What the Bible Says About Death


g16dz61.gif

A question that arises in the minds of most people is what happens when we die? This site will hopefully answer this question in a rational manner using the Bible. Why the Bible? Because millions of people depend on the Bible for doctrine and if the Bible is God’s letter to us, we should be able to learn the truth from it because it’s about the Man Jesus Christ who came to save us from death and torment.

In English, like other languages, words can have different meanings depending on the context. Here are two examples of how “soul” is used in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.
“These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.” Genesis 46:18 from the KJV.

“Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” Job 7:11 from the KJV.
In Genesis 46:18 “sixteen souls” obviously means sixteen persons and in Job 7:11 both “spirit” and “soul” mean the intelligence of man that enables him to have emotions.

You can also learn what “soul” and “spirit” mean using an English dictionary. These definitions of those words are from Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
SOUL – “The understanding; the intellectual principle.”

SOUL – “A human being; a person.”

SPIRIT – “Vigor of intellect; genius” and “An immaterial intelligent substance.”
There are two other ways “spirit” is used in Scripture.
“And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.” Mark 1:23-26 from the KJV.

“Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.” Psalms 51:11 from the KJV.
In Mark 1:23-26, the spirit is an “unclean spirit,” or you could say a fallen angel, demon or devil. In Psalms 51:11 the “holy spirit” is the third person of the Godhead also called the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit in Scripture.

Here are more definitions of “spirit” from Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
SPIRIT – “An apparition; a ghost.”

SPIRIT – “The influences of the Holy Spirit.”
Understanding the various meanings of these words is very helpful in understanding what the Bible says about death.

Here are some Scripture passages that describe the state of man when he dies.
“And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.” 1 Kings 11:43 from the KJV.

“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 from the KJV.

“The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.” Matthew 22:23-33 from the KJV.
In 1 Kings 11:43, death is described as a sleep. In Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 it says the dead will have no love, hatred or envy and that they know nothing which is the way people are when in a deep sleep. According to Matthew, Matthew 22:23-33 is doctrine of Jesus Christ. Jesus said the only way God could be called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was because of a forthcoming resurrection. If Abraham, Isaac or Jacob had been awake and enjoying heaven, God would have been the God of them but they were sound asleep and were entirely unaware of God or anything else.

Here are two more passages to consider.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” John 8:51 from the KJV.

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 from the KJV.
John 8:51 clearly teaches that one who follows Christ’s teaching will “never” die. Matthew 10:28 makes a clear distinction between the “body” and the “soul” of a person. Also, there are two forms of death; that of the body and that of the soul. Man can kill the body but the soul of that person can only be destroyed by God. That means that from God’s point of view, martyrs burned at the stake who had their body destroyed, still have a soul that could not be destroyed by man or anyone else except God.

How does one explain the continuing life of the soul until God destroys it? Remember where the dictionary said “soul” could mean “the intellectual principle?” God retains a memory of the intelligence of those whose bodies die, in a sleeping state, and restores that intelligence in a conscious state to a living breathing body at the resurrection. In that way the soul of a righteous person never dies. The soul of a wicked person doesn’t die either until after the judgement when that person, both body and soul, is completely destroyed in the lake of fire. When the soul of the wicked is finally destroyed, God will no longer retain a memory of that person’s intelligence and that person, both body and soul, or conscious intelligence, is destroyed forever. The wicked don’t suffer eternally in the lake of fire; they are turned to ashes.
“And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 4:3 from the KJV.
Now that the meanings of soul and spirit are understood, some passages that have caused confusion are easily explained.
“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7 from the KJV.
Since you know that in certain contexts, “spirit” and “soul” mean intelligence, you know the “spirit” that returns to God is the intelligence God preserves in a sleeping state until the resurrection at which time it’s restored to a body.

Here is another verse that is easily explained when you know the soul, spirit or intelligence is distinct from the body.
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8 from the KJV.
Paul is speaking of when his body is dead and the intelligence that made him a conscious person is safely kept by God until the resurrection at which time it’s restored to a new body. Here’s another passage that’s commonly misunderstood.
“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Luke 16:22-24 from the KJV.
Luke 16:22-24 is a parable like many parables Jesus told. The rich man and Abraham were sleeping in death so could not have been having a conversation.

Here is a passage that’s supposedly hard to understand but I think you’re now ready for it.
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” 1 Peter 3:18-20 from the KJV.
The passage says Christ was put to death in the flesh; in other words in His body. He was quickened (brought to life) by the “Spirit” which in this case is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the one “By which” God’s message was delivered to the “spirits in prison.” Those spirits were in prison (sleeping in death) at the time Peter wrote this but they had been preached to by the Holy Spirit through Noah. As Peter also said in 2 Peter 2:5, Noah was “a preacher of righteousness.”

