“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’” —Genesis 3:4

I once talked with an old college friend about the so-called church fathers, who introduced the Doctrine of the Immortal Soul to the early church. The world’s nominally Christian churches believe that man is born with an immortal soul, which significantly influences other teachings. These churches use the stories of Enoch and Elijah and the Parable of Lazurus and the Rich Man as primary scriptures to support their belief. As far as my friend was concerned, it was a solid truth he could have faith in.

However, this teaching is one of, if not the most, enticing and yet destructive doctrines accepted by worldly Christianity. Based on a flawed interpretation of God’s Word, it is an unreliable foundation, which has caused most Christians to believe in the existence of God without giving them a reason to conduct their lives as He does. As we will see, this doctrine completely contradicts and distorts the clear evidence of the Plan of God for humanity.

Ensuring our understanding of this topic has a solid foundation of truth is imperative.

Man Is Mortal

What does the Bible teach about what happens when a person takes his or her last breath?

God provides us with patterns of truth throughout His Word. We will break down the evidence on this subject into five points.

I Corinthians 15:53-54 reveals a significant step in God’s Plan:

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

The apostle Paul clearly refers to man as mortal, and further, who “must put on immortality.” Mortal humans, by definition, will die, and everlasting life is something that must be added from outside them. Similarly, a baby, born naked, must be clothed afterward.

Paul writes in I Timothy 6:15-16, “. . . He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality” (emphasis ours throughout). According to Scripture, only Jesus Christ has immortality among those born human. Billions who have supposed they possessed immortal souls died deceived on this point.

So, the first point is that God created man mortal.

All Humans Will Die a Physical Death

God provided evidence of the truth to Adam and Eve while in the Garden, telling them, “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). So, the second point is that each human being will experience physical death. Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 (English Standard Version) concurs:

For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Psalms 146:4 adds more detail: “His spirit departs; he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish.”

God makes it clear that, at death, a human’s physical body decomposes, turning back into dust just like animals’ bodies do. Humanity is of the same natural, material, created order as the beasts of the earth.

The Human Spirit

But what about the psalmist’s phrase, “His spirit departs”? What happens at death to man’s spirit?

God gave human beings a spirit, as Job 32:8 states: “But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.” As mentioned in the verse, this human spirit gives humans understanding or intellect, the power of mind that animals do not have. It is a gift of God that raises humanity above other creatures God made. There is no biblical indication that the human spirit contains any kind of life or sentience; it must be combined with a living being to function.

Scripture says this spirit of understanding departs at death. What happens to it then? Ecclesiastes 12:7 provides the answer: “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

So, the third point is that all humans eventually die, returning to the earth, and at death, God takes back the person’s human spirit into safekeeping.

Jesus’ raising of Lazarus provides an illustration that helps us to understand how this works. The apostle John writes in John 11:11-14:

. . . and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”

Should not this world’s churches explain why Jesus failed to teach that Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, was already up in heaven? If he possessed an immortal soul, would he not have been in paradise with God? However, Jesus says plainly that Lazarus was dead, not alive in heaven.

Lazarus’ physical resurrection can be tied to events that took place at Christ’s death:

. . . and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:52-53)

Again, the text does not mention the souls of these saints—believers—having been residing in heaven. Instead, the Word of God describes humans who have died as “sleeping,” “slept,” or “fallen asleep” over 19 times. The Scriptures confirm that as a man takes his final breath, he dies in a way reminiscent of one falling asleep. As his life and all his abilities cease to function, his spirit of understanding returns to God.

The When of Immortality

The fourth point is that God promises immortality to believers, but it is a gift given at certain times, “each one in his own order” (see I Corinthians 15:23). So, when mortal man puts on immortality, what does it look like? How does it fit in to God’s Plan? In Revelation 20:4, John writes:

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Then, John mentions something interesting in verse 5: “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” Up to Christ’s resurrection, the Bible refers to individuals as being raised from the dead only to physical life. However, when a person experiences this “first resurrection,” it is to a spiritual life. This is when God’s saints, His elect firstfruits, put on immortality and incorruptibility, as Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:53-54 (see also I Thessalonians 4:15-17; Matthew 24:29-31; I John 3:2; Zechariah 14:3-5).

