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Soul sleep, Jesus’ human nature, and conditionalism

by | Oct 11, 2018 | Annihilationism, Minor Groups & Issues

Soul sleep, Jesus’ human nature, and conditionalism. Within conditionalist (annihilationist) circles, soul sleep (also called psychopannychism) is a very common doctrine. However, an exact definition of what soul sleep is has been very difficult to obtain.  There are variations of beliefs held by different adherents. Nevertheless, generally speaking, soul sleep is the position that when a person dies physically, his soul/spirit continues to exist in an unconscious state, where he is unaware, and not act until he is resurrected and judged. Following is the best definition I could find from a conditionalist source.

“soul sleep,” the view that death is a state of total unconsciousness, rather than survival in heaven, hell, or purgatory.” 1

The reason so many conditionalists hold to soul sleep is that they teach that a person is, essentially, a material being. They view the person as a combination of both body and spirit and that the human spirit is directly connected to the physical body so that when the body dies, the soul dies and enters soul sleep. They associate the life of the spirit with the life of the body. So, if the soul continues without the physical body, then that could be used to support the afterlife torment of the wicked in the intermediate state (between death and resurrection). This, in turn, could further be used to support Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). So, they adopt soul sleep as a kind of undefined existence without self-awareness, without consciousness, without action yet there is existence.

Jesus refutes soul sleep

There are two very important Christian doctrines concerning the person of Jesus.  The hypostatic union and the communicatio idiomatum. The hypostatic union states that in the one person of Jesus are two distinct natures, the divine, and the human.  The communicatio idiomatum states that the attributes of those two natures (the divine and human) are ascribed to the single person.  Therefore, Jesus, the single person, claimed the attributes of both humanity and divinity.  He was obviously a man, but as a man, as a person, he also claimed the attributes of divinity.

“The communicatio idiomatum (Latin for “communication of properties”) is the teaching that the attributes of both the divine and human natures are ascribed to the one person of Jesus. This means that the person of Jesus could rightfully claim for Himself the attributes of both the divine and the human natures. Therefore, He could say He had glory with the Father before the world was made (John 17:5). He could claim that He descended from heaven (John 3:13); and He could also claim omnipresence (Matt. 28:20) even though Jesus, the man, began His existence on earth when He was conceived in Mary’s womb.”2

So, now that we see that the single person of Jesus has two distinct natures, we must also understand that they cannot be separated, otherwise the very nature of Christ’s personhood is threatened, and this would violate the true doctrine of the incarnation. Remember, the hypostatic union says that in the one person of Jesus are two distinct natures and the coummunicatio idiomatum says that the attributes of both natures are ascribed to the single person.

What does soul sleep mean in regard to Jesus?

Did his human nature go to sleep and therefore lack consciousness activity during the time between his death and resurrection?  To be consistent, conditionalists would have to say yes since they say that humans enter soul sleep upon physical death.  Jesus is human.  But, their position is problematic.

1 Peter 3:18–19, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,”

According to Scripture, when Jesus was put to death, he “went and made proclamation of the spirits now in prison.” This means that Jesus was conscious between his death and resurrection. But If the conditionalist who holds to soul sleep is consistent, he must maintain that the human nature of Christ went into a state of unconscious soul sleep where no activity of the human nature occurred. But if that is the case, how could Jesus have made a proclamation to the spirits in prison as the person of Christ? To make a proclamation is to perform an action which is an attribute of consciousness. But, Jesus is one person with two natures. Therefore, the conditionalist position of soul sleep would mean that Jesus’ proclamation to the spirits was done only with the divine nature and that human nature was inactive. But that would be heresy.

Let me reiterate.  If the human nature of Jesus was not then conscious, how was his personhood (of both divine and human natures), which involves the activity of both natures, continued in the interim between his death and resurrection? It could not be. It is a violation of the incarnation to say the human nature of Christ was not acting in union with the divine nature in the ONE person of Jesus.  Therefore, it cannot be true that Jesus’ human nature experienced soul sleep.

Jesus is the perfect man and an example of what we are to be as people. Jesus’ human nature did not experience soul-sleep after Jesus’ physical death.  Therefore, people do not experience soul sleep after their physical death.

If the conditionalists say that Jesus is an exception because he is God in flesh, then they are admitting the problem exists and are dismissing it by saying it’s an exception.  It would go against their soul sleep position. Either way, the conditionalist has a problem with the position of soul sleep.

Conclusion

The conditionalist view of soul sleep fails when it comes to the person and work of Jesus. It cannot be true. Jesus is the one person with two natures who will forever be in that state (Heb. 6:20; 7:25). Therefore, it cannot be that there is a time in which one of his natures is not active. For soul sleep to be true in the conditionalist sense, the human nature of Christ had to go into a state of consciousness inactivity. But, this violates the doctrine of the incarnation since it implies that in the intermediate state, Jesus only acted in with divine attributes, and not with both human and divine natures as the incarnation doctrine necessitates.

Soul sleep fails.  It is not true.

References

References
1 Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism (Kindle Locations 503-504). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
2 carm.org/trinity-hypostatic-union-and-communicatio-idiomatum

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