Soul sleep” is the perspective held by some that according to the Bible, the soul (or spirit) of every dead person is unconscious or “sleeps” until the resurrection. Those who hold this view maintain that the repeated use of the word sleep for the dead supports this belief. For example, Jesus said of Lazarus who had died in Bethany, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up” (John 11:11).
It is true that many passages in the Bible speak of death as “sleep” (e.g., Dan. 12:2; Matt. 9:24; 1 Thess. 4:13–16). Like Jesus, Paul also spoke of death as sleep. “Listen,” he said. “I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51). He was explaining how believers who are alive at the final return of Jesus will not die (“sleep”) and their bodies decay, but will be immediately transformed by a resurrection at Christ’s return. Resurrection raises a dead body back to life; resurrection does not awaken the soul, which is still living after death.
However, passages about death as “sleep” must be read in light of many other clear passages that show that people are not asleep or unconscious after death. The Bible describes death as “sleep” because this is how we on earth see a person’s dead body. We ourselves often use the language of appearance, such as when we say things like “the sun is rising.”
The deceased lie motionless like someone who is asleep. It is the body that is asleep, not the soul. In Luke 16:19–31, Jesus told a story of a certain poor man named Lazarus, an unnamed rich man, and Abraham, all of whom he described as fully conscious after death. They were able to see, talk, and remember the past, and were fully aware of their surroundings (see this story also in questions #3 and #34).
On the cross, Jesus told one of the criminals who was crucified with him and had expressed faith, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). But what comfort is a promise of paradise if we are unconscious there? Some religious groups reword this, saying, “Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.” But why would Jesus have to explain to the criminal that he was speaking “today”? What other day would he be speaking?
In another incident in the life of Jesus, he took up on a high mountain three of his trusted disciples—Peter, James, and John. There Jesus was transformed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothing became a brilliant white. Then both Moses and Elijah, dead for hundreds of years, appeared to all of them on the mountain. The disciples saw these two great prophets of the Old Testament consciously speaking with Jesus (Matt. 17:1–8). This certainly wasn’t soul sleep.
Paul wrote to a church he founded in Philippi, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Phil. 1:23–24). If Paul was speaking of soul sleep, he would not have viewed it as “far better.” Why would he have wanted to exchange a life of conscious communion with his Lord on earth for an unconscious sleep of his soul in death? The latter would have no conscious communion with Jesus.
His desire to consciously be with Jesus after death is also reflected in other comments he makes. “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). Again, Paul would not prefer an unconscious “fellowship” with Jesus in heaven over a conscious fellowship with Jesus in the body. A fellowship that is unconscious is really no fellowship at all.
Revelation is filled with scenes that the apostle John saw in a vision of heaven. In every description, disembodied souls in heaven are conscious. For example, in Revelation 6:9–10, John saw “the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God” and they cried out, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you . . . avenge our blood?” This hardly sounds like soul sleep.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
Psalm 73:24–26; Luke 20:34–38; 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:1–10; 12:2–4; Hebrews 12:22–24; Revelation 6:9–11