 |  |
spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural (soul-lical),
and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second is
the Lord from heaven" (I Cor. 15: 44-47).
Note the parallel:--
"The first man Adam was made a living soul."
"The first man is of the earth, earthy."
Immortality is not received through the first Adam: his descendants by nature are all
mortals.
Some have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and these are awaiting resurrection,
when this corruptible and this mortal shall put on immortality. How like the gospel to
shut us up to Christ and resurrection for this coveted gift. How like satan and his
ministers to preach the natural immortality of man and his independence of God. Death is
said to be but the portal into fuller life, and the whole testimony of the Word is thereby
set at naught. This doctrine of the immortality of the soul of man is far reaching. It
permeates all Theology. It trammels our views of the atonement; it blights our prospects
of the future; it is the fruitful source of the Popish purgatory, and the Protestant nightmare
of never-ending torment. Manifestly, if one will teach that all souls are immortal,
something must be done with them. Consequently, the scriptures which speak of death,
destruction, burning like chaff, &100:, &100:, are tortured and twisted to mean their very
opposites, and the passages which refer exclusively to the devil and those who side with
antichrist are not only misinterpreted, but mercilessly and indiscriminately applied to all
of every age and clime who are without Christ.
Let us not fear what man may say or think, let us hold fast the faithful Word, let us
glory in the blessed fact that we once were dead can now look away to the right hand of
God, and realize that "our life is hid with Christ in God," going forth with the glad
message of the gospel of life for the dead to proclaim Him who is the resurrection and the
life, who "shed light on life and immortality through the gospel."