The Intermediate State

Position

I hold that at death, the soul is immediately separated from the body and enters a conscious intermediate state, awaiting the resurrection of the body and the final judgment.

For the believer, this state is one of conscious blessedness in the presence of Christ. It is better than anything this life has to offer (Phil. 1:23), though it is not yet the fullness of glory that will come at the resurrection (2 Cor. 5:1–4). The believer who dies is "at home with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). There is no unconsciousness, no "soul sleep," no purgatorial refinement: simply the immediate presence of the one we loved and served in this life.

For the unbeliever, the intermediate state is one of conscious suffering and anticipation of final judgment. Luke 16:19–31 depicts the rich man in Hades as fully conscious: remembering, suffering, concerned for his brothers. This is not the final hell of Revelation 20; it is the preliminary holding state prior to resurrection and judgment.

Against soul sleep: The view that the soul enters unconscious sleep at death (held by some Anabaptist traditions and Seventh-day Adventists) cannot account for Paul's language in Philippians 1:23, where departure from this life and being with Christ are presented as equivalent, with no interval of unconsciousness implied. Nor can it account for the rich man's conscious suffering in Luke 16, or the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:9–11, who are crying out to God.

Against purgatory: The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory, a post-death state of purifying suffering for those who die in a state of grace but still bearing temporal penalties, has no biblical warrant. The one passage most commonly cited (1 Cor. 3:10–15) speaks of the testing of a believer's works at the judgment seat, not of a purifying suffering in a post-death intermediate state. The penal and purifying work of sanctification is completed at death; the saints "made perfect" are already in the presence of God (Heb. 12:23).

The relationship to the resurrection: It must be emphasized that the intermediate state is not the final state. Christianity is not a religion of disembodied, heavenly souls floating on clouds. The hope of the Christian is the resurrection of the body: a transformed, glorified, physical body, reunited with the soul, to dwell in a renewed creation (Rom. 8:18–23; 1 Cor. 15; Rev. 21–22). The intermediate state is a genuine, glorious rest with Christ, but the resurrection is better still.

Key Scripture

Paul treats death and presence with Christ as immediate equivalents. No sleep, no interval: departure is being with Christ.

Jesus promised the thief on the cross immediate, conscious presence. Not eventually, not after a sleep: today.

Martyred souls, conscious before the resurrection, crying out to God. Soul sleep cannot account for this.

Confession Reference

The 1689 LBC, Chapter 31: "The bodies of men after death return to dust and see corruption; but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day."

Resources

• Heaven by Randy Alcorn

  Extensive and biblical treatment of the intermediate state and the final resurrection state. Helpfully corrects the "ghost heaven" misunderstanding.

• Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright

  Excellent on the resurrection and its implications, even if Wright's broader theological project is debatable at points.

• Last Things First by John W. Keddie