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These verses were used to teach conditionalism/ human souls are mortal. What is the “traditionalist” response to these verses.

(1 Timothy 6:16): “who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”

(Ezekiel 18:20 ): “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.”

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    While I can see the relevance of 1 Tim 6:16 to the question of human immortality, what is the relevance of Ezekiel 18:20?
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 5:38
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    @curiousdannii Ezekiel 18:20 is relevant because in Hebrew it literally says "the soul who sins is the one who will die"
    – user32540
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 6:57
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    The person using these verses believes you cease for a little while after death. The godly awaiting immortality and the wicked awaiting judgement. The wicked will suffer a little while and eventually cease its existence.
    – Anderson Kate
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 7:58
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    By 'cease for a little while' you seem to be implying that persons (both justified and unrighteous) cease to exist then re-exist. This is preposterous. (And unrighteous.) That the unrighteous should then be 're-invented' (or whatever you wish to call it) and then be immediately annihilated (as though that were possible) is utterly illogical and absolutely in contradiction to a multitude of scriptures. Such ideas are unspiritual, illogical and unscriptural. I am voting to close as matters of opinion.
    – Nigel J
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 9:59
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    'Expounding' on individual texts of scripture is more the province of Stack Exchange - Biblical Hermeneutics but there the questions must be specific to the particular verse of scripture, not a topical inquiry. Here, on SE-C, the focus is on comparative Christianity, that is to say the comparing of the views of groups who self-identify as 'Christian'. The verses you quote are not fundamental to the topic you are seeking. There are more definitive verses which decide the doctrine, as I have attempted to demonstrate in my answer.
    – Nigel J
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 17:35

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On the subject of the immortality of the soul, Martin Luther has this to say :

For since we call it a sleep, we know that we shall not remain in it, but be again awakened and live, and that the time during which we sleep, shall seem no longer than if we had just fallen asleep. Hence, we shall censure ourselves that we were surprised or alarmed at such a sleep in the hour of death, and suddenly come alive out of the grave and from decomposition, and entirely well, fresh, with a pure, clear, glorified life, meet our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the clouds.

Martin Luther and William Tyndale on the State of the Dead

John Calvin exhorts not to enquire into matters that are not revealed but what he does say is this :

Many greatly torment themselves with discussing what place they occupy, and whether or not they already enjoy celestial glory. It is foolish and rash to inquire into hidden things, farther than God permits us to know. Scripture, after telling that Christ is present with them, and receives them into paradise (John 12:32), and that they are comforted, while the souls of the reprobate suffer the torments which they have merited goes no farther. What teacher or doctor will reveal to us what God has concealed?

As to the place of abode, the question is not less futile and inept, since we know that the dimension of the soul is not the same as that of the body. When the abode of blessed spirits is designated as the bosom of Abraham, it is plain that, on quitting this pilgrimage, they are received by the common father of the faithful, who imparts to them the fruit of his faith. Still, since Scripture uniformly enjoins us to look with expectation to the advent of Christ, and delays the crown of glory till that period, let us be contented with the limits divinely prescribed to us--viz. that the souls of the righteous, after their warfare is ended, obtain blessed rest where in joy they wait for the fruition of promised glory, and that thus the final result is suspended till Christ the Redeemer appear.

There can be no doubt that the reprobate have the same doom as that which Jude assigns to the devils, they are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day," (Jude ver. 6).

Calvin's Institutes - Book 3 - Chapter 25

It is quite clear that neither Luther nor Calvin accepted the idea of the annihilation of the soul, in any way or for any reason, nor did they accept the possibility (whether temporarily or permanently) of the 'cessation of existence'.

A more clear text, regarding immortality, than the two quoted (the two quoted texts are not definitive in respect of the topic under inquiry) is the last verse of Isaiah, 66:24, which is quoted by Jesus and reported by Mark :

... to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. [Mark 9:43,44 KJV]

Writing of this text Gill says the following in his commentary :

This will be always the case; conscience will be ever distressing, racking, and torturing them; it will never cease, nor cease doing this office, and so the Chaldee paraphrase of Isaiah 66:24 renders this phrase, , "their souls shall not die"; but shall ever continue in the dreadful torments and unspeakable horrors of a corroding conscience; and by "the fire" may be meant the fire of divine wrath let into their souls, which will never be extinguished; and so Jarchi interprets the phrase in Isaiah 66:24, "their fire", "in hell".

