Religious diversity in the world is vast. From the very beginning of civilization, religions have played a significant role in the lives of both societies and individuals. Specific beliefs have determined the understanding of the metaphysical reality, which has always had its impact on the way of life and its quality for individuals.
Despite the multitude of different religions in the world, there is a certain religious doctrine that has exerted and continues to exert a profound influence not only on the religious world, but also on the broader cultural landscape. This common element, a denominator that connects almost all Christian denominations, Judaism, Islam, as well as Eastern and pagan religions, is the belief in the immortality of the soul. This belief dates back to the very beginnings of human civilization. Therefore, if we want to understand the origins of human religious systems, we need to go back to the dawn of humanity—to the garden of Eden—specifically to the conversation between Eve and Satan.
The Primordial Lie of Satan
God had instructed the first humans that their lives depended on obedience to the rules of life established by Him as their Creator. God said “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16, 17 ESV. However, when Eve was confronted by Satan in the form of the serpent, he questioned God’s direction, saying, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Eve’s response was that God had told them to eat freely of all the trees of the garden except for this one tree. And if they ate, or even touched, the fruit, they would die. But Satan then replaced what God had said with a lie of his own, “You will not surely die.” Genesis 3:1–4 ESV
Contagious Idea
Satan’s lie became the beginning of the theory of unconditional human immortality. The adversary of God was the creator of the idea that humans can live eternally independent of God, regardless of divine law. When deceived by Satan’s lies, humans sinned by rebelling against God, choosing independence from Him. God was no longer at the center of human life; instead, it was human ego. Convinced by the devil of their uniqueness and the greatness of their own “self,” humans believed that the ego could survive the death of the body, that it was something distinct from their physical tissue, which was subject to degradation and ultimately death, and therefore, that the ego is and must be immortal. For the tainted human nature influenced by sin, the idea that the immaterial “self” is immortal is incredibly tempting, attractive, and highly contagious. Consequently, the majority of Christianity did not resist it. How did it happen that the idea of the immortality of the human soul, which contradicts the words of God, became part of Christian doctrine?
Ancient philosophy
In the realm of Western civilization and culture, the concept of a self-existent, immaterial, spiritual, and immortal soul, which is widespread in, among others, the Roman Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations, appeared in Christianity primarily through Greek philosophical concepts, specifically through the philosophy of Plato.
Theories and Views
Plato argued that a human being consists of two fundamental elements: an immortal soul and a mortal body. Therefore, Plato’s concept of the soul is a form of dualism. Dualism suggests that a human being is not a homogeneous entity but rather composed of multiple elements, specifically that the structure of a human being consists of two fundamental components: the soul or spirit and the body.1 The issue is that Plato’s concept of the soul is not solely a product of his philosophical reasoning but has its origins in the mystical religious beliefs of Orphism, which Plato refined and elaborated upon. Hence, Plato’s concept of the soul has a distinctly (false) religious origin.
Mysteries of the Mysteries
The word mystery comes from the Greek mysterion, which originally meant “dedicated rite” and later became associated with “secrecy” or “hidden knowledge.” The Romans translated myein as initiare, which means “to introduce to something” (from initium, meaning “beginning”). The process of initiation was called initiatio. Therefore, initiation was understood as receiving knowledge, and by extension, transitioning into a new form of religiosity. Initiation distinguished mystery cults from the commonly accepted and practiced religion.2 Mysteries were, therefore, rites of passage or entry—an initiation into another reality, a spiritual reality.
Mystical Platonism
In ancient Greece, alongside the official state religion practiced publicly and privately, there existed ancient mystery cults with pre-Greek origins. These cults showed influences from Egyptian and Eastern spirituality. Mystery cults had a significant impact on shaping Greek spirituality and philosophy because Greek philosophy is an integral part of Greek spirituality. What distinguishes Greek philosophies is their specific experiential foundation, rooted in a particular kind of experience. Philosophical experience defines the spirit of philosophy. Therefore, it can be said that the philosophy of Plato, as well as the entire Platonic philosophy, is profoundly mystical and, as such, adopts and continues the tradition of Greek mysteries.3 It was the Orphic mysteries in particular that allowed Plato to recognize the spiritual essence in humans above all else, with all the consequences that follow. According to Plato, “… if any one of us is to have pure knowledge of anything, he must get rid of the body and contemplate things by themselves with the soul by itself. Then, I suppose, it will be plain that we shall attain to that which we desire and shall achieve that goal which we have in view, if there is a goal of this kind.”4
Updating an Old Lie
The Orphics held a doctrine of the immortality and divinity of the soul, a motif that is very clearly present in Plato’s teachings about the soul. Plato describes the soul as being most similar to what is divine and immortal, accessible only to thought, having a single form, indivisible, and always self-identical.5 The Orphics believed in an immortal, divine soul trapped in an impure body. According to Orphic belief, the body is merely a prison and a tomb for the true, spiritual human being. Liberation from this bodily imprisonment is necessary to return to the divine sphere of the universe. Orphic mysteries promised humans a return to the world of the gods, provided they purify themselves from bodily attachments.6 When we explore Orphic beliefs, it is easy to hear echoes of the devil’s lie in the garden of Eden. After all, Orphic beliefs contain the conviction that the immaterial essence of humans—the soul—certainly does not die because it is immortal. Through mysteries, the human soul can attain enlightenment and recognize its divine nature. “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ ” Genesis 3:4–5 ESV. Just as Greek mysteries updated Satan’s old lie in the ancient world, the New Age movement has, through its beliefs, updated the devil’s lie for our modern times. Consequently, contemporary culture and popular culture are permeated with the belief in the immortal soul, as observed almost daily in news articles, social media posts, and common entertainment venues.
