Introduction
This, without a doubt, is one of the more difficult subjects to address. And, as the reader will observe through my own testimonies within this piece, one that is intensely significant and intimate for me, personally. We all have our testimonies of family, friends, and/or acquaintances who have had to deal with those who are suicidal or those who have committed suicide.
When the person who commits suicide is an unbeliever, we know from Scripture where that person is likely spending their afterlife, though we can never know for certain. When it comes to professing Christians and suicide, Biblically, it does not seem to be so black and white.
A Quick Personal Testimony
In 2019, I became sick unto death. I am still not at a place where I can discuss my trial with others, and may never be, but even if I could, words are truly incapable of relating my experience to another human being. The physical pain and mental anguish I endured were beyond human language to express, to the point that I not only considered suicide, but I had it planned out, with the only missing ingredient being the when.
Thanks to my loving Savior and the love and prayers of my wife, family, friends, and even those I did not know, I held on as long as I possibly could and then began the slow process of healing. But the question of our topic remains: Would I have entered heaven to be in the presence of my Savior had I committed suicide?
I am convinced that many people through the course of the last 2,000 years have pondered this question. Many families have unfortunately endured this traumatic experience with loved ones who truly exhibited love for the Lord and, for whatever reason, just could not do life anymore and took their own lives. Are these loved ones waiting for us in heaven, or are they awaiting the Great White Throne Judgment in hell in Sheol?
This pertinent question is what this article seeks to Biblically and logically answer.
Is Suicide Murder?
The sixth of the 10 Commandments reads:
“Thou shalt not kill.” – Exodus 20:13
The Hebrew word for “kill” is 7523 רָצַח “ratsach” and means to murder, slay, put to death, kill, manslayer, murderer. A primitive root; properly, to dash in pieces, i.e., kill (a human being), especially to murder – put to death, kill, (man-)slay(-er), murder(-er).
While on the surface, this word’s definitions might be applied to suicide, I would suggest that the two are not necessarily synonymous, especially when it comes to Christian suicide – that is, someone who is a born-again Spirit-filled believer and takes their own life.
When someone intentionally murders another person, this would certainly fall into the category of offending the sixth of the 10 Commandments of God. When it comes to breaking this commandment of a person intentionally killing another person, this requires hatred in the heart of the murderer for the one he or she kills.
Yet, when a professing Christian takes their own life, there is, apart from personal uncontrolled sin in one’s life that has gotten totally out of hand, no animosity and/or hostility towards themselves. They are truly at their wit’s end and just cannot take the physical or emotional pain they are experiencing any longer. They do not hate themselves – again, apart from uncontrolled sin run amok – for all people inherently love themselves, as we shall examine momentarily. They do not desire to harm themselves and leave their loved ones behind, understanding and knowing the pain their suicide will necessarily bring about upon those loved ones; they just want the pain to stop and often have exhausted all attempts to do just that.
So, we can reasonably state that Christian suicide – once again, apart from persistent and uncontrolled sin in one’s life – is not the act of taking one’s own life out of a hatred for oneself (as murder is about a hatred for the one who is killed), but is the point reached where one is at a total loss of going forward with their life because of intense unabating pain.
Suicide in Scripture
Unsurprisingly, there are no positive allusions to suicide in Scripture. Every suicide recorded in the Word of God comprises a negative connotation and, in most instances, is a response to the individual being rejected and/or punished by God in one way or another. In essence, because of their rejection of God’s leading and His will for their lives, there tends to be found no hope for these individuals spiritually.
Examples include Abimelech (Judges 9:54-56), Saul (1 Chronicles 10:4:5), Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23), Zimri (1 Kings 16:18), and, of course, Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:5).
However, none of these examples of suicide in Scripture was due to enduring unimaginable and excruciating chronic pain that would inevitably terminate their lives apart from a miracle from God. Immediate pain that would undoubtedly lead to their death was a consideration, such as King Saul, but not for long-term chronic mental or physical pain that had reached an apex of seemingly no return with no end in sight.
Nevertheless, we also observe in Holy Writ that some men – and most of them godly – for a variety of reasons, wished they had never been born, earnestly desired to die (though suicide is never alluded to in any of the narratives), and/or requested and petitioned God that He would take their life.
Examples include Job (Job 3:11), Moses (Numbers 11:15), Elijah (1 Kings 19:4), Jonah (Jonah 4:1-3), and the Philippian Jailer (Acts 16:27-28).
Job’s suffering was beyond imagination, and, during his traumatic ordeal recorded for us in Scripture, Job longed to die and earnestly desired that he had never been born (Job 3). Yet Job did manage, undoubtedly with God’s divine help and mercy, to outlast his immense pain and suffering as many others before him and after him have.
Others, however, have not been so fortunate, as most of us can attest and history confirms.
What About 1 Corinthians 3:16-17?
While the act of suicide can be found in the Scriptures, the eternal destiny of a Christian’s suicide, in relationship to heaven or hell, is not so easily discernable, as the Word of God is silent on this subject. Or is it?
