Conditional immortality
Encyclopedia
In Christian
theology
, conditionalism or conditional immortality is a concept of special salvation in which the gift of immortality is attached to (conditional upon) belief in Jesus Christ. This doctrine is based in part upon another theological argument, that if the human soul is naturally mortal, immortality ("eternal life
") is therefore granted by God as a gift. This viewpoint stands in contrast to the more popular doctrine of the "natural immortality" of the soul. It is usually paired with mortalism and annihilationism
, the belief that the unsaved will be ultimately destroyed and cease to exist, rather than suffer unending torment in hell
. The view is also connected with the idea of soul sleep, in which the dead sleep unconscious until the Resurrection of the Dead
to stand for a Last Judgment
before the World to Come
.
was among notable advocates of conditional immortality, which prompted the French reformer John Calvin
to criticize him for embracing the doctrine of "soul sleep."
The British
Evangelical Alliance
ACUTE report states the doctrine is a "significant minority evangelical
view" that has "grown within evangelicalism in recent years". In the 20th century, conditional immortality was considered by certain theologians in the Eastern Orthodox Church
.
Proponents of conditional immortality ("conditionalists") point to and , where the Tree of Life
is mentioned. It is argued that these passages, along with teach that human beings will naturally die without continued access to God's life-giving power.
As a general rule, conditionalism goes hand in hand with annihilationism
; that is, the belief that the souls of the wicked will be destroyed in Gehenna
(often translated "hell
", especially by non-conditionalists and non-universalists) fire rather than suffering eternal torment. The two ideas are not exactly equivalent, however, because in principle God may annihilate a soul which was previously created immortal. While annihilationism places emphasis on the active destruction of a person, conditionalism places emphasis on a person's dependence upon God for life; the extinction of the person is thus a passive consequence of separation from God, much like natural death is a consequence of prolonged separation from food, water, and air.
In secular historical analysis, the doctrine of conditional immortality reconciles the ancient Hebrew view that humans are mortal with the Christian view that the saved will live forever.
Mortalist groups such as Seventh Day Adventists, Christadelphians
, the Bible Students
and Jehovah's Witnesses
sometimes argue that the doctrine of natural (or innate) immortality stems not from Hebrew thought as presented in the Bible
, but rather from pagan influence, particularly Greek philosophy
and the teachings of Plato
, or Christian tradition. These groups note verses for example that Paul
teaches in that "God… alone is immortal," while in he writes that immortality only comes to human beings as a gift through the gospel. Immortality is something to be sought after therefore it is not inherent to all humanity.
These groups may claim that the doctrine of conditional immortality reconciles two seemingly conflicting traditions in the Bible: the ancient Hebrew concept that the human being is mortal with no meaningful existence after death (see שאול, Sheol
and the Book of Ecclesiastes), and the later Jewish and Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead and personal immortality after Judgment Day.
or John of Damascus
. But current Eastern Orthodox theologians
, who hold that the Incarnation united the Divine and human natures, and hold that each man is a hypostasis comprising spirit and body, deny inherent immortality and profess "immortality by grace" (κατὰ χάριν ἀθανασία kata charin athanasia). Beyond using Biblical
verses that present immortality as a result of Christ's victory over death and His resurrection, they also stress the witness of the patristic
writings of the 2nd century, when Christian apologists highlighted the contrast between their view and the Platonists'
view. A classic example is the statement of Tatian
, who said: "The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die" (Oratio ad Graecos, 13).
Nevertheless, in the view of many Eastern Orthodox theologians, there is no place for annihilationism
, since the church holds that immortality is bestowed on all men by means of Christ's incarnation and resurrection, inasmuch as they participate in the nature of man. The uncreated Divine Light (ἄκτιστο φῶς aktisto fos) is offered to all.
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
, conditionalism or conditional immortality is a concept of special salvation in which the gift of immortality is attached to (conditional upon) belief in Jesus Christ. This doctrine is based in part upon another theological argument, that if the human soul is naturally mortal, immortality ("eternal life
Eternal life (Christianity)
In Christianity the term eternal life traditionally refers to continued life after death, rather than immortality. While scholars such as John H. Leith assert that...
