Immortality or Resurrection (Updated) by William West (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

Paul's First Epistle To the Corinthians, 1979. He has clearly said the
"spirit" he thinks we now have is not the "spiritual body" which we shall have in Heaven.
The "spirit" could then only be a shadowy, ghostly, ethereal body, which he said Christ
did not have. A spiritual body is not just a thin air, no substance, ghostly something; but
we know not what. THE SOUL IS THE NATURAL BODY, THE IMAGE OF
ADAM, A LIVING BEING, THE EARTHY BODY THAT WILL DIE AND
CANNOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
B. W. Johnson, Author of "People's New Testament With Notes" 1898: "'So also in the
resurrection of the dead.' On earth there was a body adapted to earthly condition. At death that
earthly body was 'sown' or planted in the earth. 'It is sown in corruption,' or subject, to
corruption. 'It is raised in incorruption...It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.'
Our earthly bodies, like that of the earthly Adam, are of earth; the new body, 'the house not
made with hands,' is in the image of the heavenly man, the glorified body of Jesus Christ, for 'as
we have borne the image of the earthly, [a living soul-living being] so shall we also bear the
image of the heavenly.' Then, to silence forever those who expect a sensual heaven in which they
shall abide in the flesh eternally, he exclaims, 'Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.' This, in its
connection, can only have one meaning. Flesh and blood bodies [a living soul-living being],
bodies made of corruptible earthly materials, are not compatible with a home in the world of
redeemed and glorified spirits. The soul's tenement, if it has one, must be adapted to the new
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conditions of being. Are we then denied a body in the future state? By no means. I may not be
able to understand the nature of that body, because I have never seen such an existence, but I
can accept the statements of the word of God and believe that it is exactly fitted to the happy
sphere of glorified existence. It 'is a building of God,' it is made 'as it has pleased him,' it is 'a
spiritual body,' it is 'incorruptible,' it is 'immortal,' it is after the image of the heavenly man, and
'our vile bodies [a living soul-living being] are changed into the likeness of his glorified body.'"
Page 413, 1891, "Christ and the Future Life" at:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/bjohnson/etc/CATFL.HTM
B. W. Johnson, "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. Gen. 2:7. From him came our
natural life. The last Adam, Christ, of whom Adam was a type. A quickening spirit. By giving life to
the dead, and imparting spiritual existence. Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual. The first
Adam came before the second Adam. The natural body, which proceeds from the first Adam is
our tabernacle first; after this life comes the 'spiritual body,' which the second Adam gives. The
first man is of the earth. Was fashioned out of the earth. Genesis 2:7. The second man is the Lord
who came from heaven. As is the earthy. All have earthly bodies, like that of Adam. As is the
heavenly. When we are raised to heaven we shall have spiritual bodies like Christ's." "People's
New Testament With Notes" pages 124-125.
Carl Holladay, "To the first Adam, God gave the first physical body: Adam became a living
being (Gen. 2:7). To the second Adam, or the last Adam, Christ, God gave the first spiritual body.
Their essential difference (and the Greek makes this clear) is that the former was essentially lifereceiving,
whereas the latter was life-giving. It is this that renders one physical and the other
spiritual. It was the last Adam upon whom, and within whom the Spirit of God dwelt; by raising
him from the dead. God breathed into history a second breath of life, and vividly confirmed
another mode of existence, which wholly transcended physical life: spiritual life. But, it succeeds
the physical instead of replacing the physical: it is not the spiritual, which is first but the physical,
and then the spiritual. Spiritual life is the hope which the resurrection of the last Adam
confirmed and will eventually provide; it is inaccessible to those who are still in the physical
body" "The First Letter of Paul to The Corinthians," Page 209, Abilene Christian University Press.
J. W. McGarvey, "The life principle of Adam is soul, and he was formed of the earth: the life
principle of Christ is spiritual. He was in heaven (John 1:10 and from thence entered the world
and became flesh (John 1:14; 3:13, 21; Phil. 2:6-8; John 1:1-3; Luke 1:35). Now, as the two heads
differ, so do the two families, and each resembles it’s head; the earthly progeny of Adam having
earthly natures, and the spiritual progeny of Christ having spiritual and heavenly natures. But in
both families the earthly nature come first, and the spiritual children wait for their manifestation,
which is the very thing about which the apostle has been talking, for it comes when they are
raised from the dead (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2; Rom. 8:22, 23; 2 Cor. 5:1-10)" Standard Bible
Commentary, Page 158, 1916, Standard Publishing Company.
Dr. Lange, "The expression living soul, as used in Genesis, is often taken to indicate an order
of being superior to the brute, and is the text of many an argument to prove the immortality of
the soul. The incorrectness of this assumption will be readily seen by referring to Genesis 1:20,
21, 24, and elsewhere, in which passages the words translated 'living soul' are used referring to
the entire lower creation. They are used indifferently of man and beast to express animal life in
general; and it is in this light the apostle uses them as the very course of his argument shows.
