Exposition

The questions which properly belong to this Article of the Creed are such as the following:
Is the soul immortal?
Where is it, when separated from the body?
What is the resurrection, and what the errors which are entertained in regard to it?
From what does it appear that there certainly will be a future resurrection?
What land of bodies will rise in the resurrection?
How will it be effected?
When will it take place?
By whose power, mid through whom?
For what purpose will there be a future resurrection?

I . Is the soul immortal?
The question of the immortality of the soul belongs properly to this Article for the resurrection presupposes death. We must therefore inquire, does “the soul die and rise again as the body? Nor will the discussion of this question be unprofitable and vain, for it will be calculated to lead us to a proper understanding of many passages of Scripture, which seem to speak of the soul of man as though it were mortal; and will also be a refutation of the errors of the Epicureans and Sadducees, who already in former times denied the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body; as also those, who said that the resurrection of believers was already past, and who would admit of no other resurrection but that which is spiritual. And even at this day, it is argued by some Anabaptists that the soul after it is separated from the body, lies dormant until the future resurrection, when it will again be reunited to the body. Paul the third Pope of Rome, when he was at the point of death said; “now he would find out the truth of three questions, concerning which he had doubts during the whole of his life; whether the soul be immortal whether there be a hell and whether there be a God” There are also in the Psalms, and in the writings of Solomon a number of declarations of a somewhat similar character to the following: “Man dieth as a beast.” “The dead praise not the Lord.” (Eccl. 3:19: Ps. 115:17.) Hence there is a propriety in the discussion of this subject.

The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is established by such declarations of the word of God as these: “For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. Though, while he lived, he blessed his soul.” “As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.” “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” “As touching the dead, that they rise, have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.” (Ps. 49:17, 18. 2 Sam. 1:11. Matt. 10:28. Mark 12:26; 27.) Christ when hanging upon the cross said to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43.) But he could not be there in his body, because that was dead, and buried. Therefore his soul was brought with Christ into Paradise, and hence the soul must live after death. Paul said; “I have a desire to depart and be with Christ.” (Phil. 1:23.) He spoke this in reference to the rest, and joy which he would have with Christ after death. But what can be the joy or blessedness of those, who are in a state of unconsciousness? Hence those who imagine that the soul sleeps after death, and so deny its immortality, are refuted by this passage of Scripture. “Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit.” “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” “I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live.” “We are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (Luke 23:46. Acts 7:59. John 11:25. 2 Cor. 5:8.) The soul therefore, does not sleep after death, but enjoys immortal life, and heavenly glory with the Lord. In the Revelation of St. John (Joh. 6:10) chap. 6: v. 10, the souls of the martyrs are said to cry under the altar with a loud voice saying. “How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.” Hence they must be alive. In the gospel of Luke 16:22, Lazarus is said to have been carried after his death to Abraham’s bosom, whilst the rich man, on the other hand, was sent to hell, the place of torment. These and similar passages of Scripture teach and prove most conclusively, that the soul, not only in the body before death, and after the resurrection of the body from the dead, but also during the whole space that intervenes between death, and the resurrection, exists, lives, feels, and understands without the body, although the manner of its operation without the body is altogether unknown to us. Lastly the resurrection of the body presupposes the immortality of the soul, so that believing in the one we also believe in the other. For as it is the same body which shall rise again, it is necessary that it should be fashioned by the same substantial form which it formerly had, which is the soul. Not every change of an accidental form constitutes another individual; the individual remains the same as long as the same matter is quickened with the same substantial form. But if the soul die, and God were to create another soul, and infuse it into the body, then it would not be the same, but a different form that would quicken and fashion the body; and so it would not be the same individual. But it will be the same body which shall rise in the resurrection, as we shall show when we come to discuss the fifth question under this article.

Obj. 1. But it is said in Eccl. 3:19, that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast, that as the one doeth, so does the other. Therefore the soul is not immortal.

Ans. There is here an incorrect conclusion, by inferring that to be similar in all respects, which is so only in certain particulars. The condition of both man and beast is the same, as to the necessity of death; for men, as well as beasts, must necessarily die at some time, and depart out of this life; because it is appointed unto men once to die, so that no one has here a permanent abiding place. But the condition of man and beasts is not the same in the event of death and the state which follows; for whilst the existence of the brute becomes extinct and vanishes away, the soul of man, on the other hand, remains alive and active after death, as has just been shown. We also deny the antecedent; for the Preacher does not speak of the death of man, according to his own, but according to the sentiment and opinion of the great mass of men, based upon the apparent similarity of events, which happen both to the good and the evil. He joins this complaint of the judgment of man to the doctrine of the providence and judgment of God, by which good will at length be conferred upon the righteous, and evil upon the wicked.

Obj. 2. But it is also said, (Ps. 115:17,) “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.”

Ans. They do not so praise the Lord as we do in this life; but it does not follow from this, that they shall not praise the Lord at all, after they have once departed this life.