Human Beings Are Immortal

Objection:

Humans were made in the image of God; God is immortal; therefore, we are also immortal.

Answer:

Why should only one of God’s attributes, immortality, be singled out for comparison? God is all-powerful. Does it, therefore, follow that man, made in the image of God, is also all-powerful? God is all-wise. Is man, thus, possessed of boundless wisdom because he was made in God’s image?

The Bible uses the word “immortality” only five times and the word “immortal” only once. In this isolated instance, the term is applied to God: “…eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God…” 1 Timothy 1:17. The five references that contain the word “immortality” are as follows:

1. Romans 2:7. This text encourages Christians to “seek” immortality. Why should he seek it if he already possesses it? In this same book of Romans, Paul quotes the prophet, Elijah, as saying of his enemies, “They seek my life.” We understand that the prophet’s enemies did not yet have his life in their hands. Therefore, when we are urged to seek immortality for a life that knows no end, we must conclude that we do not now possess such a life.
2. 2 Timothy 1:10. Here, we learn that Christ “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” The only deduction from this is that so far from immortality being a natural possession of all men; it is one of the good things made possible through the gospel. Paul wrote, “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” (See Romans 6:23). Why would we need this gift if we already had undying souls?
3. 1 Corinthians 15:53. This passage tells when we shall receive immortality. The time is “at the last trump.” Then “this mortal must put on immortality.” Why should the apostle Paul speak of our putting on immortality at a future date if we already possess it?
4. 1 Corinthians 15:54. This verse adds the thought that when “this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
5. 1 Timothy 6:16. Here, we learn that God “only hath immortality.” This final text settles the matter as conclusively as words could possibly do and explain fully why we are urged to “seek” immortality and why we are told that immortality is something that is to be “put on” “at the last trump.”

Not only do we learn from these texts that we do not have immortality, but also we are told that God alone has it.

In the original Greek, other texts contain the same word translated as “immortal” or “immortality” in the six texts we have just considered. But these additional texts do not require us to change our conclusion; on the contrary, they strengthen it. Take, for example, Romans 1:23, where Paul speaking of the idolatrous action of the heathen, says that they “changed the glory of the uncorruptible [immortal] God into an image made like to corruptible [mortal] man.” In Greek, the word here translated as “uncorruptible” is the same as that rendered “immortal” in 1 Timothy 1:17. The New English Translation rephrases the passage thus: “and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings.” The uncorruptible, immortal God is sharply contrasted with corruptible, mortal man.

We read in John 5:26 that the “Father hath life in himself,” and He has “given to the Son to have life in himself.” But nowhere do we read that God gave to human beings to have life in themselves. That is why the Bible never speaks of man as immortal.