The Hebraic Worldview

Restorationists believe traditions and pagan influence have tainted Christian beliefs about death, the soul, and the afterlife. They have largely adopted a Hebraic worldview of how the ancient Israelites described life and death, with little emphasis on heaven or the afterlife. One of the primary arguments is that humans don't have a soul, we are souls. This belief is interpreted from Genesis 2:7:

Gen 2:7 And 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 (nephesh).

The Hebrew word for soul is "nephesh." Nephesh, they say, is the whole living person, and when the body dies, so does the soul. As proof, they point to Ezekiel 18:4:

“Behold, all souls are Mine;

The soul of the father

As well as the soul of the son is Mine;

The soul (nephesh) who sins shall die.

The problem is, when the Bible refers to death, it doesn't always refer to physical death. It can also refer to spiritual death, which leads to the second death (Rev 20:14).  From God's perspective, death is separation from God, and life is connection with God. Paradoxically then, it's possible to be both dead and alive at the same time (see 1 Ti 5:6, Eph 2:1).

Another example given is Ecclesiastes 9:5, "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten." This is pointed out as proof that the soul can die. However, Ecclesiastes was written from a purely earthly, secular perspective of all things "under the sun." But Ecclesiastes is meant to show the limits of human wisdom and lead us to a greater theological realization. It is not intended to be a commentary on the nature of death.

Regardless, having or being a nephesh would not not exclude the possibility of life after death. Nor would it exclude humans from being more than nephesh. "Nephesh" is translated to "psyche" in the Septuagint and New Testament. If nephesh were strictly biological in nature, they could have used the Greek word "bios," from which we get the English word "biological." By using the word "psyche," it suggests something that includes the physical but is also something more than just physical.

Nephesh is part of our composition but it is not all that we are. Scriptures also say we also have a ruach (spirit/breath/wind) and neshamah (breath of life/divine spark), also found in Genesis 2:7. This indicates there are layers to our being. Animals are also composed of nephesh, ruach, and neshamah. But if animals and humans are composed of the same things, then having a nephesh alone cannot be the thing that defines us as humans. It is only part of the picture.

The thing that defines us and makes us distinct from animals is that we are created in the image of God. So, what does that mean? God is neither physical or mortal, so it can't refer to that. The only thing it can refer to is God's immaterial attributes. God is is a spirit. That means our essence must also be spirit. And as beings created in His image, it also means we possess immortality derivatively.

One objection is that if we are immortal beings that exist eternally, then we could not have been created. Creation implies a beginning, which contradicts eternal existence without origin. The problem is with conflating being immortal with being eternal. Only God is the uncreated eternal being who does not have a beginning. But immortal beings can have a beginning. Luke 20:35–36 says angels cannot die; they are immortal, and yet, they are created beings. Therefore, created beings can be immortal by default.

Another common argument is that the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh) doesn't teach of an afterlife or an immortal soul. This is primarily an argument from silence as it assumes that since the Hebrew Bible does not clearly teach an immortal soul, the Hebrews must not have believed in one. That is not an accurate understanding of what the Hebrews believed about the grave (Sheol).

It shouldn't be presumed that the Hebrews knew it all. In fact, some of their understandings of such things appear to be borrowed from their Mesopotamian neighbors. The Hebrews’ concept of the underworld, Sheol, is very similar to Sumerian (Kur) and Akkadian (Irkalla) cosmology. The Hebrew Bible's primary focus was on earthly matters, specifically, God's dealings with Israel. It does not concern itself with much outside of that.

There are logical reasons why the Hebrews placed such little emphasis on heaven and the afterlife. First, they simply weren't given that revelation (knowledge/understanding). In fact, many things that weren't revealed to them. They didn't know, for instance, that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, or there would be a church age with the inclusion of the gentiles. Even the resurrection wasn't clearly taught early on, but it was hoped for and later hinted at (Dan 12:2, Job 19:25–26, Isa 26:19).

There is something known as progressive revelation, which is the impartation of divine revelation gradually over time. That means that we have a limited understanding of spiritual truths, and more is revealed as time goes on. It's like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. We don't always see the full picture until it is completed. As Paul said, "We see through a glass darkly." In that regard, the Hebrews' understanding of the afterlife was limited and incomplete. Unfortunately, erroneous assumptions are often made based upon incomplete information.

Second, the grave (Sheol) was all the Hebrews knew about. It's where they all went when they died, as there was no path for them to ascend to the third heaven with God before Christ came to atone for their sins (more on that later). That’s why they spoke only of the grave (Sheol) in negative or neutral terms with little to no emphasis on the afterlife. They did, however, have the hope that God would provide the means for them (Psa 49:15).

Still, Sheol was more than just the grave; it was an underworld, the abode of the dead. The dead were not nonexistent but still aware, albeit as a weak, diminished version of themselves in a shadowy underworld. That's why when they died, it says they were gathered to their ancestors. It doesn't mean they were merely gathered in the tomb, but that they were gathered with their people in the afterlife. We know this because their concept of the underworld was similar to that of their Mesopotamian and Levantine neighbors. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit (rûaḥ) returns to God who gave it," demonstrating a distinction and separation between the body and soul after death.

It also should also be noted that the Hebrews/Israelites did have a concept of a spiritual realm inhabited with angelic and demonic beings. One notable example is 2 Kings 6. The king of Aram (Syria) had sent an army to capture the prophet Elisha. Elisha’s servant was startled, but then God opened his eyes, and he saw an angelic army on horses and chariots of fire. It wasn't a dream or a vision, but a glimpse into the unseen realm. If angelic beings can exist without non-corporeal bodies, it shouldn't be a stretch to believe that humans can also exist without physical bodies.