The Doctrine of Immortality in the Early Church
by Dr. John H. Roller
THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS
As mentioned previously, the Ante-Nicene Fathers who wrote on the subject of Human Immortality were:
Clement of Alexandria (AD 153-213?)
Tertullian of Carthage (AD 145-220)
Hippolytus of Portus Romanus (AD 170-236)
The writer(s) of the Pseudo-Clementines (approximately AD 220)
Minucius Felix of Africa (AD 185-250)
Origen of Alexandria (AD 185-254)
Commodianus of Africa (AD 200-275)
Cyprian of Carthage (AD 200-258)
Novatian of Rome (AD 210-280)
Gregory Thaumaturgus of Neo-Caesarea (AD 213-270)
Arnobius of Sicca (AD 250-327)
Their writings cover approximately the third century AD.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
Titus Flavius Clemens was born in AD 153 in Athens, of pagan parents.87 "Originally a pagan philosopher," he traveled extensively in Greece, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, and other countries, then studied Christian Gnosticism from AD 180-189 at the school founded by Pantaenus of Alexandria.88 When Pantaenus retired (to go into missionary work), Clement became headmaster of the school, and he continued in that position from AD 189-202. He fled Alexandria in AD 202 as a result of the persecution of Christians which occurred during the reign of Septimius Severus. Later, he again traveled rather extensively. We do not know the circumstances of his death, which occurred sometime between AD 211 and 215.89
While he was headmaster in Alexandria, Clement wrote three major treatises: Protrepticus (or An Exhortation to the Heathen ) —approximately AD 190 Paedogogus (or The Instructor ) —approximately AD 192 Stromata (or Miscellaneous Teachings ) —approximately AD 194
Clement also wrote several other books which now exist only in fragments, including one titled Hypotyposes (or Illustrations ). It is unclear whether this book was written earlier than Protrepticus , Paedogogus , and Stromata (as Anne Mbeke suggests) or later (as LeRoy Froom believes). The answer to this question could have a considerable impact on the interpretation of Clement's possible change in position, which will be discussed, briefly, below.
Clement is also credited with authoring "the oldest Christian hymn of which the authorship is known,"90 the English translation of which is titled, "Shepherd of Eager Youth." It was "used as a hymn of Christian instruction for new young converts from heathenism." (86)
Despite the large quantity of material Clement has left us, there are relatively few references in his writings to the subject of human immortality. And those there are, are not very clear. For example, in Paedogogus 1:3, he says, "Let us observe God's commandments and follow His counsels: they are the short and direct way that leads to [eternal existence]." And in Paedogogus 1:6, he says, "When baptized, we become enlightened; enlightened, we become sons; as sons we become perfect and immortal." These certainly sound like the words of a Conditionalist. But in Stromata , Book IV, Chapter 3, he says, "death... is the dissolution of the chains which bind the soul to the body." This certainly sounds like the teaching of a Naturalist. And in the fragment of a lost work titled On the Soul , Clement is quoted as saying, "All souls are immortal, even of the godless, to whom it were better not to be incorruptible." Here, too, Clement does appear to be a Naturalist; but, in other fragments, he appears to be a Conditionalist. LeRoy Edwin Froom says (but without documenting it) that Clement "changed" from Conditionalist to Naturalist;91 he also classifies him with those Naturalists who held to the teaching of "Universal Restoration."92 Anne Mbeke, on the other hand, speculates "that Clement changed his mind, but from a Naturalist to a Conditionalist, and not vice versa." Perhaps it would be better, then, for the purposes of this book, not to classify Clement of Alexandria as either a Naturalist or a Conditionalist, but to leave him unclassified until further research can be completed.
TERTULLIAN OF CARTHAGE
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus was born approximately AD 145 in Carthage.93 He became a Christian around AD 185 and an elder in the church at Carthage about five years later, and was one of the Church's most prolific writers from then until his conversion to Montanism, for which he was excommunicated. Tertullian died around AD 220.94
A bare listing of just the titles of his best-known works, together with the dates when they were written, would have to include at least the following:
On Repentance , AD 195
On Baptism , AD 195
On Prayer , AD 195
Apology , AD 197
To the Martyr , AD 197
On the Shows , AD 197
An Answer to the Jews , AD 198
Prescription Against Heretics , AD 200
On Patience , AD 202
On the Apparel of Women , AD 202
On Penitence , AD 203
On the Soul , AD 203
The Chaplet , AD 204
Exhortation to Chastity , AD 204
Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting , AD 205
Against Marcion , AD 207
To My Wife , AD 207
Against Hermogenes , AD 207
Against the Valentinians , AD 207
On the Flesh of Christ , AD 207
On the Veiling of Virgins , AD 207
Against Praxeas , AD 208
On the Pallium , AD 208
On Monogamy , AD 208
On Modesty , AD 208
On Fasting , AD 208
On the Resurrection of the Flesh , AD 208
In many of these books Tertullian discusses the question of human immortality. He says, for example, "All who are not true worshipers of God... shall be consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire... which... does not consume what it scorches, but while it burns it repairs." (Apology 48:31-33) This graphic description of the torment of the unsaved clearly is based on the assumption of their unending existence.
