Objection:
When Stephen was martyred, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Acts 7:59. Christ on the cross said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Luke 23:46. These texts prove that the real man, that immortal entity called the “spirit,” departs from the body at death.
Answer:
The word here translated “spirit” is from the Greek word pneuma, which is true of virtually every use of “spirit” in the New Testament. The primary meaning of pneuma is “wind, air,” and because life is associated so inextricably with the air we breathe, pneuma may also mean “life.” There is nothing in the word pneuma that suggests an immaterial, conscious entity.
Stephen did not pray, “Receive me.” This is most significant, for indeed, in this prayer, the real man is speaking, not just the shell, the body. If Stephen believed that the righteous go to heaven at death, we should rightly expect him to pray, “Receive me up into glory.” But Stephen, the animate being, still conscious, though dying, committed something to Christ, his pneuma, his life.
Stephen knew that his life was a gift from God. He would say, as did Job, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Job 33:4. This great gift was about to leave him, and he wished to commit to the keeping of God that which he could no longer retain. He believed the truth, later penned by Paul: “your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:3-4. Stephen knew that at the resurrection day, he again would receive life, immortal life.
Much of what has just been said regarding Stephen’s words apply, most evidently, to Christ’s words also. He commended to the keeping of His Father the life He was about to lay down for the sins of the world. On the resurrection morning, the angel of God called Him forth from Joseph’s new tomb to take up once more that life He had voluntarily laid down.