Platonic dualism
All elements of the mysterious religion of the Orphics can be found in Plato’s philosophy except for the Orphic cult and rituals. Plato simply rationalized Orphic mysticism to fit the needs of his philosophy. In Plato’s view, reality always had a dualistic structure. In the world of Platonic thought, there is a duality of ideas and things, and even more significantly, an anthropological dualism of the soul and the body. Such an approach causes the soul, as immaterial and immortal, to be in sharp contrast to the mortal and material body. The union of the soul with the body is unfavorable for the soul because the body is its prison and tomb. This opposition is extremely radical because the body is a punishment for the soul, a place where it undergoes penance as in a prison. The body becomes the worst enemy of the soul, serving as its tomb. With death, the liberation of the soul from the body begins. According to Plato, the body undergoes decay, but the soul is independent of it and exists eternally after its destruction. The existence of the soul is both eternal and everlasting because it has no beginning or end.7 Therefore, Plato presents himself as a deeply religious man who, fascinated by the world of Orphic mysteries and beliefs, appears more as a mystic than a philosopher dealing with the realm of reason.
Death in Plato’s Philosophy
For Plato, death is the separation of the soul from the body. To put it more vividly, it is the liberation of the soul from the body. Therefore, for Plato, death is a good thing to strive for because only through death can the soul return to the divine realm. It would be amusing, as the philosopher says, “for a person who has worked on himself all his life to be as close to death as possible while alive, to then recoil when it comes to him? Isn’t that funny?”8 There can be no greater contrast between Plato’s view of death as a good thing, as a friend, and the perception of death in the Bible.
Death in the Bible
Death is described in the Bible as evil (Deuteronomy 30:15 ESV), a curse (Deuteronomy 30:19 ESV), bitterness (Ecclesiastes 7:26), terror (Psalm 55:4, 5), darkness and shadow (Psalm 107:10), and an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26 ESV). Death, as the opposite of life, is portrayed as an adversary and something foreign to God. The Bible addresses death because it is a profound issue intertwined with life. In the Hebrew Bible, death is understood as the end of life’s symptoms, the end of existence. It is essential to emphasize that death was not perceived merely as the act of dying, but primarily as a state. Death elicited fear because in death, a person lost their relationship with God, which was most terrifying for the Hebrews.9
What is the state of the deceased according to the word of God? The deceased do not possess any of the three attributes that define existence: mind, emotions, and will. In the deceased, there are no cognitive processes: “When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.” Psalm 146:4 ESV. Therefore, “the dead know nothing.” Ecclesiastes 9:5 ESV. The deceased have no emotions: “Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:6 ESV. The deceased have no will because after death: “in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 BSB. This state of nonexistence is euphemistically referred to as “sleep” in the Bible.10 Furthermore, the meaning of the word Sheol is “grave” or “burial place” in the sense of the state of death, not a place for the spirits or souls of deceased people.11 Death as the “sleep in the dust of the earth” is a direct consequence of the biblical understanding of the mortality of the soul (nefesh), which is a psychophysical unity of a person.
Biblical Anthropology
What characterizes the Hebrew concept of a human being is the absence of a dualism between the soul and the body. In Genesis 2:7 KJV, we find the fundamental biblical definition of a human being, a paradigm that is characteristic of the entire Hebrew thought on humanity. “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This text does not state that God breathed a soul into the man’s nostrils but “the breath of life.” Similarly, it does not say that the man became an immortal soul but a “living being” or a “living soul.” Thus, human beings do not possess a soul as a substantially different entity from their body; a human being is a living soul. According to the Bible, God first formed the body of the human being from the dust of the ground, which includes material and organic elements. Later, He breathed life into it, and in this way, the human being began to exist, becoming a living being.