Gill's Commentary - Biblehub

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    Calvin wrote a full commentary so you could look up what he said about these verses, however there's no guarantee he addressed the idea of conditionalism (or a precursor to it).
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 14:29
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A particularly good answer has already been given to your main question - but comments prompted you to refine your question further with this "Can anyone expound upon the meaning of the verses that are quoted?"

In order to do that, the translation used by the OP would first need to be stated, for much of the meaning of the two texts has been lost in the translation that has been used. I could offer an explanation only by using different translations:

"The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself... Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" Ezekiel 18:20 & 23 N.A.S.B.

"...the blessed and only potentate, the King of the kings, and Lord of the lords, who only is having immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no one of men did see, nor is able to see, to whom [is] honor and might age-during! Amen." 1 Timothy 6:15-16 Young's Literal Translation

Do you notice that in neither your chosen translation of Ezekiel, nor mine, the word "soul" appears? It is there in the Hebrew [nephesh] but because this verse is dealing with the life and death of a human person, and not any immortal aspect of them, the word 'person' is properly translated. God does not desire to see the wicked die, yet God's law is clear that, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). That is what the Ezekiel verses deal with. It does not deal with any invisible, eternal part of humans. (The reason I chose a different translation is that it does not use the word 'credited'.)

As for 1 Timothy, notice how immortality is not said only to be an aspect of God'; it goes beyond that to say that only God HAS immortality. It indwells his Being. He is immortal, and immortality belongs to him. If he chooses to grant immortality to others, he does so. It is his to have, and to give. The YLT stresses the unique nature of this aspect of God, "who only is having immortality".

The verse cannot be construed to mean that God keeps his immortality to himself alone.

That is, very simply, my basic response, as one who believes that there is an invisible, eternal aspect to humans created in the likeness of God, who is Spirit. However, if you were to frame a similar question in Hermeneutics, asking about the Hebrew and Greek words involved in those texts (regarding 'soul' and 'immortality'), that could help you greatly.

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    Yes, it seems strange that the question would quote from a translation that says "The person" rather than "The soul", when the point of the question is whether souls are inherently immortal.
    – Ray Butterworth
    Commented Sep 3 at 13:02
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    @RayButterworth To be fair to the OP, she did comment in response to a comment to her, "Ezekiel 18:20 is relevant because in Hebrew it literally says "the soul who sins is the one who will die". And that point is valid, which I briefly address in my answer.
    – Anne
    Commented Sep 3 at 13:12
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Sorry, I completely misunderstood your question in the previous answer. I'm used to people using mortality of the soul to argue for annihilation instead of hell. The Hebrew word nephesh1 and Greek word psuche2 are often best translated life (meaning an individual living being). For example the Gospel of John states that Jesus laid down his psuche/life. Virtually every time a person's individual life is mention in scripture nephesh or psuche is used. Thus, trying to determine mortality of the soul from these words in scripture would be difficult.

The soul without a body is foreign to the Old and New Testaments, but common to Greek philosophy. That's why the resurrection was foolishness to the Greeks. But, Paul mentions that we will have a spiritual body different than our body here on Earth.3

When it comes to time, physics tells us that time is not independent of matter. Time is a part of creation and God is independent of time. Heaven and hell are not a part of this physical universe, thus not on the same time as us now.

At this point we have to depend on what God has revealed in the scriptures and accept that the complete picture is beyond our understanding. However, our lack of understanding the time involved can explain how people immediately go to heaven or hell and yet scripture describes things like judgment and resurrection as occurring at the same time.

1 -- Gen. 1:20,21,24,30; 2:7,19; 12:5,13,21

2 -- John 10:11,15,17; 13:37,38; 15:13

3 -- 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

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    I like your point about the Greeks thinking resurrection was foolishness it was the blending of Greek philosophy into the mix that introduced immortality of the soul. Still thus died not really answer the question posed by OP who wants a believer in immortal soul to defend that belief in light of the verses cited
    – Kristopher
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 22:27

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