Adventist Teaching: Yes
Biblical Teaching: No
One of the chief claims of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church is that the teaching that the soul is immortal is the same lie from Satan that we find in Genesis 3:4—that man will not die. They also claim it would mean everyone has eternal life regardless of if they are a believer or not. Because of this, they reject the teaching outright as being unbiblical and demonic. The problem is their misdefining of terms.
When the Adventist Church claims this, they are redefining what eternal life means according to scripture. Eternal life is not merely indefinite existence. Jesus very plainly defined eternal life in his high priestly prayer (which He prayed for believers) as knowing the true God and the Son whom the Father sent (John 17:3). It’s to have life abundantly by being in Jesus (John 10:10). Those in Hell do not have this, even if their soul is immortal. That is precisely why they are in Hell, because they don’t know Christ and aren’t known by Him (Galatians 4:8-9).
Eternal life is knowing and being in right relationship with God, which Adam and Eve lost when they fell and Jesus came to restore (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). John defined it the same way (1 John 5:11-13; 20). So it’s wrong to assert that just because the wicked have a conscious experience in Hell that they have eternal life by simply possessing indefinite consciousness. One must be united to Jesus Christ (God) to possess eternal life. It isn’t believing the lie of Satan to affirm this.
