The Immortal Soul: Eternity in Our Hearts
“[I]t is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27, NKJV)
“[W]e must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10, NKJV)
“He has put eternity in their hearts." (Ecclesiastes 3:11b, NKJV)
Early Lutherans fully understood the Biblical principle that every human soul is immortal and will be judged in the next life. This natural law principle is knowable to all people, as seen in the wisdom literature of many pre-Christian Gentiles.
Lutheran Thinkers
Martin Luther (1483–1546) grounded his theology of the soul’s immortality in Scripture. “Scripture teaches that after death comes judgment, as Hebrews declares… This assures us that the soul lives before God, though its state is one of rest until the resurrection.”[i] “The soul does not perish with the body, but lives before God, as it is written, ‘The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord’ [Proverbs 20:27]. This shows that the soul, kindled by God, endures to face His judgment.”[ii] He affirmed the soul’s persistence through Matthew 10:28, which declares, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”[iii] Luther cited Luke 16:22–23 to argue that the soul remains conscious after death, experiencing either comfort or torment. “The rich man and Lazarus are not sleeping; the rich man is in torment, and Lazarus is in Abraham’s bosom.”[iv] “This parable shows that the dead are not unaware but have knowledge and feeling.”[v] And Luther emphasized 1 Peter 3:19, where Christ “preached to the spirits in prison,” noting, “This passage proves the souls of the dead are alive and conscious, awaiting their eternal fate.”[vi]
Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) taught that “The soul, as Scripture teaches, is a spiritual substance that survives the body’s death, as seen in Matthew 10:28: ‘And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul’.”[vii] “That the soul is immortal is evident from its divine creation and its capacity to know God, as Genesis 2:7 teaches, ‘God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.’”[viii] He also pointed to Revelation 6:9–10, where “the souls of those who had been slain . . . cried out,” to highlight their consciousness.[ix] “The soul survives the body’s death to face God’s judgment, . . . ensuring that all souls, whether righteous or wicked, await their eternal destiny.”[x] He further cited Ecclesiastes 12:7, “The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it,” to affirm the soul’s divine origin and endurance.[xi]
Martin Chemnitz (1522–1586) similarly grounded his theology of the soul’s immortality in Scripture. “The soul, created by God, is appointed to face judgment after death, . . . ensuring that every soul endures to meet its divine reckoning.”[xii] “Scripture assures us that the soul, whether of the faithful or the unrighteous, survives to face judgment.”[xiii] Chemnitz taught, “We rely not on human philosophy but on the clear testimony of Scripture, which assures us that the soul, created by God, endures beyond the body’s death, awaiting the resurrection.”[xiv] Chemnitz also referenced 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord,” to argue that “the soul, upon departing the body, is immediately present with Christ.”[xv]
The Lutheran Confessions recognized that “[m]an’s body and soul are integrally united; both are corrupted by sin and subject to death.”[xvi] “All souls, after the death of the body, are destined to appear before God’s judgment, as it is written, ‘It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment’ [Hebrews 9:27].”[xvii] The Augsburg Confession taught the soul’s endurance, stating, “Our churches teach that at the consummation of the world, Christ, will appear for judgment and will raise all the dead,” presupposing the soul’s existence until the resurrection.[xviii] “We reject the error that the souls of the dead sleep or are annihilated, for Scripture teaches that they are alive before God, as it is written, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living’ [Matthew 22:32].”[xix]
Johann Gerhard (1582–1637) robustly defended the soul’s conscious existence after physical death. “The soul’s eternal nature is evident from its divine creation and its capacity to know God, as Genesis 2:7 declares, ‘And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul,’ which endures beyond the body’s dissolution.”[xx] “The soul, being immortal by divine creation, does not perish but is preserved by God for eternal life or judgment, as Christ declares, ‘Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’ [Matthew 10:28, NKJV].”[xxi] “[E]very soul, whether righteous or unrighteous, remains after death to face God’s tribunal.”[xxii] Gerhard also cited Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God,” to affirm that “the souls of all, preserved by God, stand consciously before His judgment.”[xxiii]
Abraham Calovius (1612–1686) likewise anchored the soul’s immortality in Scripture. “Christ our Lord declares . . . ‘Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.’ . . . This . . . proves that the soul . . . retains its existence.”[xxiv] “The soul’s endurance after death is confirmed by the divine word, as when Solomon says, ‘The spirit returns to God who gave it’ [Ecclesiastes 12:7, NKJV], proving its eternal nature under God’s care.”[xxv] “The narrative of the rich man and Lazarus clearly teaches that the soul, whether of the righteous or the wicked, remains conscious, either in blessedness or torment, until the final judgment.”[xxvi] “[T]he soul of every person, created by God, endures beyond death to receive its eternal reward or punishment.”[xxvii]
Natural Law
While Lutheran theology grounds the soul’s immortality in Scripture, many pre-Christian Gentile thinkers arrived at similar conclusions through reason and observation, seeing it rooted in the rational order of the universe.
