Hobie
Well-Known Member
What happens in the grave, what does the Bible tell us. If clearly says we know nothing, we are asleep awaiting the resurrection, so lets go over what scripture has on this. Soul sleep is the teaching that when a person dies, his soul "sleeps" or the denial of man's conscious existence between when he dies and the resurrection day. It's what is called the intermediate state of the believer, in which both the body and the soul lay rest in the ground and the phrase 'soul sleep' appears to have been popularized by John Calvin. In this condition, the person is not aware or conscious and Seventh-day Adventists hold to this doctrine. When we look at the belief of soul-sleep we find this view has been held throughout church history.
The early church held to this at the time of the apostles as it was the original Christian teaching and later theological arguments based on this belief were also used to contest the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory and masses for the dead. The Ana-Baptists believed in this in the 1500's. Martin Luther has many quotes that point to his belief in it and was among one of the more notable advocates of conditional immortality. On October 31, 1517, Luther posted his famous Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. In his 1520 published Defence of 41 of his propositions, Luther cited the pope's immortality declaration, as among "those monstrous opinions to be found in the Roman dunghill of decretals" (proposition 27). In the twenty-seventh proposition of his Defence Luther said: " However, I permit the Pope to establish articles of faith for himself and for his own faithful-- such are: That the bread and wine are transubstantiated in the sacrament; that the essence of God neither generates nor is generated; that the soul is the substantial form of the human body that he [the pope] is emperor of the world and king of heaven, and earthly god; that the soul is immortal; and all these endless monstrosities in the Roman dunghill of decretals--in order that such as his faith is, such may be his gospel, such also his faithful, and such his church, and that the lips may have suitable lettuce and the lid may be worthy of the dish." Martin Luther, Assertio Omnium Articulorum M. Lutheri per Bullam Leonis X. Novissimam Damnatorum (Assertion of all the articles of M. Luther condemned by the latest Bull of Leo X), article 27, Weimar edition of Luther's Works, vol. 7, pp. 131, 132 (a point-by-point exposition of his position, written Dec. 1, 1520, in response to requests for a fuller treatment than that given in his Adversus execrabilem Antichristi Bullam, and Wider die Bulle des Endchrists).
Archdeacon Francis Blackburne states in his Short Historical View of the Controversy Concerning an Intermediate State, of 1765: "Luther espoused the doctrine of the sleep of the soul, upon a Scripture foundation, and then he made use of it as a confutation of purgatory and saint worship, and continued in that belief to the last moment of his life." Page 14.
King Edward VI stated in his fortieth article out of forty-two, that "The souls that do depart hence do sleep, being without all sense, feeling, or perceiving until the day of judgment, do utterly decent from the right that is closed to us in Holy Scriptures." Christadelphian's also believe in soul sleep and hold to conditional immortality, as do the Seventh Day Adventists. which is the belief the Bible teaches that the gift of immortality is attached to (conditional upon) belief in Jesus Christ. This doctrine is based in part upon another theological belief from scripture, that if the human soul is naturally mortal, immortality ("eternal life") is therefore granted by God as a gift. In contrast he idea of the immortality of the soul (that is, within humans is an immaterial aspect not subject to death, dissolution, or decay) is not biblical; rather, it comes from Hellenistic philosophy originating with Plato. As we study scripture we see it shows the soul is simply inert and resides in the memory of God waiting for resurrection when Christ returns at the Second Coming.
The early church held to this at the time of the apostles as it was the original Christian teaching and later theological arguments based on this belief were also used to contest the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory and masses for the dead. The Ana-Baptists believed in this in the 1500's. Martin Luther has many quotes that point to his belief in it and was among one of the more notable advocates of conditional immortality. On October 31, 1517, Luther posted his famous Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. In his 1520 published Defence of 41 of his propositions, Luther cited the pope's immortality declaration, as among "those monstrous opinions to be found in the Roman dunghill of decretals" (proposition 27). In the twenty-seventh proposition of his Defence Luther said: " However, I permit the Pope to establish articles of faith for himself and for his own faithful-- such are: That the bread and wine are transubstantiated in the sacrament; that the essence of God neither generates nor is generated; that the soul is the substantial form of the human body that he [the pope] is emperor of the world and king of heaven, and earthly god; that the soul is immortal; and all these endless monstrosities in the Roman dunghill of decretals--in order that such as his faith is, such may be his gospel, such also his faithful, and such his church, and that the lips may have suitable lettuce and the lid may be worthy of the dish." Martin Luther, Assertio Omnium Articulorum M. Lutheri per Bullam Leonis X. Novissimam Damnatorum (Assertion of all the articles of M. Luther condemned by the latest Bull of Leo X), article 27, Weimar edition of Luther's Works, vol. 7, pp. 131, 132 (a point-by-point exposition of his position, written Dec. 1, 1520, in response to requests for a fuller treatment than that given in his Adversus execrabilem Antichristi Bullam, and Wider die Bulle des Endchrists).
Archdeacon Francis Blackburne states in his Short Historical View of the Controversy Concerning an Intermediate State, of 1765: "Luther espoused the doctrine of the sleep of the soul, upon a Scripture foundation, and then he made use of it as a confutation of purgatory and saint worship, and continued in that belief to the last moment of his life." Page 14.
King Edward VI stated in his fortieth article out of forty-two, that "The souls that do depart hence do sleep, being without all sense, feeling, or perceiving until the day of judgment, do utterly decent from the right that is closed to us in Holy Scriptures." Christadelphian's also believe in soul sleep and hold to conditional immortality, as do the Seventh Day Adventists. which is the belief the Bible teaches that the gift of immortality is attached to (conditional upon) belief in Jesus Christ. This doctrine is based in part upon another theological belief from scripture, that if the human soul is naturally mortal, immortality ("eternal life") is therefore granted by God as a gift. In contrast he idea of the immortality of the soul (that is, within humans is an immaterial aspect not subject to death, dissolution, or decay) is not biblical; rather, it comes from Hellenistic philosophy originating with Plato. As we study scripture we see it shows the soul is simply inert and resides in the memory of God waiting for resurrection when Christ returns at the Second Coming.