Prior to Resurrection — Biblical Evidence for Dualism and the Intermediate State
| Verse | Text | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Revelation 6:9-11 | When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (ESV) | The martyrs are clearly conscious, aware of earthly events, able to speak coherently, and experiencing emotion. God answers their question and tells them to ‘rest a little longer.’ This explicitly demonstrates conscious, communicative existence before the resurrection. |
| Luke 23:42-43 | Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’ (NIV) | Jesus promises the thief immediate (same-day) conscious presence with Him. Jesus himself—the model of what happens at death—commits His spirit to the Father and moves immediately into conscious existence with God, contradicting any notion of unconsciousness at death. |
| Luke 16:19-31 | The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side…he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me…’ (NIV) | Both Lazarus and the rich man are depicted as conscious, aware of their locations, capable of seeing, speaking, and reasoning. The rich man understands his situation, remembers his family on earth, and holds a conversation with Abraham. This describes the intermediate state before resurrection. |
| 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 | For we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (ESV) | Paul clearly states that to be ‘away from the body’ is to be simultaneously ‘at home with the Lord’—conscious presence. He indicates this is his preference, which would make no sense if he expected to be unconscious. He anticipates conscious fellowship with Christ in a disembodied state. |
| Philippians 1:21-24 | For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. (NIV) | Paul expresses his longing to depart and be with Christ as ‘far better.’ This language presupposes conscious awareness and experience in the intermediate state. No one would call an unconscious, unaware state ‘far better.’ |
| Acts 7:54-59 | But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God…As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ (ESV) | Stephen demonstrates conscious awareness at the moment of death, able to see visions from heaven and speak coherently. His final prayer commits his spirit to Jesus, demonstrating that something (his spirit) departs to be with Christ at death. |
| Matthew 17:1-8 | Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him…When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. (ESV) | Moses (who died about 1400 years earlier) and Elijah appear and speak with Jesus—before their resurrection. This demonstrates that the physically dead exist in a conscious state capable of communication, appearance, and recognition, prior to the resurrection event. |
| Hebrews 12:22-24 | But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. (NIV) | The writer uses present tense (‘you have come to’) when addressing believers, indicating access to these ‘spirits of righteous men made perfect.’ These are departed saints who have been made perfect through Christ—clearly existing in a perfected, conscious state awaiting the resurrection. |
| 1 Peter 3:18 | For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (NIV) | The explicit distinction between being ‘put to death in the body’ while being ‘made alive in the Spirit’ demonstrates the dualist principle that a person can be dead in body yet alive in spirit. This describes the state into which all believers enter at death. |
| 1 Samuel 28:11-15 | The woman asked, ‘Whom shall I bring up for you?’ ‘Bring up Samuel,’ he said…Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?’ (NIV) | Though mediumship is condemned, the text presents Samuel’s spirit as conscious, aware, displeased at being disturbed, and capable of providing information. The existence of the consciousness demonstrated here—even in a prohibited context—evidences the reality of conscious spirits of the dead. |
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