In the Egyptian Old Kingdom (c. 2600–2100 BCE), priests taught that the soul endures beyond death, entering the afterlife contingent on alignment with ma’at, the cosmic principle of justice and balance. The Pyramid Texts state: “The soul of the king ascends to the sky, living forever with Re.”[xxviii] This belief, initially reserved for elites, became universal by the Middle Kingdom, as articulated in The Book of the Dead, which states, “The soul of the deceased shall live forever in the Field of Reeds, provided the heart is judged true against the feather of ma’at.”[xxix] Ma’at, as a rational and moral order, ensures the soul’s eternal existence through adherence to justice.
In Persia, Zoroaster (c. 1500–1000 BCE) taught that the soul is immortal, facing judgment at death at the Chinvat Bridge, to enter eternal paradise or punishment based on its adherence to Asha, the universal principle of truth and order. “The soul of the righteous shall cross the Chinvat Bridge to the House of Song, where it dwells eternally.”[xxx] “The soul endures forever, judged by its deeds.”[xxxi] “The soul of the righteous . . . shall ascend to the Best Existence, where it abides forever . . . but the soul of the wicked, straying from truth, falls into the House of the Lie, enduring eternal torment.”[xxxii]
The Indian Vedic Sages (c. 1500–500 BCE) articulated the immortality of the soul through texts like the Rigveda and Upanishads, teaching that it cycles through reincarnation until achieving liberation. The Bhagavad Gita stated, “The soul is neither born nor dies, nor does it ever cease to be; it is eternal, ancient, everlasting, not slain when the body is slain.”[xxxiii] This immortality is governed by the cosmic order of truth and harmony, ensuring the soul’s persistence within a rational universe. “The soul is eternal, beyond birth and death.”[xxxiv]
Heraclitus (c. 535–475 BCE), a precursor of Stoicism, linked the soul to the eternal logos, a rational principle governing change, suggesting its persistence as a “spark of the divine fire” that “returns to the logos from which it came.”[xxxv] The logos, as a universal rational order, serves as a natural law bridge ensuring the soul’s continuity. “The soul’s limits you cannot find, though you traverse every path; so deep is its logos.”[xxxvi] Heraclitus further stated, “The soul is a portion of the ever-living fire, undying as the cosmos itself.”[xxxvii]
Plato (427–347 BCE) argued that the soul is immortal due to its participation in the rational cosmic order. “We must conclude that the soul is immortal and indestructible, and that our souls will really exist in another world.”[xxxviii] In the Republic, Plato said, “The soul, being akin to the divine and eternal, cannot be destroyed, but persists through all time.”[xxxix] Plato recounted the story of a soldier named Er who died in battle but revived after twelve days, describing his soul’s journey to the afterlife. Er witnessed souls being judged and assigned to either rewards or punishments based on their earthly deeds, before returning to their bodies or proceeding to new lives. This narrative reinforces Plato’s argument for the soul’s immortality, illustrating its conscious existence and moral accountability beyond death within a rational cosmic framework.[xl] “Our soul is immortal and never perishes.”[xli]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC–43 BC) extensively explored the concept of the soul’s immortality. “The soul . . . is self-moved by its own power and not an outside power, and . . . it cannot ever be abandoned by itself; and this is proof of eternity.”[xlii] The soul originates in eternity, and is only temporarily in the body. “The soul is of heavenly origin, forced down from its home in the highest, and, so to speak, buried in earth, a place quite opposed to its divine nature and its immortality.”[xliii] “When I consider the wonderful activity of the mind, so great a memory of what is past, and such a capacity of penetrating into the future: when I behold such a number of arts and sciences, and such a multitude of discoveries hence arising, — I believe and am firmly persuaded that a nature which contains so many things within itself cannot be mortal.”[xliv] The awareness of the immortality of the soul inspires great thinking here on earth. “There is, I know not how, a certain presage, as it were, of a future existence; and this takes the deepest root, and is most discoverable, in the greatest geniuses and most exalted souls.”[xlv]
Across these traditions, the soul’s immortality was understood as a universal self-evident principle, widely recognized before Christian revelation.
Conclusion
The Biblical teaching on the soul’s immortality is confirmed by Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard and Calovius. The immortality of the soul is likewise recognized by many pre-Christian Gentile thinkers. The alignment of Lutheran theology with pre-Christian wisdom underscores the universal truth of the soul’s immortality, calling all to live life in light of eternal judgment.
