Intermediate state

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This article is about the Christian doctrine of this name. For the Buddhist
doctrine of the same name, see Bardo.
In some forms of Christian eschatology, the intermediate state or interim state
refers to a person's "intermediate" existence between one's death and the universal
resurrection. In addition, there are beliefs in a Particular judgment right after
death and a General judgement or Last judgment after the resurrection.

Christians looked for an imminent end of the world and many of them had little
interest in an interim state between death and resurrection. The Eastern Church
admits of such an intermediate state, but refrained from defining it, so as not to
blur the distinction between the alternative definitive fates of Heaven and Hell.
The Western Church goes differently by defining the intermediate state, with
evidence from as far back as the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity (203) of
the belief that sins can be purged by suffering in an afterlife, and that the
purgation can be expedited by the intercession of the living. Eastern Christians
also believed that the dead can be assisted by prayer.[1]

East and West, those in the intermediate state have traditionally been the
beneficiaries of prayers, such as requiem masses. In the East, the saved are said
to rest in light while the wicked are confined in darkness. In the East, prayers
are said to benefit those in Hades, even pagans.[2] In the West, Augustine
described prayer as useful for those in communion with the church, and implied that
every soul's ultimate fate is determined at death.[2] In the West, such prayer came
to be restricted to souls in Purgatory,[2] which the idea has "ancient roots" and
is demonstrated in early Church writings.[3] Roman Catholic Church offers
indulgences for those in purgatory, which evolved out of the earlier practice of
canonical remissions.[4] While some Protestants, such as Anglicans and Lutherans,
affirmed prayer for the dead,[5][6] other Nonconformist Protestants largely ceased
praying for the dead.

In general, Protestants denied the Catholic purgatory. Luther taught mortality of

the soul, comparing the sleep of a tired man after a day's work whose soul "sleeps
not but is awake" ("non sic dormit, sed vigilat") and can "experience visions and
the discourses of the angels and of God", with the sleep of the dead which
experience nothing but still "live to God" ("coram Deo vivit").[7][8][9][10] Calvin
depicted the righteous dead as resting in bliss.[11]

Contents [hide]
1 Jewish background
2 History
3 Christian teaching
3.1 Foretaste of final state
3.2 Christian mortalism
3.3 Hades
3.4 Purgatory
3.5 Limbo
4 Similar concepts in non-Christian religions
4.1 Islam
4.2 Indigenous Indonesian beliefs
4.3 Buddhism
4.4 Taoism
5 See also
6 References
Jewish background[edit]
Main article: Jewish eschatology
The early Hebrews had no notion of resurrection of the dead[12] and thus no
intermediate state. As with neighboring groups, they understood death to be the
end. Their afterlife, sheol (the pit), was a dark place from which none return. By
Jesus' time, however, the Book of Daniel (Daniel 12:1-4) and a prophecy in Isaiah
(26:19)[13] had made popular the idea that the dead in sheol would be raised for a
last judgment. The intertestamental literature describes in more detail what the
dead experience in sheol. According to the Book of Enoch, the righteous and wicked
await the resurrection in separate divisions of sheol, a teaching which may have
influenced Jesus' parable of Lazarus and Dives.[14]

History[edit]

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See also: History of purgatory
In the Septuagint and New Testament the authors used the Greek term Hades for the
Hebrew Sheol, but often with Jewish rather than Greek concepts in mind, so that,
for example, there is no activity in Hades in Ecclesiastes.[15] An exception to
traditional Jewish views of Sheol, Hades is found in the Gospel of Luke parable of
the Rich man and Lazarus which describes Hades along the lines of intertestamental
Jewish understanding of a Sheol divided between the happy righteous and the
miserable wicked.[16] Later Hippolytus of Rome expanded on this parable and
described activity in the Bosom of Abraham in Against Plato.[17]

Since Augustine, Christians have believed that the souls of those who die either
rest peacefully, in the case of Christians, or are afflicted, in the case of the
damned, after death until the resurrection.[18] Augustine distinguishes between the
purifying fire that saves and eternal consuming fire for the unrepentant,[3] and
speaks of the pain that purgatorial fire causes as more severe than anything a man
can suffer in this life.[19] The Venerable Bede and Saint Boniface both report
visions of an afterlife with a four-way division, including pleasant and punishing
abodes near heaven and hell to hold souls until judgment day.

