We have many who believe the spirit that God breathed into man is a immortal or the immaterial part of man which was designed to live eternally. And they use text such as.,,
Genesis 6:3
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
God is saying "MY Spirit" -- This is referring to the Holy Spirit that was seeking to call people back to God. The Holy Spirit will not always strive with people.
"His days shall be 120 years"-- People, in Noah's day, had a limited time left. This is referring to the time remaining to them before the flood. Noah preached 120 years that the world would be destroyed by a flood.
Note the context in a following verse:
Genesis 6:5 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth" Ellen White agrees with that meaning:
-God determined to purify the world by a flood; but in mercy and love He gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years. During this time, while the ark was building, the voices of Noah, Methuselah, and many others were heard in warning and entreaty, and every blow struck on the ark was a warning message (RH Sept. 19, 1907).
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
At death the body (and the brain) decays and returns to dust.
What is the spirit? It is the living life force in a living person. It is also the sum total of the person's character. It can't live without the body. Each person's character the Lord preserves of everyone who has died. At the resurrection it will be restored when the person is made alive again. They will be the same person, with a new body but with the same character when they are given life again.
There is NOTHING in scripture to say mankind has some immortal living property that goes on living when they are dead. The bible is clear -- they are mortal. Only after the resurrection will the righteous be given immortality.
1 Cor. 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Job 4:17 Shall mortal man be more just than God.
Only God is immortal
1 Timothy 6:15-16 the only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: And who do we believe:
God said: "
you eat of the tree of good and evil and you will SURELY die.Satan, that old serpent says:
"You won't SURELY die" you'll advance to higher levels.
Acts 7:59
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
So how would one explain what is meant by this.
It's the trust in God that we will be resurrected, we (the very person whom we are) will live again -- It's acknowledging that even though death will take away our life force and all our thoughts perish and we will soon be forgotten, yet every detail of our character is received into God's care, and will be restored to us in new bodies at the resurrected.