There is one passage that comes into the mind of some people regarding this topic, and we would do well to examine it.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” – 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
As always, context is everything. Here is the contextual lead-up to our passage in 1 Corinthians 3.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 – Paul addresses division and then speaks of how the gospel is spread through the planting and watering of the seed of the gospel in human hearts and how the increase of salvation belongs to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 3:10-11 – Paul relates how Christ is the foundation of the gospel and the importance of carefully building upon that foundation with correct doctrine while we work for the Lord’s Salvation Kingdom.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 – Paul shows that those things which we do individually as we build on the foundation of Christ’s gospel will be judged at the Bema Seat of Christ.
Then we have our text passage:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” – 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
The Greek for both “defile” and “destroy” in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 comes from the same Greek word, 5351 φθείρω “phtheirō,” and means, properly, to shrivel or wither, i.e., to spoil (by any process), or (generally) to ruin (especially figuratively, by moral influences, to deprave) – corrupt (self), defile, destroy.
Biblical usages include: to corrupt, to destroy. 1. In the opinion of the Jews, the Temple was corrupted or “destroyed” when anyone defiled or, in the slightest degree, damaged anything in it, or if its guardians neglected their duties. 2. To lead away a Christian church from that state of knowledge and holiness in which it ought to abide. 3. To be destroyed, to perish. 4. In an ethical sense, to corrupt, deprave.
Here is the breakdown of 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 with our commentary.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
Of first note is that “ye” and “you” are words of plurality, denoting the entire professing church. That is, the church membership of born-again believers comprises “the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you [the assembled believers in the church]. As Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
We also know from other Scriptures that every Spirit-filled believer obviously has the indwelling Holy Spirit within them. Therefore, this passage can be and should be equally applied to both the corporate body of Christ and the individual believer. In both cases, the corporate body of Christ, when coming together, is “the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you [the church body of true believers],” and each member is individually “the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.”
“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”
If any man comes in, either to the corporate body of Christ or into a true believer’s life, and “defile[s] the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” This declaration goes well with the warning of Jesus concerning little ones who believe in Him and those who would offend them.
“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” – Matthew 18:6
Furthermore, it is unfortunately possible for a Spirit-filled believer to also “defile the temple of God” by willfully living in habitual sin. In these rare instances, “him shall God destroy” physically. We discuss this fateful and thankfully rare truth in QFTBOC: God’s Chastisement of His Children, under the subheading The Ultimate Chastisement: A Sin Unto Death.
“… for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
Appertaining to both the corporate body of Christ and the individual true believer within that body, “the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
Paul, in this passage, is not speaking of a physical suicide but of the responsibility of each professing Christian and each body of believers who come together in His Name as a whole – as well as any other person who may come into or visit a body of believers or involve themselves in a believer’s personal life – are not to “defile the temple of God,” whether individually or corporately.
The following verses that complete this chapter state:
“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
“Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” – 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
All of this concerns the corporate body of believers as well as individual believers within the body of Christ, along with those in the world who may come into a corporate body of believers or into an individual believer’s life, attempting to defile and corrupt that that is set apart and holy unto God.
There is no hint at all to physical suicide within this passage or the entire chapter.
People Naturally Love Themselves
The Scriptures are abundantly clear that mankind does not have a self-esteem problem, and no one ever hates themselves apart from unrepentant and incessant sin.
“For no man ever yet hated his own flesh…” – Ephesians 5:29a
When Paul said this, he was speaking regarding how a man should love his wife and how we are all members of the body of Christ. But the universal principle is clear: “No man ever hated his own flesh” and would never consider suicide when that person is in a healthy and proper state of mind. Even the unsaved can attest to this fact.
Therefore, when it comes to suicide, every man and woman – devoid of any calamity in their life that might push a person toward suicide – is truly incapable of harming or killing themselves. In fact, everyone – even those who have experienced or are experiencing calamities in their life that might push them toward suicide – would do everything they could to avoid committing suicide. This is just the plain truth of the matter when it comes to humanity and the God-given desire to live a full life, saved or unsaved.
As we have noted, suicide is one subject that is not clearly delineated in the Scriptures. Therefore, we must use other Scriptures and logic, along with the truth of salvation, to come to any conclusion that may be satisfactory in our attempt to better understand what an outcome of a professing Christian who commits suicide might potentially be.
Salvation is Salvation
Allow me to ask the reader a very simple theological question: When Christ paid for our sins on the cross, did He pay for all our sins, past, present, and future? Of course, he did.
So, even if suicide was a sin – which is never revealed either way in Scripture – then would not the sin of suicide, again, if it was even a sin, be covered by the blood of Christ for a true, Spirit-filled believer? You bet your life it would be!
No matter our lot in life; no matter how much pain and suffering we may endure; no matter what man or woman – or even ourselves – can do to us, God is forever faithful to those who genuinely put their faith and trust in the Son’s loving hands and have accepted His free gift offer of salvation He procured for us on the cross.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” – John 10:27-30
We are eternally secure if we are truly given wholeheartedly to Jesus Christ our Lord and have His indwelling Holy Spirit.
