The Intermediate State

“And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” — Luke 23:43

The “intermediate state” refers to the condition of the human person between physical death and the final resurrection. Where are the dead now? Are they conscious? At rest? In the presence of God? For how death relates to the believer and the hope of resurrection, see the companion articles. Christians have wrestled with these questions since the earliest centuries.

Sheol in the Old Testament

The Hebrew word Sheol (שְׁאוֹל) appears over sixty times in the Old Testament. It refers broadly to the realm of the dead — the place where all the departed go, righteous and wicked alike:

“For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” — Psalm 6:5

Sheol is described as “below” or “the pit” (Isaiah 14:9, 15; Ezekiel 32:21)
Both the righteous (Genesis 37:35; Psalm 16:10) and the wicked (Psalm 9:17; Numbers 16:33) are said to go there
The Old Testament picture is deliberately restrained — there is no detailed geography of the afterlife

Over time, especially in the intertestamental period, Jewish thought developed a more differentiated view of the dead, with separate compartments for the righteous and the wicked.

Hades in the New Testament

The Greek word Hades (ᾅδης) is the New Testament counterpart to Sheol. It appears ten times and carries a range of meanings:

In Acts 2:27, 31 Peter quotes Psalm 16 and applies it to Christ: God did not abandon His soul to Hades
In Revelation 20:13-14, Hades gives up the dead and is itself thrown into the lake of fire
Hades is distinct from Gehenna (hell as final punishment) — it is a temporary holding, not the final state

Abraham’s Bosom and Paradise

The Greek word paradeisos (παράδεισος) appears three times in the New Testament (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 2:7). It derives from the Old Persian paridaida (“enclosed garden”) and was used in the Septuagint to translate the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8). By Second Temple times it had become a term for the blessed dwelling of the righteous dead.

The expression “Abraham’s bosom” (kolpos Abraam, κόλπος Ἀβραάμ) appears only in Luke 16:22. The image evokes the place of honor at a banquet — reclining at Abraham’s side — signifying intimate fellowship with the father of the faithful.

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) provides the most vivid New Testament picture of the intermediate state:

Lazarus rests in “Abraham’s bosom” — a place of comfort
The rich man suffers in Hades — a place of conscious torment
A “great chasm” separates the two, preventing passage between them

Whether this parable describes the literal architecture of the afterlife or uses imagery familiar to first-century Judaism is debated. But the teaching is clear: the dead are conscious, their condition is fixed, and it reflects their relationship to God.

Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross — “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43) — confirms that the righteous dead are with Christ, not in unconscious oblivion.

The Debate: Conscious Presence vs. Soul Sleep

Two main Protestant positions exist on the intermediate state:

Conscious Intermediate State (Majority View)

At death, the soul is immediately in the presence of Christ (Philippians 1:21-23; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8)
Paul’s desire “to depart and be with Christ” implies conscious communion, not unconsciousness
The transfiguration shows Moses and Elijah appearing alive and speaking (Matthew 17:3)
The martyrs in Revelation 6:9-10 cry out to God — conscious and aware

Soul Sleep (Minority View)

Held by some Reformers and Anabaptist traditions, and by Seventh-day Adventists today
Death is described as “sleep” in both Testaments (Daniel 12:2; John 11:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)
The dead know nothing and have no awareness (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
Proponents argue the resurrection would be superfluous if souls already enjoy glory

The historic consensus of Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant theology affirms conscious existence after death. The “sleep” language is understood as describing the body’s appearance, not the soul’s experience.

Purgatory

The Roman Catholic tradition teaches purgatory — a state of purification after death for those who die in God’s grace but still bear the effects of venial sin:

Rooted in 2 Maccabees 12:46, prayers for the dead, and 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
Formally defined at the Councils of Florence (1439) and Trent (1563)
Purgatory is not a “second chance” but a process of final sanctification for those already saved

Protestant churches reject purgatory, holding that Christ’s atonement is fully sufficient and that believers pass immediately into glory. Eastern Orthodox churches affirm prayers for the dead and a process of growth after death but generally avoid the Western juridical framework of purgatory, preferring more mystery and less precision.

What We Can Affirm

Death is not the end — the soul survives the body’s death
The righteous dead are “with Christ,” which is “far better” (Philippians 1:23)
The intermediate state is temporary — it awaits the bodily resurrection at Christ’s return
Our ultimate hope is not a disembodied afterlife but the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come in the new creation

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” — 2 Corinthians 5:1