The Resurrection of the Dead
It has always been hard for those who believe in survival after death by some immortal soul or spirit, to explain why the New Testament lays such great emphasis upon the resurrection of the dead.

That it does so is beyond question. Jesus assumes that it is true, in telling the Jews not merely to invite their rich neighbours to a banquet, hoping to get a return invitation, but to invite those in need, "and thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:14). The faithful dead are to be raised from their graves; that is when they will receive their reward.

The Apostle Paul devotes a whole chapter to asserting that the dead will rise. He makes a special point of arguing that if Christ did not rise from the dead, then no one else can either. In that case, "they also which are fallen asleep in Christ have perished" (1 Cor. 15:18). (Note the implication here: if in this case even the believers in Christ have "perished", how much more those who have not believed!)

But there is no doubt about it, says Paul: Christ did rise from the dead (see his impressive list of actual witnesses in verses 3-8 of this chapter); and so Christ has "become the first-fruits of them that are asleep" (v. 21). Twice within three verses Paul has described the dead as "asleep". Such is his agreement with Daniel.

In the remainder of this chapter Paul declares that for the faithful dead there is to be, after their resurrection, a change of nature: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Our present nature is mortal and corruptible; but when the dead are raised, they are to be "changed": for "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality". This is the way "death is swallowed up in victory" (vv. 50-54).

So we arrive at the clear Bible truth that the reward of the righteous does not consist of some "spirit existence" somewhere; it will be the granting of an incorruptible body, one that will not waste away and perish as our present one does, but will no longer be subject to death. The reason is remarkable: God has a work for the faithful to do in the future. Those who are granted resurrection from the grave will move about in the world as real, tangible people, engaged in the practical task of enlightening the nations of the world in the truths of God which they have either ignored or perverted for so many centuries. This will be the purpose of the rule of Christ over the nations when he returns, as the Bible says he will.

"But . . .?"
But are there not some passages in the New Testament which support the idea of survival after death? There are a very few passages sometimes quoted in this way. But when they are carefully examined, they will be found to be in harmony with the teaching of the Bible as a whole. We treat here some of the better known ones.

Hell: In the Old Testament the word translated "hell" means no more than a concealed or covered place. Translated as "hell" 31 times, it is also rendered "grave" 31 times, in passages like these:

(Jacob, mourning the loss of his son Joseph): "I will go down into the grave to my son, mourning.(Gen. 37:35). "In the grave who shall give thee (God) thanks?" (Psa. 6:5). ". . . there is no work nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest" (Eccles. 9:10).

Hence the prophecy about Christ: "Thou (God) wilt not leave my soul in hell...", means quite simply that God would not leave his life, or himself, in the grave, as is shown by the rest of the verse: "...neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psa. 1 6:10).

In the New Testament this passage is quoted by the Apostle Peter (Acts 2:31). He uses the Greek term usually translated "hell", showing that he understood it in the same way as the Psalm.

Gehenna: There is, however, in the New Testament another and very interesting word translated "hell", represented in English as "Gehenna". This was the name of a place just outside the city of Jerusalem. The following explanation from Grimm-Thayer's Greek-Engllsh Lexicon of the New Testament is very helpful:

"Gehenna: ... the valley of lamentation ... is the name of a valley to the South and East of Jerusalem, so called from the cries of little children, thrown into the fiery arms of Molech, an idol having the form of a bull. The Jews so abhorred the place after these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:10) that they cast into it not only all manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied criminals who had been executed. Since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called 'Gehenna of fire'."

Hell: In the Old Testament the word translated "hell" means no more than a concealed or covered place. Translated as "hell" 31 times, it is also rendered "grave" 31 times, in passages like these:

(Jacob, mourning the loss of his son Joseph): "I will go down into the grave to my son, mourning.(Gen. 37:35). "In the grave who shall give thee (God) thanks?" (Psa. 6:5). ". . . there is no work nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest" (Eccles. 9:10).

Hence the prophecy about Christ: "Thou (God) wilt not leave my soul in hell...", means quite simply that God would not leave his life, or himself, in the grave, as is shown by the rest of the verse: "...neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psa. 1 6:10).

In the New Testament this passage is quoted by the Apostle Peter (Acts 2:31). He uses the Greek term usually translated "hell", showing that he understood it in the same way as the Psalm.

Gehenna: There is, however, in the New Testament another and very interesting word translated "hell", represented in English as "Gehenna". This was the name of a place just outside the city of Jerusalem. The following explanation from Grimm-Thayer's Greek-Engllsh Lexicon of the New Testament is very helpful:

"Gehenna: ... the valley of lamentation ... is the name of a valley to the South and East of Jerusalem, so called from the cries of little children, thrown into the fiery arms of Molech, an idol having the form of a bull. The Jews so abhorred the place after these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:10) that they cast into it not only all manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied criminals who had been executed. Since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called 'Gehenna of fire'."

Another passage often quoted is: "Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ..." This sounds very impressive, but the second part of the verse says: " . . but rather fear him (that is, God) which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Gehenna-Matt. 10:28).

So the soul can be destroyed. Jesus' meaning is not hard to follow: If a faithful servant is put to death, he will get his life (or soul) back-at the resurrection of the dead, as we have seen. But the unfaithful servant will be totally destroyed in death, in the judgement symbolised by Gehenna. His "soul", or life, will perish with him.