· Not alive Hell.
· Not alive in any kind of “intermediate state.”
· Not alive in a holding place for souls under the earth.
· Not alive in Purgatory.
· Not alive in the Catholic Nether World.
· The dead will be in the “graves” (plural tombs—graves) when they hear the voice of Jesus and come forth unto the resurrection of life, or the resurrection of judgment.
"Put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). Notice carefully what is said. This passage is used to prove there is an immoral spirit in all that can never die.
· If it were speaking of an immoral spirit, that immortal spirit was "made alive," therefore that immortal soul had to be dead, if it was not dead it could not be “made Alive.”
· If "made alive in the spirit" was not the resurrection of Christ, then the very thing they are trying to prove is that the spirit cannot die; nevertheless, they are saying the deathless spirit that cannot die was dead and was "made alive."
· If Christ was alive and never dead, He could not have been "made alive," but would have been "kept alive," or "preserved alive," and there could have been no resurrection. Made alive: "Quickened by the spirit" King James Version. "Made alive by the spirit" New King James Version. Strong's word #2227 "made alive, give life, quicken."
o Christ said of Himself that He “was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18).
o “They will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day” (Matthew 17:23).
o “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later” (Mark 9:31).
· If Christ did not actually die, to say He was not really dead for the three days He was in the grave is to deny both that He died and that He was raised from the dead; this would take away all hope and possibility of being saved. Satan has done his work well.
o If Christ was not actually dead no ransom was paid (Matthew 20:28).
o If Christ was not actually dead sins were not taken away (John 1:29).
If this preaching were by Christ in person, not by Christ through Noah, then the order was:
To fit with today's theology Peter's order must be changed to:
The reason this passage is used is to prove His soul was alive before His resurrection is to prove that His soul was never dead, but they must change it to make it say Christ did the preaching after His death and before His resurrection. If they do not change it, it does not prove what they want it to. If this preaching were by Christ during the three days He was in the grave, and if the prison were somewhere other than Hell it would prove that there is somewhere like the Catholic Purgatory, but that only for a few of the lost would be in it, but those who are using this to prove the soul is immortal believe all the lost are in Hell.
When was this preaching done? In the days of Noah, or in the three days Christ was in the grave? This is the whole question, was it:
(1) After they were dead and in Hell when they could not be saved? Those who believe the soul of the lost is transported instantly into Hell at death do not believe any that are in Hell can be saved. According to their belief, all go to Heaven or Hell at the moment of death; therefore, if Christ went and preached to them in the three days He was in the grave, He would have had to preach to them either in Heaven or Hell. Why would He go to Hell and preach to those who could not be saved? Why do they use this verve? Is it not because they are desperate for any verse that will prove their immortal soul that they will give a few a second chance after death to be taken out of Hell if it would prove a part of a person is now immortal? If Christ went and preached to them in the three days He was in the grave, “by which” must be change to “while He was in the grave but not dead.”
(2) Or was it when they were alive and could be benefited by the preaching? Adam Clarke said He went and preached by Noah for one hundred and twenty years. The preaching was done in the days of Noah through Noah, a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), not after the death of Christ. Noah warned them of the destruction to come if they did not repent. How were they in prison? "His servants you are whom you obey" (Romans 6:16). "For of whom a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved" (2 Peter 19). "To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison" (Isaiah 42:7; also Isaiah 61:1; Psalm 142:7; Luke 4:18; John 8:34-45). Those who obey Satan are in prison to him. Those who would not hear Christ preaching through Noah were in prison to Satan. "For we also once were...enslaved to various lusts and pleasures" (Titus 3:3). "For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage" (2 Peter 2:19).
"Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from you. But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:38-40). If Jesus were in the earth, the grave, from His death to His resurrection, how could He have gone to "Hell" and preached to those in it? I do not think anyone believes "Hell" is in the grave, but the grave is where Jesus was at onto His resurrection.
Adam Clarke: “‘He went and preached’ by the ministry of Noah, one hundred and twenty years. Unto the spirits in prison. The inhabitants of the antediluvian world, who, having been disobedient, and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against God, were sentenced by his just law to destruction. But their punishment was delayed to see if they would repent; and the long-suffering of God waited one hundred and twenty years, which were granted to them for this purpose; during which time, as criminals tried and convicted, they are represented as being in prison - detained under the arrest of Divine justice, which waited either for their repentance or the expiration of the respite, that the punishment pronounced might be inflicted” Clarke’s Commentary on 1 Peter 3:18-20.