The idea of Purgatory as a physical place was "born" in the late 11th century.[20]
Medieval Catholic theologians concluded that the purgatorial punishments consisted
of material fire. The Catholic Church believes that the living can help those whose
purification from their sins is not yet completed not only by praying for them but
also by gaining indulgences for them[21] as an act of intercession.[4] All Souls'
Day commemorates the souls in purgatory. The Late Middle Ages saw the growth of
considerable abuses, such as the unrestricted sale of indulgences by professional
"pardoners" to release the donors' departed loved ones from suffering in purgatory,
or the donors themselves.[22][4]

In the 16th century, Protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin
challenged the doctrine of purgatory because it was not supported in the Bible.
Both Calvin and Luther continued to believe in an intermediate state, but Calvin
held to a more conscious existence for the souls of the dead than Luther did. For
Calvin, believers in the intermediate state enjoyed a blessedness that was
incomplete, in anticipation of the resurrection. Reformed theology largely followed
Calvin's teaching on the intermediate state.[18]

Christian teaching[edit]
Foretaste of final state[edit]
See also: Particular judgment
Some theological traditions, including most Protestants[citation needed],
Anabaptists and Eastern Orthodox, teach that the intermediate state is a
disembodied foretaste of the final state. Therefore, those who die in Christ go
into the presence of God (or the bosom of Abraham) where they experience joy and
rest while they await their resurrection (cf. Luke 23:43). Those who die
unrepentant will experience torment (perhaps in hell) while they await final
condemnation on the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:9).

I. The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their
souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately
return to God who gave them: the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in
holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God,
in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls
of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness,
reserved to the judgment of the great day.[4] Beside these two places, for souls
separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledges none.

— Westminster Confession 1646, chapter XXXII, Of the State of Men after Death, and
of the Resurrection of the Dead
Christian mortalism[edit]
Main article: Christian mortalism
The neutral historical term for this belief today is usually Mortalism or Christian
Mortalism.[23][24][25][26] The terms Soul sleep[27] Psychopannychism[28] are
somewhat loaded by their derivation from a tract (1534) by John Calvin,[29][30][31]
though use of the terms are not necessarily polemic or pejorative.[32] Both terms
may be used together.[33][34]

A minority of Christians, including William Tyndale, Martin Luther[35] some

Anglicans such as E. W. Bullinger, and churches/groups such as Seventh-day
Adventists,[36] Christadelphians and others, deny the conscious existence of the
soul after death, believing the intermediate state of the dead to be unconscious
"sleep". Jehovah's Witnesses also believe this with the exception of the 144,000.
[37] In this case, the person is not conscious of any time or activity and would
not be aware even if centuries elapsed between their death and their resurrection.
They would, upon their death, cease consciousness, and gain it again at the time of
the resurrection having experienced no time lapse. For them, time would thus be
suspended, as if they moved immediately from death to resurrection and the General
Judgment of the Judgment Day.

John Milton De doctrina christiana 1:13

Thomas Hobbes Leviathan ch.38,44,46
Richard Overton Mans Mortalitie (1644)
Hades[edit]
Main article: Christian views on Hades
The intermediate state is sometimes referred to by the Greek term hades, even in
other languages. The term is equivalent to Hebrew sheol and Latin infernum (meaning
"underworld"). This term for the intermediate state is used in Anglican,[38][39]
Eastern Orthodox,[40] and Methodist theology.[41][42]

Purgatory[edit]
Main article: Purgatory
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that all who die in God's grace and friendship,
but still imperfectly purified, undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness
necessary to enter the joy of heaven, a final purification to which it gives the
name "purgatory".[43]

Limbo[edit]
Main article: Limbo
Roman Catholic theologians had given the name "limbo" to a theory on the possible
fate of infants who die without baptism. The just who died before Jesus Christ are
also spoken of as having been in limbo until he had won salvation for them.
[citation needed]
Similar concepts in non-Christian religions[edit]
Islam[edit]
In Islamic eschatology, Barzakh (Arabic: ‫ )برزخ‬is the intermediate state in which
the soul of the deceased is transferred across the boundaries of the mortal realm
into a kind of "cold sleep" where the soul will rest until the Qiyamah or End Time
(Judgement Day). The term appears in the Qur'an Surah 23, Ayat 100.

