I don't know how the soul could ever be considered as "separate" from the body during its mortal existence. What I do know is based on observation: A corpse is clearly no longer a living body. Something has "gone out of it." And that something seems to be the difference between a living person and a dead body. Whatever that "something" is, its "departure" places the physical body fully and irreversibly under the control of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
Or am I observing an "illusion?"
A wise man once said, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." I do not know what form the resurrection takes, although our tradition tells us that it is resurrection in the form of a "glorified" body. If so, I really don't see why a soul "separated" at death cannot in principle be "reconnected" to a glorified body when resurrection takes place. God alone knows these details. To me, it is not the manner or the form the resurrection takes that is important, but that it does take place. Jesus Christ Himself is our proof that this is so.
Of course there is ambiguity in the New Testament on this issue. As Francis Schaeffer put it, "God tells us truthfully, but not exhaustively." Which is to say that we do not fully know what God knows, nor can we. Ever.
I sense — perhaps incorrectly — that you believe the Christian doctrine of soul was distorted by the absorption of Greek thought into Christian theology, and that the only true doctrine of soul was pretty much buried by these "super-added" materials after the first or second century A.D. That is, only the very Early Church was the "authentic" church, and everything since is a distortion or deformation of authentic Christian belief and practice.
To pursue that line of thinking, however, would probably sink us into long-standing doctrinal disputes existing between the Roman Church and the various denominations of Reformed Church. I am not the least interested in engaging in any such dispute. Of all things, I pray God to heal the divisions of the holy Body of Christ, to stop Christians from "quarreling" with one another, so we can stand together to face our common Enemy — who loves us to be engaged in such "disputes." They only prove that we have turned our faces away from our Lord....
As for myself, I just believe that Saint Justin Martyr was right: The Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the fulfillment, not only of the Patriarchs and Prophets of Judaism, but also of classical Greek philosophy.
Just some thoughts, dear ModelBreaker. FWIW. Thank you ever so much for your deeply sensitive and moving essay/post!
“That is, only the very Early Church was the “authentic” church, and everything since is a distortion or deformation of authentic Christian belief and practice.”
Well, not the very early Church per se—there were a lot of strange notions developed in the early church. And you can see much effort by Paul in the Epistles to get them straightened out. I meant Jesus Christ and the Apostles. I’m not a sola scriptura guy simply because the Holy Spirit is given to us. OTOH, John is really clear at the end of Revelation about what he thinks about adding to and subtracting from scripture. So I do believe that scripture is the number-one-with-a-bullet standard against which to judge doctrine. That keeps us from mistaking the Holy Spirit for our own ideas.
When we read scripture, we have to read it from the perspective of the authors, who were all second temple Jews and used words and ideas in that context. Especially Paul, Luke and James, who were fervent, observant and highly educated Jews. E.g., Paul spoke the language and thought the ideas of the Pharisees because he was a high-ranking Pharisee. Neither Paul nor the Pharisees (nor the Saducees) were very clear (or appeared to be very interested) in what happened between death and our rebirth with our resurrection bodies. (In fact, we have almost no information about what Jesus did between the crucifixion and the resurrection.)
The idea of a soul that goes down into the body at birth and then flits off at death is a Greek notion that was quite alien to second temple Jews. Those were not ideas the Apostles grew up with and we should be very careful about reading them into their words unless they are very clear about it.
So at least in our household, when my son asks what happens after we die, I tell him that eventually we are going to get wonderful resurrection bodies and live for eternity in the New Earth. On that, I think all Christian denominations should agree. But what happens between death and then is not at all clear.
It may be there is some conscious continuity between death and our resurrection. As you say, something leaves the body at death. And certainly the martyrs demanding justice before the throne suggests that there is continued consciousness at least for some of us. But whether we regain consciousness before our resurrection is not a question God chose to answer. “I don’t know” is a perfectly OK answer and I’m always suspicious about filling in big blank spaces like that with human doctrine.
Thanks for your response. I didn’t mean to write this much. That’s just how it came out.
BTW, it’s nice to communicate with someone who can use Martyr correctly as a proper noun and even quote him!
THANKS FOR YOUR PINGS AND FINE POSTS on this thread.
snip: We are our bodies and the bodies are God’s creation. Jesus resurrection and our later resurrections will be bodily resurrections but “glorified.” God created our bodies and who we are. I don’t see why the notion of a separate soul is necessary for the Creator to resurrect us.
Spirited: It is not that the soul/spirit is separate from the material body but rather that it is fully embedded within it. Death means the separation of the soul from the body until all matter (ie., bodies, earth, cosmos) is made “new” at the end of this final age.
The Gnostics hate matter while today’s Nihilists hate soul/spirit. God the Father created both, and further commanded that man is not to sunder what He has united.