The State Of The Dead
Reprinted from The Spiritual Sword
David R. Pharr

"The body without the spirit is dead" (Jas. 2:26), but the converse is not true; the spirit without the body is not dead. The body is mortal (Rom. 8:10). It returns to the dust (Gen. 3:19). The "inward man," however, is not bound to the ruin of the flesh (II Cor. 4:16). Death, from the Greek thanatos which means a separation, is the separation of the spirit from the body. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7). The Sadducees denied the spirit (Acts 23:8), but Jesus plainly demonstrated to them that those whose bodies had long since decayed were themselves (the real and immortal persons) still alive because "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Matt. 22:29-32).

Christ alone holds the keys of hades and death (Rev. 1:18). No one on this side of death can fully understand what is on the other side. What the Lord has revealed to us, however, can be believed. Life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel (II Tim. 1:10). Hope in Christ delivers us from bondage to the fear of death (Heb. 2:15). We have no hesitancy in affirming our faith in conscious life after the death of the body. At the same time, however, we are not so bold as to claim perfect understanding of all the issues involved. Faithful Bible students have differed and we respect the sincerity of their conclusions, but what follows is what we believe the Bible teaches.

A Look into the Unseen

The Lord gives us a glimpse of the state of the dead in Luke 16:19-31. There is much to be learned from this text, but first consider how Jesus used some specifics to make it clear that He is describing the experiences of disembodied spirits. The rich man died and was buried. That is, his body died and his body was buried. "And in hades he lift up his eyes, being in torments" (vv. 22-23, ASV). We see, therefore, that Jesus is careful to show that it is not the body that is in hades. After death these two men were in very different circumstances, but both were in a conscious state of existence. It should also be kept in mind that the circumstances of the rich man and Lazarus were circumstances prior to the resurrection and judgment, while life was continuing on the earth (vv. 27ff).

The Greek word hades is the term applied to the state or place of the spirits of the dead. The King James Version uses the term "hell" as a translation of hades. This has caused some unfortunate confusion in that "hell" is also the translation of gehenna, which means the place of everlasting punishment. The use of "hell" for hades, therefore, has caused many to think that hades is the same as hell, the place of punishment. The American Standard Version (as well as several other versions) avoided this confusion by simply transliterating it as "hades." This distinction is important because the word itself simply means the unseen state of the dead, whether in torment or in comfort.

Hades is Partitioned

For lack of a better way to express it, hades should be understood as being partitioned into two parts—a place of torment and a place of comfort.

We have already seen that the rich man described in Luke 16:23 was in torment in hades. The word hades is not used regarding Lazarus' place of comfort. We do find by a comparison of other passages, however, that hades is also used regarding the place where the spirits of the righteous go at death. This is seen in the fact that while Jesus' body was in the tomb He was in hades (Acts 2:27, ASV), yet on the cross He anticipated going into paradise (Luke 23:43). It should not be overlooked that this was prior to Jesus' ascent to the Father (John 20:17).

The statements of Acts 2:27 (a quotation of Psa. 16:10) are especially significant. As the scholarly J. W. McGarvey observed:

This text, therefore, is consistent with other Bible teaching that shows: (1) the distinction between the flesh and the soul; 2) the nature of death—a separation of the soul from the body; 3) and that hades is the place where the soul abides while the flesh sees corruption. ("Soul" is a generic term, sometimes applied to the whole person, sometimes applied to the biological life, and sometimes, as here, applied to the immortal spirit. See James 2:26.)

Spirits in Prison

The Greek language had a term, tartarus, to denote the place which held the wicked dead. This word is used only once in the New Testament where it is applied by Peter to the place where the angels that sinned are held in "chains of darkness" until the judgment (II Pet. 2:4). Unless there are compelling reasons for concluding otherwise, a word in Greek should be understood as meaning what it would have meant to the Greek speaking world of New Testament times. We should so understand Peter's use of tartarus (translated "hell" in the KJV), therefore, to refer to what it ordinarily meant to the Greeks—a place of punishment for disembodied spirits. While the word tartarus itself is not used in the New Testament regarding the spirits of wicked men, the idea of such a place is implied. We find it in Peter's statement about disobedient men, long since dead, whose spirits were "in prison" at the time Peter wrote (I Pet. 3:19f). The idea of such a prison is also seen in the case of the rich man in that he was in a place from which there could be no escape (Luke 16:26).

