Heaven and Hell

What does the Bible teach?

THE Bible is a reasonable book. There is nothing contradictory about it: everything fits together in a manner that makes its message both dynamic and easy to understand. Its teachings make sense and it is this simple logic that presents such a challenge that no one of good will can deny its impact.

This booklet has been written to show that – in contrast to the plain and reasonable teaching of scripture – popular ideas about heaven and hell are unreasonable. What are these ideas? For centuries it has been commonly believed by most professing Christians that heaven is the abode of the righteous dead where they experience everlasting joy and happiness, and that hell is the eternal abiding place of the wicked who are subject to never-ending torment in its unquenchable fires.

In more recent times many have abandoned the idea of hell – and with it any real desire to investigate whether this is, in fact, a true reflection of what the Bible teaches. This abhorrence of eternal suffering (surely a right instinct) has caused men to cherish instead a vague hope of universal salvation – that all will enjoy eternal happiness irrespective of the works done during their mortal life. Yet that has now left people with a sense of unease, because they sense an injustice in assuming that there can be a reward for both good and bad alike.

Christadelphians do not share either the modern idea of ‘heaven for everyone’, or the more traditional ideas of ‘blessings in heaven’ and ‘punishment in hell’. They have read the Bible themselves (as we hope the readers of this booklet will do) and concluded that, although ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ are mentioned many times, they are not the eternal abiding places where people hope (or fear) to go to at death.

A grievous error has been made in interpreting the Bible. But the error is not first of all concerned with heaven or hell; the error really grew out of another theory, that all men are born with what is called an ‘immortal soul’. This is variously described as a ‘never dying entity’, a ‘divine spark’; and to it are attributed all the characteristics of what is termed ‘the real man’ – personality, conscience, reason and understanding, emotions and all the moral qualities of which man is capable. The body is said to be mortal and corruptible, turning to dust and ashes after death, whereas the soul is immortal and incorruptible and lives on in endless bliss or misery.

And, of course, once one has accepted such a view of human nature, then a belief in some other place or places as the abiding and continuing home(s) of the soul after death becomes a logical necessity. But, if this view of human nature is incorrect, then the popular conceptions of heaven and hell may also be quite false.

We propose therefore briefly to examine the Bible teaching concerning the soul and human nature and then, on this foundation, to establish the reasonable and logical teaching of the Bible concerning the ultimate destiny of the righteous and the wicked.

The soul

It should be stated at the outset that the phrase ‘immortal soul’ or ‘never dying soul’ or indeed any similar expressions are not to be found in the pages of the Bible. Of God alone it is written, “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto” (1 Timothy 6:16). Man has no inherent immortality and although the word ‘soul’ occurs frequently in its pages, the Bible does not teach the idea of something independent of the body that lives on after death. The Bible account of the creation of man defines the ‘soul’ quite clearly:

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)

It is the man himself, the body formed from the dust, energised by the breath of life, which is described as “a living soul”. The original Hebrew word nephesh means simply ‘a breathing creature’ and it is used not only of man but also of animals. For example:

“moving creatures” (margin, ‘souls’) (Genesis 1:20);

“living creatures” (‘souls’) (Genesis 2:19);

“every living thing” (‘soul’) (Genesis 1:28).

It is true that nephesh is adopted for a variety of purposes in later scriptures. In the Authorised Version the original word has been translated “soul” 530 times, “life” or “living” 190 times, “persons” 34 times, “beasts”, etc. 28 times. Among its other renderings are “self”, “heart”, “mind”, “appetite”, “body” etc. But always its use is associated with the activity of a living, breathing creature and never does it imply anything about the duration of life. Indeed, far from ascribing immortality to the soul the Bible emphatically declares that it is both capable of dying and by its very nature liable to die:

“He spareth not their soul from death” (Psalm 78:50);

“What man … shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” (Psalm 89:48);

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).

We could have no more emphatic testimony that the soul is capable of death.

The death state

The question remains, however: What does death involve? In the early chapters of Genesis, we read not only of the creation of man but also of his ‘fall’ – of the entrance of sin and death into the world. The Lord God commanded the man:

“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16,17)

Disobedience to God’s commandment would bring death. What death involved is made clear when God judged Adam for his sin:

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:19)

There was, in effect, to be a reversal of the process of creation. Then God formed man from the dust and breathed into his lifeless body the breath of life, so that he became a living, breathing creature. So, in death, God withdraws that life-giving energy of which He alone is the source (see Job 34:14,15; Psalm 36:9); and the body corrupts and disperses into dust (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

“Dust to dust”

It may seem self-evident to say it, but before he was brought into being by the creative power of God, Adam did not exist. If death is the reversal of the creative process then the result must be a cessation of being and the disintegration of the living, breathing creature, whether he be man or animal, for so far as their natural constitution is concerned there is no difference between them:

“For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence over a beast … All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19,20)

The psalmist writes:

“Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best is altogether vanity … O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.” (Psalm 39:4,5,13)

So there is no conscious existence in death: no part of man lives on, either in heaven or hell. There is no extension of being – not even for the righteous. King Hezekiah, a faithful servant of God, wrote:

“For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee … the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day.” (Isaiah 38:18,19)

And the wise man summarises the position:

“For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything … Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished … Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10)

In the face of such clear teaching about death, so easy to understand, what need is there for further explanation? There can be no continuing existence after death either in heaven or hell. The Bible speaks to us simply and logically and leads us inevitably to this conclusion.