In a previous post, I offered some very brief biblical reflections on the subject of immortality. I am persuaded that there is nothing in Scripture that clearly teaches the inherent immortality of the human soul.
While the ultimate authority in deciding on these matters is the Bible, there is great wisdom in considering what others have said about this subject throughout church history. As we delve into church history, we find that the inherent immortality of the human soul was hardly assumed.
Adam and Eve were created without sin and with every potential to lovingly submit to God’s commands, but they were at the same time created with the capacity to sin—as is evidenced by the fact that they didsin. Immortality, therefore, was potential, and contingent on obedience. Theophilus, seventh bishop of Antioch (ca. 169–183), said it this way:
Was man made by nature mortal? Certainly not. Was he, then, immortal? Neither do we affirm this. But one will say, was he, then, nothing? Not even this hits the mark. He was by nature neither mortal nor immortal…. Neither, then, immortal nor yet mortal did he make him, but, as we have said above, capable of both…. For as man, disobeying, drew death upon himself; so, obeying the will of God, he who desires is able to procure for himself life everlasting.1Theophilus of Antioch, “To Autolycus,” 2.27
Fourth century theologian Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306–373) agreed:
For when God created Adam, he did not make him mortal, nor did he fashion him as immortal; this was so that Adam himself, either through keeping the commandment, or by transgressing it, might acquire from this one of the trees whichever outcome he wanted…. Even though God had given them everything else out of Grace, he wished to confer on them, out of justice, the immortal life which is granted through eating of the Tree of Life.2Ephrem the Syrian, “Commentary on Genesis,” 2.17.
Methodius of Olympus (died ca. 311) spoke of man “being placed midway between incorruption and corruption.”3Methodius, “The Banquet of the Ten Virgins,” 3.7 Athanasius the Great (ca. 296–373) added his voice. In On the Incarnation of the Word (chapter 3), while speaking of Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden, he wrote,
Just as they have had their being out of nothing, as might be expected, they might look for corruption into nothingin the course of time. For if, out of a former normal state of non-existence, they were called into being by the presence and lovingkindness of the Word, it followed naturally that when men were bereft of the knowledge of God and were turned back to what was not … they should, since they derive their being from God, who is, be everlastingly bereft even of being; in other words, that they should be disintegratedand abide in death and corruption.
In his Discourse 3 Against the Arians(chapter 29), Athanasius says that “as [Christ], having come in our body, was conformed to our condition, so we, receiving him, partake of the immortality that is from him.” For Athanasius, immortality belonged to God’s people—those who receive Christ—not to all people.
Saint Clement was the bishop of Rome in the first century (88–99), and is generally considered to be the first apostolic father of the church. In 1886, Anglican scholar Prebendary Constable completed a painstaking examination of Clement’s views on final punishment and concluded,
There can be no doubt then of Clement of Rome’s view of future punishment. By his silence and by his words he tells us what it was. With him there was no immortality for any but the redeemed of Christ. Endless life was, with him, only for those who would use it to the glory of the Giver. For all others there was, after resurrection and judgment, the sentence to a second death, the loss of existence for ever, from which they were never to be recalled to another life, another probation, another opportunity of salvation.4Henry Constable, The Duration and Nature of Future Punishment, https://goo.gl/FRfNoc, 110 (retrieved 28 September 2016).
Clement speaks of God granting life to “those who have piously served him in the assurance of good faith” (1 Clement 26:1). “Life in immortality” is “one of the gifts of God,” which is gifted only to those who are also gifted “splendor in righteousness, truth in boldness, faith in confidence, continuance in holiness” (1 Clement 35:1–2). Clement speaks of “mortal man” (1 Clement 39:2) being “punished with death” (1 Clement 41:3), not with everlasting torment in immortality. As Roller summarizes, “Clement neveruses the terms ‘immortal soul’ or ‘immortality of the soul’ and never speaks of a process of punishment which goes on and on throughout eternity.”5JohnRoller, The Doctrine of Immortality in the Early Church, Kindle edition (location 698).Or as Froom observes, “Clement clearly believed that immortality was conditional—to be bestowed on the righteous only.”6Leroy Edwin Froom, The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, https://goo.gl/rQOCVA, retrieved 11 October 2016.
The writers of Odes of Solomon(ca. 100) agreed: “I put on immortality through his name, and took off corruption by his grace…. Eternal life has arisen in the Lord’s land, and it has been declared to his faithful ones, and has been given without limit to all who trust in him” (Ode 15:8–10). Ode 23:20 speaks of those who had been seduced into unbelief becoming “extinct” and being “blotted out.” The work urges its readers to “possess yourselves through grace, and take unto youimmortal life” (31:7). God’s “possessions are immortal life, and those who receive itare incorruptible” (40:6). By all accounts, the writers of Odesrejected the notion that immortality was inherent and argued that it must be received.
Ignatius of Antioch (35–108), in his letter to the Ephesians (17:1), said that the Lord will “breathe immortality into his church.” In his letter to the Magnesians (10:1), he wrote, “Let us not, therefore, be insensible to his kindness. For were he to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be.” In Ignatius to the Trallians (11:8) he speaks of “immortality” being given to Christ’s “members.” In his letter to Polycarp (2:8) he speaks of “immortality” being a “prize” that is won by those who are Christ’s. As Froom says, Ignatius is “utterly silent in regard to any Innate Immortality of the soul or anything akin thereto.”7Froom, The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, https://goo.gl/rQOCVA.
The writer of the second-century Epistle of Barnabas (chapter 21) spoke of dual destinies: “He who keeps these things shall be glorified in the kingdom of God; but he who chooses other things shall be destroyedwith his works.”
Irenaeus (130–202) frequently employed biblical terminology—outer darkness, eternal fire, etc.—in his writings on hell. In Against Heresies(2.34:3), however, he goes beyond biblical language when he writes,
And therefore he who shall preserve the life bestowed upon him, and give thanks to him who imparted it, shall receive also length of days for ever and ever. But he who shall reject it, and prove himself to be ungrateful to his Maker, inasmuch as he has been created, and has not recognized him who bestowed [the gift upon him], deprives himself of continuance for ever and ever….
Those who, in this brief temporal life, have shown themselves ungrateful to him who bestowed it, shall justly not receive from him length of days for ever and ever.
Arnobius of Sicca (died 330) said that death “ends all things, and takes away life from every sentient being” (1 Disputations 18:5). He later speaks of Christ having “told his enemies … what must be done that they might escape destruction and obtain an immortality which they knew not” (1 Disputations 65:13). He speaks disagreeably of others who claimed that the soul is immortal (2 Disputations 7:17). He writes that the souls of the wicked are “annihilated” and “pass away vainly into everlasting destruction” (2 Disputations 14:7). He thought the “opinion … that souls are immortal” was “extravagant” (2 Disputations 15:1). He asked, “If souls are mortal … how can they … become immortal?” (2 Disputations 35:1). His answer was that “immortality is God’s gift” by which he will “deign to confer eternal life upon souls” otherwise destined for “utter annihilation” (2 Disputations 36:3).
The inherent immortality of the human soul is hardly a tradition that can be universally traced to the earliest church fathers. Immortality belongs to God alone, and he gives it to those who believe the gospel. Those who reject the gospel are mortal, and their destiny is the second, eternal death.
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