The state or quality of not being subject to death; from the Gr . athanasia , “deathlessness,” and aphtharsia , “incorruptibility.” Seventh-day Adventists believe that human beings are mortal, that is, that they are subject to death, and that death is a state of complete unconsciousness ( see Death ). “Immortality” occurs five times in the KJV and the RSV . “Immortal” ( Gr . aphthartos ) occurs once in the KJV and twice in the RSV . The Scriptures ascribe immortality to God alone ( 1 Tim. 6:16 ). He alone is declared to be immortal ( Rom. 1:23 , RSV ; 1 Tim. 1:17 ). The Christian seeks immortality ( Rom. 2:7 ), which Christ brought to light “through the gospel”( 2 Tim. 1:10 ), and which the believer is to “put on” at the “last trump” ( 1 Cor. 15:52–54 ). The Scriptures nowhere describe immortality as a quality or state that a man or woman—or his or her “soul” or “spirit”—possesses inherently. The terms usually rendered “soul” and “spirit” ( Heb . nephesh and ruÆach ; Gr . psucheµ and pneuma ) in the Bible occur more than 1,600 times, but never in association with the words “immortal” or “immortality.”
The doctrine that immortality is dependent upon acceptance of salvation by faith in Christ is called conditional immortality, and the belief in that doctrine is sometimes called “conditionalism.” Many Christians throughout the centuries have held this view (see SB Nos. 850–856 ).
The idea that a person has an immortal soul, or spirit, was introduced into the Christian church by pagan philosophy, especially Platonic philosophy. As Greek philosophy infiltrated the early church, belief in the immortality of the soul became the prevailing view in Christendom and continues to be the predominant view today.
The vast majority of the followers of William Miller held the common belief that man by nature has an immortal soul. However, through the influence of George Storrs, a prominent Millerite preacher, a significant minority accepted conditionalism along with the belief that a person is unconscious between death and the resurrection, and these beliefs became a prominent feature of the SDA bodies after 1844. Many of them reasoned that if human beings went to their reward at death, there would be no need for a second coming, a resurrection, or a final judgment. See Death ; Eternal Life .