To prove there is a SPIRIT in a person that is now immortal
"And her spirit returned" Luke 8:55
W. E. Vine says pneuma (soul) is "the natural life of the body," page 588. In Luke 8:55 it means her life returned. Vine said, "The spirit may be recognized as the life principle bestowed on man by God, the soul as the resulting life constituted in the individual, the body being the material organism animated by soul and spirit," page 589. He points out that man, as he is now, can have no life without the body. After the resurrection the saved will have a new body. The lost are not said to put on a new glorious spiritual body (2 Thessalonians 4:23ff, 1 Corinthians 15:43), or to have immortality, which they must have if they will live forever in torment. Pneuma-spirit is also translated "life" in Revelation 13:15. Vine makes a clear distinction between soul and spirit, but says both are an "immaterial, invisible part of man." On page 588 soul is "the immaterial, invisible part of man;" on page 593 spirit is "the immaterial, invisible part of man." Does he think people have two "immaterial, invisible part(s)"? Is this proof that, as McCord says, "Lexicons Can Be Wrong"? Vine also applied, "A building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:3-4) to both the soul and the spirit, but he and many others believes the soul and the spirit are not the same thing, yet say both are “a house not made with hands.” Do we have two buildings from God for the two "immaterial, invisible parts" of a person, (1) one building “not made with hands” for the spirit, (2) and another building “not made with hands” for the soul? According to Vine we do; do you believe him?
(2). W. E. VINE’S SECOND PASSAGE OF HIS EIGHT
To prove there is a SPIRIT in a person that is now immortal
"Receive my spirit" Acts 7:59
If Stephen were asking for his spirit to be received at the resurrection, for this is when we will be received in Heaven, then where is his spirit before the resurrection? For this to prove Stephen had a spirit that would be alive from death unto the Resurrection, his spirit would have to be received by God at death, both (1) received before the resurrection, (2) and received without the resurrection. Stephen was asking God to receive him at the judgment, not at death. Those who teach we go to Abraham's bosom do not believe we are caught up to Heaven immediately at death so why are they using this to prove what happens to us at death when they do not believe God receives us into Heaven at the time of our death? To make this teach we have an immortal soul, which does not die when the body dies, (1) soul and spirit must be made to be the same thing, his spirit that he was asking to be received would be his soul, (2) then contrary to their belief about Abraham's bosom that no one will be in Heaven before the resurrection; they send Stephen’s soul to Heaven at his death. Is it because there is no real proof, and scripture must be misused to make it sound as though there is proof, and even misuse them in a way that is contradictory to their own belief. We are not told that Stephen’s soul or spirit went to Heaven, or that he went to Abraham's bosom, but we are clearly told that Stephen, not his soul, "fell asleep" (Acts 7:60), not that he has “gone to be with the Lord,” not told that he is now in Heaven “looking down on us” as is often preached today. Maybe they think Stephen’s soul is asleep in Heaven or Abraham's bosom. If the real Stephen were the spirit, then what was the "he" that "fell asleep" (Acts 7:60)? The "he" that fell asleep was Stephen (the whole person), not just an earthly body that will never be in Heaven that is now asleep while the real Stephen is now awake in Heaven. Either “the real Stephen” "fell asleep" or he is awake, one or the other but not both.
Stephen said, "Lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:60). The book of Job was inspired, but the speeches of his three friends were not inspired, and much in their speeches is not true (Job 42:7; Job 42:8). See "Job" By Homer Hailey and "Guide to Bible Study" by J. W. McGarvey. Was Stephen speaking by inspiration, or was Luke only inspired to write what Stephen said, just as the writer of Job was inspired to write the uninspired speeches of Job's friends even when it is said that they spoke not the truth? The question is, "what did Stephen ask God to do, and when was he asking God to do it"? "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge?" (Acts 7:60). This shows he had love even to those who were doing him harm as he should, but what he was asking could not be unless they believed, repented, and were baptized. There is no other way that God could not lay this sin to their charge, or the death of Christ would not have been needed. Therefore, God could not do what Stephen was asking. Stephen was not speaking by inspiration when he said this, for if he were, he would not have been inspired to ask God to do something God could not do. Christ said, "Father, into your hands I commit My spirit: and having said this, He breathed His last" (Luke 23:46). Isaiah 53:12 in the King James Version "because he has poured out his soul unto death," is "because he poured out Himself to death" in the New American Standard Version, and "because He poured out his life unto death" in the New International Version. Christ gave his life for us, not a no substance something that according to today's theology could not die, and Christ’s soul was alive in "Hell" in the three days that his body was in the grave. If Christ did not really give up His life, if He were as much alive as He was before He came to earth there was no resurrection. He did not die for us. We are still in our sins with no hope. "For you will not abandon my soul to sheol" (Psalm 16:10). "Because you will not abandon me to the grave" New International Version is quoted in the New Testament, "Because you will not leave My soul unto hades" (Acts 2:27 and 31). "In hell" in the King James Version. Christ gave His life for our sins. Sheol is the grave. He died our death, and went to the grave, and was raised from the grave by the Father. He was not abandon to the grave.
