Does The Bible Support Conditional Immortality?
Q: Is there any biblical merit to conditional immortality, the idea that the unsaved are not naturally immortal but only believers receive eternal life?
A: Conditional immortality is related to annihilationism, the idea that unsaved people cease to exist when they die, and that there is no eternal conscious torment in hell. They would argue that the unsaved simply don’t exist, while God reserves resurrection for the righteous. Their argument is that immortality is conditioned upon being in right relationship with God, therefore eternal death is annihilation.
I think that a person can hold the position of conditional immortality sincerely but mistakenly. There are many passages which refute the idea of conditional immortality. But the most obvious one is the passage where Jesus spoke of the resurrection of the life and the resurrection of condemnation:
John 5:28-29 – Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Paul also spoke about the resurrection of the just and the unjust:
Acts 24:15 –I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
There will be a resurrection of the unjust. Jesus said so. People have a way of trying to finesse their way out of clear statements in Scripture. But to me, that’s clear enough and given to us by Jesus.
Some people believe in conditional immortality, meaning they think that the wicked will never even be resurrected; they believe the wicked will just perish. Other people think that there is a hell for conscious torment, but that it’s not eternal. Their view is the unbelievers exist in time for hell, but then they perish. So, there are different forms of annihilationism. Some otherwise good theologians, like John Stott, believed in annihilationism, but I just don’t think it’s it holds water biblically. For further reading, I would recommend my book on this topic. Hell, Heaven and Earth: Hell, Heaven, and Their Impact on the Here and Now by David Guzik.