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tant truth is repeated in verse 20.
How can the Bible be any clearer
than that?
Adam sinned and carne under the
death penalty. But where does that
leave the rest of us? We are in the
same boat as Adam, because we
all- every human being who has
ever lived-have also sinned- trans–
gressed God's law (1 John 3:4).
"Wherefore, as by one man [Adam]
sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all
men.... " Why did death pass upon
all men? Continue, "for that all have
sinned" (Rom. 5: 12).
All human beings are consequent–
ly under the sentence of death.
God will not compromise with
his law. How then could God fulfill
his purpose for human beings?
To work out his plan, God had to
provide sorne way to redeem, to
forgive, to save people from sin.
Someone had to bear the penalty of
sin- to die- in their stead so they
could be forgiven. It would have to
be someone who was without s in so
t ha t his death would substitute for
everyone else's s ins.
It
would have
to be someone whose life was worth
more than the lives of all human
beings put together.
Only a member of the God king–
dom could satisfy those require–
ments.
And so it was that the one we
know as Jesus Christ became a
flesh and blood mortal so he cou ld
die in our stead (John 1:
1
4; Heb.
2: 14) . If we repent of our s ins ( that
means to stop s inning and begin to
obey God's laws), if we ask for for–
giveness, we can receive the gift of
eterna! life rather than the penal ty
of eterna! death. That is, not this
first physical death we all die, but
the second death from which there
will never be a resurrection (Rev.
20:6, 14, 15) .
This is explained so well in John
3:16. Perhaps no other verse in the
New Testament is quoted as often
and understood so little. "For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believ–
eth in him should not perish,
but
have ever lasting Jife." J esus did not
say everyone
already has
everlasting
life- an " immo rta l soul " - and
faces either spending that ever last–
ing life in hell fire, or in heaven.
16
That's not what this verse says at
all!
Jesus was talking about one's
ultimate spirit nature, not one's
location. lt 's a question of either
acquiring immorta1ity or not hav–
ing it; of either living forever as
God's gift, or of dying- per ishing.
There is nothing said here abou t an
" immortal soul."
We should have read in Romans
6:23 that "the wages of sin is death."
Notice, however , the rest of the
verse:
"but
[on the other hand, by
contrast to death] the gift of God is
eternallife through Jesus Christ our
Lord." Eterna! life is not something
we aJready have. We do not possess
immortality. It is a gift of God to
t hose who repent. "Except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish,"
''
The penalty of sin ts
death- the
cessation of life. That
is the penalty
Jesus paid when he
"poured out his
soul unto death."
''
declared J esus (Luke 13:3,
5).
If the penalty for sin were eterna]
life in hell tire, that penalty has nev–
er been paid in our stead! For Jesus
would have had to spend eternity in
hell fire-which he has not done.
The penalty of sin is death-the
cessation of life. That is the penalty
Jesus paid when he "poured out his
soul [h is physical, mortal life sus–
tained by his blood] unto death
[not unto eterna! life in hell fire]"
(lsa. 53:12).
Was Jesus in " He ll"?
In the Bible, t he word translated
"soul" usually refers to a living
physical body. But in a few
ins tances it actually refers to a
p hysical body whose life has
ceased. Thus the words
dead body
in Leviticus 21:11, for example, are
an English t ranslation of the same
Hebrew word t rans lated elsewhere
in the Bible by the word
soul.
The death and resurrection of
Jesus was foretold in Old Testament
prophecies centur ies beforehand. In
one of those prophecies are refl ected
the words of Jesus to his Father con–
cerning the ordeal of his crucifixion.
"My flesh," said Jesus, talking about
his fleshly body, "shall rest in hope:
[why would his
fiesh
rest in hope?]
because thou wilt not leave my
soul
[his fleshly body!] in hell" (Acts
2:26-27).
The use of t he English word
he//
in the King James Bible has caused
sorne misunderstanding. The Greek
word here translated " hell" merely
means the grave-a hole in the
ground.
Jt
has nothing whatsoever to
do with what. is described elsewhere
in the Bible as the "lake of fire."
Even the old English word
he//
originally meant no more than a
hole or place of hiding. Farmers
used to speak of putting their pota–
toes in " hell" for the win ter!
J es us' "soul " - his fle sh ly
body- was placed in a hole in the
ground, more precisely, a tomb
hewn out of the rocky side of a hi ll.
Jesus himself foretold where he
would spend the time between his
crucifixion and resurrection. He
stated that he would be "three days
and three nights in the heart of the
earth" - s urro unded by earth
(Matt. 12:40). Not up in heaven ,
not off somewhere e lse.
1
n an
earth ly grave, a hole in the ground.
So said J esus. He ought to know.
The idea sorne have espoused–
based on a wrong interpretation of
a single scripture- is that Jesus
spent the time between his death
and resur rection preaching some–
where t o disobedient spi r its.
Through t he power of the Holy
Spirit Jesus did at one time preach
to demonic spirits-"the spirits in
prison"
(I
Pet. 3:19). But
when?
While he was dead in the grave?
No! It happened long before t hat,
"in the days of Noah," as the next
verse plainly s tates.
The Human " Spirit"
T here is no mistaking that the
Bible d ifferent iates between a per-
(Continued on page 43)
The
PLAIN TRUTH