Dillard Thurman: “I have heard funeral orations extol the happiness and bliss the departed has instantly with death; but on checking the New Testament assiduously, I have yet to find a single promise where the dead go to heaven on instant pass, or have immediate conscious happiness.” Gospel Minutes April 2, 1990, "Notice carefully what is said. Jesus was put to death in the flesh, and died like any mortal man. But He was quickened, or made alive by the Spirit. By what Spirit? By the same Spirit by which He once preached to spirits imprisoned by sin and Satan in the days of Noah! When did this happen? The passage plainly states it: 'When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.' The word 'when' is an adverb of time that tells when the action took place: in the days of Noah! The idea of the Son of God being off on a preaching junket for the three days and nights that His body was in the tomb is utterly foreign to any Bible teaching! If false doctrines had not first brought forth this fanciful idea, this passage would not have been twisted to support the error." Gospel Minutes, Volume 34, Number 5, February 1, 1985, West Freeway church of Christ.
PASSAGES IN WHICH "SOUL" (psukee)
IS USED AS IF IT IS THE SAME AS "SPIRIT" (pneuma)
(1). LOSING LIFE (SOUL) or SAVING LIFE (SOUL)
Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:37
Those who believe the soul to be immortal and cannot die, also believe it is the soul that must be saved or lost. To them, to lose your soul means it will go to Hell; therefore, to "lose his soul (psukee-life) for my sake" means going to Hell for Christ. Their own definition of "lose his soul" is going to Hell. Do they think anyone will go to Hell for Christ's sake? If "psukee" means an immortal something in a person that will live forever in Heaven or Hell, and a person loses their soul (psukee-life) for Christ, going to Hell for Him would be just what this passage would say they would do. Back when I believed all the lost would be eternally tormented in Hell by God, this passage was a problem to me; I believed, as many do, to lose your soul meant it would go to Hell, but the King James Version undeniable says (1) if your soul went to Hell for Christ you would save your soul, (2) and that we are to hate our immortal soul.
BY TODAY'S THEOLOGY DOES LOSING THE SOUL SAVE IT? Christ said, "For whosoever would save his psukee (life) shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his psukee (life) for my sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his psukee (life)? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his psukee (life)?" To lose ones life for Christ's sake is to lose it because of being faithful to Christ, and many did lose their life in the first century. Those who lose there life for Christ will find eternal life at the judgment. But, if psukee is an immortal soul, will some lose their immortal soul because they are faithful to Christ? In today's theology, "save the soul" is to save it from Hell, and "lose the soul" is to lose it in Hell. When this passage is used to prove a person has an immortal "immaterial, invisible part of man" that will never die, it makes Christ say:
Those who say the soul is immortal also say we lose it when we sin, and save it when we obey Christ. If they were right, the only way we could lose our souls for Christ's sake would be for us to sin. According to them the only possible way to lose our "immortal soul" is to sin; then did Christ say we were to sin to save our soul? No, it is life some would lose because they will not sin and are faithful to Christ, not lose some immaterial, invisible immortal part of them selves because they do sin and are not faithful to Christ. The promise that the psukee (life) will be saved when it is sacrificed for Christ makes no sense if the soul is some "immaterial, invisible" undying part of a person. How could we lose “our soul” for Christ's sake? "He that loves his psukee (life) loses it; and he that hates his psukee (life) in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (John 12:25). How do they think a person could lose the only part of his or her self that they say cannot die? When a person has sinned and "lost his soul," does that person have a living body with no soul in it? Christ was saying that gaining much would profit us nothing if we lose our life-our very existence. All who die without being in Christ have lost their psukee (life), they will not put on immortality at the resurrection; they will not have eternal life in Heaven. After the judgment and second death, they will have lost their very existence.
· The same thing that is saved is the same thing that will be lost.
· The person that saves his life by denying Christ will lose the same thing that is saved, will lose his life at the judgment.
· It is not a soul that is saved by denying Christ but life on earth.
· It is not a soul that will be lost at the judgment but life in Heaven.
· John 12:25 said the same, "He that loves his life (psukee) shall lose it; and he that hates his life (psukee) in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal."