(1). “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
(2). “He was buried” (1 Corinthians 15:4).
(3). “He has been raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:4).
· If He went to Heaven at the moment of death, He could not have been buried for He would have been alive in Heaven.
· He could not have been raised on the third day, for He would have been alive in Heaven, not dead and buried in the grave.
· If He were alive in Heaven there was no resurrection, for He would not have been dead on the third day.
Unconditional immortality completely destroys the resurrection.
(3). W. E. VINE'S THIRD PASSAGE OF HIS EIGHT
To prove the SPIRIT is now immortal: I Corinthians 5:5
“To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” The day of the Lord Jesus is the day of His second coming and the day of the resurrection. Is Vine saying salvation will be given to any one after the resurrection?
The context of this passage is disfellowship of the person committing fornication with his father’s wife. “To deliver such a one unto Satan” is to disfellowship him in hope that he will repent; it is not to literally deliver him to Satan; there would be no way that the Corinthians are any one could literally take any living person to Satan. “For the destruction of the flesh” is the destruction of the things in his or her life for which they wee to deliver him or her to Satan, not to literally destroy their flesh (body). Paul was not telling them to literally destroy the body of another living person, “That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” This is one of Paul’s “things hard to be understood” (1 Peter 3:16). “The day of the Lord Jesus” is the day of His second coming, the resurrection, and judgment. Even most of those who believe we have an immortal soul or an immortal spirit that is different than the person does not believe either one can be saved at any time after death, not even on “The day of the Lord Jesus.” It most likely means that he if the person disfellowshiped will be saved from the second death after the Judgment (Revelation 21:8) if being disfellowshiped makes him repent before his death.
(4). W. E. VINE’S FORTH PASSAGE
To prove there is a SPIRIT in a person that is now immortal
“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead” James 2:26
What does this passage teach us about the spirit? Only that the body is dead without it. Nothing more. To teach anything more than this from this passage it must be read into it.
WHAT THIS PASSAGE DOES NOT SAY.
(5). W. E. VINE'S FIFTH PASSAGE OF HIS EIGHT
To prove there is a SPIRIT in a person that is now immortal
“Longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven”
2 Corinthians 5:3-4
He used 2 Corinthians 5:3-4 to prove a person has an "immaterial, invisible part of man" that will live after the person is dead, will live without the person it is now in.
· In this passage there is nothing about an immortal soul or an immortal spirit.
· Nothing about a person being a dual being while in the earthly house.
· Nothing is said about an intermediate state from death unto the resurrection.
If it were as Vine says, that this clothing is "a never-dying spirit" it would not be possible to be unclothed. If this clothing were our spirit or our soul, then to be "unclothed" or "naked" would be not to have either a spirit or a soul. He added, "disembodied" to get his immaterial soul, but adds it to both soul and spirit, which he said are not the same. If all have an immortal soul from birth, not even the lost could ever be “naked” or “unclothed.” If all have an immortal soul and if the “house not made with hands” were, as he says, both a soul and a spirit, even the lost would have both of these houses that are “not made with hands,” and no one, saved or lost could ever not have two houses “not made with hands,” not now in this life time, or not at any time after death.
2 Corinthians 5:1-2: “For we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, (now while we are in this life) longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked (not have the life Christ gives to them that obey Him). For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, (the groaning and not wanting to be unclothed but clothed is now while we are in this tent, clothed while we are still in this body living on this earth) so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” While we are alive in this body—tent we see the Lord by faith, not by sight; when we are at home with the Lord we shall see Him as He is, this mortal body will be swallowed by immortality.
OUR HOUSE, WHICH IS FROM GOD
Or
OUR HOUSE, WHICH IS OF GOD?