Again, he says clearly, "The soul, then, we define to be... immortal." (On the Soul 22:5)
Furthermore, Tertullian adds, "We... maintain... that souls are even now susceptible of torment and of blessing in Hades, though they are disembodied." (On the Resurrection 17:2-3)
A few sentences later, he adds, "The soul... has no... mortality." (On the Resurrection 18:17)
And, in On the Resurrection 35:2, Tertullian used the phrase "the natural immortality of the soul," probably for the first time in any Christian writing.
Obviously, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus must be classified as a Naturalist; indeed, there is a sense in which he should be regarded as one of the "Founding Fathers" of the doctrine of Natural Immortality.
HIPPOLYTUS OF PORTUS ROMANUS
Hippolytus was born approximately AD 170; we do not know where.95 He was a pupil of Irenaeus of Lyons. For the first third of the third century, he served as Bishop of Portus, which was a suburb of Rome. He died by drowning in AD 236.96
Hippolytus is credited with many writings, including the following: The Little Labyrinth On Christ and Antichrist Against the Jews Against Noetus Against Beron and Helix On the Holy Theophany Against Plato The Refutation of All Heresies
Against Plato 1:6 says that "the unrighteous, and those who believed not God, who have honored as God the vain works of the hands of men, idols fashioned (by themselves), shall be sentenced to this endless punishment [in the lake of fire]." Later in the same book, Hippolytus says that "the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal punishment. And the fire which is unquenchable and without end awaits the latter, and a certain fiery worm which does not die, and which does not waste the body, but continues bursting forth from the body with unending pain. No sleep will give them rest; no night will soothe them; no death will deliver them from punishment." (Against Plato 3:6-8)
Furthermore, in the Refutation , Hippolytus specifically criticizes: 1) the Naassenes, for believing in the existence of a "mortal soul" (Book V, Chapter 2), 2) Tatian of Assyria (whom we have seen was a Conditionalist), as a "heretic" (Book VIII, Chapter 9), 3) the Quartodecimans (among whom was Polycrates of Ephesus, an outspoken Conditionalist), as "heretics" (Book VIII, Chapter 11), and 4) the Sadducees, for supposing "that the soul does not continue after death," "that there will be a dissolution both of soul and body," and "that man passes into non-existence."
Obviously, Hippolytus of Portus Romanus was both a Naturalist and an outspoken opponent of Conditionalism and of many of the early Church Fathers who held to it.
THE WRITER(S) OF THE PSEUDO-CLEMENTINES
The so-called Pseudo-Clementines are a group of books written around AD 220 by an unknown, probably Jewish Christian, author or group of authors.97 They are designed to look as if they were written by Clement of Rome, but, clearly, they were not. Three of the books are known, respectively, as the Recognitions, the Homilies, and the Epitome .98
According to the author(s) of the Pseudo-Clementines , "…the soul is immortal" (1 Recognitions 5:6). 3 Recognitions 39-49 is an eleven-chapter-long "proof" of the immortality of the soul. 5 Recognitions 28:2 specifies that "even the souls of the impious are immortal, though perhaps they themselves would wish them to end with their bodies."99 8 Recognitions 28:3-4 explains that "although man consists of different substances, one mortal and the other immortal, yet, by the skillful contrivance of the Creator, their diversity does not prevent their union, and that although the substances be diverse and alien the one from the other. For the one is taken from the earth and formed by the Creator, but the other is given from immortal substances; and yet the honor of its immortality is not violated by this union."100
The same teaching is equally prominent in the Homilies . 1 Homily 5:3 says that "the soul is immortal;" 2 Homily 13:1 insists that "there is every necessity, that he who says that God is by His nature righteous, should believe also that the souls of men are immortal: for where would be His justice, when some, having lived piously, have been evil-treated, and sometimes violently cut off, while others who have been wholly impious, and have indulged in luxurious living, have died the common death of men?"101 The rest of the chapter goes on to say, "Since therefore, without all contradiction, God who is good is also just, He shall not otherwise be known to be just, unless the soul after its separation from the body be immortal, so that the wicked man, being in hell, as having here received his good things, may there be punished for his sins; and the good man, who has been punished here for his sins, may then, as in the bosom of the righteous, be constituted an heir of good things. Since therefore God is righteous, it is fully evident to us that there is a judgment, and that souls are immortal."102 2 Homily 29-31 is a three-chapter-long "proof" of the immortality of the soul, and 11 Homily 11:2 insists that "the soul even of the wicked is immortal, for whom it were better not to have it incorruptible." – the next verse adding, "For, being punished with endless torture under unquenchable fire, and never dying, it can receive no end of its misery."103
It is clear that whoever wrote these books (and tried to pass them off as if they had actually been written by Clement I, who, as we have seen, was a Conditionalist!) was, or were, believer(s), in the doctrine of Natural Immortality.
