The following comments were made by one of our forum members under the thread “No-one has gone to heaven?” and are typical of the beliefs held by many believers. Note it is not our intention of selectively pointing out this particular individual, but are merely presenting his viewpoint as it representative of the same or similar thoughts of many others.

Now in an earlier post he had asked the question: Where in scripture does it say anyone is asleep in Jesus?

We then pointed out 1 Cor 15:12-19 and 1 Thess 4:13-16 which spoke not only of those who “sleep in Jesus” but likewise of those who “sleep in Christ“.

To this he replied:

“All scriptures used to teach soul-sleep clearly refer to the body which does sleep in the dust of the earth until the resurrection of the body (Dan 12:2; John 5:28-29). The body is the only part of man that dies at physical death (James 2:26). The reason it dies is because the inner man, the life of the body, leaves the body. It then goes back to dust and is spoken of as being asleep.”

Now we hope to have answered to some extent the first part of his comment here concerning the “supposed” resurrection of the body and will in a subsequent thread expand a bit more upon the subject, but for now let us move on to the latter half of his comments here.

He states: “The body is the only part of man that dies at physical death.”

Is this true? We ask then,

When the Lord said to Adam, “in the day that YOU eat of it (the forbidden fruit) YOU shall surely die,” was he addressing the body of Adam or the individual himself?

Who exactly is the “YOU” here being spoken to?

The scriptures inform us that, ‘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.’ (Gen 2:7) thus it is our understanding that the individual being addressed here as “YOU” was the living being, the soul himself, the man Adam.

Our next question would naturally be:

Was it the body that sinned or was it the soul that sinned?

Was the penalty of violating the law applied to the body (the organism) or to the soul?

What say the Scriptures? “The SOUL that sins, IT shall die” (Ezek 18:4)

A bit more clarification might be necessary for those still confused.

“The word ‘soul;’ as found in the Scriptures, signifies a sentient being; that is a being possessed of sense-perception. Note closely the sequence of events entailed in the creation of man as stated in (Gen 2:7) above.

First the organism or body was formed from the dust of the earth, and then the spirit of life, called ‘breath of life,’ was instilled in the body or organism, which in turn resulted in the creation of a living soul, or sentient being.

Thus seen a soul is the combination of the body and the breath of life; it is a living, thinking creature. Man does not have a soul. Man IS a soul.

This is very simple, and easily understood. It shows that the body is not the soul, nor is the spirit or breath of life the soul; but that when these two were united by the Lord, the resultant quality or condition was a living man, a living being–a living soul possessed of perceptive powers.

When a man dies, the process is reversed. Gen 2:7 described the beginning of human life by saying that the Lord God “breathed INTO his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”

Psa 146:4 describes the termination of a man’s life: “His breath goes forth; he returns to his earth. In that very day his thoughts perish.” It is just the reverse. Thus when a man dies, “in that very day, his thoughts perish.” He is really, dead. “What man is he that lives and shall not see death; shall he deliver his soul from the grave?” (Psa 89:48)

We will address our friend’s reference to James 2:26 in our next post.