IMMORTALITY (fm-mZir-tal'I-tY"). The quality of never ceasing to live or exist; exemption from death and annihilation; life destined to endure without end.
Immortality is 'one of the doctrines of natu ral religion. At death the body dies, and is dis solved into its elements. The soul being dis tinct from the body, is not affected by the disso lution of the body. How long, or in what state it may survive after the death of the body, is not intimated by the term immortality. But the argu ments to prove that the soul survives the body, all go to favor the belief that it will live forever.
See Plato, Pita.don; Porteus, Sermons; Sher lock, On the Imnzortality of the Soul; Watson, In timations of a Future State; Bakewell, Evidence of a Future State; Autenrieth, On Man, and His I lope of Immortality, Tubingen, 1815; Fleming, Vocal). of Phil.
God is "immortal," and only hath "immortal ity;" he hath life in and of himself, and is in finitely secure against death, hurt, or ruin of any kind (I Tim. i :17 ; vi :i6). The eternal blessed ness of the saints is called "immortality ;" it can never cease, and is free from such pain, corruption, or unsightliness, as attends death (Rom. ii :7) ;
and it is brought to light, that is, more clearly discovered by the gospel dispensation (2 Tim. I :to).
Compare our Savior's teachings regarding a future deathless life, both by express declara tion and as illustrated by parables (Matt. v :12; viii :II, 12 ; xii :32 ; xiii :36. 43 ; xviii :8, 9 ; xxii ; x.xv :1-'3, 31-46; Mark viii :35-37; Luke xii :4, 5; xiti :24-29 ; xvi :19-31 ; xviii :29, 30 ; JOhn :16; v :39, 40 ; vi :47-58 ; x :28 ; xi :25 ; xiv :1-6, etc.).
Our mortal body shall put on "immortality," when it shall gloriously rise from the dead, and be no more subject to any tendency towards dissolu tion or wasting (1 Cor. xv :53).
In the Old Testament the doctrine is taught but not so clearly as in the New. The sixteenth psalm, especially as connected with the apostolic comments (Acts ii:27; xiii:35) is a case in point. (See also Ps. xvii:i5; Is. xxvi:19; Dan. xii:2, 3.)