The scriptures likewise affirm the happy state of the righteous dead. This is seen in the comfort Lazarus enjoyed in Abraham's bosom. The word "paradise," used by Jesus regarding the realm of hades into which He and the thief would enter (Luke 23:43), obviously denotes a place of happiness. Paul's hope was that while absent from the body he would be "present with the Lord" (II Cor. 5:8). He looked upon death as departing from the flesh "to be with Christ; which is far better" (Phil. 1:23f). "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord" (Rev. 14:13).

Why Hades?

These observations, however, frequently raise questions: "Why is there an intermediate state? If the spirits of the dead enter immediately into either torment or paradise, why are they not brought immediately into heaven or hell?" These are fair questions and there may be some aspects of the answers that are not revealed. The reality of hades cannot be denied, however, and hades will continue to exist until the judgment. Revelation 20:13-14 shows us that it will be at the time of the judgment that hades will give up its dead and that death and hades will be cast into the lake of fire.

The emphasis given to the promised resurrection of the body (Rom. 8:11; I Cor. 15:12ff; etc.) implies that there is something lacking without the resurrection. Whether we understand the necessity of it or not, we have an assured hope that our bodies will be raised. Clearly the disembodied spirits of the righteous enjoy a blessed state, but if that paradise is the ultimate paradise why is so much attention given to the reuniting of the spirit with the body in the resurrection? It will be when the graves are opened that full and eternal rewards will be given (John 5:28f). The crown of righteousness will be given "at that day" (II Tim. 4:8) when Christ will "change our vile body, that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Phil. 3:20-21). It is when He appears that we shall be like Him (I John 3:2). The point is that God will provide some additional blessing which cannot be realized without the resurrection of the incorruptible body (I Cor. 15:42ff).

Jesus is coming to receive us to Himself that we may ever be with Him (John 14:1ff). Paul wrote of this in I Thessalonians 4:16f. But he did not write as one who expected the return of Jesus during his own lifetime. Thus he was not anticipating that he was going to be with the Lord when he died in the sense of John 14:3 and of I Thessalonians 4:17, because that will be at the time of the coming of the Lord. Thus in Philippians 1:23, when he wrote of death as departing to be with Christ, he must have understood it in a different sense. It would seem to follow, therefore, that there is some kind of difference between the manner of being with Christ prior to the last day and of being with Him after the resurrection. If such a distinction seems difficult to accept, we should keep in mind that there is also a sense in which we are with the Lord while we are yet alive in the flesh (Heb. 13:5).

Not Purgatory

These observations in no way support the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory. The idea behind purgatory is that even when the eternal penalty for sins has been removed by forgiveness, one must still suffer a temporal penalty for his sins. He may pay this penalty by acts of penitence, but if he dies with the penalty only partially paid, he must suffer for a time in purgatory. Thus in Catholic purgatory is a place of temporary punishment, from which the soul will eventually be delivered and transferred into heaven.

This is a myth, utterly without scriptural foundation. Hades is indeed a temporary state of the spirits of the dead. It is also true that those who die in their sins cannot go to be with the Lord (John 8:21) and are in a state of torment (Luke 16:23ff). But Jesus also made it absolutely clear that there is no means of deliverance for those who have passed into that wretched realm (Luke 16:26). Their eternal destiny is fixed. The souls of the damned will remain imprisoned until the day of judgment, when the righteousness of God will be vindicated before all (Jude 14f).

Of this the saints have no fear. They are with the Lord now. They will go to be with Him at death. And in a fuller, more glorious sense they will ascend in their resurrected spiritual bodies to meet the Lord in the air "and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

Endnotes:
i. J. W. McGarvey, New Commentary on Acts of Apostles, Cincinnati: The Standard Publishing Foundation, pp. 31f.

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