I Corinthians 15:51

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“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”

Does this passage teach that human beings possess immortal souls that sleep upon death—often referred to as “soul sleep”?

Ezekiel 18:4, Eze 18:20 state directly that souls can “die.” Notice that I Corinthians 15:51 does not say anything about souls. However, it is true that death is certainly like sleep, in that Christians awaken in the resurrection as though no time had passed since their last consciousness. Also notice I Thessalonians 4:15-16, which states that the dead rise first at Christ’s Return. “Sleeping” is also mentioned in this parallel chapter. Reference to sleep is an analogy, not a fact pertaining to supposed souls within people. In a host of verses, the plain Bible teaching is that the dead are dead.

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