“Into your Hands I commit my spirit.”
David’s statement of trust in the midst of trial was so spiritually significant that the Lord Jesus himself quoted it on the cross. Later, Stephen quoted the same text at the moment of his own death by martyrdom. What does it mean to commit one’s spirit into God’s hands. Does this affirm the immortality of the soul?
John Calvin thought so. He was convinced that “man consists of a body and a soul; meaning by soul an immortal though created essence, which is the nobler part.”1 He concluded that “Christ, in commending his spirit to the Father, and Stephen his to Christ, simply mean that when the soul is freed from the prison-house of the body, God becomes its perpetual keeper.”2
Calvin did not come to that conclusion by reading Psalm 31. He rightly commented on David’s statement by saying “Whoever commits himself into God’s hand and to his guardianship, not only constitutes him the arbiter of life and death to him, but also calmly depends on him for protection amidst all his dangers.”3 David was asserting his trust in God to deliver him, not his confidence in possessing an indestructible spirit.
Yet Calvin could not resist taking David’s words out of their context, and teaching that Christ and Stephen asserted something not about theology but about anthropology. His belief in Plato’s doctrine of the immortality of the soul was so strong that it led Calvin to forget his rules of exegesis.
Christ quoted from Psalm 31:5 while dying on the cross. He said “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”4 In doing so, he was expressing the exact same sentiment that David had expressed when he had used those words. He was not saying that his body was going to die, but that the real him was going to fly to heaven to be safe in his Father’s hands. He was saying that he trusted his Father to rescue him.
His Father did rescue him. He was raised from the dead three days later. His spirit had not gone to heaven to be with his Father at death. He told Mary “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”5 Christ went to the grave. He had committed his spirit – that is, his life – into the hands of the one person who could redeem it.
Stephen’s quote of Psalm 31:5 was also true to its context. Stephen knew that he was going to die. The prison-house was not his alive body, but death itself. But he also had confidence that his death would not be the end. God would rescue him from the prison-house of death in the same way that he had rescued Jesus – by a resurrection. Luke records, “as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.””6 I heard a preacher at a funeral of a friend of mine say that Stephen did not sleep in the grave because God received his spirit. The preacher had quoted this verse. Later, I had to remind my students (who also heard this sermon) that the preacher forgot about the next verse! Luke continued “And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”7
Stephen’s committing his spirit to Christ was not a rejection of the reality of death. It was an expression of confidence that death would not be permanent.
Calvin’s commentary on Psalm 31 also quoted Paul’s reflection on death. He says “What David here declares concerning his temporal life, Paul transfers to eternal salvation.”8 He was referring to where Paul says “I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”9 What Calvin did not point out is that Paul’s words in 2 Timothy are not words of someone who denies death. Paul’s words imply that his death would come, but he has entrusted himself to God who can rescue him from that death. Paul’s trust was not in his possessing an immortal soul, but in his possessing a resurrecting God.
That is the sentiment expressed in Psalm 31:5 by David, and reflected in the words of Jesus on the cross, and those of Stephen at his death. It is not that God has made a part of our being that will never die. It is that God has promised to restore his own by a complete resurrection. It is not about something inherent within us. It is about the faithfulness of God.
References
- John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1. {Forgotten Books}, 190. [↩]
- John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1. {Forgotten Books}, 190. [↩]
- John Calvin, Calvin’s Bible Commentaries: Psalms, Part I. {Forgotten Books}, 429. [↩]
- Luke 23:46 ESV. [↩]
- John 20:17 ESV {emphasis mine} [↩]
- Acts 7:59 ESV. [↩]
- Acts 7:60 ESV {emphasis mine}. [↩]
- John Calvin, Calvin’s Bible Commentaries: Psalms, Part I. (Forgotten Books), 431. [↩]
- 2 Timothy 1:12 NIV. [↩]
About Jefferson Vann
Jefferson Vann is a missionary with Advent Christian General Conference, and elder at McAlpin Advent Christian Church in Florida and Relevant Church in Virgina. "My hope is that everyone who reads this blog will have an opportunity to understand the gospel, and will know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior." You can read more of Jeff's writing at Devotions | Vann Newsletter |An Advent Christian Systematic Theology | Commands of Christ | Learning Koine Greek Together
Great article exposing one of Calvin’s many horrific theological flaws! Great post by the admin letting the scriptures speak the truth, and letting false teachers like Calvin be exposed for what they are.
A good case can be made for the “human spirit in man” continuing to exist (after death), in an inert i.e. UNconscious, form, Luke 23:46 c.f. Mat 27:50; Acts 7:59 (the “minority” view of Conditional Immortality): “spirit sleep” (if you like). This “spirit in man” would retain (after death) a record of the human personality; memory; character & probably DNA (c.f. a computer’s hard drive).
This understanding helps to explain the mechanism God will probably use to re-create i.e resurrect, all mankind, for reward or judgment/opportunity (a universal, substitutionary-ransom is taught in 1 Timothy 2:6, & many other NT passages) ……. providing inert (but existing) human “spirits”, with new, resurrected bodies !!! A good comparison of this happened to me 3 years ago. My previous computer finally “gave up the ghost”, at that time, with a puff of smoke. So, I gave it to a friend of mine, who runs a 1-man computer business. He was able to copy all my files from my inert (dead) desktop, onto a CD-ROM …. for future use, in my new computer.
