Basic HTML Version
653
4. Finally, the word “immortality” designates, especially in eschatological language, that state of
man in which he is impervious to death and cannot possibly become its prey. Man was not
immortal in this highest sense of the word in virtue of his creation, even though he was created
in the image of God. This immortality would have resulted if Adam had complied with the
condition of the covenant of works, but can now only result from the work of redemption as it
is completed in the consummation.
B. TESTIMONY OF GENERAL REVELATION TO THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
The question of Job, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14) is one of perennial interest.
And with it the question constantly recurs, whether the dead still live. The answer to this
question has practically always been an affirmative one. Though evolutionists cannot admit that
faith in the immortality of the soul is an original endowment of man, yet it cannot be denied
that this faith is all but universal, and is found even in the lowest forms of religion. Under the
influence of materialism many have been inclined to doubt and even to deny the future life of
man. Yet this negative attitude is not the prevailing one. In a recent Symposium on
“Immortality,” containing the views of about a hundred representative men, the opinions are
practically unanimous in favour of a future life. The historical and philosophical arguments for
the immortality of the soul are not absolutely conclusive, but certainly are important
testimonies to the continued personal and conscious existence of man. They are the following.
1. THE HISTORICAL ARGUMENT.
The consensus gentium is just as strong in connection with the
immortality of the soul, as it is with reference to the existence of God. There always have been
unbelieving scholars who denied the continued existence of man, but in general it may be said
that belief in the immortality of the soul is found among all races and nations, no matter what
their stage of civilization may be. And it would seem that a notion so common can only be
regarded as a natural instinct or as something involved in the very constitution of human
nature.
2. THE METAPHYSICAL ARGUMENT.
This argument is based on the simplicity of the human
soul, and infers from this its indissolubility. In death matter is dissolved into its parts. But the
soul as a spiritual entity is not composed of various parts, and is therefore incapable of division
or dissolution. Consequently, the decomposition of the body does not carry with it the
destruction of the soul. Even when the former perishes, the latter remains intact. This
argument is very old and was already used by Plato.
3. THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT.
Human beings seem to be endowed with almost infinite
capabilities, which are never fully developed in this life. It seems as if most men only just begin
to accomplish some of the great things to which they aspire. There are ideals that fall far short