But why does He call this event “the first resurrection”? Using “first” implies there will be more than one. In John 5:28-29, Jesus says,

Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

Jesus is teaching us that all mankind who have died still lie in their graves. The same “all” will be resurrected from their graves. “Those who have done good,” that is, the righteous, will experience a resurrection to eternal life, but evildoers will experience a separate resurrection of condemnation for their lives of sin. This passage points to two unique resurrections.

In Daniel 12:1-2, we find support and more details on this future resurrection:

And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel confirms that there is a second and then a separate third resurrection.

God reveals that at the time of Christ’s return, those who have entered into the New Covenant will be raised in the first resurrection. During their lives, opposed by Satan and the ways of this world, they believed the gospel and did the work to put on the image of their Savior, to live as God lives. These are the firstfruits described in Revelation 14:1-5, and John describes their future in Revelation 20:6: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” At this time, the earth will finally experience a Millennium of peace under the rulership of Christ and His now-immortal saints.

As this period ends, the second resurrection occurs. It is reserved for those who never received an opportunity to hear and understand the gospel of the Kingdom. These are the “rest of the dead” mentioned in Revelation 20:5, the vast majority of humanity. Even those who lived centuries before Christ or lived completely ignorant of God’s truth will be allowed to learn the truth of God’s Plan for all of mankind. We see a vivid picture of this resurrection in Ezekiel 37, where all Israel is prophesied to be raised to physical life and given access to God’s Spirit so they can believe and attain salvation.

John confirms this event in Revelation 20:12:

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

The dead of humanity will arise to a period of judgment much like God’s people are experiencing now but without the influence of Satan and an evil world following base human nature. God will be happy to grant them salvation and eternal life if they live His way of life.

The Third Resurrection

The fifth point is that some will reject immortality. The Bible indicates that there will be people—perhaps even many—who, despite having the truth of God revealed to them at some point in their lives, still choose to go their own way, to live their own selfish lifestyle. Even having a basic understanding of how to live as God lives, they will make the freewill decision to reject God’s way of life. They will choose to live under their own system, choosing for themselves what is right or wrong rather than accepting God’s will.

God will resurrect such people to a completely different experience than those raised in the second resurrection. Revelation 20:13-15 begins to reveal their fate:

The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

The apostle Paul states explicitly in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.” People who will not repent of their sins will not get an eternal life of torment but a painful, irrevocable death. The consequences of this second death will eliminate all corruption from the Kingdom of God (see II Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-8). God will not dwell with sin.

A Gift of God

The Word of God is utterly silent about man having an innate, immortal soul that goes to heaven at death to be with God. In Hebrews 9:27, Paul pens a vital piece of evidence that destroys nominal Christianity’s Doctrine of the Immortal Soul: “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” God established this pattern—real death followed by judgment in a resurrection—for us to see He set it to function this way from the beginning.

There is only one place in the Bible that even implies man has an immortal soul, and it is a statement voiced by the adversary, Satan the Devil. Attempting to persuade Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent says, “You shall not surely die.” The Father of Lies is not a reliable source of truth! His lie completely contradicts the pure truth of God found in the rest of Scripture.

At the end of the same chapter, God slams the door on this whole line of thought:

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden . . .. (Genesis 3:22-23)

The truth could not be more straightforward. To live forever, human beings must take and eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. They do not have even the guarantee of eternal life within them until God gives them the gift of His Spirit. As Paul writes in Romans 6:23, “. . . but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He also writes in Ephesians 1:13-14:

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise [of eternal life in God’s Kingdom], who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [the resurrection], to the praise of His glory.

The Example of David

God provides us with clear evidence of His pattern of the cycle of life using His servant, King David. I Kings 2:10 states, “So David rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David.” In Paul’s sermon to the Jews in Antioch in Pisidia in Acts 13:36, he gives us a little more detail on David’s death: “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, and was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption.”

Peter confirms this in Acts 2:29: “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.” He goes even further in verse 34, saying, “For David did not ascend into the heavens.” Even David, a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14), is currently in the grave, his body long ago having decayed, along with all the rest of mankind who have died.

Consider that Peter and others take pains to inform us that God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; Deuteronomy 10:17; see also Hebrews 11:40). So, what has happened to David happens to all men. But we know that God has planned a future for David: to be king over all resurrected Israel in the time to come (Ezekiel 37:24). In the same way, God has a glorious, joyful future planned for all those who choose to live God’s way of life.

We pray for God to speed that day!