect the
body at the second advent of Christ? And
if the resurrection of the body isnt necessary for the soul to keep on existing by
itself, then Christs death on Calvary was

know that they will die, but the dead

know nothing; they have no further
reward, and even their name is forgo$en.
#eir love, their hate and their jealousy
have long since vanished; never again
will they have a part in anything that
happens under the sun (Eccles. 9:56);

an unnecessary waste of suering.

Second, lets look at what happens
a"er death, according to Scripture. #e
following texts provide evidence that the
soul is not immortal. At death the spirit
[ra] returns to God who gave
it (Eccles. 12:7); When their spirit
departs, they return to the ground; on
that very day their plans come to nothing (Ps. 146:4); in that very day his
thoughts perish. Hence the dead know
not any thing (Eccles. 9:5, KJV); Among
the dead no one proclaims your name.
Who praises you from the grave? (Ps.

and of God it says, If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and
breath, all humanity would perish
together and mankind would return to
the dust (Job 34:1415).
Scripture is clear that there is no life
a"er death; there is no such thing as a
surviving soul, because the soul is not
immortal. #e idea of possessing an
immortal soul now in life and a"er death
is another cosmic controversy counterfeit to get humans to believe they already
have through natural means what is only
available through supernatural means in

6:5); Do you show your wonders to the

dead? Do those who are dead rise up and
praise you? Is your love declared in the
grave, your faithfulness in Destruction?
Are your wonders known in the place of
darkness, or your righteous deeds in the

the future. #e reality is that immortality

is conferred at the second coming. Paul
says,
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will
not all sleep, but we will all be
changedin a flash, in the twinkling

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
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of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the

trumpet will p 115 sound, the dead
will be raised imperishable, and we
will be changed. For the perishable
must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
When the perishable has been clothed
with the imperishable, and the mortal
with immortality, then the saying that
is wri!en will come true: Death has
been swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor.
15:5154)
For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet call of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first. A"er
that, we who are still alive and are le"
will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever. (1 #ess. 4:1617)

#ese verses indicate that both the

living and the resurrected dead meet the
Lord together in the Second Advent.
#ere is no private meeting of each person with Christ at the moment of death.
A"er all, Christ remained in the grave
from crucifixion Friday until resurrection Sunday. Even on resurrection Sunday, Christ said to Mary that He had not
yet ascended to His Father (John 20:17). 101
101

What about His promise to the thief on

the cross: Truly I tell you, today you will
be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43)? #is

Christ slept in the grave until His resurrection, as all the dead do, and promised
His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them in heaven and
would return in His second advent to
take them to be home with Him then, not
before (John 14:13). In fact, Christ speaks
of the final resurrection when the dead
will hear the voice of the Son of
God (John 5:25b) and all who are in the
graves will hear his voice and come
outthose who have done good will rise
to live, and those who have done evil will
rise to be condemned (John 5:2829;
6:44a).
#e incarnate Christs promise to His
disciples is consistent with what He said
to Adam: you will certainly die (Gen.
2:17b) if he were to eat the forbidden
fruit. It was Satan, the tempter of Eve,
who questioned Christs words, saying
You will not certainly die (Gen. 3:4a).
#e idea of living on a"er death began
with Satans first lie in recorded Scripture, and is countered by Christs first
warning in Scripture and His later teaching on the final resurrection. It is not

is easily explained: the comma was not a

part of the revelation-inspiration process, but added later. #e comma placed
a"er you should be placed a"er today,
as this agrees with Christs later statement to Mary.

