The History of Heaven in Early Christianity

 As promised, here are the rest of the notes from Thomas Olmstead on A History of Heaven: The Singing Silence by Jeffrey Burton Russell. There is some really great information here regarding bodily resurrection, the state in which we return to heaven, and early Christian thought regarding intelligences.

Chapter three: The Heaven of the Early Christians.

            However monolithic Christianity may have looked to the Romans, the early Christians were in fact minimally organized, and only in the second century did the lines between orthodox and heterodox begin to be drawn.  The most important distinction was that between the majority of the Christian community and the Gnostics.  Christian Gnosticism, a powerful movement in the second century, departed sharply from majority belief on a number of central questions, especially on the nature of body and soul.  The Gnostics held the dualist belief that the material body is the evil prison of the soul, which must break free of matter in order to be saved.  (p.40)

The Christian notion of salvation derived directly and fully from the view expressed in the Hebrew Bible and the Mishnah.  Christianity continued to emphasize the salvation of the community and broadened it immensely by transforming the qehel, the saving remnant of Israel, into the ecclesia, the community of all believers in Christ, both Jew and gentile.  (p.41)

The salvation of the community does not mean that the individual is submerged;  witness the parable of the Dives (the rich man) and Lazarus and Christ’s promise to the good thief.  Rather, one joins with God and with the ecclesia in the communion of saints without losing one’s identity.  Individuality remains as an incandescence amidst the great glow of light.  (p.41)

The New Testament follows the Old Testament in viewing the human personality as a unit rather than separating it into soul, spirit, and body.  The entire human being is saved.  Yet the unavoidable fact that the body decays after death forced speculation along one of two paths:  if the whole person is saved, then salvation cannot occur until the whole person, body and soul, is reconstituted as the resurrection.  If, on the other hand, the person is saved at the time of death then the state of salvation must be a disembodied one.  There is little Jewish precedent and no New Testament support for this second option… (p.46)

The general resurrection is patterned on Christ’s, though he alone of humans is God.  Christ rose in a real body; he ate fish and let Thomas touch his wounds (Jn.20-21).  It was his own physical body, yet qualitatively changed from the body he was born with and even from his body at the Transfiguration.  It could appear quite different from his body in this life, for the disciples did not recognize him on the road to Emmaus.  In the overt sense, Christ’s body is the physical body of Jesus the carpenter…  The meaning of corporeality can be multiplied and expanded, but on no account can physical corporeality be subtracted.  Thus, our resurrected bodies, however different, are the physical bodies we are now.  It is these very bodies that become imperishable, incorruptible, and immune from illness, weakness, or blemish. (p.47)

…Justice Martyr (d.165) believed that soul at death cannot enjoy eternal life in heaven before the resurrection.  (p.54)

Irenaeus (second century) summed up the tradition as it was in his time.  All the blessed in heaven will see Christ, the glory of the communion of saints, and the renovation of the world.  They will dwell in their true home, where with Christ they enjoy eternal peace and comfort.  Paradise, the heavenly city, the celestial abode, and the reign of God come together at the endtime, when the Word of God restores the cosmos to himself.  We were originally created in Eden in God’s image and likeness, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will restore and further perfect that blessed state.  The image (imago) is the natural image of God intrinsic in every human soul; the likeness (similitude) is the potential, through grace of  becoming like him in eternal life.

Ireanaeus defended the psychosomatic integrity of the human being as unified body and soul against Gnostic belief that the soul is saved independent of the body.  The Holy Spirit grafts eternal and immutable life onto our earthly bodies, Changing them into spiritual bodies.  As Christ’s descended into the shadow of earth until the third day, so the souls of the just will pass an invisible place God has designated for them and there await the resurrection.  When at last we rise in our bodies, we will see God, and be taken unto him, for “those who see God are within God, sharing His glory” (Against Heresies, 4:40:5)… (p.55-56)

            Note:  Compare the above with the following from scriptures.

“For man is spirit.  The elements are eternal, and spirit and element inseparably connected, receive a fullness of joy.  And when separated, man cannot receive a fullness of joy” (D&C 93:33–34).

“For the dead (who were in the spirit world) had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (D&C 93:50)

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:  but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn.3:2).