Barzakh is a sequence that happens after death, in which the soul will separate
from the body. Three events make up barzakh:[citation needed]

The separation of the soul and the body, in which the soul separates and hovers
over the body.
Self-review of one's actions and deeds in one's life.
The soul rests in an interspace in which one will experience a manifestation of
one's soul resulting in a cold sleep state, awaiting the Day of Judgement.
In Islam all human beings go through five steps of age:

The age in the world of souls is where a human soul has been created and the soul
waits until being imbued into a chosen fetus by an Angel.
The age in the womb is where the body acquires its soul.[citation needed] The fetus
is imbued with a soul from God. The soul however, is completely innocent and
totally lacking of any worldly knowledge, which is reflected by a baby's
helplessness.[citation needed]
The age in the mortal world is the stage of life from the moment of birth from the
womb to the moment of death.
The age of the grave is the stage after death in the mortal world, where the soul
is stored in Barzakh (midst) which results in a cold sleep state, awaiting the Day
of Judgement.
The age of the hereafter or rest of eternity is the final stage commencing after
the Day of Judgement and all of humanity has received their judgement from God. If
they were righteous and did good deeds based on their own circumstances, regardless
of professed religion, they go to Jannah (heaven) and if they have attained little
in life, and were unrighteous in their actions—or were despite all evidence shown
to them, bent on denying the truth of life once it was presented to them based on
their own circumstances they shall go to Jahannam (a spiritual state of suffering).
This stage of life commences officially after the embodiment of Death is brought up
and is slain, thus Death dies literally, and no one will ever experience or behold
the concept of Death everafter. Based on the verdict received which is brought upon
by each person's individual deeds, actions, and circumstances in life, the Day of
Judgement on which everyone is judged with the utmost sense of justice, each human
will spend this stage of life in heaven or hell (which will be a place for
purification of the soul so that one realizes the wrongs committed in life).
However, those in hell are eligible to go to the state of heaven after being
purified by that state described as hell if they "had an atom's worth of faith in
them"[citation needed] and the soul is repentful.
Indigenous Indonesian beliefs[edit]
According to the native Indonesian beliefs, the soul of a dead person will stay on
the earth for 40 days after the death. When the ties aren't released after 40 days,
the body is said to jump out from the grave to warn people that the soul need the
bonds to be released. Because of the tie under the feet, the ghost can't walk. This
causes the pocong to hop. After the ties are released, the soul will leave the
earth and never show up anymore.

Buddhism[edit]

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citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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Tibetan Buddhism has the concept of bardo, a state of existence intermediate
between two lives on earth, usually within 49 days. Theravada Buddhism does not
have this belief.

Taoism[edit]
In Taoism a newly deceased person may return (回魂) to his home at some nights,
sometimes one week (頭七) after his death[44] and the seven po souls would
disappear one by one every 7 days after death. They may return home as a ghost, an
insect, bat or bird and people avoid hurting such things.[45][46]