MINUCIUS FELIX OF AFRICA
Minucius Felix Marcus was probably born around AD 185 in Africa. As a young man, he
was converted from paganism to Christianity.104 He died approximately AD 250 in Rome.105
Sometime during the first half of the third century, Minucius Felix wrote an Apology in the form of a discussion between a pagan named Caecilius (nowadays we would call him "Cecil") and a Christian named Octavius. The work is generally known as the Octavius .
Octavius 35:1 describes the punishment of the wicked as "eternal torments";
Octavius 35:3 specifies, "Nor is there either measure or termination to these torments." The next verse adds, "The intelligent fire burns the limbs and restores them, feeds on them and nourishes them." And the following verse concludes, "As the fires of the thunderbolts strike upon the bodies, and do not consume them; as the fires of Mount Aetna and of Mount Vesuvius, and of burning lands (i.e., volcanoes) everywhere, glow, but are not wasted; so that penal fire (i.e., Hell) is not fed by the waste of those who burn, but is nourished by the unexhausted eating away of their bodies."106 Although none of the actual terms "immortal," "immortality," "soul," etc., is actually used in these verses, it is clear that this doctrine of Hell is based on the assumption of the innate immortality of the human soul. No one will express any surprise at my conclusion that Minucius Felix was a Naturalist.
ORIGEN OF ALEXANDRIA
Origen Adamantinus (this nickname means "hard as a rock") was born approximately AD 185 in Alexandria, the oldest of the seven sons of Leonides, who was martyred under the persecution that arose under Emperor Septimius Severus.107 He was a pupil of Clement of Alexandria (and also of Ammonius Saccas, a Neo-Platonist), and taught Christianity (among other subjects) – first, at Alexandria, AD 203-231 (when he was excommunicated by the Bishop of Alexandria), and then, at Caesarea, AD 231-249 (when he was imprisoned during the persecution that arose under Emperor Decian). He died in AD 254 at Tyre.108
Origen's first (and greatest) work was a book known in Greek as Peri Archon , in Latin as De Principiis , and in English as On the Principles , which he published around AD 215. Other major works include the following:
On the Resurrection On Prayer Commentary on John (AD 230-238) Exhortation to Martyrdom (AD 232) Letter to Gregory Thaumaturgus (AD 235) Letter to Julius Africanus (AD 240) Dialogue With Heraclides (AD 246) Against Celsus (AD 247) Commentary on Matthew (AD 247) Homily on Ezekiel Homily on Leviticus Apology (AD 248) ... to name just a few!
However, one need read no more than De Principiis to ascertain Origen's position on the subject of human immortality.
In the Introduction, he states "that the soul, having a substance and life of its own, shall, after its departure from the world, be rewarded according to its deserts, being destined to obtain either an inheritance of eternal life and blessedness, if its actions shall have procured this for it, or to be delivered up to eternal fire and punishments, if the guilt of its crimes shall have brought it down to this."109
Later, in Book II, 2:1, he says that "spiritual and rational minds, will be... eternal..."
And, in the same Book, 10:1, he comments that it would be "vain and superfluous for anyone to arise from the dead in order to die a second time."110 This is exactly what most Conditionalists teach will happen.
Furthermore, "the body which rises again of those who are to be destined to everlasting fire or to severe punishments, is by the very change of the resurrection so incorruptible, that it cannot be corrupted and dissolved even by severe punishments" (Book II, 10:3).111
In Book IV, 1:36, Origen asserts that "the human soul will also be immortal."112
And, in Against Celsus , Book III, 22:5, he claims that "the doctrine of the soul's immortality...is to us a doctrine of preeminent importance."113
In the same work, Book VI, 71:5, he concludes that "we, however, know of no incorporeal substance that is destructible by fire, nor [do we believe] that the soul of man, or the substance of 'angels,' or of 'thrones,' or 'dominions,' or 'principalities,' or 'powers,' can be dissolved by fire."114
Clearly, Origen of Alexandria was both a Naturalist and a fine and well-known spokesman of the doctrine of Natural Immortality.
