The Soul Does Not Sleep in Death

The theory that the individual is unconscious between death and resurrection is sometimes called soul sleep, because of the outward similarity be­tween physical death and sleep, and because the Bible speaks of the departed as asleep.

The argument for unconsciousness in death was long based largely on the former premise, since men are apparently unconscious when they sleep, but this has been practically disproven and few now deny that in sleep men are simply conscious in another way.

At any rate, the Scriptures which describe death as sleep refer to the body, not to the "inner man."

Dan. 12:2 speaks of "them that sleep in the dust of the earth." In Matt. 27:52 we read that "many bodies of the saints which slept arose." Stephen prayed: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" and then "fell asleep" and devout men carried him (i.e., his body) to his burial (Acts 7:59,60; 8:2). Thus too, "David . . . fell asleep . . . and saw corruption" (Acts 13:36).

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