The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

V. Disciples’ Robinson-“Bodiless Existence” of Greek Innatism Invalid

Prof. WILLIAM ROBINSON, ⁵⁵ of the Department of Theology and Christian Doctrine of the Disciples of Christ Butler University, likewise distinguishes sharply between the Greek “immortality of the soul” thesis and the Christian view of “resurrection.” It is through resurrection that there is “continuance” of personality. There is no “bodiless existence.” Robinson also rejects Spiritualism’s contentions. Thus: CFF2 900.2

“We go on to ask what the symbol of the general resurrection upholds as part of the Christian faith. First, it makes clear the difference between the Greek notion of immortality of the soul and the Christian view of death. The Christian view does not point to the gruesome doctrine of the resurrection of this physical integument. That is denied by Paul most clearly, especially when he says that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.’ The Christian view of death does affirm the continuance of real personality. Second, the symbol of the general resurrection preserves reverence for the body even after death.” ⁵⁶ CFF2 900.3

1. NO WARRANT FOR A “BODILESS EXISTENCE.”

The dead are not simply “absorbed into the Eternal.” Nor are the “spooks” of Spiritualism valid:
“The spiritual body will have some relationship to the physical body in which our personality moves, just as our Lord’s resurrection body had a real relationship to his physical body, for he was ‘the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ We may put the matter in a paradox: the body which was placed in the tomb was the body which left the tomb, though it was not the same body. It makes clear that in death the Christian is not just absorbed into the Eternal.... The general resurrection assures us that we shall not depart to a bodiless existence: that death means life eternal and not a kind of pseudo-life which would be more intolerable than this life. The spooks which Spiritualism gives us are as unlike what Christianity offers as can be.” ⁵⁷ CFF2 901.1