Indeed, the Early Church historian, Eusebius of Caesarea (AD 263-339), in his History of the Church , Book VI, Chapter 37, tells how Origen disputed with some Thnetopsychites – ("the sect that proclaimed the mortality of the soul") – at a "synod of no small dimensions" in Arabia in AD 246. No writings by any member of this group have been preserved, but obviously they were Conditionalists. Eusebius describes them as "saying that the human soul dies." One of them, Demetrius, was a Bishop, and is quoted in Origen's Dialogue With Heraclides , chapter 167, as criticizing Origen for teaching "that the soul is immortal." Thus, both in Eusebius' history, and in Origen's own writings, there is preserved a record of the fact that in the middle of the third century AD, both Natural Immortality and Conditional Immortality were being taught in Christian churches, and there was an active, ongoing debate between the proponents of the two positions.
COMMODIANUS OF AFRICA
Commodianus Mendicus Christi (this nickname means, "the servant of Christ") was born approximately AD 200 in North Africa. Little is known about his life and work except that he was apparently serving as a Bishop somewhere in North Africa around AD 240, when he wrote a poem called Instructions in Favor of Christian Discipline.115 He died approximately AD 275116; we do not know where, or under what circumstances.
The Instructions contain two references to the subject of human immortality:
1) "I... thought... that when once life had departed, the soul also was dead and perished. These things, however, are not so..." (Instructions 26:13-14)
2) "O fool, you do not absolutely die; nor, when dead, do you escape the lofty One... You are stripped, O foolish one, who thinks that by death you are not..." (Instructions 278:1,7)
These statements clearly demonstrate that Commodianus was a Naturalist.
CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
Thascius Caecilius Cyprian was born approximately AD 200 near Carthage.117 He was converted to Christianity in AD 246 and served as Bishop of Carthage AD 248-258.118 He was executed in AD 258 for refusing to deny Christ.119
Some of the more famous of Cyprian's hundreds of writings include the following, together with their dates of publication, if known:
Letter to Donatus (AD 246)
The Vanity of Idols (AD 247)
Against the Jews (AD 248)
Concerning the Lapsed (AD 251)
The Unity of the Church (AD 251)
Commentary on the Lord's Prayer (AD 252)
Address to Demetrianus (AD 252)
Concerning Mortality (AD 252)
Works and Alms (AD 254)
Jealousy and Envy (AD 256)
The Glory of Martyrdom
Despite the tremendous quantity of material Cyprian has left us (the more remarkable as he produced it in a period of only ten years, and while serving as Bishop of a major Christian community), there are few references to the subject of human immortality in his writings. These few occur primarily in the treatises Concerning Mortality and The Glory of Martyrdom :
In Mortality 14:3 he says, "he... who... is delivered over to the fires of Gehenna... eternal flame shall torment with never-ending punishments..." This is certainly the language of Naturalism.
In the Martyrdom , however, Cyprian's position is not nearly as clear. Martyrdom 8:5 says, "Doubtless let that lust of life keep hold, but let it be of those whom for unatoned sin the raging fire will torture with eternal vengeance for their crimes."120
And Martyrdom 10:4 refers to the eventuality of "being punished with a perpetual burning."121
But in the very next chapter, Cyprian says that "the fire will consume those who are enemies of the truth. The paradise of God blooms for the witnesses; Gehenna will enfold the deniers, and eternal fire will burn them up" (Martyrdom 11:4-5).122
This last reference sounds more like the words of a Conditionalist! Dr. Froom, however, classifies Cyprian as a Naturalist;123 and, on the strength of the unequivocal statement in Mortality 14:3, I will, at least tentatively, do the same.
NOVATIAN OF ROME
Novatian was born in AD 210; his birthplace is unknown, possibly Phrygia.124 He was serving as an elder in the church at Rome when a split occurred, in AD 251, over the question of re-communicating those who had left the church during a time of persecution (Cyprian of Carthage referred to this situation in his Treatise Concerning the Lapsed ). Novatian took a "hard line," left the Catholic Church, and founded a sect called the Catharoi (a word which means the same thing as the English word "Puritans"). He served as its Bishop until his martyrdom in AD 280. The Catharoi (not to be confused with the Cathari of a later era!) continued as a separate denomination until sometime in the sixth century.125
Prior to AD 250, Novatian had written at least two "letters,"126 which have not been preserved. He wrote a Treatise On the Jewish Meats in AD 250. He also wrote a Treatise Concerning the Trinity in AD 257. The former book contains one reference to the subject of human immortality; the latter book contains several.
