Sin death and beyond
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SIN, DEATH AND BEYOND: M.M.NINAN<br />
The soul sleep <strong>and</strong> remain with the body until the final resurrection on the Last Day? The<br />
Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, <strong>and</strong> some evangelical Christians hold this<br />
view. <strong>Sin</strong>ce the soul is sleeping, the soul has no consciousness <strong>and</strong> is unaware of anything<br />
until they are resurrected by God in the last days.<br />
There are two words in the Greek New Testament for “sleep.”<br />
The term katheudo occurs 22 times in the New Testament. In a literal sense it is used of<br />
“natural sleep” (Mt. 13:25; 25:5).<br />
The term is found in the story of the raising up of Jairus, (Mk. 5:35). Here Jesus asserts that<br />
“the child is not dead, but is sleeping” (v. 39) <strong>and</strong> story ends up as her “spirit returned” <strong>and</strong> she<br />
rose up immediately (Lk. 8:55) implying that the spirit was still alive while her body was<br />
sleeping.<br />
The same is applicable in the story of Lazarus: Jesus said “Our friend Lazarus has fallen<br />
asleep (kekoimetai— the perfect, passive of koimao); but I go that I may awake him out of<br />
sleep” (Jn. 11:11).<br />
Another term in the New Testament for “sleep” is koimaomai . The word is found 18 times. The<br />
word is used for normal sleep as in (Mt. 28:13; Lk. 22:45),as well as figuratively for the<br />
“sleep” of <strong>death</strong> (see Mt. 27:52; 1 Cor. 15:20; 1 Thes. 4:13-15).<br />
The term probably refers to the dead body which is inert <strong>and</strong> without life as a person is in deep<br />
sleep.<br />
The doctrine asserts that when the body dies, the soul also dies, <strong>and</strong> that both are to be called<br />
back to life at the Day of Judgement. This was first recorded as taught by the Thnētopsȳchītæ,<br />
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