Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

deliverance. The Church has never defined the doctrine of the Limbus Infantum, and the
opinions of the theologians vary as to the exact condition of the children confined in it.
The prevailing opinion is, however, that they suffer no positive punishment, no “pain of
sense,” but are simply excluded from the blessings of heaven. They know and love God
by the use of their natural powers, and have full natural happiness.
E. THE STATE OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH ONE OF CONSCIOUS
EXISTENCE.
1. THE TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE ON THIS POINT. The question has been raised, whether
the soul after death remains actively conscious and is capable of rational and religious
action. This has sometimes been denied on the general ground that the soul in its
conscious activity is dependent on the brain, and therefore cannot continue to function
when the brain is destroyed. But, as already pointed out in the preceding (pp. 677 f.),
the cogency of this argument may well be doubted. “It is,” to use the words of Dahle,
“based on the error of confusing the worker with his machine.” From the fact that the
human consciousness in the present life transmits its effects through the brain, it does
not necessarily follow that it can work in no other way. In arguing for the conscious
existence of the soul after death, we place no reliance on the phenomena of present day
spiritualism, and do not even depend on philosophical arguments, though these are not
without force. We seek our evidence in the Word of God, and particularly in the New
Testament. The rich man and Lazarus converse together, Luke 16:19-31. Paul speaks of
the disembodied state as a “being at home with the Lord,” and as something to be
desired above the present life, II Cor. 5:6-9; Phil. 1:23. Surely, he would hardly speak
after that fashion about an unconscious existence, which is a virtual non-existence. In
Heb. 12:23 believers are said to have come to... “the spirits of just men made perfect,”
which certainly implies their conscious existence. Moreover, the spirits under the altar
are crying out for vengeance on the persecutors of the Church, Rev. 6:9, and the souls of
the martyrs are said to reign with Christ, Rev. 20:4. This truth of the conscious existence
of the soul after death has been denied in more than one form.
2. THE DOCTRINE OF THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL (PSYCHOPANNYCHY).
a. Statement of the doctrine. This is one of the forms in which the conscious existence
of the soul after death is denied. It maintains that, after death, the soul continues to exist
as an individual spiritual being, but in a state of unconscious repose. Eusebius makes
mention of a small sect in Arabia that held this view. During the Middle Ages there
were quite a few so-called Psychopannychians, and at the time of the Reformation this
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