In Jewish Meats 5:18, Novatian quotes Christ as saying, "But labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth to life eternal, which the Son of man will give you; for him hath the Father sealed" (John 6:27). This is a substantially accurate quotation of a verse popular among modern Conditionalists who follow the interpretation that makes the word "which" refer to the phrase "life eternal" rather than to the word "meat."
In Trinity 1, Novatian describes the "punishment" for Adam's disobedience to God's command not to eat "the fruit of the tree" of the knowledge of good and evil as being "mortality."
Once in Trinity 2, once in Trinity 3, three times in Trinity 4, once in Trinity 6, and once in Trinity 31, Novatian states that God is "immortal";127 but in Trinity 15:28 he says that "every man is mortal" and adds that "immortality cannot be from that which is mortal."128
In Trinity 14:12, he describes the punishment for denying Christ as "destruction of the soul," and in Trinity 14:15-16 goes on to say, "If Christ is only man, how is it that 'even as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,' when man cannot have life in him after the example of God the Father, because he is not glorious in eternity, but made with the materials of mortality? If Christ is only man, how does He say, 'I am the bread of eternal life which came down from heaven,' when man can neither be the bread of life, he himself being mortal, nor could he have come down from heaven, since no perishable material is established in heaven?"129 Here Novatian bases an argument for Christ's divinity on the very distinction between Deity and humanity, that Deity is by nature immortal, and humanity is not immortal.
Similarly, in Trinity 15:38, he says that "every man is bound by the laws of mortality, and therefore is unable to keep himself [alive] forever."130
Furthermore, in Trinity 16:2-3, he refers to the punishment of unbelief as being "to die for evermore" and to "die eternally," while, in Trinity 16:4, he says, by way of contrast, that the believer (and he only) is "destined for the attainment of everlasting life."131
And in Trinity 18:37, he refers to "the destruction of the people of Sodom" (notice, he does not say, "the destruction of the city," but, "the destruction of the people").
The above quotations make it clear that, as Dr. Froom says, "Novatian was a Conditionalist."132
What, then, are we to make of Trinity 25:9-17, which contains the following statements: "For what if the divinity in Christ does not die, but the substance of the flesh only is destroyed, when in other men also, who are not flesh only, but flesh and soul, the flesh indeed alone suffers the inroads of wasting and death, while the soul is seen to be uncorrupted, and beyond the laws of destruction and death?" (v. 9); ."..if the immortal soul cannot be killed..." (v. 11); ."..if in any man whatever, the soul has this excellence of immortality that it cannot be slain..." (v. 12); ."..if the cruelty of man fails to destroy the soul..." (v. 13); "the soul itself... is not killed by men" (v. 14); and ."..if... death... does not destroy the soul, although it dissolves the bodies themselves: for it could exercise its power on the bodies, it did not avail to exercise it on the souls; for the one in them was mortal, and therefore died; the other in them was immortal, and therefore is understood not to have been extinguished" (v. 17)? The abundance of words such as "what if," "when," "while," "is seen," "if," "if... that," "if," "if... although" and "is understood" leads me to suggest that Novatian is here using a form of argument in which he concedes to his readers "for the sake of argument" certain assumptions he knows they will admit, which will enable him to convince them of his point, though he does not hold those assumptions as part of his own belief system (as demonstrated elsewhere).
In Trinity 29:25-27, Novatian clearly ties human immortality to the resurrection of human bodies (as opposed to survival of human souls): "[The Holy Spirit is] an inhabitant given for our bodies and an effector of their holiness. Who, working for us in eternity, can also produce our bodies at the resurrection of immortality.... For our bodies are both trained in Him and by Him to advance to immortality, by learning to govern themselves with moderation according to His decrees."
Novatian was called a "heretic" by Cyprian of Carthage (and others, including the anonymous author of the Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian , which was written in AD 255 in Africa), but not because of his position on immortality; rather, because of his strict approach to re-communication, which resulted in his break with the more "soft line" Catholicism. Indeed, the author of the Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian was probably himself a Conditionalist; he frequently uses the word "destruction" to refer to the destiny of the unsaved, and quotes several Scriptures often used by modern Conditionalists, such as Ezekiel 18:4,20-21; Matthew 10:28;
Luke 18:1-5; Jude 15 (which he alters to read, "to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the wicked," etc.); and Revelation 6:17 (which he alters to read, "because the day of destruction cometh," etc.).
