Objection 87: Christ's story of the rich man and Lazarus proves the immortality of the soul. (See Luke 16:19-3l.)
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
This fanciful story is obviously a parable; parables were Christ’s favorite method of teaching. A parable has a main lesson, a main point; a parable’s details are important only in getting the reader or hearer to understand the main point.
What was the point of this story? Back in verse 14, we are told that, “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.” Jesus corrected them by having the poor homeless man go to paradise when he died, whereas the rich man was being tortured in hell after his death.
Jesus was also correcting the false belief, held by the Pharisees and most Jews of that time, that riches were a sign of God's favor, and poverty of His displeasure. Christ drove home this lesson by, again, depicting the wretched homeless man in heaven, and the rich man in hell. This was the opposite of what the Jews believed.
Finally, Christ is teaching that we must make our decision for or against God (and God’s salvation in Jesus Christ) based upon the ordinary evidence to which we all have access in this life. This is the Bible (referred to as, “Moses and all the prophets”) as well as what we see in nature. God is not going to bring someone back from the dead to give us a special warning, and, Christ tells, it wouldn’t make any difference anyway!
These are the points this parable teaches us. We would be foolish to try to use this story to inform a doctrine on the state of the dead. The details are too absurd to be taken seriously, including:
Heaven is within conversational distance of Hell, despite the “great chasm” between them;
Abraham is appointed to moderate discussions between the saved and the lost;
Lazarus’ moist fingertip would bring the rich man relief as he roasted in Hell
Christ has drawn a cartoon for us, precisely so that we would not accept the cartoonish details as a teaching on the state of the dead!
We would also note that the details of this parable do not support the disembodied consciousness theory of the immortal soul: The rich man has eyes with which to see, and he picks out Lazarus on Abraham’s bosom from a great distance; he also has tongue that he believes would benefit from Lazarus’ moist fingertip, and obviously Lazarus has a body with hands and even fingertips.
If this narrative is to be taken literally, then the good and bad do not soar away at death as intangible spirits, but rather go to their rewards with real bodies.
When Christ speaks plainly at the end of the story, he tells us that the dead are in their graves awaiting resurrection:
“If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:31.
Christ describes this clearly in terms of resurrection: The dead would need to “rise” to witness to the living; not come back down from heaven, but rise from the grave. The Old Testament writers are very emphatic in stating that the dead, righteous and wicked alike, lie silent and unconscious in the grave until the resurrection day. (See, Job 14:12-15, 21; 17:13; 19:25-27; Psalm 115:17; Eccl. 9:3-6, 10.)
Christ taught, in Matthew 25, that the dead receive their reward only at His Second Coming, not before: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory. ... and before him shall be gathered all nations: ... then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom. ... Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." Matt. 25:31-41.
Elsewhere in the Bible we find the vivid parable of the trees going forth to elect a king for themselves, and carrying on conversation amongst themselves. (See, Judges 9:7-15; also 2 Kings 14:9.) Why doesn’t anyone use this parable to try to prove that trees talk and that they have kings? The same rule holds for the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.