Between Mortality and New Creation

ARTICLE GUIDE

At a Glance

An exegetical and philosophical defense of a conscious intermediate state that preserves personal identity while keeping bodily resurrection and renewed creation central to Christian hope.

What happens between physical death and bodily resurrection?

The essay compares physicalism, soul sleep, immediate resurrection, and holistic substance dualism. Drawing on Farris, Cooper, Imes, and Kaiser, it argues that the person’s temporary existence apart from the body must be understood within a larger hope of embodied new creation.

Key Claims

• The essay distinguishes a temporary intermediate state from the final goal of resurrection.
• A holistic account affirms the unity of the living person while allowing survival beyond bodily death.
• The replica problem tests whether extinction and re-creation adequately preserve numerical personal identity.
• Presence-with-Christ passages are evaluated alongside alternative interpretations.
• Human dignity rests on being God’s image rather than on a changing level of cognitive ability.
• The promise-plan culminates in renewed creation and royal-priestly vocation rather than escape from material existence.

Primary Textual Anchors

• Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7 — creation, embodied life, and death.
• 2 Corinthians 5:1–10; Philippians 1:20–23 — bodily hope and presence with Christ.
• Luke 23:43; Revelation 6:9–11 — texts central to the intermediate-state debate.
• Revelation 21–22 — resurrection hope within renewed creation.
• Romans 11:17–29 — the essay’s non-supersessionist covenantal frame.

Scripture Connections

Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7 — creation, embodied life, and death. 2 Corinthians 5:1–10; Philippians 1:20–23 — bodily hope and presence with Christ. Luke 23:43; Revelation 6:9–11 — texts central to the intermediate-state debate. Revelation 21–22 — resurrection hope within renewed creation. Romans 11:17–29 — the essay’s non-supersessionist covenantal frame.

Selected Scholarship

• Joshua R. Farris — An Introduction to Theological Anthropology (2020), especially chapter 9.
• John W. Cooper — Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting (2000).
• Carmen Joy Imes — Being God’s Image (2023).
• Walter C. Kaiser Jr. — The Promise-Plan of God (2008).

Related Guides

• Beyond the Threshold of Mortality
• The Case for the Immaterial Soul

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