A common assertion you’ll hear from many Seventh-day Adventists is that the doctrine of the soul’s immortality reflects the same deception from Satan found in Genesis 3:4—specifically, the claim that humanity will not die. This is ultimately a regurgitation of Ellen G. White’s, The Great Controversy, where she writes:
The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden,—“Ye shall not surely die,“—was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom, and is received by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents.
Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pg. 533 (GC88 533.2)
Many Adventists further argue that this belief implies that eternal life would be universal, regardless of one’s faith. Consequently, they categorically reject the doctrine as unbiblical and demonic in origin. However, their rejection appears to stem from a misunderstanding and misdefining of key terms.
Objection 1: The Same Lie as Eden?
Some Adventists will argue that the classical Christian belief in the immortality of the soul (something many of them truly misunderstand) would mean that Satan’s lie in Eden wasn’t a lie and man will not die. This is not only a misunderstanding of the classical Christian teaching, but also a twisting of the Genesis account.
Satan’s lie in the Garden of Eden, as recorded in Genesis 3:4-5, was a direct contradiction of God’s warning to Adam. God had told him that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would result in death (Genesis 2:17). Satan contradicted this by saying they wouldn’t die if they disobeyed God—insinuating that God was actually lying.
He went further to suggest that eating the fruit would make them like God, knowing good and evil:
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:5
The lie was twofold:
- Denial of God’s warning: Satan claimed they would not die by eating the fruit, contrary to God’s word and;
- A false promise of god-like status: He tempted them with the idea of becoming like God, knowing good and evil, implying that God was withholding something good from them.
Adam and Eve did indeed die that day—they experienced spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1-2; Colossians 2:13). Their perfect communion with God was broken, affirming that God, not Satan, spoke the truth. Satan’s deception was not a claim about the immortality of the soul or an assertion that humanity would never die because of such. Rather, his lie was that disobedience to God would not result in death as God had warned.
Objection 2: Eternal Life for All?
According to Jesus, eternal life is not simply an indefinite, conscious existence. In His High Priestly Prayer, He clearly defined eternal life as knowing the true God and the Son sent by the Father (John 17:3). It is the abundant life found in union with Christ (John 10:10). Those cast into Hell do not possess this, even if their souls continues to experience consciousness upon the death of the body. Their separation from Christ—being unknown to Him—is the very reason they are in Hell (Galatians 4:8-9).
Eternal life is about being in right relationship with God, a relationship lost through Adam and Eve’s fall and restored through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). The apostle John affirms this understanding (1 John 5:11-13, 20).
The key struggle in this area continues to be the lack of understanding among many Seventh-day Adventists of what the doctrine on the immortality of the soul is actually claiming.
