On Resurrection and Annihilation by S. K. Neumiller With regard to the resurrection of the dead there is some question among Christians as to whether it is a physical resurrection and whether it is applied to all persons. Some advocate the position that there is no physical resurrection and that the resurrection is limited in its application. The scripture commonly used to support this position is Ecclesiastes 9 as follows: 1 For all this is noted, and I ascertained all this: that the actions of even the righteous and the wise are determined by God. Even love! Even hate! Man knows none of these in advance 2 --none! For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous, and for the wicked; for the good and pure, and for the impure; for him who sacrifices, and for him who does not; for him who is pleasing, and for him who is displeasing; and for him who swears, and for him who shuns oaths. 3 That is the sad thing about all that goes on under the sun: that the same fate is in store for all. (Not only that, but men's hearts are full of sadness, and their minds of madness, while they; and then--to the dead!) 4 For he who is reckoned among the living has something to look forward to--even a live dog is better than a dead lion-- 5 since the living know they will die. But the dead know nothing; they have no more recompense, for even the memory of them has died. 6 Their loves, their hates, their jealousies have long since perished; and they have no more share till the end of time in all that goes under the sun. (translation is the New Jewish Publication Society TANAKH) Those in favor of the doctrine of annihilation use verse 5 above as a evidence of their position. But, given the context of this passage if annihilation of the spirit were the subject, then all people, as included in verse 2 and 3, would be having their spirits annihilated. Now some say that this is in fact the case, and all persons after the physical death cease to exist and are only existent in the mind of God. This supposition is tenuously supported by the verse 5 statement "But the dead know nothing; they have no more recompense, for even the memory of them has died". They interpret this to mean that the dead know nothing because they cease to exist and thus "their memory...has died". This interpretation is patently acontextual given the obvious context of physical death from verses 1 to 4. Also, it is contrary to the Semitic concept of the phraseology employed. Compare Deut. 7:24; Isa. 26:14; Ezek. 21:32 where the concept of having one's memory wiped out from the earth is a typical covenant curse meaning that they leave no offspring and they are forgotten. Given the acontextual and non-traditional interpretation applied to this verse, it is not a robust support for their position. Some would also argue that there is no physical resurrection, but rather there is a resurrection of the spirit body. The scripture most commonly employed to support this position is 1 Cor. 15:44 as follows: It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. They interpret the "spiritual body" to be a personage of spirit without flesh and bone. Again, as is the case with the passage above, this interpretation is patently acontextual as the complete passage (1 Cor. 15:35-49) reveals: But some one will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (New American Standard with textual structure by myself) The repeated nested antithetical parallels establish a context of contraries, where the natural corrupt body of Adam is contrasted with the spiritual resurrected body of Jesus Christ. Now, what of this "spiritual", does it not mean it is a spirit? No. The assumption that the term "spirit" and "spiritual" (GR: pneuma, pneumatikon) always refers to spirit bodies is excessively dogmatic and not supported by the scriptures themselves. Compare John 4:21-24 where Jesus instructs the Samaritan woman on the nature of the true worshipers of God, them that worship in spirit and truth. Also compare John 3:5-8 where Jesus councils Nicodemus to be born of the Spirit. Paul himself in the very same epistle uses the term spiritual to describe the words taught by the Holy Spirit and contrasts this with the natural man (1 Cor. 2:13-14). So, given the acontextual usage of this passage, there is once again no robust scriptural support for this position. There are no scriptures that plainly advocate the doctrine of annihilation. Rather, they plainly advocate the persistent nature of the spirit and the universal resurrection of the physical body as is plainly indicated by the following references: Job 14:14 Yet in my flesh shall I see God Isa 26:19 Let Your dead revive! let corpses arise! Mat 27:52 Graves were opened and many bodies arose. Luk 24:39 A spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have. Jhn 5:29 The resurrections of life and damnation. Act 24:15 Resurrections of just and unjust. 1Th 4:16 Dead in Christ shall rise first (note that this implies some will be rising after, namely the unjust). Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who takes part in the first resurrection (again this implies a second resurrection).