In his book, Surprised By Hope, N. T. Wright shares a vision of the life to come that is more expansive, more dramatic, and more biblical than the common belief of immortal souls ascending to heaven.
“What Paul is asking us to imagine is that there will be a new mode of physicality, which stands in relation to our present body as our present body does to a ghost. It will be as much more real, more firmed up, more bodily, than our present body as our present body is more substantial, more touchable, than a disembodied spirit. We sometimes speak of someone who’s been very ill as being a shadow of their former self. If Paul is right, a Christian in the present life is a mere shadow of his or her future self, the self that person will be when the body that God has waiting in his heavenly storeroom is brought out, already made to measure, and put on over the present one—or over the self that will still exist after bodily death.” [1]
The Bible doesn’t teach that we have immortal souls (despite the impression given by some rather excellent hymns by Charles Wesley). Instead, it teaches that the core of who we are (what you could call our “souls”) dwells in paradise with God until we receive new, everlasting, Holy Spirit-powered, resurrected bodies that will not wear out or grow weary.
If that sounds confusing, please know that I’ll do my best to explain it in my sermon this coming Sunday. I’ll also try to explain why it makes a tremendous difference in how we perceive ourselves, the world, and our role in it.
[1] N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: Harper Collins, 2008), 154. Kindle Edition.