Adam is spoken of as a living soul, not to prove his immortality, but rather his
mortality" Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:45.
ELEVEN DEFINITIONS OF "SOUL"
AND EIGHTEEN DEFINITIONS OF "SPIRIT"
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AS GIVEN BY VINE
"Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary Of Old And New Testament Words" by W.
E. Vine is one of, if not the best and most used and accepted Lexicon in use. Therefore, I
will use his definitions of "soul" and "spirit" as a standard work that is used to uphold the
doctrine of an immortal soul.
[1] W. E. Vine on psukee [SOUL] Page 588
[a] The natural life of the body [a living soul-living being].
[b] The immaterial, invisible part of man, Matthew 10:28; Acts 2:27. In the first two of
his eleven definitions of soul, he makes the soul be both the natural body in the image of
Adam and "the immaterial, invisible part of man." This is the common way of most that
believe we have a part that is now immortal. Any passage with psukee-life-soul must be
interpreted in a way that makes psukee be an immortal part of a person, and this is most
of them for only a few can be made to say what they want them to say.
Of the 106 times psukee is used, he used only 4 of the 106 in [b and c].
Of the 288 times spirit-pnuma is used, he used only 8 of the 288 in [c and d].
According to his definitions, both soul and spirit are both an "immaterial, invisible part of
man" in only 12 times in the 394 times that both soul and spirit are used; the other 382
are an earthly being. Matthew 10:28 says God can destroy the soul-psukee. In Acts 2:27
the soul (psukee-person) is in the grave un-resurrected. Neither says anything about an
"immaterial, invisible part of man."
[c] The disembodied or "unclothed" or "naked" man, 2 Corinthians 5:3-4 and
Revelation 6:9. "Disembodied" is not in 2 Corinthians 5:3-4, he added it. He clearly says
soul and spirit are two different things, yet he applied "naked" to both the soul (psukee)
and the spirit (pneuma), even though he made a distinction in the two. He says, "The
language of Heb. 4:12 suggests the extreme difficulty of distinguishing between the soul
and the spirit, alike in their nature and in their activities. Generally speaking, 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."
1. "The spirit may be recognized as the life principle bestowed on man from God"-
W. E. Vine
2. "The body being the material organism"-W. E. Vine
3. "The soul as the resulting life" "[a] The natural life of the body."-W. E. Vine.
Body + breath of life, spirit = a living being, a soul. This is true of both man and
animals. The spirit - life principle came from God and returns to God
[Ecclesiastes 12:7]. The soul is the breathing creature whether a person or animal.
What does he think is the immortal PART of a person? The soul or spirit? He
seems to say one (soul) at one time and the other (spirit) at another time.
• VINE USED ONLY FOUR PASSAGES TO PROVE A PERSON HAS AN
IMMORTAL SOUL [Matthew 10:28; Acts 2:27; 2 Corinthians 5:3,4; Revelation
6:9]. All the other passages where soul-psukee refers to a person he applied to the
earthly person, not an "immaterial, invisible part of a man."
o Not one of his four passages has immortal or immortality in them.
o Not one of the four says the soul cannot die.
o Not one of the four says the soul will live after the death of the body.
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o Not one of the four says only a "part" of a person, only the no substance
"immaterial, invisible part of man," will be in Heaven, and not the whole
person.
[d] The seat of personality...explained as = "own self,"...the seat of the sentient element in
man, that by which he perceives, reflects, fells, desires. [e] The seat of the sentient
element in man, that by which he perceives, reflects, feels, desires. [f] The seat of will
and purpose. [g] The seat of appetite. [h] Persons, individuals..."persons"..."anyone"...of
dead bodies..."dead soul" and of animals. [i] The equivalent of the personal pronoun,
used for emphasis and effect: 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person. [j] An animate
creature, human or other.
If the soul [pneuma] is "An animate creature, human or other" how is it that he thinks
people have souls but animals do not?
He applies only two [b] and [c] in his list to what he thinks is an immortal soul. ALL
THE OTHERS [a, d, e, f, g, h, i, and j] ARE USED REFERRING TO MEN AND
ANIMALS, NOT TO AN INTER BEING THAT LIVES AFTER THE DEATH OF THE
PERSON OR ANIMAL.
[2] W. E. VINE ON PNEUMA [SPIRIT]
"Pneuma primarily denotes 'the wind' ['to breathe, blow']; also 'breath.'" W. E. Vine,
Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary Of Old and New Testament Words, Page 593.
[Note: While they are men who have learned more than most on Bible words; and we can learn
from them, they are still just as human, just as uninspired as other men are, just as subject to err
and be wrong, they are still men and hold to such things as Calvinism: He says, "Adam died on
the day he disobeyed God. Genesis 2:17, and hence all mankind are born in the same spiritual
condition" W. E. Vine, Page 149, New Testament; and like the men who have made translations
of the Bible, their views sometime show up in their work, intentional or unintentional; and we
must not believe there can be no error in even the best lexicon or translations. They all have
some, and no lexicon can be taken as law.