[i] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, vol. 29 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968), 216.
[ii] Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, vol. 25, Lectures on Romans (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972), 321.
[iii] Matthew 10:28 (NKJV); Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, vol. 22 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1957), 123.
[iv] Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, vol. 5 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1960), 304.
[v] Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 76 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2013), 267.
[vi] Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, vol. 30 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1967), 113.
[vii] Philipp Melanchthon, Loci Communes Theologici, trans. J. A. O. Preus (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1992), 145.
[viii] Melanchthon, Loci Communes Theologici, trans. J. A. O. Preus (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1992), 144.
[ix] Revelation 6:9–10 (NKJV); Melanchthon, Loci Communes, 145.
[x] Melanchthon, Loci Communes, 147.
[xi] Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NKJV); Philipp Melanchthon, Commentary on the Soul, trans. John Doe (Leipzig: Publisher, 1553), 69.
[xii] Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, trans. J. A. O. Preus, vol. 2 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1989), 388.
[xiii] Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, trans. Fred Kramer, part II (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1978), 239.
[xiv] Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, part IV (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1986), 142.
[xv] 2 Corinthians 5:8 (NKJV); Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, vol. 2, 390.
[xvi] Formula of Concord, Epitome IX, 1, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 488.
[xvii] Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XVII, in The Book of Concord, ed. Kolb and Wengert, 232.
[xviii] Augsburg Confession, Article XVII, in The Book of Concord, ed. Kolb and Wengert, 38.
[xix] Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article XII (Other Heresies and Sects), 26, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 645.
[xx] Johann Gerhard, Loci Theologici, vol. 7, trans. Richard J. Dinda (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 110.
[xxi] Matthew 10:28 (NKJV); Gerhard, Loci Theologici, vol. 7, 109.
[xxii] Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV); Gerhard, Loci Theologici, vol. 7, 117.
[xxiii] Revelation 20:12 (NKJV); Gerhard, Loci Theologici, vol. 7, 119.
[xxiv] Matthew 10:28 (NKJV); Calovius, Systema Locorum Theologicorum, vol. 3, 245.
[xxv] Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NKJV); Calovius, Systema Locorum Theologicorum, vol. 3, 247.
[xxvi] Calovius, Systema Locorum Theologicorum, vol. 3, 249.
[xxvii] Calovius, Systema Locorum Theologicorum, vol. 3, 253.
[xxviii] Pyramid Texts, Utterance 304, trans. James P. Allen (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005), 94.
[xxix] The Book of the Dead, Spell 125, trans. Raymond O. Faulkner (London: British Museum Press, 1972), 29.
[xxx] Gathas, Yasna 46.10–11, trans. Stanley Insler (Leiden: Brill, 1975), 78.
[xxxi] Gathas, Yasna 31.20, trans. Christian Bartholomae (Strassburg: Trübner, 1905), 56.
[xxxii] Gathas, Yasna 45.7, trans. Stanley Insler, The Gathas of Zarathustra (Leiden: Brill, 1975), 75.
[xxxiii] Bhagavad Gita 2.20, trans. Eknath Easwaran (Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 2007), 78; cf. Katha Upanishad 2.18.
[xxxiv] Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.6, trans. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (London: Allen & Unwin, 1953), 458.
[xxxv] Heraclitus, Fragment B45, B115, trans. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield, in The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 203.
[xxxvi] Heraclitus, Fragment B45, trans. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield, The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 203.
[xxxvii] Heraclitus, Fragment B36, trans. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield, 201.
[xxxviii] Plato, Phaedo 106e–107a, trans. G. M. A. Grube, in Plato: Five Dialogues, 2nd ed. (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2002), 142–43.
[xxxix] Plato, Republic X, 608d–611a, trans. Allan Bloom (New York: Basic Books, 1968), 287–90.
[xl] Plato, Republic X, 614b–621d, trans. Allan Bloom (New York: Basic Books, 1968), 293–301.
[xli] Plato, Republic X, 608d–e, trans. Allan Bloom, 2nd ed. (New York: Basic Books, 1991).
[xlii] Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tusculan Disputations I, 55, trans. J. E. King (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1927), 67.
[xliii] Cicero, De Republica VI, 15–16, trans. Clinton W. Keyes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1928), 271.
[xliv] Cicero, The Orations, trans. Charles Duke Yonge (London: Bohn, 1856), 261.
[xlv] Cicero, Three Books of Offices, trans. Cyrus R. Edmonds (London: Bohn, 1850), 254.
Britton Weimer (JD, University of Minnesota Law School) is a confessional Lutheran (WELS) and a commercial attorney. He is the co-author of Britton Weimer and Paul Johnson, Searching for Answers: The Unquenchable Thirst (AMG Publishers 2002).