GREGORY THAUMATURGUS OF NEO-CAESAREA
Gregory Thaumaturgus (this nickname means "The Miracle-Worker") was born in AD 213 in Neo-Caesarea, Pontus.133 He was raised in a pagan home, studying Neo-Platonic philosophy and Roman law, but was converted to Christianity by the teaching of Origen of Alexandria in AD 233. Five years later, he returned to his home town, found 17 Christians there and organized them into a church. He then served as Bishop of Neo-Caesarea from AD 240134 until his death in AD 270, at Neo-Caesarea,135 by which time it was said (perhaps in exaggeration) that there were only 17 pagans left in the city!
Here are the titles of some of Gregory's writings:
Declaration of Faith
Metaphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes
Oration and Panegyric Addressed to Origen (AD 238)
Canonical Epistle (AD 258-262)
Sectional Confession of Faith
On the Trinity
Twelve Topics on the Faith
On the Subject of the Soul
Four Homilies
On All the Saints
On the Gospel According to Matthew
A quick reading of On the Subject of the Soul will easily establish Gregory's position on the question of human immortality. The entire sixth chapter is devoted to the question of "whether our soul is immortal." Verse 3 concludes that "the soul, being simple, and not being made up of diverse parts, but being uncompound and indissoluble, must be, in virtue of that, incorruptible and immortal."136 Verse 5 adds that "the soul, being self-acting, has no cessation of its being."137 Verses 6-7 reason that "it follows, that what is self-acting is ever-acting; and what is ever-acting is unceasing; and what is unceasing is without end; and what is without end is incorruptible; and what is incorruptible is immortal. Consequently, [since] the soul is self-acting, as has been shown above, it follows that it is incorruptible and immortal."138 Verse 10 reiterates, "[Since], therefore, the soul is not corrupted by the evil proper to itself, and the evil of the soul is cowardice, intemperance, envy, and the like, and all these things do not despoil it of its powers of life and action, it follows that it is immortal."
So there is no question but that Gregory Thaumaturgus, like his teacher, Origen of Alexandria, was a Naturalist.
ARNOBIUS OF SICCA
Arnobius the Elder was born approximately AD 250. He lived in Sicca, Numidia, North Africa. As a pagan, he was noted for his intense hatred of Christianity. He was converted around AD 303, but he was at first distrusted (like Saul, in Acts 9:26), and was refused baptism. This led to his publication of a series of seven books collectively titled Disputations Against the Pagans sometime between AD 303 and AD 310.139 I will refer to these books as 1 Disputations , 2 Disputations , 3 Disputations , 4 Disputations , 5 Disputations , 6 Disputations , and 7 Disputations , respectively, for the purposes of this book. Arnobius died around AD 327.140
In 1 Disputations 18:5, Arnobius says that death "ends all things, and takes away life from every sentient being." In the same verse, he uses the word "extinction" as a synonym for the word "death."
In 1 Disputations 64:8, Arnobius says that Christ "was sent by the only [true] King . . . to bring to you the immortality which you believe that you [already] possess, relying on the assertions of a few men" (i.e., the Greek philosophers, such as Plato, etc.). Clearly, Arnobius is not saying that he believes that his readers "[already] possess" immortality. On the contrary, it is his belief that immortality must be brought to them, and that Christ has done that. A few verses later (in 1 Disputations 65:1), he says this "ungrateful and impious age" (referring to the pagan generation in which he lived) is "prepared for its own destruction by its extraordinary obstinacy." Later in that same chapter, he says Christ "told His enemies . . . what must be done that they might escape destruction and obtain an immortality which they knew not" of (1 Disputations 65:13). And, in the next verse after that (1 Disputations 65:14), he says "that in no other way" than believing in Christ "could they avoid the danger of death."
In 2 Disputations 1:8, Arnobius tells his pagan readers that Christ "prepared for you a path to . . . the immortality for which you long" – but why would they "long" for something they already possessed by nature?
In 2 Disputations 7:17, Arnobius reminds his pagan readers that "the soul . . . is said by you to be immortal" – but he would not have needed to include the words "said by you to be" if he had believed the soul to be immortal, as he states that they did.
2 Disputations 14 is a comparison of Arnobius' own (Christian) doctrine of "hell" (v. 1) with Plato's (Greek philosophical) doctrine of "the immortality of the soul" (v. 1). Among other points made in this chapter are the following: Christians speak of "fires which cannot be quenched" (v. 1), while Plato says that "the soul is immortal" (v. 3); and Christians believe that the souls of the wicked are "annihilated" and "pass away vainly in everlasting destruction" (v. 7), while Plato "thought it inhuman cruelty to condemn souls to death" (v. 6). Arnobius concludes by expounding what he refers to as "Christ's teaching" (v. 8): that souls "perish if they have not known God" but are "delivered from death if they have given heed to" Him (v. 8) and by stating that "man's real death . . . leaves nothing behind" (v. 9) because "souls which know not God shall be consumed in . . . fire" (v. 10). In the first verse of the next chapter (II Disputations 15:1), Arnobius describes the "opinion . . . that souls are immortal" as "extravagant."
