The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

I. New College’s Simpson-Man “Immort-able” Not Innately Immortal

Inasmuch as several whom we have surveyed have cited the late Dr. JAMES Y. SIMPSON, ¹ professor of natural science at New College, Edinburgh, as having influenced them to adopt Conditionalism, let us pause long enough to examine certain key excerpts from his Man and the Attainment of Immortality, first issued in 1922. In his chapter thirteen (“The Scriptural Doctrine of Immortality”) of this predominantly scientific work, published when evolutionism was running strong, in discussing the popular claim of the “continuity of personal existence,” Simpson astutely asks whether man is not “immortable rather than immortal, and can only realize his true destiny as he fulfils his place in the moral order?” ² In answering, Simpson explicitly states that there is “no suggestion in the Old Testament that man was created immortal,” with a continuing life “independent of God.” ³ He contends, instead, that “immortality” is a “result” of “correspondence with God.” Thus: CFF2 957.1

“Immortality then, in the Old Testament sense, is morally conditioned. ‘The essential thing is the relation of men to God. This contains in it the fate of men.’” ⁴ CFF2 957.2

Simpson adds pointedly that CFF2 957.3

“to speak of ‘a doctrine of immortality’ in connection with an existence in which there is neither remembrance of God, nor of former things, seems like playing with words.” ⁵ CFF2 957.4

Simpson refers to the resurrection, portrayed in Daniel 12:2, as “a selective resurrection of the good and of the evil.” And he refers to the “destiny of the wicked” with the expression that ultimately “they simply cease to be.” ⁶ CFF2 957.5

1. “IMMORTAL SOUL” NEITHER BIBLICAL PHRASE NOR CONCEPT

Coming to the New Testament teachings of Christ, Simpson declares similarly that “there is nowhere any unequivocal suggestion in His teaching of the inherent immortality of the soul.” ⁷ And he adds, without qualification, that the term “immortality of the soul” “is not a Biblical phrase: It is not even a Biblical conception.” ⁸ Then, in speaking of the “strength” of the “Conditionalist position,” Simpson says plainly: CFF2 958.1

Picture 1: Dr. James Y. Simson, Frederic W. A. Korff, Frank W. Sceats
Left: Dr. James Y. Simson (d. 1934), of New College, Edinburg—man “immort-able” not innately immortal. Center: Frederic W. A. Korff (d. 1942), of University of Amsterdam—innatism alien to Bible. Right: Frank W. Sceats, editor, Words of life—veteran champion of Conditionalism.
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“The idea that such a great thing as immortality can be a merely contingent and accidental quality is surely out of the question.” ⁹ CFF2 958.2

On the point that men are “immortable-potentially immortal,” through “moral relationship to God,” he adds trenchantly: “Those who are in this relationship cannot really die: those who are not, do die, if there is any truth in the Bible.” ¹⁰ CFF2 958.3

2. UNIVERSALISM BELITTLES FATEFULNESS OF LIFE

Simpson dismisses the contentions of “Universalism” with this incisive statement: CFF2 958.4

“Nothing so robs life of its tremendous seriousness and meaning, reducing it to the level of a marionette-show, and belittling man’s fateful capacity to choose life or death, as the amiable outlook of Universalism.” ¹¹ CFF2 959.1

He also notes Paul’s contention that God alone has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16), ¹² and repeats the principle that “eternal life is the natural result of a vital relationship with God, or with God through Jesus Christ.” ¹³ 1g Further, if we flaunt these principles, “in the end” we may have “destroyed ourselves.” ¹⁴ Such are some of the typical Simpson expressions that obviously have influenced others. Let us go next to two Dutch Reformed clerics in the Netherlands. CFF2 959.2