The Intermediate State: Berkhof

Taken from ‘Systematic Theology’, Louis Berkhof
Also reference ‘Systematic Theology’: Hodge
No reference of this topic at ‘Systematic Theology’ Grudem

Historical Reformed View.

The usual position of the Reformed Churches is that the souls of believers immediately after death enter upon the glories of heaven.

Heidelberg Catechism
- “What comfort does the resurrection of the body afford thee?”
- Answer: “That not only my soul, after this life, shall be immediately taken up to Christ its Head, but also that this my body, raised by the power of Christ, shall again be united with my soul, and made like the glorious body of Christ.”
Westminster Confession
- “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,”
Second Helvetic Confession.
- “We believe that the faithful, after bodily death, go directly unto Christ.”

These confessions would seem to find ample justification in Scripture, and it is well to take note of this, since during the last quarter of a century some Reformed theologians have taken the position that believers at death enter an intermediate place, and remain there until the day of the resurrection. The Bible teaches, however, that the soul of the believer when separated from the body, enters the presence of Christ.

Reasons for the Intermediate State

In the earliest years of the Christian Church there was little thought of an intermediate state. The idea that Jesus would soon return as Judge made the interval seem to be of little consequence. The problem of the intermediate state arose when it became apparent that Jesus would not at once return. The real problem that vexed the early Fathers, was how to reconcile individual judgment and retribution at death with the general judgment and retribution after the resurrection. To ascribe too much importance to the former would seem to rob the other of its significance, and vice versa. There was no unanimity among the early Church Fathers, but the majority of them sought to solve the difficulty by assuming a distinct intermediate state between death and the resurrection.

Other Considerations.

Sheol, Hades, Paradise, Gehenna were all thought to essentially be the same place of the dead, whether or not considered intermediate.
Without an intermediate state as outlined per Berkhof, we’re still left with a disembodied soul/spirit awaiting the resurrection and reunification with its body.

Erroneous Concepts of the Intermediate state.

PURGATORY

This apparently lead to the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory coming out of the Alexandrian School of thought, which further stated that the intermediate state was an opportunity for the gradual purification of the soul prior to entering Heaven.

Those who were in need of further purification were… detained in purgatory for a shorter or longer period of time, as the degree of remaining sin might require, and were there purged from sin by a purifying fire.

LIMBUS PATRUM (LIMBO).

This was where the Old Testament saints were detained until the resurrection of Christ. There was also a distinction for infants who died.

ANNIHILATION & CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY

Annihilation teaches that…

man was created immortal, but that the soul, which continues in sin, is by a positive act of God deprived of the gift of immortality, and ultimately destroyed, or (according to some) forever bereaved of consciousness, which is practically equivalent to being reduced to non-existence.

According to the doctrine of conditional immortality…

immortality was not a natural endowment of the soul, but is a gift of God in Christ to those who believe. The soul that does not accept Christ ultimately ceases to exist, or loses all consciousness.

Some of the advocates of these doctrines teach a limited duration of conscious suffering for the wicked in the future life, and thus retain something of the idea of positive punishment.

SOUL SLEEP.

This is one of the forms in which the conscious existence of the soul after death is denied. It maintains that…

after death, the soul continues to exist as an individual spiritual being, but in a state of unconscious repose.

Eusebius makes mention of a small sect in Arabia that held this view.
During the Middle Ages there were quite a few so-called ‘Psychopannychians’, and at the time of the Reformation this error was advocated by some of the Anabaptists.
Calvin even wrote a treatise against them under the title ‘Psychopannychia’.