CHAPTER III



THE NATURE OF DEATH

Death - a Separation of the Spiritual Nature from the Body.



In the preceding chapter it has been shown according to the Holv Scriptures, that man does have a soul (spiritual nature) distinct from the body in which it dwells, and that it is the conscious, thinking. remembering, entity the real individuality. We learned from our study of the creation of Adam that his natural life began with the union of the spiritual nature and his body. We shall now proceed to show that his death was the separation of these two, and that wherever death is referred to in the Bible, it has the same meaning a separation of the spirit or spiritual nature from the body.

The original decree of death, Genesis 3:19, implies only the death of the body. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou shalt return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken; dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Here it is plain, that only so much of man as was "dust," and "taken out of the ground," was doomed to return to dust again. But the "breath of life" or spirit. breathed into Adam by his Creator, was not "dust" nor "taken out of the ground." It therefore was not doomed to return to dust with the body at death.

In harmony with the above, we find that wherever the fulfillment of this original decree is spoken of in the Scriptures, it is described as taking effect upon the "dust" of the body only; while the spirit is released from the body and survives its dissolution. According to the Bible, death is a separation of the spirit, (spiritual nature) from the body.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 "There is no man that hath power over the spirit /to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death."

This passage clearly refers to death; and the expression '"to retain the spirit," clearly implies that in death the spirit departs from the body. It cannot be "retained" either by burial of the body or by any other means

Ecclesiastes 12:7. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." The allusion to Genesis 3:19 is unmistakable. It shows most clearly the scope and design of the decree, "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," namely, that the "dust" or body only is to "return to the earth as it was" while the "spirit returns unto God who gave it."



THE SCRIPTURE FURTHER SHOWS THAT DEATH IS A SEPARATION OF THE SPIRIT FROM THE BODY

The numerous descriptions of death as the "giving up of the ghost" convey the same thought of death as a separation of the spirit from the body.

Abraham "gave up the ghost," Genesis 25:8. Isaac "gave up the ghost," Genesis 35:29. Jacob "yielded up the ghost," Genesis 49:33. And, "when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and having said this he gave up the ghost," Luke 23:46. "But man dieth and wasteth away, yea, man giveth up the ghost," Job 14:10. Sapphira "fell down and yielded up the ghost," Acts 5:10. And so throughout the Scriptures, the giving up of the ghost is a common phrase to signify dying.

It is evident from the above passages, that death is a "giving up" or departure of the spirit from the body.

That death is a separation of the soul from the body, is clearly implied in I Kings 17:20-22, where Elijah prayed that the son of the widow Zarephath might be restored to life. "And he cried unto the Lord, and said, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, 0 Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him AGAIN. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived."

Here Elijah prays that the child's "soul" might re-enter the lifeless body; and in answer to the prayer, "the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived." This clearly shows that the soul had departed, and that death is a separation of the soul from the body.

When the ruler's daughter was raised to life, Luke 8:49-55, it is said, "And her spirit came again, and she rose straightway, etc." imply- ing that in dying her spirit had left the body and must needs "come again" before she could again be restored to life. No language could make it more clear that death is a separation of the spirit from the body. The same truth is taught in the following:
When David learned that his beloved child was dead, II Samuel 12:19:23, he ceased to weep and fast; and when questioned concerning his unusual conduct, he said, "But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." This language plainly indicates that his child had gone hence, and that he could not return, but that the bereft father expected to depart also to "go to him" when this mortal life should end.
The Apostle Paul sets forth this same truth that death is a separation of the spirit from the body. II Corinthians 5:6-9. "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight; we are confident, I say willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him."

What does Paul mean by "at home in the body" and "absent from the body" if the soul and the body are not distinct, and if death is not a separation of the one from the other? Surely, the "absent" from the body means that at death his soul would separate or depart from the body.

Death, as a separation, is inferred in the following. The inspired writers represent the human body as a "tabernacle" or frail dwelling- place; and death as the putting off of this tabernacle. Thus Paul says in II Corinthians 5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

The Apostle Peter in II Peter 1:13-15 says, "Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowing that shortly I must put off this my taberncale, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shown me. Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance."

In these passages, then, the "tabernacle" to be "dissolved," and the dwellers in the tabernacle are as distinct as the house and its occupant. It is equally clear that by the "putting off" of his "tabernacle," (as Christ had shown him. John 21:18-19) Peter meant his "decease." We are in a tabernacle, and death is the putting off of our tabernacle. Death is the separation of soul and body.

Various references speak of death as a departure. This shows death is a separation of the spiritual nature (the real individuality) from the body.

St. Paul described death as a "departure" to occur when he should cease "to abide in the flesh." Philippians 1:21-24. "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor; yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you."

What does the apostle here mean by "abiding in the flesh" if it be not living in the body? And what by '"departing" if it be not dying?

It is scarcely possible for language to teach more clearly the doctrine that death is a separation of body and spirit, and a departure of the spirit from this world.

The same doctrine that death is a separation or departure is taught in numerous other Scriptures. For instance, II Timothy 4:6, where the apostle says, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of departure is at hand."

Also Genesis 35:18, "And it came to pass as her soul was in departing, for she died, etc." It was revealed to Simeon that he should not see death till he had seen the Lord's Christ; and when he saw the infant Redeemer, he said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, x according to thy word." To him, also death was a departure, which could not be true in any sense if the soul died with the body, and was not separated from it.

That death is a separation of the soul or spiritual nature from the body, is further evident from James 2:26 "For as the body without \_ the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

Here the apostle refers for the illustration of his subject, to a fact acknowledged by all professing Christians of his day, namely: The body was "dead" when it was "without the spirit" or, in other words, that death is a separation of the spirit from the body.

Thus, in the foregoing paragraphs, according to the testimony of the infallible word of God we have learned that death is a separation of the spirit, or departure of the real individuality, from the body.

The original decree of death consigns only "the dust" (the body) to return to the earth, while the "spirit returns to God who gave it." Death is "the giving up of the ghost," and the dead are not restored to life, unless their "souls come into them again." We are now dwelling in "earthly houses of this tabernacle" which we shall "put off" at death We now "abide in the flesh," but at death we will "depart" and will be absent from the body, and then "the body without the spirit will be dead."