") is therefore granted by God as a gift. This viewpoint stands in contrast to the more popular doctrine of the "natural immortality" of the soul. It is usually paired with mortalism and annihilationism
Annihilationism
Annihilationism is a Christian belief that apart from salvation the death of human beings results in their total destruction rather than their everlasting torment. It is directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given...
, the belief that the unsaved will be ultimately destroyed and cease to exist, rather than suffer unending torment in hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. The view is also connected with the idea of soul sleep, in which the dead sleep unconscious until the Resurrection of the Dead
Resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
to stand for a Last Judgment
Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...
before the World to Come
World to Come
The World to Come is an eschatological phrase reflecting the belief that the "current world" is flawed or cursed and will be replaced in the future by a better world or a paradise. The concept is similar to the concepts of Heaven and the afterlife, but Heaven is another place generally seen as...
.
Protestantism
During the Reformation the German reformer Martin LutherMartin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
was among notable advocates of conditional immortality, which prompted the French reformer John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
to criticize him for embracing the doctrine of "soul sleep."
The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Evangelical Alliance
Evangelical Alliance
The Evangelical Alliance is a London-based charitable organization founded in 1846. It has a claimed representation of over 1,000,000 evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom and is the oldest alliance of evangelical Christians in the world....
ACUTE report states the doctrine is a "significant minority evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
view" that has "grown within evangelicalism in recent years". In the 20th century, conditional immortality was considered by certain theologians in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
.
Proponents of conditional immortality ("conditionalists") point to and , where the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
is mentioned. It is argued that these passages, along with teach that human beings will naturally die without continued access to God's life-giving power.
As a general rule, conditionalism goes hand in hand with annihilationism
Annihilationism
Annihilationism is a Christian belief that apart from salvation the death of human beings results in their total destruction rather than their everlasting torment. It is directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given...
; that is, the belief that the souls of the wicked will be destroyed in Gehenna
Gehenna
Gehenna , Gehinnom and Yiddish Gehinnam, are terms derived from a place outside ancient Jerusalem known in the Hebrew Bible as the Valley of the Son of Hinnom ; one of the two principal valleys surrounding the Old City.In the Hebrew Bible, the site was initially where apostate Israelites and...
(often translated "hell
Hell in Christian beliefs
Christian views on Hell vary, but in general traditionally agree that hell is a place or a state in which the souls of the unsaved suffer the consequences of sin....
", especially by non-conditionalists and non-universalists) fire rather than suffering eternal torment. The two ideas are not exactly equivalent, however, because in principle God may annihilate a soul which was previously created immortal. While annihilationism places emphasis on the active destruction of a person, conditionalism places emphasis on a person's dependence upon God for life; the extinction of the person is thus a passive consequence of separation from God, much like natural death is a consequence of prolonged separation from food, water, and air.
In secular historical analysis, the doctrine of conditional immortality reconciles the ancient Hebrew view that humans are mortal with the Christian view that the saved will live forever.
Mortalist groups such as Seventh Day Adventists, Christadelphians
Christadelphians
Christadelphians is a Christian group that developed in the United Kingdom and North America in the 19th century...
, the Bible Students
Bible Student movement
The Bible Student movement is the name adopted by a Millennialist Restorationist Christian movement that emerged from the teachings and ministry of Charles Taze Russell, also known as Pastor Russell...
and Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
sometimes argue that the doctrine of natural (or innate) immortality stems not from Hebrew thought as presented in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, but rather from pagan influence, particularly Greek philosophy
Greek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued through the Hellenistic period, at which point Ancient Greece was incorporated in the Roman Empire...
and the teachings of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, or Christian tradition. These groups note verses for example that Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
teaches in that "God… alone is immortal," while in he writes that immortality only comes to human beings as a gift through the gospel. Immortality is something to be sought after therefore it is not inherent to all humanity.
