R arog VEN the most skilled artisans
i RKP and mechanics do not guarantee
a4 their work to stand abuse. In
4 some ways, man is like a ma-
chine. Is he perishable? Or was he so
made that he could stand any amount of
abuse and still live on indefinitely? Was
it ever intended that he should live for-
ever, or 1s he, like the bicycle or toy train,
a thing of but short duration? To all such
queries concerning the nature and destiny
of man we may find answers in the word
of God.
Let us consider, first, the Creator's pur-
pose in making man upon the earth. Some
persons are constantly changing: they try
this plan a while, then they think some-
thing else would be better; then they grow
weary of that, and look for still another
way of doing. But the Maker of heaven
and earth does differently. He has said,
“I am the Lord, I change not.” Malachi
3:6. He is “the same yesterday, and to-
day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8. It 1s
logical, therefore, that He would not be
constantly abandoning one plan and mak-
ing another. ‘‘Whatsoever God doeth, 1t
shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it,
nor anything taken from it.” Ecclesiastes
3:14. Paul speaks of “the eternal purpose
which He [the Father] purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:11. When
God made our world, 1t was not like the
fleeting dreams of those who build air-
castles: He intended that His work should
abide.
And what of the workmanship? It
sometimes happens that a guaranteed ar-
ticle 1s returned because of a flaw dis-
covered by the buyer. But not so with the
works of the Creator. “He 1s the Rock,
His work is perfect.” Deuteronomy 32: 4.
When He had completed the work of crea-
tion, He ‘saw everything that He had
made, and, behold, 1t was very good.”
Genesis 1: 31. “Everything . . . was very
good ;”’ there was no defect either mm man
or in any part of the world that was given
him for a home.
®
Yet the facts that God intended that
man should live for ever, and that there
were no defects in any of the Creator's
works, are not sufficient reasons for sup-
posing that man was created an immortal
being. Man was given life, but it was to
be prolonged only on condition of obedi-
ence. Sin 1s contrary to the divine plan;
it 1s an abuse of our powers and privileges:
and just as the watchmaker cannot guar-
antee his work to stand all kinds of abuse,
so God cannot grant immortality to
man when he violates the laws of his being,
Our Creator was too wise to give uncon-
ditional immortality to any being that
might possibly sin.
We are not left in doubt on this matter.
There are some very plain statements in
the Scriptures concerning immortality,
who has it, who will receive it, and when 1t
will be given. In the few times that the
words “immortal” and “immortality” are
MARCH, 1942
[5 MAN IMPERISHABLE?
By Clyde Rosser
found m the Bible, it is clearly shown
(1) that none but God naturally possesses
immortality, (2) that only the righteous
will ever receive it, and (3) that it will be
conferred, not at death, but at the resur-
rection of the righteous.
In I Timothy 1:17, Paul says, “Now
unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God, be honor and glory for
ever and ever’; and in the last chapter of
this same epistle, verses 15, 16, he says
that God “only hath immortality.” That
we were made in the image of God 1s no
proof that we have immortality. In the
family photograph album there are many
images of different friends and relatives,
each image perfectly recognizable; and yet
these images differ greatly in some respects
from those whom they represent. They
are made on perfectly flat pieces of paper
or card; and yet they unmistakably re-
semble faces, which are not flat at all; they
are images of living beings, and yet none
of them ever possessed the least spark of
life. In like manner, man, though made in
the image of God, does not have all the
powers and attributes of his Maker.
But while man does not now have im-
mortality, he is promised the reward of
eternal life if he will “by patient continu-
ance in well doing seek for .. . im-
mortality.” Romans 2:7. This immor-
tality has been brought ‘to light through
the gospel.” 2 Timothy 1: 10. In another
place we are told that ‘‘this mortal must
put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15: 53.
If we already possessed immortality and
could not possibly lose it, how absurd, how
supremely ridiculous it would be to say
that immortality is brought to light
through the gospel, and that we must seek
for it and put it on! A man might in utter
absent-mindedness feel in all his pockets
and search every probable place for a pair
of glasses that he already had on. But
when God speaks, He always means what
He says. When He calls man “mortal,”
He means that he is mortal. When He
promises eternal life to those only who
seek for it according to His word, He does
not mean that everybody is immortal by
nature.
Of the time when immortality is given
we read in 1 Corinthians 15: 51-53: “ Be-
hold, I show you a mystery; We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this cor-
ruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality.”
The events Paul here mentions, the sound-
ing of the trumpet, the resurrection of the
dead, and the translation of the living
righteous, take place at the second coming
of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17); and
it 1s then that immortality is conferred
upon the righteous.
“But,” some may ask, “what becomes
of the soul? Does not the soul survive
after the death of the body?” Nowhere
in the Bible do we find such expressions as.
“immortal soul” or ‘“‘never-dying soul.”
Instead, the Scriptures abound with ex-
hortations to heed their warnings, and so
deliver the soul from death and destruc-
tion. “Incline your ear, and come unto
Me: hear, and your soul shall live.” Isaiah
55:3. “He which converteth the sinner
from the error of his way shall save a soul
from death.” James 5:20. Speaking of
God's judgments on the Egyptians, the
psalmist says, “He made a way to His
anger; He spared not their soul from
death.” Psalm 78:50. Life is promised to.
the soul that heeds the instruction given
in the word of God; but “the soul that sin--
neth, 1t shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4, 20.
®
When man was created, ‘the breath of
life” was breathed into him, and he “be-
came a living soul.” Genesis 2:7. The
record does not say that God brought a
soul and put it into the body He had
formed; 1t says that “man became a living
soul.” The soul is not a separate entity
that can live apart from the body; it is
merely the living being that resulted from
the union of “the dust of the ground” and
““the breath of life.” “Soul” is defined in
the dictionary as ‘““the incorporeal nature
of man, or principle of mental and spiritual
life. . . . A person; an individual.” It is
with such meanings as these that the word
1s used in the Seriptures. If “man became
a living soul” when he received “the
breath of life,” then, naturally, when the
breath leaves, the soul will cease to exist.
When Adam sinned, he was shut out of the
Garden of Eden ‘lest he put forth his -
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and
eat, and live for ever.” Genesis 3: 22.
And the spirit,—have we anything to
show that the spirit is immortal, or that
1t can lead a separate existence independent.
of the body? The word “spirit” is found
many times in both the Old and New
Testaments; but nowhere is the word “im-
mortal” used in connection with it. There
1s one text that mentions ‘““the eternal
Spirit”; but that, beyond all question, is
the Spirit of God, often called the Holy
Spirit, or the Holy Ghost. (Hebrews 9:
14; Luke 11:13; Matthew 28: 19.)
The word “spirit,” as sometimes used
(Continued on page 18)
Page THIRTEEN