The Bodily Resurrection of the Saved
It is important to believe in the bodily resurrection of the saved because humans were originally created with physical bodies. Let’s allow the Bible to explain:
Humans are souls (Ezekiel 18:20). So, souls are living beings. At Creation, two things combine to make a soul, dust and the breath of life. Until these two things combine, a soul does not exist. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).
At death, these two components separate. The body returns to dust, and the breath returns to God. The soul goes nowhere. It simply ceases to exist. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The spirit that returns to God at death is the breath of life.
According to the Bible, the words “spirit” and “breath” are the same as seen in the following verse: “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils” (Job 27:3). The spirit is found in the nostrils where the breath is. So, the spirit that returns to God when a person dies is the breath of life, not a disembodied soul.
The concept of an undying, immortal soul goes against the Bible, which teaches that souls are subject to death (Ezekiel 18:20). Man is mortal (Job 4:17). Only God is immortal (1 Timothy 6:15, 16). In the Bible, except in allegorical usage, the soul does not go in and out of the body; neither does it have an independent existence outside of the body. The soul is simply the conscious life which resulted when God added the breath or spirit to the body.
After death a soul: returns to dust (Psalms 104:29), knows nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5), possesses no mental powers (Psalms 146:4), has nothing to do with anything on earth (Ecclesiastes 9:6), does not live (2 Kings 20:1), waits in the grave (Job 17:13), and continues not (Job 14:1, 2). There is no reference in all of the scriptures that the “spirit” have any life, wisdom, or feeling after a person dies. The dead sleep unconsciously in their graves (John 11:11-14) till the Lord raise them up at the Resurrection Day at the end of time (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
Here is a simple illustration: Let us liken the body to a light bulb. The electricity flowing into that bulb represents the breath of life which God puts into the body, and the light itself will represent the soul which man became after the breath joined the body. It is a representation of the completed creation. If we turn the light off, the electricity leaves the bulb just as the breath leaves the body at death. But did the light go up into the electric socket? No, it simply ceased to exist. Now where is the soul when the breath separates from the body? It simply ceases to exist.
So, at the resurrection, God gives the breath of life to the body and the soul comes alive again. Therefore, there will be a bodily resurrection of the saved. God would restore man to his original physical bodily state of existence. Humans will not be disembodied spirits in God’s glorious kingdom as some claim.
Check out our Bible Answers page for more information on a variety of topics.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