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:47 PM August 25, 2016.

good enough to separate the soul and the

body, saying the soul continues to live
a!er death and the body will rise in the
final resurrection, for at present immortality belongs only to God, and is not gi!ed to others until the final resurrection.
Of the two major views on human

Fall, all humans have been subject to

death. But what is death? Christs definition would suggest cessation of life, but
Satans contention portrays death as a
continuance of life. Pagans believe in life
immediately following death, and so do
many Christians. Where did this come

nature, the dualistic view coming from

Platonic Greek philosophy contends that
humans are embodied souls. "is means
that life is characterized as a soul imprisoned in the body until it is released at
death. "e other view is monistic, where
the body, soul, and spirit are indivisibly

from? It comes from Satans contradiction of Christ, and has been present since
ancient times. We will note three examples.

one at creation, at birth, throughout life,

less distinction between the Creator and

His creation than is found in Scripture.
According to Plato, humans were created
with an immortal soul and are thus participants in divinity. Consider Platos
Timaeus:

at death, and in the resurrection.

"e biblical view is that human

nature is made up of body, soul, and spirit. "e total person is what constitutes
human nature. Nowhere in Scripture are
there disembodied souls. To suggest such
a separation, with the soul going to its
reward at death, while the body has to
wait until the resurrection, separates
that which is one in creation and calls
into question the need of a future judgment. For why should rewards be given
to humans in the judgment if they have
116

already
death?
"e
warned
end in
quickly

been received at the moment of

pre-incarnate creator Christ
Adam that disobedience would
death (Gen. 2:17), which Satan
contradicted (Gen. 3:4). Since the

NONBIBLICAL VIEW OF SOULS

In Platos writings we find that there is

And we should consider that God

gave the sovereign part of the human
soul to be the divinity of each one,
being that part which, as we say,
dwells at the top of the body, and inasmuch as we are a plant not of an earthly but of a heavenly growth, raises us
from earth to our kindred who are in
heaven. And in this we say truly, for
the divine power suspends the head
and root of us from that place where
the generation of the soul first began,
and thus makes the whole body
upright and in so far as human
nature is capable of sharing in immor-

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
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tality, he must altogether be immortal,

and since he is ever cherishing the
divine power and has the divinity
within him in perfect order, he will be
singularly happy.102

!e idea of an eternal soul, one that

cannot die (which is the meaning of

of the soul. Because the soul is originally

a part of God and hence eternal in the
past, then the soul lives on a#er the body
is dead, because the soul is eternal in the
future. For all practical purposes, the soul
is that part of God which inhabits a man
or a woman and so lives on forever. Plato

immortal) is not found in the Scriptures.

!e Timaeus describes well the context in
which the idea arose. !e context was the
creation of the world out of pre-existing
materials, joined to a pre-existing soul, to
be an image of the eternal gods, and so
humans were created with divinity with-

believed that the soul is the eternal element in humans, and sequentially lives
in dierent bodies until it is eventually
purged of evil.103 Augustine ( 354430),
perhaps the most influential theologian
of all time, posits that God made a separate soul to put into Adams formed

in them, and kindred to those in heaven.

!is reminds us of Satans desire to rise
above his created level to become like
God (Isa. 14:1214), and his pu"ing this
idea into Eves mind (Gen. 3:16), with the
assurance You will not certainly

body.104 Augustine never repudiated the

Platonic dualism of body and soul.105

die (Gen.

3:4a),

which

contradicted

Gods warning you must not eat

from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat from it you
will certainly die (Gen. 2:17). Satans
premise was human immortality. Gods
premise was the mortality of humans.
!e Greeks believed in the immortality
p 117

NONBIBLICAL VIEW OF DEATH

Adam and Eve were not immortal;
otherwise Gods statement about death as
a consequence for disobedience (Gen.
2:17) would have no meaning. Likewise,
a#er Adam and Eve had sinned, God told
them they had to leave Eden, for if they
were to eat of the tree of life they would

103

Soul, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible,

2:1987.
104

102

!e Collected Dialogues of Plato, including

the Le"ers, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, Bollingen Series LXXI
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2002, 18th ed. 1st 1961), 1209 (90a-c).

Augustine, City of God, !e Nicene and

Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, 2:241
(12.23).
105
Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia
of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker, 1999), 63.

