The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

IV. Triple Exposure to Immortality Postulate in Three Captivities

Turning next to the relationships of this checkered history to the changing Jewish understanding of the nature and destiny of the soul, we first note that prior to the age of the Maccabees (168-63 B.C.) the Jews had no important writings outside the Old Testament. There were, of course, some archeological inscriptions, but the canonical Scriptures stood alone in their sublime majesty and authority. Then human comments, seasonings, developments, and inferences began to appear. But these came, after Israel had felt the impact of special pressures, particularly under the Grecian influence, the last of a succession of exposures to foreign influences. As just noted, the series embraced the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Grecian captivities. Each had its own particular emphasis and focal points of pressure. Note them. CFF1 643.2

1. EGYPTIAN IMMORTAL-SOULISM AND TRANSMIGRATION

In their early captivity in Egypt the Jews first came in contact with a clearly defined postulate of the Innate Immortality of the soul and a corresponding future retribution. Coupled with these was the notion of the transmigration of souls. ⁹ This latter teaching is, of course, fundamentally at variance with the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. This Egyptian exposure lasted about two centuries, terminating in the fifteenth century B.C. CFF1 643.3

2. PERSIAN RETRIBUTIONISM AND DEADLY DUALISM

Next, during their subjection to the Persian power, the Jews came in contact with Eastern Zoroastrianism, with its Zend-Avesta ¹⁰ and its doctrine of future retributions—involving the resurrection of the body and the eternal reward of the righteous at a future judgment, and corresponding punishment of the wicked. This system, which was allegedly based upon a special revelation, not on philosophical speculation, and which involved the deadly pall of Dualism, ¹¹ left its imprint, though it did not immediately change Hebrew teachings. CFF1 644.1

3. GREEK IMMORTALISM BASED ON PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATION

Then finally, during the period of Alexander and his successors, the Jews came into close contact with a doctrine of Innate Immortality of the soul and future eternal retribution based not on a professed revelation but on philosophical speculation, or reasoning. CFF1 644.2

This involved the concept of pre-existence and transmigration of souls, based upon the premise of the soul’s alleged divine, immortal, and eternal nature—as a kind of self-existent, eternal deity. These positions were developed by Plato, and repeated by Cicero as derived from Plato—for the philosophical systems of the Greeks and Romans were substantially the same. This third period extended until the time of Christ. CFF1 644.3

4. ANTIOCHUS SEEKS TO REPLACE JEWISH USAGES WITH GRECIAN

The age of the Maccabees forms part of this third period, and completed the great circuit of exposure to foreign influences upon the Jewish mind. This Maccabean age began with a period of intense religious persecution of the Jews under Antiochus Epiphanes. It was an epoch of crisis, as Antiochus undertook the eradication of the religious teachings and practices of the Jews, and their replacement with those of Greece. CFF1 644.4

As we have seen, Antiochus captured Jerusalem, plundered the Temple, massacred the people, superimposed the altar of Jupiter upon that of Jehovah, and defiled the Temple by sacrifices of swine’s flesh. He sought to destroy the Law of Moses by invoking the death penalty upon those possessing copies, and prohibiting the Temple services, as well as the keeping of the Sabbath and circumcision. The heroic stand of Judas Maccabees and his brothers in behalf of the Jewish faith is one of the classics of religious history. Their wars were based upon deep religious convictions. CFF1 645.1

5. APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS EMERGE DURING MACCABEAN PERIOD

It was following such cruel circumstances, during the two centuries just prior to the Christian Era, that the earliest non-Biblical declarations of the Jews on human destiny began to appear—after, be it noted, the establishment of the kingdom of the Maccabees. It was during this period that the two leading concepts of future rewards and retributions began to come into focus, one of which had not been held, prior to this, by the Jews. And it also began to be espoused by the Christian Church from the second century of the Christian Era onward. CFF1 645.2

These two major positions were: (1) The older concept of the eternal blessedness of the righteous through bestowed immortality, along with the ultimate destruction of the wicked; and then (2) the new concept of the eternal blessedness of the innately immortal righteous and the Eternal Torment of the immortal wicked. And to these must be added a third position that came in to a limited degree—the eternal blessedness of the innately immortal righteous and the final restoration of the indefeasibly immortal wicked, after limited remedial Punishment. CFF1 645.3

All three positions came to be held and defended by some among the Jews by the time of Christ’s public ministry. And all three views came to be embraced among the early Christians by the middle of the third century A.D. And the Jewish views had a marked bearing upon their Christian espousal. CFF1 645.4

Picture 4: Alexander the Great:
Alexander’s Goal Was That the Glories of Greece Should Ultimately Infuse All Civilizations and Cultures.
Page 646

6. PAGAN DUALISM MAKES ITS IMPRESS

In this connection, one further factor should not be overlooked—that for centuries before Christ the dualistic thesis of two eternal, self-existent powers, or gods—one good and the other evil, and each creating its own system—was persistently promulgated. This point is vital, for it logically involves the contention of the eternal duration of evil, as well as of good—in other words, the Eternal Torment of the immortally wicked. (Some, however, held that good was in the ultimate to be victorious.) CFF1 646.1

The Jews were made aware of this dualistic concept, which originated in Persia and first affected the North African group. Later it touched the Christians and made its impress upon the Christian followers of Tertullian of Carthage—likewise in North Africa. The third position was sponsored by Origen of Alexandria and his Restorationist followers. This places the threefold picture before us. These three schools will all be noted in due course. CFF1 646.2

Next let us note Alexandria, focal point for the new developments. CFF1 647.1