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God receiving Jesus’ spirit proves continued conscious existence after death

by | Oct 13, 2018 | Annihilationism, Minor Groups & Issues

The person of Jesus is critical to the issue of conditional immortality. In all my research, I have not yet seen where a conditionalist addresses the issue that I’m raising here. Perhaps it has been addressed, but I haven’t found it.  Now, before I present it, I need to stress that all of the conditionalists I’ve encountered teach soul sleep (which is, unfortunately, poorly defined by them).  This is the position that when a person dies physically, his spirit returns to be with the Lord (See Ecc. 12:7 and Annihilationism).  He either ceases to exist or goes into a state of unconscious inactivity.    Here are some quotes from conditionalists.

  • “The first man was created when the dust of the earth and the breath of God were brought together (Gen 2: 7), and just as surely as the man did not exist prior to creation, he does not exist when the spirit returns to God who gave it and the dust returns to the earth (Eccl 12:7).”1
  • soul sleep,” the view that death is a state of total unconsciousness, rather than survival in heaven, hell, or purgatory.” 2
  • “When death occurs, then it is the soul that is deprived of life. Death cannot strike the body or any other part of the soul without striking the entirety of the soul.” 3

According to annihilationists, any human being who dies enters into a state of unconscious, inactivity. But, this can’t be true. Jesus was human and when he died, he did not go into a state of unconscious inactivity. When we look at the words of Christ, we find the following.

Luke 23:46, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.'”

The context is Jesus dying on the cross where he commits himself to God the Father.  If the conditionalist view concerning the human soul is correct, then it would mean that the human part of Jesus went into an unconscious, inactive state between the time of his physical death and his resurrection.  But, this would be heresy since it would mean that only the divine nature was active between Christ’s death and resurrection.

  • “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; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,” (1 Peter 3:18–19).

Jesus is our example of humanity

Since Jesus is the perfect man, he must be the standard of truth concerning everything he did, everything he taught, and everything he is. Jesus has two distinct natures: divine and human. This is the doctrine of the hypostatic union. Furthermore, the two natures comprise a single person.  It is not possible to have the personhood of Christ be devoid of either of the divine or human natures; otherwise, he is no longer Jesus. Furthermore, there is a doctrine called the communicatio idiomatum. It is the teaching that the attributes of both natures (divine and human) are attributed to the single person of Christ. For example, it is evident that Jesus is a man since he claimed to be thirsty and hungry. But he also claimed to have descended from heaven (John 3:13: 6:62).  He claimed that he would be with the disciples everywhere (Matthew 28:18-20).  He claimed to have had glory with God the Father before the creation of the world (John 17:5). Remember, it was a single person of Christ who claimed these characteristics. The single person of Christ is the totality of the two natures: divine and human.

Therefore, if the conditionalist is to be consistent, then he must assert that the human nature of Jesus went into a state of soul sleep that would be complete inactivity and that his spirit returned to God the Father. But this would be false doctrine since it would mean that Jesus was no longer both divine and human!

Was Jesus’ human spirit taken back to God the Father?  No!

If the human spirit of the person of Jesus was taken back to God the Father, then technically Jesus was no longer Jesus. For Jesus’ human spirit to be received back by the Father, would mean that Jesus no longer possessed his own human spirit that was united with the divine nature in the hypostatic union. This cannot be.

Remember, the two natures of Christ constitute the one person of Jesus. To say that the human nature ceased or the human spirit left the hypostatic union and returned to the Father, is to redefine who Christ is.  Since the single person of Jesus claimed the attributes of both natures, we conclude that both natures acted in unison in the one person. Therefore, what can be said of the person of Christ can include both human and divine qualities. This is what defines his personhood. Without the human nature working, there is no hypostatic union especially since Jesus and his divine nature could not have entered into a state of soul sleep.

Therefore we must conclude that the conditionalist view on the human spirit returning to God and entering into a state of soul sleep is false.

Is Jesus an exception?

Is Jesus an exception to the doctrine of soul sleep that is promoted by so many annihilationists? If they were to say so, that, then they are admitting the problem exists and dismissing it by saying he’s unique. Well, it is certainly true that he’s unique being one person with two distinct natures. But it is also true that he is still human and if the conditionalists define humanity the way they do with soul sleep, then Jesus who is still completely human must be susceptible to their doctrinal requirements. But, of course, this is a problem for them. It demonstrates their position of soul sleep cannot be true.

Stephen said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”

Acts 7:59, “They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!'”

We see that Stephen, when he was being stoned, also cried out to the Lord to receive his spirit. Was Stephen speaking of soul sleep? Or, was he commending himself into the presence of God?

Furthermore, if Jesus cried out to God the Father to receive his spirit, which necessarily includes the continuation of his humanness in the intermediate state in conscious form, then when Stephen also commended his spirit to the Lord, it makes sense that he also continued in conscious awareness after his physical death,  If they are not related and if Stephen is somehow different in his humanity than Christ is in his humanity, that it would be up to the conditionalist to establish in order to refute this argument.

Conclusion

The fact that Jesus was united in both human and divine natures in the one person means he would continue in His existence without division and without human soul sleep.  We must conclude that upon Christ’s physical death, his human spirit was not separated from his divine nature and thereby violated the hypostatic union. For Jesus’ human spirit to be received back by the Father, would mean that Jesus no longer possessed his human spirit.  That would be heresy. Therefore, we must conclude that the single person of Jesus continued in the afterlife and that his human spirit did not die nor did it go into a state of unconscious inactivity since this would violate the hypostatic union.

Furthermore, since Stephen also cried out to God to receive his spirit, and since Jesus is the model of humanity, we can conclude that Stephen was not speaking of soul sleep, but was expecting to be in the presence of God and conscious bliss.

The conditionalists are wrong.

References

References
1 Peoples, Glen, A., Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism, Kindle Locations 583-586. Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
2 Ibid, Rethinking Hell, Kindle Locations 503-504
3 Fudge, Edward William. The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition (p. 27). Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

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