Q: In Matthew 25:46, Jesus presents the unrighteous and the righteous experiencing either eternal punishment or eternal life. But in other passages, death is said to be the end of consciousness altogether. Isnt this a contradiction?
A: Not when you take the setting of those other passages into consideration. All the passages which the SAB lists to support the idea that death is a final end of consciousness (at www.skepticsannotatedbibl...death.html ) are from the Old Testament. Lets take a look at them.
Joshua 23:14 ~ This day I [Joshua] am going the way of all the earth." ~ This description of physical death does not preclude a future spiritual resurrection. Christians today can say this while fully expecting to be raised from the dead.
Job 7:9 ~ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more." ~ This observation is true; those who go to the grave generally do not return to the earth. (That a return to the earth, and not a furtherance of the soul to some non-earthly destination, is in view here, is made clear by 7:10.)
Job 20:7 ~ Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung." ~ Since these words are framed as Zophars, there is no apologetical impetus to defend them.
Psalm 6:5 ~ For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" ~ An accurate description of the nebulous existence which was the temporary fate of most of the inhabitants of Sheol. But just because most of Sheol was a quiet place doesnt mean that the afterlife of the blessed as it now exists, after the initiation of the covenant of grace, is similarly quiet.
Psalm 88:5 ~ The dead ... whom thou rememberest no more. ~ Heman (no relation to Skeletors nemesis) isnt claiming that God has forgotten that dead people have existed. In this setting, to remember someone is to pay attention to their cries for help. Consider how this works out in regard to the inhabitants of Sheol: if a soul was in a pleasant part of Sheol, that soul would not be crying out for help. And if a soul was stationed in an unpleasant part of Sheol, then inasmuch as this was a fitting fate for that soul, God would not respond favorably to (i.e., remember) that souls cries.
Psalm 115:17 ~ The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. ~ This was a generally accurate description of the inhabitants of Sheol. It does not mean, however, that such a state of affairs continued into the new covenant.
Ecclesiastes 3:19, 9:5, and 9:10 ~ These three statements are in Ecclesiastes, which is a sort of diary of Solomons philosophical experients, in which he expresses different perspectives which he experimented with. That does not mean that when the experiment was over, Solomon regarded them as true. Near the outset of the book, 1:17 forthrightly states an intention to know wisdom, and madness, and folly. And that is what he proceeds to pursue, and to express, as the book continues. At the end of the book, one sees that not every perspective has survived Solomons exam; he retained the wisdom but rejected the madness and folly. And his view about the ultimate fate of the deceased is hinted at in the last verse of the book: God shall bring every work into judgment.
Isaiah 26:14 ~ They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased they shall not rise." ~ The connotation here is that the wicked who have died (particularly, wicked people who have ruled over Judah) will not come back to occupy the earth.
Isaiah 38:18 ~ For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. ~ This is not the statement of a prophet; it is part of the Song of Hezekiah. So, as in the case of Zophars statement in Job 20:7, theres no apologetical impetus to defend them.
Now that those passages have been individually explained and harmonized with the concept of the immortality of the soul and the existence of heaven and hell as eternal abodes for the saved and the lost, I think its worthwhile to mention a related theological concept -- the idea of "progressive revelation." This option assumes that Hezekiah's view of Sheol was held by the Biblical authors themselves.
The "progressive revelation" idea implies that the Old Testament authors conception of hell was incomplete -- so incomplete that, even though their statements were correct at the time they were written, they are no longer correct today, under the new covenant. (This sort of shift is doctrinally similar to the Islamic concept of abrogation, except instead of having dozens of lesson-replacements during the lifetime of Muhammad, theres one big transition when a new covenant is established.) Some statements in the Old Testament about the afterlife may be likened to descriptions of a highway which was, at the time the map was made, still under construction -- a highway which led nowhere at the time, but which later did reach somewhere.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: Not when you take the setting of those other passages into consideration. All the passages which the SAB lists to support the idea that death is a final end of consciousness (at www.skepticsannotatedbibl...death.html ) are from the Old Testament. Lets take a look at them.
Joshua 23:14 ~ This day I [Joshua] am going the way of all the earth." ~ This description of physical death does not preclude a future spiritual resurrection. Christians today can say this while fully expecting to be raised from the dead.
Job 7:9 ~ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more." ~ This observation is true; those who go to the grave generally do not return to the earth. (That a return to the earth, and not a furtherance of the soul to some non-earthly destination, is in view here, is made clear by 7:10.)
Job 20:7 ~ Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung." ~ Since these words are framed as Zophars, there is no apologetical impetus to defend them.
Psalm 6:5 ~ For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" ~ An accurate description of the nebulous existence which was the temporary fate of most of the inhabitants of Sheol. But just because most of Sheol was a quiet place doesnt mean that the afterlife of the blessed as it now exists, after the initiation of the covenant of grace, is similarly quiet.
Psalm 88:5 ~ The dead ... whom thou rememberest no more. ~ Heman (no relation to Skeletors nemesis) isnt claiming that God has forgotten that dead people have existed. In this setting, to remember someone is to pay attention to their cries for help. Consider how this works out in regard to the inhabitants of Sheol: if a soul was in a pleasant part of Sheol, that soul would not be crying out for help. And if a soul was stationed in an unpleasant part of Sheol, then inasmuch as this was a fitting fate for that soul, God would not respond favorably to (i.e., remember) that souls cries.
Psalm 115:17 ~ The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. ~ This was a generally accurate description of the inhabitants of Sheol. It does not mean, however, that such a state of affairs continued into the new covenant.
Ecclesiastes 3:19, 9:5, and 9:10 ~ These three statements are in Ecclesiastes, which is a sort of diary of Solomons philosophical experients, in which he expresses different perspectives which he experimented with. That does not mean that when the experiment was over, Solomon regarded them as true. Near the outset of the book, 1:17 forthrightly states an intention to know wisdom, and madness, and folly. And that is what he proceeds to pursue, and to express, as the book continues. At the end of the book, one sees that not every perspective has survived Solomons exam; he retained the wisdom but rejected the madness and folly. And his view about the ultimate fate of the deceased is hinted at in the last verse of the book: God shall bring every work into judgment.
Isaiah 26:14 ~ They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased they shall not rise." ~ The connotation here is that the wicked who have died (particularly, wicked people who have ruled over Judah) will not come back to occupy the earth.
Isaiah 38:18 ~ For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. ~ This is not the statement of a prophet; it is part of the Song of Hezekiah. So, as in the case of Zophars statement in Job 20:7, theres no apologetical impetus to defend them.
Now that those passages have been individually explained and harmonized with the concept of the immortality of the soul and the existence of heaven and hell as eternal abodes for the saved and the lost, I think its worthwhile to mention a related theological concept -- the idea of "progressive revelation." This option assumes that Hezekiah's view of Sheol was held by the Biblical authors themselves.
The "progressive revelation" idea implies that the Old Testament authors conception of hell was incomplete -- so incomplete that, even though their statements were correct at the time they were written, they are no longer correct today, under the new covenant. (This sort of shift is doctrinally similar to the Islamic concept of abrogation, except instead of having dozens of lesson-replacements during the lifetime of Muhammad, theres one big transition when a new covenant is established.) Some statements in the Old Testament about the afterlife may be likened to descriptions of a highway which was, at the time the map was made, still under construction -- a highway which led nowhere at the time, but which later did reach somewhere.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