“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phl. 3:21)

“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matt.27:52-53).  

Chapter 4: Returning to God

            Tertullian (160-225) himself elsewhere insisted that bodies, however mutilated, will recover their perfect integrity in the resurrection.  If God does not raise the entire person, he cannot be said to raise the dead at all.  Wholeness and integrity entail lack of disease and deformity, and they ought also to entail the fulfillment of all our potentials, including parental, filial, and sexual love.   Without parental and filial love, and without love between the sexes, we could scarcely be whole.  Tertullian’s answer was to change the meaning of “body.”   We will lose nothing essential in our corporeal identity, and bodies will retain characteristics such as gender, but the function of these characteristics will change.  Every organ will have a function in heaven, though we cannot yet know what that will be” (p.67).

Note:  “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame” (Alma 40:23)

            Tertullian fought the Gnostic belief that salvation was for souls who had shed the evil body.  He argued that the elect must wait for the resurrection to experience the beatific vision and fullness of joy.           

The great Greek fathers of Alexandria, Clement and Origen, firmly grounded in Scripture, were also influenced by Platonism and Stoicism.  Clement’s affirmation of the inconsistent doctrine of salvation of the soul and salvation of the body, typical of many fathers, also intensified the problem of the interim state.  Clement defined heaven as the place of state where the elect receive the vision of God, theoria, a kind of “seeing” or “understanding” that eventually surpasses knowledge.  It is neither Platonic nor Gnostic knowledge, but a divine gift of wisdom, nurtured and developed throughout a person’s life.  (p.69)

 Note.  “Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection-Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all me, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.  And then shall it come to pass, that the sprits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow” (Alma 40:11–12).

Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-225) introduced the terms theosis and theopoiesis, “divinization,” which then passed through Athanasius (d.373)  and Gregory of Nyssa (340-95) to Eastern Christianity as a whole.  Both terms refer to the potential of every human being and of the Christian community in general to become divine, not in the impossible sense of participating in God’s essence, but in the sense of Jesus’ command to be perfected and Paul’s teaching that the saved are members of Christ’s body.  For Clement, the theosis is attained through wisdom.

 Note.  Irenaeus  maintained that our salvation would not have been secured unless it was God himself who accomplished it.

“And how shall man pass into God, if God had not been caused to pass into man?”

” The Logos of God, Jesus Christ our Lord… was made that which we are , in order that he might perfect us to be what he is.”  (See Keith E. Norman, Deification: the Content of Athansian Soteriology, p.13)

Clement is also noted for his stress on the pedagogical function of the Incarnation, and this shows up in his references to deification: 

“The Logos of God was made man in that you might learn from a man how to become a god.” (See Norman, p.15).

St Athanasius of Alexandria (295-373) also explained that

“God became man, so that we might be made gods.”  (See Jordan Vajda, OP, “Partakers of The Divine Nature, p.10)

 “Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my father; for which of those works do ye stone me?  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said , Ye are gods” (John 10:32–34)

“God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods… I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the most High”  (Ps. 82:1–6).

“And it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection… and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, and all heights and depths…  then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall the be above all, because all things are subject unto them.  Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject to them”  (D&C 132:19–20).

 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Origen’s doctrine of creation in his work First Principles expresses his complex and sometimes inconsistent view of soul and body.  In the beginning, God created a number of intelligent beings, both equal and free.  After creating the intelligences, God created matter.  The intelligences all freely chose to depart from the divine unity, but in differing degrees, so that each sank as far away from God into matter as its choice dictated…

This universe that God has created departs from him, and it will return: once fallen, each intelligence embarks on a pilgrimage back to God.  Its progress back to God depends partly on its freedom and partly on providence.  Human souls. Like all the intelligences, are essentially immortal, since none can avoid returning to their divine source in God himself.  Still, the elect, those whom God chooses, are granted more than other creatures:  the fulfillment of their potential to know and love Christ is this world and the next.  Origen insisted that Christ’s redeeming sacrifice is necessary to salvation. (p.72)

Note.  “And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all” (Abram. 3:19)

“Now the Lord had shown un to me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;  And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good, and he said unto me:  Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (Abram. 3″22-23)

             When the intelligences are about to return to God, they regain their pristine purity.  But if that were all, there would seem no point in the whole process, nor would Christ’s Incarnation have any ultimate purpose.  Therefore Origen had to argue for a paradox: a return to an original state that when renewed is actually better than it was before.  The concept of reformation in melius, “a return to a better state,” appears in many cultures and institutions with historical consciousness, and it is a powerful motif in Christian thought.  The celestial paradise recapitulates the original paradise but in even greater goodness and glory. (p.76) 

Note.  “And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him; We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will made an earth whereon these may dwell;  And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;  And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their fist estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever” (Abram 3:24-26).