I now have a couple of warnings for you. Too often people don’t read the Bible for themselves so rely on a preacher to tell them what it says and means. Too often people aren’t aware that some bibles have serious errors and really shouldn’t be used if you want a Bible that is all truth. The following is an example of how a “Bible” with errors can deceive a scholar and you.
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.” 1 Peter 3:18-20 from the New International Version (NIV) Andrews Study Bible.
Notice that the NIV says Christ was made alive “in the Spirit.” In other words, only His Spirit and not his flesh and blood body were made alive. This contradicts Luke 24:39 in the same bible where it says that after his resurrection Jesus said, “Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” The NIV also says that “after” being made alive in the Spirit, He spoke to the “spirits” of wicked people who had died in the flood. If Christ spoke to those “spirits,” they would have had to be awake and still capable of being saved so they were probably in purgatory. This contradicts other places in that same bible where death is described as a sleep. Rest assured, if a “Bible” says Jesus was made alive “in the Spirit” instead of “by the Spirit” in this passage, it also has other errors. This passage would be one of the passages by which to test a bible to see if it’s one you should rely on for doctrine.

I would like to show you why you can’t rely on scholars for truth. There are footnotes in the Andrews Study Bible written by a scholar. Here are excerpts from the footnotes for 1 Peter 3:18-20 in that Andrews Study Bible that was written by an Andrews University professor who supposedly knows both Greek and English.
““This is a difficult passage that has received varied interpretations.”

“This passage cannot be used to teach that between His crucifixion and His resurrection, Christ went and preached to the immortal souls of the people of Noah’s time.”

“The word used for ‘spirit’ often has reference to human beings (e.g., 1 Co 14:32; Heb 12:23, 1 Jn 4:1).
The passage is only difficult because deceived scholars have used a bible with error in it and have made it difficult. It is true that the passage can’t be used to teach that “between His crucifixion and His resurrection” Jesus preached to the immortal souls of people but it CAN be used to teach that after His resurrection “in the Spirit,” His resurrected Spirit preached to the immortal souls of the wicked who had died in the flood.

Here are the verses; first from the NIV and then from the KJV that supposedly show “‘spirit’ often has reference to human beings.” The Andrews University scholar doesn’t understand this but if you know English and haven’t been to a seminary or studied Greek or Hebrew you can understand this.
“The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.” 1 Corinthians 14:32 from the NIV.

“And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” 1 Corinthians 14:32 from the KJV.

“to the church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” Hebrews 12:23 from the NIV.

“To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” Hebrews 12:23 from the KJV.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1 from the NIV.

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1 from the KJV.
In none of those verses does “spirit” mean “human beings.” In 1 Corinthians 14:32 the meaning is that the teaching of a prophet must harmonize with the teaching of prior true prophets. The KJV says that. The NIV in that verse is mixed up because of the added word “control.” A prophet doesn’t control the Holy Spirit or even an evil spirit. In Hebrews 12:23, the spirits of the righteous or just made perfect means the intelligence of the righteous or just from which has been removed all sinful thoughts. In 1 John 4:1 the spirit that shouldn’t be believed is a demon or evil spirit that is speaking through a false prophet. All prophets are to be tested by what has been said or written previously by a person that was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There is one last passage to discuss.
“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43 from the KJV.
By current conventions of punctuation, the placement of the comma implies that the thief Jesus spoke to was going to be in heaven that very day when in John 20:17, Jesus told Mary that He, after His resurrection, hadn’t yet ascended to His Father. What isn’t understood is that the placement of the comma in the KJV does not teach that the thief was going to be paradise that same day. At the time the KJV was published in 1611, conventions of punctuation were different. A comma was not placed to change the meaning of a sentence but rather for the convenience of reading from the Bible to others. The error is in the new bibles that retain that punctuation after the rules of English punctuation have changed.

Always ask God for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit before studying your Bible and DO NOT EVER say the Bible has an error. You may say you don’t understand something in the Bible but NEVER EVER say the Bible has an error. Pick a Bible you can defend. I can defend the KJV. The NIV, the Septuagint, the New American Standard Bible, the New King James Version, the English Standard Version and many more bibles are indefensible as being the inspired, infallible, Word of God in English. And yes, God’s Word is supposed to be infallible which means without any error at all.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

© Martin J. Lohne 2022.
P.O. Box 8
Baltimore, OH 43105-0008
mjlohne@gmail.com
(740) 503-7549