Welcome to Defenders, the teaching class of Dr. William Lane Craig.

For more information and resources from Dr. Craig, go to reasonable faith.org.

Today, we want to begin to look at what the New Testament has to teach

about the state of the soul after death.

The New Testament teaches, I think, that the souls of the saved

do not perish when the death of the body occurs, but the soul outlives the body and goes to be with

the Lord in a conscious, blissful state. The soul is not extinguished upon the death of the body,

nor does the soul go into a state of unconsciousness. Rather, the soul is in a conscious,

blissful communion with Christ during this intermediate state between the death

and the resurrection of the body. In Philippians 1, 23, the Apostle Paul reflects upon the possibility

of his martyrdom. On trial and in prison for Christ,

he faced an impending execution. Look at what he says in Philippians 1, 21 to 24. Talking about

whether to die or to continue to live on in the flesh, he says,

for me to live as Christ, and to die is gain. If it is to be life in the flesh, that means

fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to

depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary

on your account. What Paul indicates here is that death is actually a better state,

a better condition, because it brings a closer conscious fellowship with Christ.

Paul recognizes that he needs to continue in this earthly life because of the

ministry that God has given him to discharge, but his heart's desire is to depart and be with Christ.

Paul discusses this intermediate state of the soul somewhat more fully

in 2 Corinthians 5 verses 1 to 10. Here, Paul says, for we know that if the earthly tent we live in

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