“By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” (Genesis 3:19).

Annihilationists often use this verse in their attempt to support the idea that the soul is not immortal. If the soul is not immortal, then they can assert that it is extinguished in the final judgment and thereby support their conditionalism. However, this verse does not support their assumption.

The interpretation of Genesis 3:19 becomes clear when we examine its context. God gave the spirit of life to Adam. It says that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” (Gen. 2:7). Adam’s life came from God. But it was the fleshly body that came from the ground. Therefore, when God says that Adam will return to the ground, it cannot be that God meant the whole person, including the spirit, returns to the ground because Adam’s spirit did not come from the ground. Therefore, “returning to the dust” can only be about Adam’s physical body and his physical death, not his spirit.

The death that God spoke about was not annihilation, but immediate separation from God (See Annihilationism and Genesis 2:17 and “in the day”).  Conditionalists cannot use this verse to support the idea that the soul ceases to exist in any way.