Those who do not obey Christ shall lose the very thing that is saved by those who do obey Him-life; the lost shall die and the saved shall live. No doctrine of the Bible is more plain than the loss of life in this passage is the lost of our earthly life because of being faithful to Christ, not eternal life with torment for the sinner; finding life is to find eternal life at the resurrection, and the person that saves his earthly life (psukee) by denying Christ will lose his life at the judgment.
Epaphroditus hazarded "his psukee (life)" (Philippians 2:30). Judas and Silas have "hazarded their psukee (lives) for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 15:26-27). They could put their life in danger for the sake of Christ. Many put their life in danger, and lost their life for preaching Christ, but how could they risk an immortal part of a person that cannot die, and no man can see it or kill it? Paul says, "But I hold not my psukee (life) of any account as dear unto myself" (Acts 20:24). If this psukee is an inter being which has immortality from our birth, Paul must not have thought it not to be of any account, or not worth much. Just as have been said about other passages, today's theology that says psukee means an "immaterial, invisible part of man" makes these passages be nonsense.
Adam Clarke: "On what authority many have translated the word psukee in the twenty-fifth verse life, and in this verse (26) soul I know not; but I am certain it means life in both places."
(2). "WHAT SHALL A MAN GIVE (not sell)
IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS SOUL."
Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:37 This passage is used to show that a person has an undying soul that is of more value than the entire world, but many will sell their soul for very little. Does it teach this? The American Standard Version and most other translations, translates "psukee" into "life,'' not "soul" as the King James does. A man can give all he has to someone about to take his life to get that someone to let him live, but he could in no way give anything in exchange for an immortal inter part of himself which cannot die. Think about this; how could anyone buy or sell an "immaterial, invisible" immortal part of another person, which he cannot see, and it can never die? It would be impossible for anyone to give anything in exchange for it.
"Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?" When "psukee" is made to be an inter immortal part of a person that cannot die, then would not giving something in exchange for it be buying ones way into Heaven? Frequently, in sermons and invitations, I have heard "what would a man give in exchange for his life" changed to "what would a man sell his immortal soul for." To give something in exchange for something is to buy it, not sell it. "Give" (pay, to give money or something) is changed to "sell" (to take money). It is changed to say the opposite of what it does say to make it say what many want it to say. There is not one word in this verse about a person, or an immaterial something that is in a person being tormented forever. This passage is about how a man would pay all he has in exchange for a few more years of life, but would "forfeit his life" in Heaven in exchange for the pleasure of sin. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Do not take the pleasures of sin for a few years in exchange for your life in Heaven as many do. When it is translated right, as in the American Standard Version and many others, the word "soul" as it is used in today's theology is not in this verse.
(3). SOUL REQUIRED Luke 12:19-21
"And I will say to my life (Greek psukee), life (psukee), you have much goods lain up for many years: take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. But, God said unto him, You foolish one, this night is your LIFE (psukee) required of YOU; and the things which you have prepared, whose shall they be? So is he that lies up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." It is not eternal torment that will be required of them but life; life required of you, not life required of a soul. The New International Version reads, "And I'll say to myself (Greek psukee-life), 'you (Greek psukee-life) have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat drink and be merry.' But, God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life (Greek psukee) will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone whom stores up things for himself (puts the world ahead of God) but is not rich toward God." Those who believe souls are immortal use this to prove there will be life after death before the resurrection. They say this life must be from the time of death onward and never end, but it does not say either; life could not be required of a soul that has eternal life, of a soul that cannot not have life. There will be a resurrection and judgment of all, not just those in Christ. After the judgment, those who have laid up treasure for them self on earth, and are not rich toward God, their life will be required of them. Christ could not have said any plainer that life (not torment) would be required of those not rich toward God. It would make no sense if this psukee were an undying immortal soul. If a person had a soul that was deathless and will live forever after the person it was in is dead, how could life be required of that soul?
"YOUR soul (life-psukee) required of YOU." Who is the "your" and "you"? They could not be the soul for then it would be saying the "soul" is required of the "soul." "Your" is the person whose life will be required. A Soul, as the word is used today, was never required of anyone. Psukee in the New Testament is never an undying "immaterial, invisible part of man." Life will be required of the sinner, not an undying soul.
(4). God is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna
Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:5
See Gehenna in chapter four, second occasion.
(5). Souls under the altar