Man is created mortal and does not possess an immortal soul; immortality is a gift of God added from outside, given only to believers at the resurrection. Paul says the mortal "must put on immortality" (I Corinthians 15:53-54) and that Christ alone has immortality (I Timothy 6:16). All humans die and return to dust as the beasts do (Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:19-20). The human spirit gives understanding, but it holds no life or sentience of its own, and at death it returns to God for safekeeping (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Scripture calls the dead "asleep," and Jesus said plainly that Lazarus was dead, not in heaven. David is still in his grave (Acts 2:29, 34). Immortality comes in God's order through resurrections. The first resurrection, at Christ's return, raises the saints to spiritual, immortal life to reign with Him a thousand years. The second resurrection raises the rest of the dead, who never had an opportunity to understand, to physical life and a period of judgment in which they may accept salvation. A third resurrection awaits those who knowingly reject God's way; they suffer the second death, an irrevocable end rather than eternal torment. The only voice in Scripture implying natural immortality is the serpent's lie, "You will not surely die." God barred Adam from the Tree of Life so that man would not live forever in sin. Eternal life comes through God's Spirit, the guarantee of the inheritance, and is the gift of God in Christ (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 1:13-14).

Humans do not have an immortal soul; they are souls. The Hebrew nephesh and Greek psuche mean a living, breathing being, the life God gave when He breathed into Adam's nostrils. The spirit in man (ruach, pneuma) is the mind, giving understanding, reason, and a point of contact with God. Neither is inherently immortal. The doctrine of an immortal soul comes from Plato and Greek philosophy, not Scripture, and it passed into the world's Christianity through the Roman Catholic Church. Necromancy laws, sheol (simply the grave), and the translations of Enoch and Elijah do not prove it. God told Adam he would surely die, and "the soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). All have sinned, and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), so everyone dies, even Christ. At death the spirit returns to God (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59), who keeps it as a record of character and memory until the resurrection. Without life joined to it, however, the spirit is not itself immortal. Jesus warned that God can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Immortality must be "put on" (1 Corinthians 15:53), and those who seek it receive it (Romans 2:5-8). Only God "alone has immortality" (1 Timothy 6:16); eternal life is His gift through His Spirit, received at the resurrection in the Kingdom of God.

Humans do not possess an immortal soul at birth. That claim was the Serpent's first lie, "You shall not surely die," which led Adam and Eve to deify themselves and sin, and it has since become the cornerstone of pagan religion and has infiltrated the church through Gnosticism. Scripture teaches that God alone has immortality (I Timothy 6:16), that "the soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4), and that the wages of sin is death, which is nothingness: no awareness, relationships, or hope. Death is therefore not a friend, as Socrates believed, but Satan's tool and the last enemy to be destroyed. Jesus feared death, wept in Gethsemane, and dreaded being forsaken by the Father. He had no inherent immortality, and He truly died. Because He did, His resurrection was a new act of divine creation that restored the whole person, and He is the first of the firstfruits. Immortality is a gift from God, given at the resurrection to those who overcome sin and live by faith now. Whether anyone receives it is not yet determined. Believing in an already-possessed immortality undermines the fear of sin and the effort to overcome. Rejecting the resurrection also rejects the purpose of Christ's death. When "this mortal shall have put on immortality," death will be swallowed up in victory.