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inherently immortal, I Tim. 6:16; (2) never speaks of the immortality of the soul in general, but
represents immortality as a gift of God to those who are in Christ Jesus, John 10:27,28; 17:3;
Rom. 2:7; 6:22,23; Gal. 6:8; and (3) threatens sinners with “death” and “destruction,” asserting
that they will “perish,” terms which are to be taken to mean that unbelievers will be reduced to
non-existence, Matt. 7:13; 10:28; John 3:16; Rom. 6:23; 8:13; II Thess. 1:9.
d. Consideration of these arguments.
It cannot be said that the arguments in favor of this
doctrine are conclusive. The language of the early Church Fathers is not always exact and self-
consistent, and admits of another interpretation. And the speculative thought of the ages has,
on the whole, been favorable to the doctrine of immortality, while science has not succeeded in
disproving it. The Scriptural arguments may be answered in order as follows: (1) God is indeed
the only one that has inherent immortality. Man’s immortality is derived, but this is not
equivalent to saying that he does not possess it in virtue of his creation. (2) In the second
argument the bare immortality or continued existence of the soul is confused with eternal life,
while the latter is a far richer concept. Eternal life is indeed the gift of God in Jesus Christ, a gift
which the wicked do not receive, but this does not mean that they will not continue to exist. (3)
The last argument arbitrarily assumes that the terms “death,” “destruction,” and “perish”
denote a reduction to non-existence. It is only the baldest literalism that can maintain this, and
then only in connection with some of the passages quoted by the advocates of this theory.
e. Arguments against this doctrine.
The doctrine of conditional immortality is plainly
contradicted by Scripture where it teaches: (1) that sinners as well as saints will continue to
exist forever, Eccl. 12:7; Matt. 25:46; Rom. 2:8-10; Rev. 14:11; 20:10; (2) that the wicked will
suffer eternal punishment, which means that they will be forever conscious of a pain which
they will recognize as their just desert, and therefore will not be annihilated, cf. the passages
just mentioned; and (3) that there will be degrees in the punishment of the wicked, while
extinction of being or consciousness admits of no degrees, but constitutes a punishment that is
alike for all, Luke 12:47,48; Rom. 2:12.
The following considerations are also decidedly opposed to this particular doctrine: (1)
Annihilation would be contrary to all analogy. God does not annihilate His work, however much
He may change its form. The Biblical idea of death has nothing in common with annihilation.
Life and death are exact opposites in Scripture. If death means simply the cessation of being or
consciousness, life must mean only the continuation of these; but as a matter of fact it means
much more than that, cf. Rom. 8:6; I Tim. 4:8; I John 3:14. The term has a spiritual connotation,
and so has the word death. Man is spiritually dead before he falls a prey to physical death, but
this does not involve a loss of being or consciousness, Eph. 2:1,2; I Tim. 5:6; Col. 2:13; Rev. 3:1.
(2) Annihilation can hardly be called a punishment, since this implies a consciousness of pain