The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

II. Immortality—Lost Through Sin; Restored Through Christ

Because of the key position held by Lactantius, we will cover his teaching rather systematically. CFF1 1034.3

1. GOD IS ETERNAL; MAN’S IMMORTALITY CONDITIONAL

References to the nature and destiny of man begin with book two, but climax in books six and seven. Chapter nine of book two, sets forth this principle: “God, therefore, is the only being who was not made; and therefore He can destroy other things, but He Himself cannot be destroyed.” ³ CFF1 1034.4

That, of course, is in contrast to man. But the Epicureans, Lactantius interjects, do “not admit that the world was made by God.” ⁴ Then is introduced an odd expression—a hang-over of pagan concepts: CFF1 1034.5

“For we, being a heavenly and immortal race, make use of fire, which is given to us as a proof of immortality, since fire is of heaven; ... the principle of life.” ⁵ CFF1 1034.6

Chapter thirteen differentiates between the “first” and “second” deaths, and discusses the fall of “our first parents.” Man, says Lactantius— CFF1 1035.1

“consists of soul and body, that is, as it were, of heaven and earth: since the soul by which we live, has its origin, as it were, out of heaven from God, the body out of the earth, of the dust of which we have said that it [man] was formed.” ⁶ CFF1 1035.2

Lactantius agrees in part with Trismegistus that— CFF1 1035.3

“if the soul, which has its origin from God, gains the mastery, it is immortal, and lives in perpetual light; if, on the other hand, the body shall overpower the soul, and subject it to its dominion, it is in everlasting darkness and death. And the force of this is not that it altogether annihilates [“extinguishes,” note 6] the souls of the unrighteous, but subjects them to everlasting punishment.” ⁷ CFF1 1035.4

The curious closing expression is developed elsewhere. CFF1 1035.5

2. NATURE OF “FIRST” AND “SECOND” DEATHS

Referring to the “second” death, Lactantius explains that “we term that punishment the second death [for the wicked], which is itself perpetual, as also is immortality” (for the righteous). As to the “first” death he states, “Death is the dissolution of the nature of living beings,” or “the separation of body and soul.” Lactantius then defines the “second” death as “the condemnation of souls for deserts to eternal punishments,” which term he later explains. The soul, he adds, “ought to rise to the immortality which is in heaven.” ⁸ CFF1 1035.6

3. ADAM EXPELLED FROM EDEN AND IMMORTALITY

From this Lactantius leads back to primeval man, placed in “paradise” to “devote himself entirely to the service of God his Father.” God gave man “fixed commands, by the observance of which he might continue immortal: or if he transgressed them, be punished with death”—if he tasted not of the forbidden tree. But the “accuser” applied his “deceits and artifices to beguile [“overthrow,” note 10] the man, that he might derive him of immortality.” CFF1 1035.7

Then, man having transgressed, “God drove out the man from the garden, having passed sentence upon the sinner.” Thus man was excluded from Paradise until the execution of the “last judgment,” when death will be removed, and the righteous be brought back to Paradise. ⁹ CFF1 1036.1

4. IMMORTALITY IS “REWARD” FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Book three deals at the outset with the “False Wisdom of Philosophers.” Lactantius here points out the weaknesses and fallacies of the conflicting schools. In chapter twelve, discussing “the object for which we are born,” and the enemies of the soul, Lactantius says that the “reward” for righteousness is the “continuation of its existence,” or “immortality,” which can “neither be corrupted nor destroyed.” ¹⁰ CFF1 1036.2

Then, in chapter thirteen (“The Immortality of the Soul”), Lactantius states: “On which subject there is great disputation among [pagan] philosophers; nor have they who held true opinions respecting the soul been able to explain or prove anything.” ¹¹ And the reason?—“Being destitute of divine knowledge [from inspired Scripture], they neither brought forward true arguments,” nor “evidence by which they might convince.” ¹² And he adds, both here and elsewhere, that this will be more fully dealt with in book seven—and thus considered later. CFF1 1036.3

5. CONFUSION AND IGNORANCE AMONG PHILOSOPHERS

Recognizing Plato (in chapter seventeen) as “king” among philosophers, Lactantius says of the contrary witness of another (evidently Epicurus, who left on record, “Death does not exist”); “How cleverly he has deceived us!” ¹³ And the Pythagoreans and Stoics say, “The soul survives after death,” but “migrates from one body to another,” and that it is not possible for the soul to “survive the body” unless it has “existed previously to the body.” ¹⁴ But, he adds, even Plato, championing “the immortality of the soul,” did not know “by whom, and how, and to whom ... and at what time, immortality is given.” ¹⁵ CFF1 1036.4

6. FALLACIOUS CONCEPTS OF CICERO

Cicero and other Roman writers “know nothing of the [revealed] truth,” nevertheless they reason: “If there is nothing after death, death is not an evil .... But if the soul survives, death is even an advantage; because immortality follows.” Thus they affirm that death brings in “a better state.” On this Lactantius observes, “But each conclusion is false,” for rewards and punishments assuredly follow. The wicked will not escape punishment. Such false reasoning, he adds, is “based on the assumption that every man at his birth is presented with immortality.” ¹⁶ CFF1 1037.1

And Lactantius castigates the notion that it makes no difference whether man is good or evil. The true concept, he assures us, comes through “possession of the truth.” ¹⁷ After death men are either translated to immortality or transferred to “everlasting [aionion] punishment.” And Lactantius proceeds to criticize Plato’s and Socrates’ joint views. CFF1 1037.2