See also: Intermediate State
Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
The intermediate state is the condition of the soul in the interval between death and the resurrection of the body at the last day. Scripture teaches that at death the soul does not perish, sleep, or lapse into unconsciousness, but passes immediately into a conscious existence: the souls of believers are made perfect in holiness and pass at once into the presence of Christ, while the souls of the wicked are held in conscious suffering, both awaiting the reunion of soul and body at the resurrection. To the dying thief Christ promised, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”—not after a long sleep, but that very day. Paul declares that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and confesses his desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better than remaining in the flesh. John sees beneath the altar the conscious, crying souls of the martyrs. The rich man and Lazarus depict the great gulf fixed between comfort and torment in the state beyond death. This state is intermediate and incomplete—the believer’s blessedness, though real, is not yet full, for the body still lies in the grave, and the saints await the resurrection that will glorify the whole person. The doctrine therefore comforts the dying with the assurance of immediate communion with Christ, while keeping the church’s eye fixed on the greater hope of the resurrection body.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines INTERMEDIATE as lying or being in the middle place between two extremes; the theological “intermediate state” is the soul’s condition between death and resurrection.
expand to see more
INTERMEDIATE, a. — Lying or being in the middle place or degree between two extremes; intervening; interposed.
Applied in theology, the intermediate state denotes the condition of the soul in the interval between death and the general resurrection.
📖 Key Scripture
Luke 23:43 — "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
2 Corinthians 5:8 — "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."
Philippians 1:23 — "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better."
Revelation 6:9-10 — "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God... And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?"
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. The historic distortions are soul sleep (the soul lapsing into unconsciousness) and the Romish purgatory (a place of post-mortem purgation by suffering), both treated separately.
expand to see more
The intermediate state is corrupted chiefly by two historic errors, each addressed under its own head. The first is soul sleep, the notion that the soul lapses into unconsciousness at death and slumbers without awareness until the resurrection. This contradicts Christ’s “today shalt thou be with me in paradise,” Paul’s longing to depart and be with Christ as something “far better,” and the conscious cry of the martyrs beneath the altar. A sleeping soul could be present with no one and desire nothing; Scripture pictures the departed as awake, aware, and—for the believer—already in the Lord’s presence.
The second error is the Roman doctrine of purgatory, which invents a place of temporal suffering where the souls of the faithful are purged of remaining guilt before admission to heaven, and which spawned the traffic in masses and indulgences. But Scripture knows no such intermediate purgation; the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin, the believer is at death made perfect in holiness and passes immediately into glory, and the dying thief went straight to paradise without any purging fire. The true doctrine holds the middle: the intermediate state is conscious and real, blessed for the saved and dreadful for the lost, yet incomplete—awaiting the resurrection that alone will make the redeemed person whole.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The biblical picture rests on paradeisos (paradise, the believer’s immediate abode) and on Paul’s endemos/ekdemos—at home with the Lord, away from the body.
expand to see more
['Greek', 'G3857', 'paradeisos', 'paradise (today shalt thou be with me)']
['Greek', 'G5590', 'psuchē', 'soul (the conscious souls beneath the altar)']
['Greek', 'G1736', 'endēmeō', 'to be at home (present with the Lord)']
['Greek', 'G360', 'analuō', 'to depart (a desire to depart and be with Christ)']
Usage
"The intermediate state is conscious, not a sleep—to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."
"Christ promised the thief paradise that very day, settling the question of the intermediate state."
"The intermediate state is blessed but incomplete; the saints in glory still await the resurrection of the body."