SPIRIT SLEEP ……..
The “breath” (neshamah, Genesis 2:7; Isaiah 42:5; Job 32:8) that God breathed into Adam, in order to make him a “living soul”, is often the English translation for that other Hebrew word for “spirit”: ruach. Unsurprisingly so, because there are, in fact, 2 “spirits” in man (3 in the elected man, who is gifted, in addition, God’s holy spirit): 1. man’s breath, & 2. the spirit in man (see 1 Cor 2:11 c.f. Num 27:16, eloche ha-ruchot ; Isaiah 42:5 & Heb 12:23).
Now, Luke 23:46 (c.f. Mat 27:50) could, I suppose, be understood metaphorically (synecdoche) as “into your [God's] hands I commend my “breath” [meaning "life"]” ; & Acts 7:59 could similarly mean “lord Jesus, receive my “breath” [meaning "life"]” ; & 1Cor 2:11 could again mean “what human being knows the things of a man (human knowledge) except the man’s own inmost “breath”" ?? (c.f. Job 32:8 & Is 42:5, which have both ruach AND neshamah). Alternatively, I believe, it would be preferable, in all these scriptures (including Eccl 12:7 c.f. Zec 12:1), to understand:- “at death, our spirit [AND breath] BOTH return to God, who gave THEM”.
After all, are we truly expected to believe that one of YHVH’s titles is “eloche ha-ruchOT”, & means:- “God of the breath, plural”, i.e. oxygen + nitrogen + trace gases …. in Numbers 27:16 c.f. Hebrews 12:23 & 1 Cor 2:11 ???
Continued EXISTENCE of the inert, human SPIRIT …. after death ………
Proof 1:- 1 Corinthians 2:11 (c.f. Job 32:8):-
“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him (to pneuma tou anthropou to en auto) ? So, also, the things of God noone has known, except the spirit of God (to pneuma tou theou) in him. And we have received …….”.
Surely this latter “spirit of God”/holy spirit, must be an actual spirit entity/essence …….. or does God just “share some of His thoughts with “our physical brain”, from time to time”, see 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13; 4:30 ?? Likewise, the former “spirit of/in man” must surely be a very real spirit entity/essence, imparted to man (along with his breath) at birth ……. which survives death (in an inert i.e. UNconscious/”sleep” state) ??
Proof 2:- 1 Corinthians 15:35-38 says:- “But someone will ask: “How are the dead to be raised (egeiro, awakened) to life ? What with what sort of body do they come ? Only a fool would ask a question like that !!
When you sow a seed, it does not come to life unless it dies. And, when you sow a seed, what you sow is not the body which it is going to become, but a naked seed (gumnon kokkon), maybe of corn or of some other grain. God gives it the body He has chosen for it, & to each of the seeds, He gives its own body”.
Paul, therefore, compares what “survives” death (the spirit in man) to the seed of a flower/plant/grain/tree etc.. : the wheat (or flower/plant) dies, but left behind is the inert seed, which contains all the information (DNA etc..) about the dead plant.
As all gardeners will know, to produce next year’s flowers or vegetables, you start with the seed from the dead ones from the past !!! In the same way, says Paul, when men & women DIE, their inert, UNconscious “spirit” remains “asleep” with God, until the resurrection from the dead.
Now, this wouldn’t be a very good choice of analogy by the apostle Paul, would it, if (as some say) after death …….. NOTHING survives: no human seed ? Everything (some say) has returned to dust: NOTHING tangible has actually returned to God !!!?? Paul doesn’t appear to agree.
With all due respect, Calvin has been taken out of context. Calvin did not write point-by-point on each verse without any context, just like every single person who reads the Bible, or anything for that matter. Calvin had a biblical theology and an understanding of Scripture that helped him to interpret the rest of Scripture (cf. Institutes 2.10.11-14). Later in the same commentary, Calvin says “he who shall entrust the keeping of his life to God’s care, will not doubt of its safety even in the midst of death. We must therefore put our life into God’s hand, not only that he may keep it safely in this world, but also that he may preserve it from destruction in death itself, as Christ’s own example has taught us. As David wished to have his life prolonged amidst the dangers of death, so Christ passed out of this transitory life that his soul might be saved in death.” Ignoring this to make a diatribe against a man–to make him say what he did not say (straw man)–is not responsible.
Furthermore, the immortality of the soul is not Platonic. Believing in the mortality of the soul begs the question: will souls be in the everlasting presence of God or in the everlasting torments of punishment after the resurrection? Denying the former rejects God’s promises to his elect. Denying the latter is annihilationism. Denying both rejects Daniel 12:2. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding in which eternality and immortality are conflated. Those are two different things. God alone is eternal and immortal. No human is eternal because all humans are created and have a beginning in time. In any case, there is a reason why there is talk of a “second death” (Rev. 20:14).
Calvin’s ultimate point was that it is not about something inherent within us. It is about the faithfulness of God.