One of my friends is essentially a Seventh Day Adventist. I enjoy talking to him and it is nice to have him around when there is an ongoing discussion about Eternal Security. At the same time, we’ve had several discussions over the last year and a half about what eschatology (end times doctrine) the Bible teaches. As far as I can tell, neither one of us has swayed the other – but I keep trying.
Several weeks ago he asked me to review a sermon by Stephen Bohr on Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31). I’ve finally taken the time to do that. If you are interested and have an hour to kill, you can watch it on YouTube (parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6).
Bohr’s claim, as based on the teachings of Ellen White, is that this parable is borrowed from a common story among the Pharisees in Jesus’ day except that in their story the rich man gains Abraham’s bosom. They may be right that this was not telling of actual events that took place. I’ve leaned that direction for a while even though the official teaching I have grown up around says that the words “there was a certain beggar” are important.
In the sermon, he makes a faulty assumption that forks into two parts. He read the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and used it as a springboard to prove that the angels gather everyone from the same place. When he gets to Luke 16:22, he emphasizes heavily that the rich man was buried and that men are not taken to the fires of hell until after the judgement of all mankind.
He drew out the point that God does not punish before a fair and just judgment. It is a good thing to point out and I mostly agree with him about that.
Where I disagree most is in the assumption that the spirit is completely bound to the body. That is, wherever the body resides is where the individual members (eyes, tongue, fingers, etc.) of the person are at. Bohr says that this scene between Lazarus and the rich man could not take place until after the final judgment of all mankind. If that were the case, wouldn’t Lazarus’ brothers (verse 28) be in hell with him?
There is a union between body and soul but it can be broken. This is why death is such a horrendous thing, the separation is not how we were designed. It is a sign and reminder of what is wrong with us.
There is a small chance that Bohr believes the spirit can be separate from the body, but if that is the case then he believes the spirit is formless. I dealt with the topic of ghosts last year and there is sufficient information to rebuff this idea. You have Moses who was buried (Deuteronomy 34:5,6; Jude 9). How then did he appear on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:30) before the resurrection of the dead? He had body parts.
Either way that you look at this poses problems for his argument that Lazarus and the rich man could not have eyes, tongues, fingers, etc. before the resurrection of the dead. There are better passages to argue with Bohr’s purpose for this sermon. He made a couple of good points but overall I think he got too caught up trying to find the hidden meaning that “Christians misunderstand” and has missed the boat himself.
If you want a shorter version of the sermon on the parable that I agree more with, you might be interested in John Gill’s commentary on Luke 16:19 (you will have to scroll down). I haven’t yet found any evidence that Jesus was copying the Pharisees’ story but such things are always a possibility.