These groups may claim that the doctrine of conditional immortality reconciles two seemingly conflicting traditions in the Bible: the ancient Hebrew concept that the human being is mortal with no meaningful existence after death (see שאול, Sheol
Sheol
Sheol |Hebrew]] Šʾôl) is the "grave", "pit", or "abyss" in Hebrew. She'ol is the earliest conception of the afterlife in the Jewish scriptures. It is a place of darkness to which all dead go, regardless of the moral choices made in life, and where they are "removed from the light of God"...
and the Book of Ecclesiastes), and the later Jewish and Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead and personal immortality after Judgment Day.
Eastern Orthodox view
For many centuries inherent immortality, supported with the Platonic arguments about the simplicity of the soul, was accepted among many famous Fathers of the Eastern Church, such as Athanasius, Gregory of NyssaGregory of Nyssa
St. Gregory of Nyssa was a Christian bishop and saint. He was a younger brother of Basil the Great and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. His significance has long been recognized in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christianity...
or John of Damascus
John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
. But current Eastern Orthodox theologians
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, who hold that the Incarnation united the Divine and human natures, and hold that each man is a hypostasis comprising spirit and body, deny inherent immortality and profess "immortality by grace" (κατὰ χάριν ἀθανασία kata charin athanasia). Beyond using Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
verses that present immortality as a result of Christ's victory over death and His resurrection, they also stress the witness of the patristic
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
writings of the 2nd century, when Christian apologists highlighted the contrast between their view and the Platonists'
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
view. A classic example is the statement of Tatian
Tatian
Tatian the Assyrian was an Assyrian early Christian writer and theologian of the 2nd century.Tatian's most influential work is the Diatessaron, a Biblical paraphrase, or "harmony", of the four gospels that became the standard text of the four gospels in the Syriac-speaking churches until the...
, who said: "The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die" (Oratio ad Graecos, 13).
Nevertheless, in the view of many Eastern Orthodox theologians, there is no place for annihilationism
Annihilationism
Annihilationism is a Christian belief that apart from salvation the death of human beings results in their total destruction rather than their everlasting torment. It is directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given...
, since the church holds that immortality is bestowed on all men by means of Christ's incarnation and resurrection, inasmuch as they participate in the nature of man. The uncreated Divine Light (ἄκτιστο φῶς aktisto fos) is offered to all.
External links
- Jewish not Greek Shows how Biblical hermeneutics proves "conditional immortality" and not the Greek philosophical view of innate immortality.
- The Resurrection and Immortality An exhaustive study into the biblical definition of immortality and proof of conditional immortality. |origyear=1959}} |origyear=1955}} |title=The Immortality of the Soul and The doctrine of demons |url=http://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/documents/death/immortality-of-the-soul-doctrine-of-demons.php |journal=The Berean Expositor |volume=1 |pages=64–6}}
- Freedom From Fear: What happens when you die?
- Truth About Death Comprehensive site covering questions and answers regarding Christian conditionalism A Tour de Force for conditional immortality by a Frenchman. Three early essays from one of the classical advocates of conditional immortality. See especially "Appendix 1: Answers to Objections Urged Against the Doctrine of the Gradual Extinction of Obdurate Sinners," beginning on page 147 of the book. Perhaps the best and most sophisticated demonstration of conditional immortality, both rationally and biblically. See Hudson's book Christ Our Life listed immediately below for an expanded biblical defense. A thorough, sophisticated argument from the Bible for conditional immortality.. Exceptional biblical argument for conditional immortality, though White posits an intermediate conscious state of the soul pace the standard conditional immortality belief that the dead are unconscious. An excellent place to begin a study on conditional immortality from a Seventh-Day-Adventist scholar.
- Afterlife.co.nz The Conditional Immortality Association of New Zealand Inc. is a non-profit organization established to promote a Biblical understanding of human nature, life, death and eternity as taught throughout Scripture.