Biblical equation
The way God created humans can be presented as a biblical equation as follows: dust of the earth (material elements) + breath of life = a living being, a living soul, a living body, a human. In the Hebrew language, “living soul” and “living body” are synonymous.12 Therefore, the Bible conceives of a human being as a holistic entity comprising the body, mind, and spirit. Just imagine the far-reaching implications that the Platonic concept of a human being has for theology, psychology, epistemology (philosophy of knowledge), and popular culture. On the other hand, consider how the biblical holistic concept of a human being could impact the understanding of these areas of life if it had not been rejected by nearly all of Christianity.
Death as a friend versus death as an enemy
To ensure that our considerations of Plato’s and the Bible’s concepts are not too tedious and overly academic, let me present to you, dear readers, two radically different approaches to death by two historical figures: Socrates and our Lord Jesus Christ. Oscar Cullmann described it as follows in his excellent essay: “Is there a greater contrast than that between Socrates, who, like Jesus on the day of His death, is surrounded by His disciples but full of sublime calm, discusses with them the topic of immortality, and Jesus, who a few hours before His death trembles and shudders and begs His disciples not to leave Him alone? The Letter to the Hebrews, which, more than any other New Testament text, emphasizes the full divinity (Hebrews 1:10) and full humanity of Jesus, surpasses even the synoptic accounts in its description of Jesus’s fear of death. In chapter 5:7, it states that Jesus, with loud cries and tears, offered up prayers and supplications to the One who could save Him. Therefore, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, Jesus cried out and wept before His death! There, serene and composed Socrates, discussing the immortality of the soul; here, Jesus, crying out the words of the psalm, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ And He dies with an inarticulate cry (Mark 15:37). This is not death ‘as a friend.’ This is death in all its horrifying dread. It is truly ‘the last enemy of God,’ as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:26, and that is exactly where the complete opposition between the Greek world on one hand, and Judaism and Christianity on the other, reveals itself … . Nothing better illustrates the radical difference between the Greek doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the (Hebrew) Christian doctrine of resurrection than this [contrast] between Socrates and Jesus.”13
Hope of Christians
The word of God does not teach that humans have immortal souls. The Bible teaches that only God is immortal and possesses immortality: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:17 BSB. All other beings have life solely through Him. Scripture says, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:12 BSB. The alternative to this truth is Satan’s lie: “You will not surely die.” Genesis 3:4 BSB. Through this lie, the immortality of the soul became the cornerstone of all non-biblical (and therefore devil-inspired) religions. It is a fundamental element of spiritualism. Without it, there would also be no doctrine of hell and purgatory, the hidden purpose of which is to portray God as a cruel monster. Jesus clearly said that the alternative to eternal life is death (“to perish”): “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV.14 Immortality can only be obtained through the resurrected Jesus Christ, “who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10 BSB). This will happen at the resurrection of the dead: “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 BSB
References:
1 M. Jędraszewski, Antropologia filozoficzna Prolegomena i wybór tekstów, Saint Wojciech Library, Poznań 1991, p. 151
2 M. Giebelova, Tajemství antických kultů, published by Dialog, Liberec 2009, p. 12
3 P. Świercz, Jednośc wielości – Świat, człowiek, państwo w refleksji nurtu orficko-pitagorejskiego, published by Silesian University, Katowice 2008, p. 19
4 Platon, Dialogi, Fedon, trans. W. Witwicki, Publishing Union Verum, Warsaw 2007, p. 237
5 Ibiden, p. 235B
6 K. Pawłowski, Misteria i filozofia, Scientific society KUL, Lublin 2007, p. 29
7 Platon, Dialogi, Fedon, trans. W. Witwicki, Publishing Union Verum, Warsaw 2007, p. 238
8 Ibiden, p. 238
9 R. Rumianek, Rozumienie śmierci w Starym Testamencie, Warsaw Theological Studies XIV 2001, p. 31, http://fides.org.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=242&dirids=1
10 J. Dunkel, Apokalipsa, Orion Plus 2001, pp. 110, 111
11 Ibiden, p. 297, cf. L. E. Froom, The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, Review and Herald,Washington, D.C. 1966, t.1, p. 162
12 R. L. Odom, Czy twoja dusza jest nieśmiertelna, tłum. R. Jarocki, published by Signs of the Times, Warsaw 2000, p. 8
13 E. Piotrowski, T. Węcławski, Praeceptores Teologia i teologowie języka niemieckiego, wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 2005, p. 402 cf. O. Cullman, Unsterblichkeit der Seele und Auferstehung der Toten, trans. E. Pieciul, Tcheologische Zeitschrift 12 (1956), p. 134-136
14 J. Dunkel, Apokalipsa, Orion Plus 2001, pp. 299
Marcin Watras lives in Katowice, Poland. He is interested in the philosophy of religion and trends in society. He works for the European Union.