In 2 Disputations 16:3-5, Arnobius asks, "Will you lay aside your habitual arrogance, O men, who claim God as your Father, and maintain that you are immortal, just as He is? Will you inquire, examine, search what you are yourselves, whose you are, of what parentage you are supposed to be, what you do in the world, in what way you are born, how you leap to life? Will you, laying aside all partiality, consider in the silence of your thoughts that we are creatures either quite like the rest, or separated by no great difference?" He answers his own question three chapters later: "if men either knew themselves thoroughly, or had the slightest knowledge of God, they would never claim as their own a divine and immortal nature;" (2 Disputations 19:1). In 2 Disputations 18:3, he says, "if the soul had in itself the knowledge which it is fitting that a race should have indeed which is divine and immortal, all men would from the first know everything;" which obviously is not the case since human beings keep learning new things as they go through life, and the entire "race" of human beings keeps learning new things as time passes. Similarly, in a lengthy discussion of the same subject, Arnobius states that "it has been believed that the souls of men are divine, and therefore immortal," and goes on to suggest that this idea "has been rashly believed and taken for granted" (2 Disputations 22:2) – and proceeds with an exhausting list of questions designed to disprove it.
Again, in 2 Disputations 24:3, Arnobius portrays himself as asking Plato a question, beginning with the words, "if you are really assured that the souls of men are immortal" (implying that such a belief is Plato's, not his own), and in 2 Disputations 25:2, he follows up this question with another, beginning with, "Is . . . the . . . soul . . . immortal" (again, implying a negative answer).
Chapters 26-36 of 2 Disputations contain numerous references to the subject of human immortality. 2 Disputations 26:6, referring to "souls" (26:5), says that "the same reasoning not only shows that they are not incorporeal, but deprives them of all immortality even, and refers them to the limits within which life is usually closed."141 Three chapters later, Arnobius presents a moral argument against the doctrine of Natural Immortality, asking, "How shall he be overcome by any fear or dread (i.e., of God's judgment) who has been persuaded that he is immortal, just as the Supreme God Himself, and that no sentence (i.e., of death) can be pronounced upon him by God, seeing that there is the same immortality in both, and that the one immortal being cannot be troubled by the other, which is only its equal" (2 Disputations 29:7)?142 The point of this argument is similar to that raised by Jesus when He said, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28) (This verse, of course, is another "favorite" of many Conditionalists!)
An important insight into the fact that a "debate" was in progress between Naturalists and Conditionalists in Arnobius' time is given in 2 Disputations 31:2-3: "Thence it is that among learned men, and men endowed with excellent abilities, there is strife as to the nature of the soul, and some say that it is subject to death, and cannot take upon itself the divine substance; while others maintain that it is immortal, and cannot sink under the power of death.... because, on the one hand, arguments present themselves to the one party by which it is found that the soul is capable of suffering, and perishable; and, on the other hand, are not lacking to their opponents, by which it is shown that the soul is divine and immortal."143 In the next chapter, Arnobius makes it clear where he stood in the debate, saying, "We have been taught by the greatest teacher (i.e., Jesus) that souls are set not far from the gaping jaws of death; that they can, nevertheless, have their lives prolonged by the favor and kindness of the Supreme Ruler if only they try and make an effort to know Him —for the knowledge of Him is a kind of vital leaven and cement to bind together that which would otherwise fly apart" (2 Disputations 32:1).144 In Chapter 33, addressing readers presumed to be Naturalists (as all pagan Greek philosophers were), he adds, "You think that, as soon as you pass away, freed from the bonds of your fleshly members, you will find wings with which you may rise to heaven.... We shun such presumption, and do not think that it is in our power" (2 Disputations 33:3-4).145
Toward the end of this discussion, Arnobius asks, "if souls are mortal..., how can they...become immortal?" (2 Disputations 35:1). His own answer to this question is given in the next chapter, where he says that "immortality is God's gift" by which He will "deign to confer eternal life upon souls" otherwise destined to "utter annihilation" (II Disputations 36:3).146 Much later in the book, this teaching is summed up in the statement "that the souls of men...are gifted with immortality, if they rest their hope of so great a gift on God Supreme, who alone has power to grant such blessings, by putting away corruption" (2 Disputations 53:1).147 And in Chapter 62, Arnobius adds, "None but the Almighty God can preserve souls; nor is there anyone besides who can give them length of days, and grant to them also a spirit which shall never die, except He who alone is immortal."148
In 2 Disputations 63:1, Arnobius portrays his opponents as saying that he (Arnobius) teaches that "Christ was sent by God for this end, that He might deliver unhappy souls from ruin and destruction…."