Intelligences

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992),, p.692

The word “intelligences” (plural) occurs frequently in LDS literature, having reference to the period of the premortal existence of mankind. The term has received two interpretations by writers within the Church: as the literal spirit children of Heavenly Parents and as individual entities existing prior to their spirit birth. Because latter-day revelation has not clarified the meaning of the term, a more precise interpretation is not possible at present.   

The scriptural source for the word “intelligences” is the book of Abraham 3:21–22. The Lord instructed the patriarch Abraham regarding the premortal experiences of all who have been or ever will be upon the earth. Among those events was the Council in Heaven, at which the Father’s Plan of Salvation for his children was discussed. Abraham wrote of this, “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; …for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them” (Abr. 3:22–23). The Prophet Joseph Smith spoke of intelligences as follows: “God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them” (TPJS, p. 354).   

Concerning man’s premortal existence, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith, “Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be” (D&C 93:29). “Intelligence,” as used here, is singular, and it is not clear from this passage if it refers to individual, conscious identity. As noted, Abraham referred to the spirit offspring of God as organized intelligences, apparently using the word “intelligences” to mean “spirits.” Church authorities have indicated that spirit birth was not the beginning. Spencer W. Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, wrote, “Our spirit matter was eternal and co-existent with God, but it was organized into spirit bodies by our Heavenly Father” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 5, Salt Lake City, 1969). Marion G. Romney, of the First Presidency, speaking of people’s divine origin as children of God, stated, “Through that birth process, self-existing intelligence was organized into individual spirit beings” (Ensign 8 [Nov. 1978]:14). Bruce R. McConkie, an apostle, wrote:

Abraham used the name intelligences to apply to the spirit children of the Eternal Father. The intelligence or spirit element became intelligences after the spirits were born as individual entities (Abr. 3:22–24). Use of this name designates both the primal element from which the spirit offspring were created and also their inherited capacity to grow in grace, knowledge, power, and intelligence itself, until such intelligences, gaining the fulness of all things, become like their Father, the Supreme Intelligence [MD, p. 387].   

While the revelations leave no doubt as to the existence of intelligent matter prior to its being organized as spirits, speculation sometimes arises regarding the nature of premortal existence and whether there was individual identity and consciousness prior to birth as a spirit. Some hold that the terms “intelligence” and “intelligences” have reference to a form of prespirit conscious self-existence, which included individual identity, variety, and agency (so reasoned B. H. Roberts, pp. 401-423). Others maintain that while these characteristics, attributes, and conditions are eternal, they essentially came together for each individual at the spirit birth. The question of whether prespirit intelligence had individual identity and consciousness remains unanswered. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith gave this caution in 1936:

Some of our writers have endeavored to explain what an intelligence is, but to do so is futile, for we have never been given any insight into this matter beyond what the Lord has fragmentarily revealed. We know, however, that there is something called intelligence which always existed. It is the real eternal part of man, which was not created or made. This intelligence combined with the spirit constitutes a spiritual identity or individual [p. 10].   

No formal pronouncements have been made by the leading councils of the Church to clarify what additional meanings and attributes may be assigned to the word “intelligences,” beyond that which identifies intelligences as spirit children of God.

[See also First Estate; Intelligence; Premortal Life; Spirit Body.]   

Bibliography   

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992),, p.693

McConkie, Bruce R. Mormon Doctrine, pp. 386-87. Salt Lake City, 1966.

Roberts, B. H. “Immortality of Man.” IE 10 (Apr. 1907):401-423.

Smith, Joseph Fielding. Progress of Man. Salt Lake City, 1936.

PAUL NOLAN HYDE   

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