See also[edit]
icon Christianity portal
Bardo
Barzakh
Gehenna
Nakir and Munkar
Particular judgment
Prayer for the dead
Spirit world (Latter Day Saints)
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005
ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article purgatory
^ Jump up to: a b c "Dead, prayer for the." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary
of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
^ Jump up to: a b Carol Zaleski, Purgatory, Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved
April 13, 2016
^ Jump up to: a b c "Indulgences." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the
Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
Jump up ^ Tappert, Theodore Gerhardt (1 January 1959). The Book of Concord: The
Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Fortress Press. p. 267. ISBN
9781451418941. We know that the ancients spoke of prayer for the dead. We do not
forbid this, but rather we reject the transfer of the Lord's Supper to the dead ex
opere operato. The ancients do not support the opponents' idea of the transfer ex
opere operato.
Jump up ^ Quivik, Melinda A. (1 July 2005). A Christian Funeral: Witness to the
Resurrection. Augsburg Books. p. 55. ISBN 9781451414547. In "The Babylonian
Captivity of the Church," Luther called upon pastors to pray for the dead without
giving masses for the dead. Such prayers are approved in the Lutheran confessional
writings. Philipp Melanchthon's "Apology" specifically held out the possibility of
such prayer: "We know that the ancients spoke of prayer for the dead. We do not
prohibit this, but we do reject the transfer, ex opere operato, of the Lord's
Supper to the dead" (Kolb and Wengert, pp. 275-76). Such prayers can be found in
past Lutheran practice. Evidence exists that such prayers were offered up in some
Lutheran orders of the sixteenth century. Philip Pfatteicher's commentary on LBW
explained that the dead have not left the body of Christ by dying but remain
members of the body (pp.475-82).
Jump up ^ Differunt tamen somnus sive quies hujus vitae et futurae. Homon enim in
hac vita defatigatus diurno labore, sub noctem intrat in cubiculum suum tanquam in
pace, ut ibi dormiat, et ea nocte fruitur quiete, neque quicquam scit de ullo malo
sive incendii, sive caedis. Anima autem non sic dormit, sed vigilat, et patitur
visiones loquelas Angelorum et Dei. Ideo somnus in futura vita profundior est quam
in hac vita et tamen anima coram Deo vivit. Hac similitudine, quam habeo a somno
viventia.
Jump up ^ J Fritschel : Denn dass Luther mit den Worten "anima non sic dormit, sed
vigilat et patitur visiones, loquelas Angelorum et Dei" nicht dasjenige leugnen
will, was er an allen andern Stellen seiner Schriften vortragt.." Luther und offene
Fragen;", Zeitschrift für die gesammte lutherische Theologie und Kirche 1867 p657
Jump up ^ "Salomon judgeth that the dead are a sleepe, and feele nothing at all.
For the dead lye there accompting neyther dayes nor yeares, but when they are
awoken, they shall seeme to haue slept scarce one minute." - Martin Luther, An
Exposition of Salomon's Booke, called Ecclesiastes or the Preacher (translation
1573). "It is certain that to this day Abraham is serving God, just as Abel, Noah
are serving God. And this we should carefully note; for it is divine truth that
Abraham is living, serving God, and ruling with Him. But what sort of life that may
be, whether he is asleep or awake, is another question. How the soul is resting we
are not to know, but it is certain that it is living." - E.M. Plass, What Luther
Says, Vol. 1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950. p. 385.
Jump up ^ "But the soul does not sleep in the same manner It is awake. It
experiences visions and the discourses of the angels and of God. Therefore the
sleep in the future life is deeper than it is in this life. Nevertheless, the soul
lives before God." - J Pelikan, ed., Luther's Works, Vol. 4. St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1964. p. 313 (cf. misquoted "(like a person on earth.)" and
misread in Harold A. Schewe: What Happens to the Soul after Death?).
Jump up ^ John Calvin, Psychopannychia, @ lgmarshall.org
Jump up ^ Belief in the resurrection "first became prevalent in Judaism during the
time of the Maccabees, after 168 BCE." Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible.
Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. p. 415
Jump up ^ Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
Jump up ^ New Bible Dictionary 3rd edition, IVP Leicester 1996. "Sheol".
Jump up ^ Ecclesiastes 9:10 πάντα ὅσα ἂν εὕρῃ ἡ χείρ σου τοῦ ποιῆσαι ὡς ἡ δύναμίς
σου ποίησον ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ποίημα καὶ λογισμὸς καὶ γνῶσις καὶ σοφία ἐν ᾅδῃ ὅπου σὺ
πορεύῃ ἐκεῖ
Jump up ^ George W. E. Nickelsburg Resurrection, immortality, and eternal life in
intertestamental Judaism and Early Christianity Harvard Theological Studies
Jump up ^ Hippolytus of Rome, Against Plato, on the Cause of the Universe, §1. As
to the state of the righteous, he writes, "And there the righteous from the
beginning dwell, not ruled by necessity, but enjoying always the contemplation of
the blessings which are in their view, and delighting themselves with the
expectation of others ever new, and deeming those ever better than these. And that
place brings no toils to them. There, there is neither fierce heat, nor cold, nor
