In Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 8:21-22. "Follow me; and leave the dead (those who have no relationship with God) to bury their own dead." There is nothing about an "immaterial invisible part of man" that is alive in the dead that are to bury the dead. Neither the dead that was doing the burying, nor the dead that were buried were a dead immortal soul, both the one that was alive, and the one that was dead, were both dead in the same way, both were dead in their relationship to God. The prodigal son had a relationship with his father, the relationship ceased to exist, then was restored when the son returned. He was alive, then dead, then alive in his relationship with his father, but he was never literally dead, and there was no literal resurrection of the dead; in this passage there is nothing said about an immortal soul although it is repeatedly used to prove the prodigal son was an immortal soul that was separated from his father. Even today a Jewish family often have a funeral for a person that has been concerned to another religion, or leaves the Jewish religion.
This was more than a simple separation. Frequently one person is separated from another, but not counted as dead. When a child leaves home we do not say our child is dead, but in Bible times the Hebrews would say the child was dead if it left home and had no relationship with the father or mother, it was as if he was dead to them. When God gives a revelation, He used words and customs just as they were used by the persons to whom He gave the revelation, and not only the words, but also the customs of the persons to whom He give the revelation. To the Hebrew mind and to the Oriental cultures even today, the Prodigal son is counted as dead and the father no longer has a son.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming AND NOW IS, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live" (John 5 24-25). He was not saying the hour had came when He was going to the graveyard, and the dead there would hear His voice and live, be resurrected from the grave. He was not speaking of a physical or literal resurrection, but of those who are not believers (dead by the Hebrew and Oriental cultures) becoming believers and alive to God. The widow was dead to God just as the Prodigal Son was dead to his father because she had put something ahead of God in her life. The resurrection at the second coming of Christ is not spoken of in this passage.
Matthew Henry: “She that lives in pleasure is dead while she live, is no a living member of the church, but as a carcass in it, or a mortified member. They are in the world to no purpose, buried alive as to the great ends of living” Matthew Henry’s Commentary, page 1891.
Die in the Old Testament: Die is from "moosh" in the Old Testament and occurs over 800 times. None of the 800 has any references to death being anything but death. In none is death a separation of the earthly body from a soul that is alive, or that any part of a person lives after death. Throughout the Old Testament, "moosh" is used of both men and animals, and makes no distinction between them. Both die. "For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies (moosh) so dies (moosh) the other" (Ecclesiastes 3:19). Fish, cattle, frogs, men, dogs, lions, a city, and flies all die (moosh). For all, death is the end of life, and if there was no resurrection, a person would be as all the above, dead forever.
In "Truth Magazine," June 7, 2001, page 343, Johnie Edwards has a short article, "What Death Says."
J. B. Coffman, 2 Corinthians 2:16: "The meaning therefore is, the Gospel, which arises from Christ and which is preached through us, is to the unbelieving, but the incense arising from one crucified and dead, and so it is to them a savor from the dead and producing death. But to the believing it is a savor FROM THE LIVING, PRODUCING LIFE." J. W. McGarvey, 1916. "McGarvey pointed out the extremely significant phrases 'from death' and 'from life' as used in this passage. To the unbelieving, the news of the Gospel is from one who was crucified and is dead: so, for them, it is an odor from death unto death EVEN ETERNAL DEATH; but to Christians, the news of the Gospel is 'from life unto life' in them that are saved."
The sentence of death has been removed for those in Christ, and the promise of life (immortality, incorruption) given to them. For those not in Christ, there is only death, the wages of their sin. They will be raised only to face the judgment and the second death "a savor from death unto death."
"A Savor from life unto life" The new birth (John 3:3). "Walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). "Have passed out of death into life" (1 John 3:14). At the second coming of Christ shall "put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53), after which there will be no death.
"A Savor from death unto death" Dead while she lives (1 Timothy 5:6). "Abides in death" (1 John 3:14). The lost will be raised from the dead at the second coming of Christ, then judgment and the second death after which there will never be any life, never a resurrection from this death.
H. L. Hastings: "In all classical literature no instance can be found where the word death has this signification of eternal torment" "The Last Judgment," 1853
For those who are not in Christ, there is no eternal life anywhere.