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The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

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    II. National Council’s Swaim-Immortality a “Gift,” Not “Inherent” Endowment

    We now turn to individual witnesses. In the International Journal of Religious Education 1212) “An official publication of the Division of Christian Education, National Council of Churches.” for April, 1960, Dr. J. CARTER SWAIM, 1313) J. CARTER SWAIM (1904-) United Presbyterian, was trained at Washington and Jefferson colleges, Western Theological Seminary and University of Edinburgh. period of teaching at American University, Beirut, was followed by fourteen years of pastoral work in Edinburgh, New York, and St. Louis. After ten years as professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary he became executive director of the Department of English Bible of the Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. of its editorial board, had an illuminating article titled “Life and Immortality,” which exemplifies the present growing denial that immortality is an inherent possession of man, but springs instead from Greek philosophy and involves the common dualistic concept of body and spirit.CFF2 999.1

    1. “NOTION” OF IMMORTAL SOUL NOT BIBLICAL, BUT GREEK

    Declaring that it was Christ who “brought immortality to light,” Dr. Swaim exposes the Greek origin of the popular concept of Innate Immortality:
    “The notion that every human being comes into the world possessed of an immortal soul is Greek rather than biblical. The Greeks held that man was composed of two parts, body and spirit. The body is subject to decay, but the spirit is eternal.” 1414) J. Carter Swaim, “Life and Immortality,” International Journal of Religious Education, April, 1960, p. 18. (Italics supplied.)
    CFF2 999.2

    The Hebrews, on the other hand, he says, did not so divide man, but “regarded him as a person.” Referring to 1 Timothy 6:16, stating that God “alone has immortality,” Swaim adds: “This runs counter to the popular notion that every human being is ‘an immortal soul.’” 1515) Ibid.CFF2 999.3

    2. MAN ONLY “IMMORT-ABLE”; GOD ALONE IMMORTAL

    Answering poet Hawthorne’s inquiry as to whether we were not “meant to be immortal,” Swaim says pertinently: “The answer is that man is immort-able-that is to say, capable of attaining or receiving immortality. Our normal state is one of lifelessness.” 1616) Ibid.CFF2 1000.1

    Then comes this careful distinction:
    “God ‘alone has immortality’—and this by reason of his own being and nature. He is the self-existent one. This is what he meant at the burning bush: ‘I am who I am (Exodus 3:14). God is the only one inherently immortal. Any other being who possesses immortality must receive it as a gift. That is precisely the good news of Easter. Christ has brought life and immortality to light.” 1717) Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
    CFF2 1000.2

    3. NOT NATIVE ENDOWMENT BUT GIFT OF GOD

    Dr. Swaim continues by placing the Greek dualism in contrast with the Biblical portrayal:
    “The contrast is evident when we consider again the Greek notion that immortality applied to one part of man’s being. Another part of him was held to be inherently evil and subject to decay. There was indeed a Greek epigram that a body is a tomb. The inadequacy of this doctrine is revealed in one of their own legends.” 1818) Ibid., p. 19. (Italics supplied.) This, Swaim states, concerned the goddess Aurora, and Tithonus, and Zeus, and the ‘gift of everlastingness,” which faded.
    CFF2 1000.3

    Swaim concludes by declaring impressively that eternal life is ever a “gift” of God:
    “Eternal life is not something with which we are natively endowed, nor to which we are naturally entitled. It is a gift which God, who alone Possesses it, bestows upon us. But it is in the nature of a gift that we do not have to accept it. We can reject it if we like.” 1919) Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
    CFF2 1000.4

    Furthermore, “this gift is mediated to us through a Person [Jesus Christ, not through abstract reason nor wonderful philosophical schemes.” 2020) Ibid.CFF2 1000.5

    Such is Dr. Swaim’s clear statement of position in the International Journal of Religious Education for April, 1960. 2121) Inquiry of Dr. Swaim elicited the response that there had been practically no “unfavorable reaction” from readers to the position taken. On the other hand, request came from another publication for permission to reprint. Similar word comes from the editor of Theology Today.CFF2 1000.6

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