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
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live forever (Gen. 3:22). No wonder

Scripture says God alone has immortality
(1 Tim. 6:16; see more below), and adds
that humans will receive immortality at
the second advent of Christ, not before (1
!ess. 4:1618; 1 Cor. 15:5154). Reformed
theologian Henry Bullengers idea that

hell or heaven means some stay in those

places a lot longer than those who enter
them later. If hell is a real place of suer-

humans are not immortal like God, but

have a soul that is both mortal and
immortal106 is repudiated by the fact
that God alone has immortality.
So humans were not created with
immortality, nor do they receive immortality until the end of sinful history. !is

God, or is He no respecter of persons who

treats everyone fairly (Acts 10:34; Rom.
2:11; 1 Pet. 1:17; cf. Mal. 2:9; Col. 3:25; Jas.
2:9)? In Scripture the entrance to heaven
or hell occurs at the same time for all who
enter. !ats why Paul says:

means no one survives death, living on as

a soul. All questions about the meaning
of death must be judged from this clear
enunciation about when death is conquered by immortality. !at final change
will be the full outworking of the victory
of Christs death for the sake of bringing
eternal life to humans.
!e biblical data on death given above
indicates that Spiritualism depends upon
Satans version of death, which means
dead loved ones can appear and communicate with surviving relatives. !e
solace this brings to these relatives is to
be abhorred, because it is a counterfeit.
!e idea that death is merely a door to

106

Henry Bullenger, !e Decades of Henry

Bullenger (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation
Heritage Books, 2004), 3:380.

ing, why should those born p 118 thousands of years before the final judgment
have to suer so much longer than others? Does Scripture portray this about

According to the Lords own word,

we tell you that we who are still alive,
who are le# to the coming of the Lord,
will certainly not precede those who
have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven
the dead in Christ will rise first. A#er
that, we who are still alive and are le#
will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever. (1 !ess. 4:1517)

!is passage indicates that all the saints

will meet God together in the air at the
Second Advent, and then enter together
into heaven. !is is why they sleep until
then, rather than having a conscious soul
that preceded them. !is demonstrates
that all the lost face the final judgment at
the same time, not individually at death.
!is also means that the holy ones (tn
hagin) that come with Christ in the sec-

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
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ond advent (1 !ess. 3:13) are angels and

not humans. !ere are a number of texts
that state angels will accompany Christ
(Ma". 13:41; 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; 2
!ess. 1:7). Even though the Greek words
tn hagin (saints) are not used of angels
in the New Testament, it seems the best

aorist verbs focus on the future resurrection and judgment as one event.107 Furthermore, Pauls verses above mention
death as a sleep, and it doesnt ma"er if a

translation, because the saints will be on

the earth or raised from graves when
Christ returns.
!e words tn hagin are never used of
immortal souls separate from the bodies
in the New Testament. !is is because
one can no more separate soul and body

meet Christ. Paul factored that reality

into his expression about wanting to be
with the Lord. From his perspective,
since he would not know anything while
deador be aware of the passing of
timethe resurrection would seem to
him as if it followed immediately a#er

than one can separate the two natures of

Jesus Christ. A body, soul, and spirit constitute one person just as Jesus Christ is
one Person: divine and human natures in
inseparable union. Based on the scriptural evidence above, it is a philosophical
myth that souls go to heaven at death and
live an independent life until joined to
their bodies at Christs second advent.
One must allow the communal, rather
than individual, entrance into heaven or
hell, and interpret texts in the light of
this propositional revelation. For example, when Paul said he would rather

death.

depart to be with the Lord (Phil. 1:23), this

cannot mean immediately upon death,
because it wouldnt agree with what he
wrote regarding the communal handing
out of rewards. Similar language is found
in 2 Corinthians 5:610 where all the

person sleeps one night or p 119 thousands of years, it still feels like a moment
between death and the resurrection to

107

See Paul Barne", !e Second Epistle to

the Corinthians, in !e New International
Commentary in the New Testament Series
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997),
267277.

Norman R. Gulley, Systematic !eology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University
Press, 2012).
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