The men who led the church after the apostles died. They are called the Early Church Fathers. Some of them overlapped the apostles and, of course, learned their theology from them and from their writings, which were later collected into one volume under the title “The New Testament”.
The writings of the Early Church Fathers do not speak in terms of innate immortality or eternal torment but held closely to the biblical language indicating their acceptance of what came to be known as “Conditional Immortality”. This is not surprising as that is what the Bible teaches.
I was one of the founders of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship in New Zealand in 1935. We asked the world-renowned Greek scholar, E.M. Blaiklock, to be the key-speaker at our 1936 annual Conference. He chose to speak on the Immortality of the Soul which he firmly proclaimed, but he surprised us by saying that he based his belief on Plato’s teachings because the Bible doesn’t teach it; it just assumes it. He never opened his Bible, nor quoted any Bible verse. He gave lengthy quotes from Plato, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and Babylonian writings, and said that the immortality of the soul had been accepted by all people from the beginning of time. He also said that if any who lived before the time of Christ are deemed worthy of eternal life, Plato will be one of them.
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: David Green
Keywords: Annihilationism, After death, After life, Afterlife, annihilation, Cast to hell, Cast down to hell, Chains of darkness, Damned go to hell, Death, Death state, Demon hell, Departing soul, Departing spirit, Destroyed in hell, destructionism, Devil hell, Dieing, Dominion of the grave, Do the wicked go to hell, Eternal fire, Eternal judgment, Eternal judgement, Eternal punishment, Eternal torment, Eternal hell, Eternal pit, Everlasting fire, Everlasting judgment, Everlasting judgement, Everlasting hell, Everlasting hellfire, Everlasting hell fire, Everlasting pit, Everlasting punishment, Everlasting torment, Everlasting torture, Ever lasting fire, Ever lasting judgment, Ever lasting judgement, Ever lasting hell, Ever lasting hellfire, Ever lasting hell fire, Ever lasting pit, Ever lasting punishment, Ever lasting torment, Ever lasting torture, Eternal hellfire, Eternal hell fire, Eternal torture, Eternal soul, extinctionism, Fable hell, Fabled hell, Fiery hell, Fire not quenched, Gehenna, Gehena, Gehenna fire, Gehena fire, Go to hell, Going to heaven, Grave, Gravedom, Hell, Hellfire, Hell fire, Hell forever, Hell real, Hades, Hinnom, Immortal spirit, Immortal soul, Life in hell, Lost souls in hell, Never ending fire, Never ending hell, Placed in hell, Punished in hell, Punished for eternity, Punished in hell for eternity, Reserved in hell, Rich man Lazarus, Rich man Lazaras, Roasting in hell, Send to hell, Sent to hell, Sheol, Sleeping in hell, Soul in hell, Soul punished in hell, Soul sleep, Soulsleep, Spirit in hell, State of the dead, Tartarus, There is no hell, Torment in hell, Tormented in hell, Undieing worm, Undying worm, Unquenchable fire, Waiting in hell, Wicked punished in hell, What happens when I die, What happens when we die, When the roll is called up yonder, Where is hell, Where do the lost go when they die, Where do the wicked go when they die, Where do we go when we die, Wicked hell, Worm does not die, Worm won't die, Worm will not die, Worm dieth not, Worm do not die, eternal reward, reward in heaven, heavenly reward
Bible reference(s): Genesis 3:19, Deut. 32:22, 2 Sam. 22:6, Job 11:8, Job 26:6, Ps. 9:17, Ps. 16:10, Ps. 18:5, Ps. 55:15, Ps. 86:13, Ps. 116:3, Ps. 139:8, Prov. 5:5, Prov. 7:27, Prov. 9:18, Prov. 15:11, Prov. 15:24, Prov. 23:14, Prov. 27:20, Isa. 5:14, Isa. 14:9, Isa. 14:15, Isa. 28:15, Isa. 28:18, Isa. 57:9, Isa 66:24, Ezek. 31:16, Ezek. 31:17, Ezek. 32:21, Ezek. 32:27, Amos 9:2, Jon. 2:2, Hab. 2:5, Matt. 5:22, Matt. 5:29, Matt. 5:30, Matt. 10:28, Matt. 11:23, Matt. 16:18, Matt. 18:8-9, Matt. 23:15, Matt. 23:33, Mat. 25:41, Mk. 9:43-47, Lk. 10:15, Lk. 12:5, Luke 12:20, Lk. 16:23, Acts 2:27, Acts 2:31, Jas. 3:6, Jude 1:7, 2 Pet. 2:4, Rev. 1:18, Rev. 6:8, Rev. 20:13, Rev. 20:14, 2 Esdras 2:29, 2 Esdras 4:7, 2 Esdras 4:8, 2 Esdras 7:36, 2 Esdras 8:53
Source: “Immortality of the Soul in the Bible? A Brief History of Conditional Immortality and Answers to Critics”
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.