thorn; but the face of the fathers and the righteous is seen to be always smiling,
as they wait for the rest and eternal revival in heaven which succeed this
location. And we call it by the name Abraham's bosom."
^ Jump up to: a b Hoekema, Anthony A (1994). The Bible and the Future. Grand
Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 92.
Jump up ^ "gravior erit ignis quam quidquid potest homo pati in hac vita" (P. L.,
col. 397), quoted in Catholic Encyclopedia: Purgatory.
Jump up ^ Jacques Le Goff, The Birth of Purgatory (University of Chicago Press,
1984)
Jump up ^ CCC, 1479
Jump up ^ F. Donald Logan, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages (Routledge,
2012), 275.
Jump up ^ Norman T. Burns Christian mortalism from Tyndale to Milton 1967, 1972
Jump up ^ Albert C. Labriola Milton Studies, Volume 45 2005 p17.
Jump up ^ Ann Thomson Bodies of Thought: Science, Religion, and the Soul in the
Early Enlightenment 2008 p43
Jump up ^ Douglas Kries Piety and humanity: essays on religion and early modern
political philosophy 1997 p101
Jump up ^ Millard J. Erickson Christian theology 1998 p1182 "In the case of the
Adventists, however, the phrase "soul sleep" is somewhat misleading. Anthony
Hoekema suggests instead "soul-extinction," since.."
Jump up ^ Laurence Urdang, Anne Ryle Dictionary of uncommon words: a Wynwood
lexicon 1991 p750
Jump up ^ Wulfert De Greef The writings of John Calvin: an introductory guide 2008
p152
Jump up ^ G. C. Berkouwer Man: The Image of God 1962 p272 "against the idea of
soul-sleep, in Calvin's sharp attack, Psychopannychia"
Jump up ^ Glenn S. Sunshine, Ron Hill The Reformation for Armchair Theologians 2005
Page 123 "In 1534 he resigned his benefices; that same year he also wrote his first
theological work, the Psychopannychia, an attack on the doctrine of soul sleep"
Jump up ^ George Huntston Williams The Radical Reformation 1962 p105
Jump up ^ Daniel Garber, Michael Ayers The Cambridge history of seventeenth-century
philosophy, Volume 2 2003 p85
Jump up ^ Dr Bryan W. Ball The Soul Sleepers: Christian Mortalism from Wycliffe to
Priestley 2008
Jump up ^ "Christian Song Latin and German, for Use at Funerals", 1542, in Works of
Luther (1932), vol. 6, pp. 287, 288
Jump up ^ 28 fundamental beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists, adventist.org, number
26 "Death and Resurrection".
Jump up ^ From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained Watchtower Society 1st Ed. 1958.
"After Jesus died and was resurrected men and women could be set aside to become
the `little flock' of 144,000 persons who make up the heavenly, spiritual nation of
God, and who are to rule with Christ in the new heavens." "Their resurrection is
also a `resurrection of life' because they `did good things' on earth. However, the
resurrection of the 144,000 members of the spiritual nation is a resurrection to
spirit life in the heavens." "Has this spiritual resurrection taken place? Yes,
back in chapter 26 we learned that it took place when Christ came to Jehovah's
temple in 1918" (p. 231). "Those of this spiritual nation who died before the
spiritual resurrection began in 1918 slept in death until that year. But the others
who were still alive on earth have continued to live out their regular lives." "And
now when the earthly life of one of such persons ends he is resurrected at once to
spirit life. He is changed in a moment from being a human creature to being a
spirit creature in heaven with Jesus Christ." "But only 144,000 persons will be a
part of the new heavens with Jesus Christ" (Ibid, p. 232).
Jump up ^ Hobart, John Henry (1825). The State of the Departed. New York: T. and J.
Swords. p. 32.
Jump up ^ Cook, Joseph (1883). Advanced thought in Europe, Asia, Australia, &c.
London: Richard D. Dickinson. p. 41. Anglican orthodoxy, without protest, has
allowed high authorities to teach that there is an intermediate state, Hades,
including both Gehenna and Paradise, but with an impassable gulf between the two.
Jump up ^ Azkoul, Michael (1994). "What are the differences between Orthodoxy and
Roman Catholicism?". The Orthodox Christian Witness. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
Orthodoxy teaches that, after the soul leaves the body, it journeys to the abode of
the dead (Hades).
Jump up ^ Withington, John Swann (1878). The United Methodist Free Churches'
Magazine. London: Thomas Newton. p. 685. The country is called Hades. That portion
of it which is occupied by the good is called Paradise, and that province which is
occupied by the wicked is called Gehenna.
Jump up ^ Smithson, William T. (1859). The Methodist Pulpit. H. Polkinhornprinter.
p. 363. Besides, continues our critical authority, we have another clear proof from
the New Testament, that hades denotes the intermediate state of souls between death
and the general resurrection. In Revelations (xx, 14) we read that death and hades-
by our translators rendered hell, as usual-shall, immediately after the general
judgment, "be cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death." In other
words, the death which consists in the separation of soul and body, and the
receptacle of disembodied spirits shall be no more. Hades shall be emptied, death
abolished.
Jump up ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030-1031
Jump up ^ 拜回魂儀式及注意事項
Jump up ^ 動物通靈傳說
Jump up ^ &id=22254304 世界新聞網-北美華人社區新聞 - 藝文界靈界實錄
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