In 2 Disputations 64:13, Arnobius defends his belief that God offers eternal life to human beings, but does not compel them to receive it – a view that, it seems to me, it would be difficult for a Naturalist to hold – by saying that "our salvation is not necessary to Him, so that He would gain anything or suffer any loss, if He either made us [immortal] or allowed us to be annihilated and destroyed by corruption." Since it is clear that he had previously taught that God did not "make" human beings immortal, it is equally clear that he here teaches that God does "allow" them to be "annihilated" and "destroyed."
Comparing the Christian doctrine of salvation with pagan beliefs about the differing powers of their various gods, Arnobius states that "it is the right of Christ alone to give salvation to souls, and assign them everlasting life. . . . souls can receive from no one life and salvation, except from Him to whom the Supreme Ruler gave this charge and duty. The Almighty Master of the world has determined that this should be the way of salvation – this the door, so to say, of life – by Him alone is there access to the light: nor may men either creep in or enter elsewhere, all other ways being shut up and secured by an impenetrable barrier. So, then, . . . by no efforts will you be able to reach the prize of immortality, unless by Christ's gift you have perceived what constitutes this very immortality, and have been allowed to enter on the true life" (2 Disputations 65:11–66:1).
In 2 Disputations 72:7, speaking of "the Almighty and Supreme God" (2 Disputations 72:4), Arnobius asks, "Is not He alone uncreated, immortal, and everlasting?" Although he does not actually quote I Timothy 6:16 (a favorite verse of many modern Conditionalists), he certainly makes the same point as is made there: only God is immortal; therefore, human beings are not immortal.
From all of these references, it is abundantly clear that "Arnobius was a militant Conditionalist."149
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Footnotes
87. Mbeke, Anne, Clement of Alexandria and Conditional Immortality , p. 2.
88. Moyer, op. cit., p. 94.
89. Von Campenhausen, op. cit., p. 38.
90. Osbeck, Kenneth, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions , p. 81.
91. Froom, op. cit., p. 758.
92. Ibid.
93. Roberts, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 3.
94. Ibid., p. 4.
95. McDonald, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 1139.
96. Roberts, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 6.
97. Froom, op. cit., p. 758.
98. Roberts, op. cit., vol. 8, p. 69.
99. Ibid., p. 150.
100. Roberts, op. cit., vol. 8, p. 173.
101.Ibid., p. 231.
102.Ibid.
103.Ibid., p. 286.
104.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 4, p. 170.
105.McDonald, op. cit., vol. 9, p. 883.
106.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 4, p. 195.
107.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 4, p. 224.
108.Ibid., p. 229.
109.Ibid., p. 240.
110.Ibid., p. 294.
111.Roberts, op. cit., pp. 294-295.
112.Ibid., p. 381.
113.Ibid., p. 472.
114.Ibid., p. 606.
115.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 4, p. 201.
116.Moyer, op. cit., p. 99.
117.Moyer, op. cit., p. 108.
118.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 264.
119.Moyer, op. cit., p. 108.
120.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 581.
121.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 581.
122.Ibid.
123.Froom, op. cit., p. 758.
124.Froom, op. cit., pp. 902-903.
125.Moyer, op. cit., p. 303.
126.Referenced in his Treatise on the Jewish Meats 1:7.
127.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 5, pp. 612-615.
128.Ibid., p. 624.
129.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 623.
130.Ibid., p. 625.
131.Ibid.
132.Froom, op. cit., p. 909
133.McDonald, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 797.
134.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 3.
135.See also Moyer, op. cit., p. 171.
136.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 56.
137.Ibid.
138.Ibid.
139.Froom, op. cit., pp. 917-918.
140.Moyer, op. cit., p. 18.
141.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 444.
142.Ibid., p. 445.
143.Ibid., p. 446.
144.Ibid.
145.Ibid.
146.Ibid., p. 447.
147.Roberts, op. cit., vol. 6, p. 454.
148.Ibid., p. 457.
149.Froom, op. cit., p. 919.
Comments (1)
Hippolytus doesn't belong on this list. In context in Against Plato he's saying all the Souls are in hades till Resurrection, which is Soul Sleep. That it sounds in English Translation like he's prediction Endless punishment rather then Annihilation for the unjust is irrelevant, he clarifies that the Soul is made Immortal just like the Body will be, not innately Immortal as Plato believed.
And that he condmned a punch of people who also taught Soul Sleep is also irrelevant.