· “We have a building of (ek) God” 2 Corinthians 5:1
· “Our house which is from (ek) heaven” 2 Corinthians 5:2
· “Rather to be absent from (ek) the body” 2 Corinthians 5:8
Ek in the Greek is translated of, from, out of, by, etc.
· “As of (ek) sincerity, but as of (ek) God” 2 Corinthians 2:17
· “Think any thing as of (ek) ourselves” 2 Corinthians 3:5
· “The light to shine our of (ek) darkness” 2 Corinthians 4:6
· “And all things are of (ek) God” 2 Corinthians 5:18
Most of the times ek is used it makes sense if it is translated of or from, but in 2 Corinthians 5:2 “A house which is from heaven” makes the house we will have after “the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved” be “from Heaven,” not in or “of Heaven.” In this passage whether it is translated “from heaven” or “of heaven” makes a big different in where our dwelling will be, it changes our dwelling from being in Heaven to being from Heaven but not in Heaven. The “building” of 5:1 and the “house” of 5:2 are the same building or house, Both times ek should have been translated “of,” Both the “building” and the “house” are of Heaven, not from Heaven.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 is used to show the "house not made with hands" is the spirit, and that the spirit is now conscious and will continue to be conscious before the resurrection without the person. This "longing to be clothed upon with our habitation that is from Heaven," is longing for our habitation that will be received at "the judgment seat" (5:10), not in this life, or not at our death. If, as those who use this passage to teach, that this "house not made with hands" is an immortal soul, we would now have an immortal soul living in us if we are saved or living in us even if we were lost, then why would we be "longing to be clothed" with our "house not made with hands" when we would already be clothed with it if it were an immortal soul that is already in all, and all, both the saved and the lost, even those not in Christ would already be clothed with the "house not made with hands" from the day of their birth, BUT THE HOUSE WE ARE LONGING TO BE CLOTHED WITH IS NOT A SOUL THAT EVERONE WOULD BE ARE ALREDY CLOTHED WITH. Paul is made to say we are longing to be clothed with a soul that we are already clothed with and have been clothed with a soul from birth. There is nothing about a "soul" in this passage. "Spirit" has to be read into this for Paul said nothing about "spirit" in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10.
(1) It is about us now in this life.
(2) And us at the judgment seat.
(3) And then us at home in Heaven.
It is about our whole person changing our earth house for our house in Heaven.
OUR MORTAL NATURE NOW OUR IMMORTAL NATURE AFTER THE
ON EARTH 2 Cor. 5:1-11 RESURRECTION IN HEAVEN, after second coming
"The earthly house" "A building from God-eternal in the heavens"
"Longing to be clothed upon" "With our habitation that is of (ek) Heaven"
"At home in the body" "At home with the Lord"
"That what is mortal" "May be swallowed up of life"
"This mortal" "Must put on immortality" 1 Corinthians 15:53
Paul says nothing about any kind of existence from death to the resurrection. "That what is mortal may be swallowed up of life" (2 Corinthians 5:4). When will this be? It will be at the resurrection, not instantly at death (1 Corinthians 15:54).
The lost do not now and will never have "a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." According to the immortal soul teaching of today that the soul is now immortal, then what is “mortal that is swallowed up of life?” (2 Corinthians 5:4).
The mortal person is swallowed up by life at the resurrection of the dead at the second coming when immortality will be put on. "He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 5:5 New Revised Standard Version).
We need to take care that we do not put an interpretation on any passage that will make it clash with other passages. It is evident that Paul did not expect the dead in Christ, those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:1-28), to be with Christ before the resurrection.
Paul is speaking of the person, the mortal person “while we are in this tent,” and the immortal person after “what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” He says nothing about something that is now immortal, but will be a naked immortal something between death and the resurrection.
1. The “earthly house of our tabernacle” is the earthly body that we are now in.
2. “A building from (Greek-ek-of) God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
If it is only something in us that has no substance as Vine says, or something that is thoughts only as Peterson says, then this no substance, thoughts only, nothing could not live in a building of any kind.
Those who believe the soul is something that is now in a person, that is now alive, and it will always be alive after the death of the person:
· Believe the same soul that is now in a person.
o Is the same soul we that will leave the person after the death of the person.
o And is the same soul that will be in Heaven or Hell; for they believe "the immaterial, invisible part of man" is just as immortal now as it will be after the resurrection and judgment; they believe it is just as immortal now while it is now in a person on earth as it will be after it leaves the person and is in Heaven or Hell.
A soul that can never not have life, being naked after death