“ ‘The Soul Who Sins Shall Die’ ”
Read Ezekiel 18:4, 20 and Matthew 10:28. How can these verses help
us understand the nature of the human soul?
Human life in this sinful world is fragile and transitory (Isa. 40:1–8).
Nothing infected by sin can be eternal by nature. “Therefore, just as
through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus
death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12, NKJV). Death
is the natural consequence of sin, which affects all life here.
On this matter, there are two important biblical concepts. One is
that human beings and animals both die. As stated by King Solomon,
“ ‘Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same
fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same
breath; humans have no advantage over animals. . . . All go to the same
place; all come from dust, and to dust all return’ ” (Eccles. 3:19, 20, NIV).
The second concept is that the physical death of a person implies the
cessation of his or her existence as a living soul (Hebrew nephesh). In
Genesis 2:16, 17, God had warned Adam and Eve that if they should
ever sin, by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
they would die.
Echoing this warning, the Lord reinforced the point in Ezekiel 18:4,
20: “ ‘The soul who sins shall die’ ” (NKJV). This statement has two
main implications. One is that since all human beings are sinners, all of
us are under the unavoidable process of aging and dying (Rom. 3:9–18,
23). Another implication is that this biblical concept makes void the
popular notion of a supposed natural immortality of the soul. If the soul
is immortal and exists alive in another realm after death, then we don’t
really die after all, do we?
In contrast, the biblical solution for the dilemma of death is not a
bodiless soul migrating either into Paradise or into purgatory, or even
into hell. The solution is indeed the final resurrection of those who
died in Christ. As Jesus stated in His sermon on the Bread of Life,
“ ‘Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting
life; and I will raise him up at the last day’ ” (John 6:40, NKJV).
Why is the surety of the Second Coming, which is made certain
by Christ’s first coming (and after all, what good was Christ’s
first coming without the second?), so crucial to all that we
believe? What hope would we have without the promise of His
return?
