The Conscious Intermediate State
No purgatory, no soul-sleep — the soul’s immediate conscious entry into heaven or judgement.
Settled clearly
Background
The Reformed had to handle two alternatives. (1) Christian mortalism (also called *psychopannychism* or 'soul-sleep'): the soul sleeps unconsciously between death and the resurrection. The position had been held by some Anabaptists, Henry Vane the Younger arguably tilted that way, and John Milton would defend it explicitly in *De Doctrina Christiana* (1820s posthum.). (2) The Roman scheme: souls of the imperfectly purified pass through purgatorial fire to satisfy for unremitted temporal punishment; OT saints had been held in the *Limbus Patrum* until Christ's descent. Both were to be rejected. The Reformed position — articulated by Calvin in *Psychopannychia* (1542, his first published treatise) — was that souls separate consciously from the body at death and immediately enter into heaven (the righteous) or hell (the wicked) to await the resurrection.
The Assembly’s handling
WCF XXXII.1 articulates the immediate-conscious position with unusual rhetorical force: 'The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Beside these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.' The closing clause is the direct rejection of purgatory and *limbus*.
Parties
The Westminster immediate-conscious consensus
The soul neither dies nor sleeps but at death immediately enters heaven (the righteous) or hell (the wicked) to await the resurrection and final judgement. No purgatory, no *limbus*, no soul-sleep.
- Edmund Calamy the Elder (1600–1666)
- Edward Reynolds (1599–1676)
- Anthony Tuckney (1599–1670)
- Samuel Rutherford (c. 1600–1661)
Christian mortalism / soul-sleep (rejected)
The soul sleeps unconsciously between death and resurrection, since 'the dead know not anything' (Eccl. 9:5). Some Anabaptists; later John Milton.
Roman purgatory and limbus (rejected)
Souls of the imperfectly purified pass through purgatorial fire to satisfy for unremitted temporal punishment; OT saints had been in *limbus patrum* until Christ's descent. Trent, Session XXV.
Confessional language
WCF XXXII.1: 'The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Beside these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.'
Ontology placement
This crux bears on the following attribute of the Westminster ontology. The Westminster baseline value is marked WCF.
VIII · Civil & Last Things · Intermediate State
Legacy
The Westminster position has been the Reformed standard ever since. Milton's *De Doctrina Christiana* (composed 1650s-60s, discovered 1823) defended Christian mortalism, but Milton's position remained marginal in the Reformed world. The doctrine of purgatory has continued to be the major Catholic-Protestant point of difference on the intermediate state. Twentieth-century evangelical handlings (Anthony Hoekema, John Cooper) defend the Westminster position; Christian materialist and physicalist positions (Nancey Murphy, Joel Green) revive the soul-sleep alternative.