Key Thought: We need to look at some passages that some people us to justify the natural immortality of the soul. These reflections should strengthen our own convictions and help us to answer those who question this important teaching.
November 26, 2022

1. Have a volunteer read Luke 16:19-31.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why is this story not a literal description of life after death?
3. Personal Application: Why did Jesus use a prevailing misconception of hell in His parable to the Pharisees? Share your thoughts..
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Jesus said the rich man was in a place of torment and Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham. That tells us Jesus believed there was a heaven and hell.” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Luke 23:43.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How should Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross be understood when compared to other Scriptures?
3. Personal Application: Why do people misread and misunderstand the Scriptures so often? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Jesus told the thief he would be with Him in heaven that day. So why don’t you believe the thief and Jesus didn’t go to heaven that day, like Jesus promised?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read I Peter 3:13-20..

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How did God preach to those in the prison house of sin before the flood in the times of Noah? What effect did that preaching have?
3. Personal Application: What similar preaching are we giving today that seems just as unlikely as a world-wide flood in Noah’s day? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “Jesus went ot hell and preached to those who were lost. That’s obvious. What I don’t understand is, if they are already lost, why did Jesus preach to them? Do they get a second chance or was He just explaining to them why they were lost?.” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Revelation 6:9-11.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How could the souls of the martyrs cry out from under the altar?
3. Personal Application: Have you seen injustice that has not been rectified, dealt with, or remedied? What is the difference in the response of the faithful, and those who want justice now?? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

Amen!(0)

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One of the Bible passages most widely used to try to prove the immortality of the soul is Luke 23:43 — “He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (NRSV). Almost all Bible versions (with few exceptions) translate this text in a similar way, giving the impression that on the very day Christ died, Christ and the thief would be together in Paradise. This should not surprise us because those translations were made by biblical scholars who believe in the dogma of the natural immortality of the soul. But is this the best translation of the text?

Compare Luke 23:43 with John 20:17 and John 14:1-3. How should the promise to the repentant thief on the cross be understood in light of Jesus’ words to Mary Magdalene and His promise to His disciples?

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The assumption that Christ and the thief went on that same day to Paradise (or heaven) contradicts Jesus’ words to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection, which affirm that He had not yet gone to the presence of His Father in heaven (John 20:17). This error, that both Jesus and the repentant thief went to heaven that day, also contradicts Jesus’ promise to His disciples that they would be taken to heaven only at His second coming (John 14:1-3).

The issue in Luke 23:43 is whether the adverb “today” (Greek sēmeron) should be linked to the verb that follows it (“to be”) or to the verb that precedes it (“to tell”). Wilson Paroschi recognizes that “from the grammatical standpoint” it is virtually impossible to determine the correct alternative. “Luke, however, has a definite tendency of using this adverb with the preceding verb. This happens in 14 of the 20 occurrences of sēmeron in Luke and Acts.” — Wilson Paroschi, “The Significance of a Comma: An Analysis of Luke 23:43,” in Ministry, June 2013, p. 7.

So, the most natural reading of Luke 23:43 would be “Truly I tell you today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” In this case, the idiomatic expression “I tell you today” emphasizes the relevance and solemnity of the statement “you will be with Me in Paradise.” In short, Jesus was promising him, right then and there, that he would be saved.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Read Luke 16:19-31. Why is this story not a literal description of the afterlife?

Some scholars suggest that Luke 16:19-31 should be interpreted literally, that is, as describing the state of the dead. But this view would lead to several unbiblical conclusions and would contradict many of the passages that we have already looked at.

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First, we would have to admit that heaven and hell are close enough to allow a conversation between the dwellers of both places (Luke 16:23-31). We would also have to suppose that, in the afterlife, while the body lies in the grave, there remains a conscious form of the spiritual soul with “eyes,” a “finger,” a “tongue,” and which even feels thirst (Luke 16:23-24).

If this passage were a description of the human state in death, then heaven would certainly not be a place of joy and happiness because the saved could closely follow the endless sufferings of their lost loved ones, and even dialogue with them (Luke 16:23-31). How could a mother be happy in heaven while beholding the incessant agonies of her beloved child in hell? In such a context, it would be virtually impossible for God’s promise of no more sorrow, crying, and pain to be fulfilled (Revelation 21:4).

Due to such incoherencies, many modern biblical scholars regard the story of the rich man and Lazarus as a parable from which not every detail can be interpreted literally. George E. Ladd, though a non-Adventist, certainly sounds like one here when he says that this story was probably “a parable which made use of current Jewish thinking and is not intended to teach anything about the state of the dead.” — G. E. L[add], “Eschatology,” in The New Bible Dictionary, edited by J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), p. 388.

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus presents a sharp contrast between a well-dressed “rich man” and “a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores” (Luke 16:19-20, , NKJV). The account teaches that 1. status and social recognition in the present are not the criteria for the future reward, and 2. the eternal destiny of each person is decided in this life and cannot be reversed in the afterlife (Luke 16:25-26).

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 16:19-31, Luke 23:43, John 20:17, Philippians 1:21-24, 1 Peter 3:13-20, Revelation 6:9-11.

Memory Text: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39, NKJV).

Peter warns us: “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15, NKJV). Paul adds, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2-3, , NKJV). This being the case, we should look not only at those passages that easily can be explained to fit our beliefs, but we should also deal with passages that are commonly used to teach something different from what we believe.

As we do, we should follow the inspiring example of Jesus. “Christ Himself did not suppress one word of truth, but He spoke it always in love. … He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe word, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He did not censure human weakness.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 353.

This week we will study some intriguing passages that people use to justify the natural immortality of the soul. These reflections should strengthen our own convictions and help us to answer kindly those who question this crucial teaching.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 26.

Sunday–>

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Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, Dr. Alberto Timm, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson, “Resurrections before the Cross.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGeFjtl5A7o&w=560&h=315]

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