790
IMMORTALITY
IMMORTALITY
The onlj' adequate rendering of such a thought in English is by the words 'eternal,' 'immortal,' or the like. For there lies implicit in these words precisely what we have found to be the implication of ot'iinos, etc., in the Gospels ; viz. that the speaker rejects the idea of a bound or limit beyond which there is nothing, or nothing for the subject of wliom he is speaking ; that however far oft' the boundary fence is in thought set up, he immediately insists that it shall be taken down, and removed farther away, — only to repeat the process as often as an attempt is made to assign a limit or define an end. This is, indeed, the only real conception which we seem able to frame of the meaning and content of such terms as immortality, eternity, etc., as they are ordinarily employed. They connote not a positive and comprehensive idea, which the mind distinctly outlines to itself as a whole, but rather the negative and indefinite one of the absence of an end ; looking forth into the future, we find ourselves iinable to discern a point beyond which there is an absolute blank as far as the conditions under consideration are concerned. The association of the thought of a final end with the conditions or state supposed would involve a self-contradiction, or, if we prefer to use the phrase, would be im- possible. Such a conception is entirely logical and consistent, and amounts iJractically to defining im- mortality as the summation of an infinite number of inten'als or spaces of time, succeeding one another without break, and receding into dim, fathomless distance.
The precise words ' endless,' * immortal,' or ' immortality ' do not occur in the Gospels ; cf., however, Lk 1^ ' Of his kingdom there shall be no end,' oia: iff-Toti TSXflf. The" "'"""" '' ''-
and ' deathlessness ' (1 Co 1553f.). The latter term is shown by its use in 1 Ti 610 (the blessed and only Potentate ...» ^o.o,- ij;a,. i9«>«co-i«>) to have moved far in the direction of a positive connotation.
Similar considerations apply generally to the references to this doctrine m the remaining books of the New Testament, a detailed examination of which lies outside the range of the present article. Such an examination would strengthen in detail, but would not change the character of the argu- ment. In no instance is there a suggestion of absolute finality. Tlie conclusion of every aiiiv, for example, marks the comniencenuiit of another, accompanied by changed conditions, indeed, but not, as far as the statements and apparent train of thought carry us, by annihilation in any sense, or a destruction which involves loss of personal con- sciousness or life. And while the ^^rite^s do not in so many words define that future into which their thought projects itself as ' immortal ' or ' end- less,' their attitude towards it and the phrases and descriptions which they emploj' are such a.s to negative the idea that they would or could have admitted of the drawing of a line here, there, or anywhere, beyond which absolute oblivion and death should reign. Compare Ro \^adjin. (}22ad/in. 9» 16-» TOO aiuvhv OfoO, 2 Co 4""' 11=', PhUem '=, He 18 7» 138, 1 P o'". Rev l".
(3) In passing to the third part of our inquiry, which relates to t/tc comjirehensiveness of the life beijond the qrave, whether it is contemplated as equally endless for all, or whether a distinction is drawn as regards duration between the after- existence of thy cvil-iliier and that iif the riiihttous man, we arc c'.'!i-' ■■■!, - -f j rr^ii.-ii:, i, -.!.,■ in de- scription ami .: ' !;, I ; I . i;\an-
gelists, of a . I . . . i , i -the
mind and tcailmij i.i ■ ■ M.i-ii;, I i; ■ i,i--ages which refer to the future ol tlie wicked arc com- paratively few in number ; and the outline, as it were, of the picture presented is drawn, not, indeed, waveringly or hesitatingly, but with a light band,
as though the subject were one to wliidi detail or elaboration were inappropriate. Reticence and breWty characterize all the utterances of Christ that bear upon the share which the evil-doers have in the life after death. Thus, while the righteous man and believer enters beyond the giave upon a renewed life, to the duiation of which no limit is set, and which theTiearers of Christ's words under- stood in this sense to be eternal, the question is justly raised whether the same statement may be made, and the same inference drawn, with re- gard to the future existence of those who are not righteous and do not believe. Do those who — to adopt the language of the parable— go away into the outer darkness, pass into oblivion, suffer ex- tinction, or experience any other of the conjectural fates which have from time to time been assumed to be the lot of the wicked? or, as an alterna- tive, may ' outer darkness ' be paraphrased into ' purgatory,' on the further side of which there is light?
It may be said in limine that the presumption is against any such limitation of the duration of life beyond the grave in the case of one class or section only of humanity. It would require very strong eWdence to enforce the acceptance of the view that terms or expressions ^\hich disown the idea of a boundaiy, an end, when used of the future state of the righteous, actually and of set purpose connote such an idea w'hen they describe the lot of the wicked : or that the Speaker would confuse His audience with antitheses which were merely verbal, and possessed no underlying significance or reality. Upon this issue, again, only an examina- tion and fair interpretation of the passages which bear upon the subject can decide. It will be found that such imssages in the Gospels are few in num- ber, though not wanting in suggestiveness.