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39
Yet again, we are eternally secure in the Lord’s loving hands, and nothing and no one is “able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He knows us better than we could ever know ourselves. He knows our pain, our hurts, and our struggles. He understands. And it makes total sense that if He knows us that well, He would never ever forsake anyone who truly belongs to Him who would regrettably resort to the tragic end of suicide when they found themselves in a desperately dark place that they never asked for or ever sought.
“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” – Hebrews 13:5
So, please, Saint, do not despair if you have experienced the loss of a loved one or friend to suicide who showed tell-tale signs that they were truly saved. Suicide of a loved one is absolutely devastating for those left behind; this, there is no doubt. But when it comes to their salvation, if they truly believed in Jesus and were Spirit-filled believers, then we should be confident that they are with Him now. God does what is right and is just by definition.
A Personal Testimony of Life and Death
I am going to share a quick personal story of victory and defeat with you. I really do not want to, but I really feel it is worthy to be shared in light of our sensitive and emotional topic.
Victory for Life
A long time ago, I worked with a young woman who found out she was pregnant. She did not know what she was going to do or what she should do. She needed help and sound Biblical counseling.
I took the time to minister to her and spoke words of God’s wisdom concerning life and Christ’s love. I encouraged her adamantly to keep and raise her child with no fear of the future and with full reliance on her Savior, Jesus Christ.
Shortly after, I relocated and lost touch with her, but I had heard that she took that which was really the Lord’s advice, followed her heart and love for Jesus, and had and kept her child.
Defeat of Death
Several years later I found myself serving on a worship team in a local church. To my more than pleasant surprise, this same young woman and her family were members of this same church.
She had met a man, married, and had more children. I got to see her son, who she had all those years back, and rejoiced in my heart!
Her husband was a really great guy, and he was one of my biggest “fans” – he loved to watch and hear me play the drums on the worship team.
Moreover, his job had him coming to my place of employment, so we got to chat on a somewhat regular basis outside of church. These were usually short conversations, but as with all conversations between brothers and sisters, they were a blessing for us both.
One day, as he came into my office, he did not have his usual smile on his face and seemed to be somewhat somber as he approached me. He asked me if he could ask me a Biblical question. I said, “Of course.”
He proceeded to tell me that he had a friend who loved the Lord and was asking him about suicide and wondered if the Bible said anything about what happens to those who believe in Jesus and end up committing suicide. He wanted to know if there was anything in the Bible that said anything about suicide or Christians who had committed suicide so he could share it with his friend and help answer his question.
I told him that the Bible does not say anything about suicide and the Christian, but it seems more than reasonable that if someone really gave their life to Christ and were truly saved, but, for some reason, just could not go on and committed suicide, that I have no reason Biblically to believe that they would not go to heaven. That a born-again Christian is eternally secure in the mighty hands of the Lord.
I also told him that he needed to do his best to encourage his friend and let him know that if, by chance, he was possibly contemplating suicide himself, that the Lord always has more planned for His children’s lives and that he would never be able to achieve those plans if he were to take his life. That Jesus always has more for him to do, along with every believer who has ever lived, while they are here on Earth.
My friend smiled and thanked me, and he told me that he would talk to his friend and share this information with him.
A few weeks later, I found out my friend – the man who married the young woman I had counseled to keep her baby those many years before and was my biggest “fan” – had committed suicide. All along, my friend was speaking of himself, and I honestly had no clue.
Obviously, I was devastated and heartbroken. I could not believe that I had missed the likelihood that he was speaking of himself. I just never even considered the possibility, as he always seemed so happy and content with his life.
In a real sense, within this one family, I helped to save one, and I tragically lost another years later. They were related to each other in an incredibly intimate way. I never saw it coming, and I just could not believe that all of this had happened in the ways that it did. I will never, ever forget it.
What We Should Learn from All of This
Never take for granted that your loved one, friend, acquaintance, or stranger in your midst is just fine. They may not be. In fact, they may be just a decision away from ending the sorrow, pain, and suffering that they have kept so secretive for such a long time.
If anyone approaches you with a story in similar terms to what I just related to you, never assume that that person is not speaking of themselves – they may certainly be, and they could be reaching out for help with you possibly being their last human contact to make a difference before it is too late.
Even though we have come to the Scriptural and logical conclusion that a true believer in Jesus Christ will, in fact, be saved even if he or she commits suicide, this should not change our responsibility to be that friend or loved one who takes the time to be a loving mediator between them and the Lord and encourage them to persevere.
They need us to bring our prayers and supplications for them to their Creator, Savior, and Lord. They need our utmost attention and care. They require our love and understanding. They need to hear our warnings that they are in danger of losing out on the opportunities that the Lord has prepared for them if they can only endure. They desire a friend who truly understands and is there for them, no matter what the end results may be.
We might not always be successful in our attempts to help them and pull them through their trials and tribulations to the other side, but at least we can look back and know that we gave them our all, sharing our Lord with them along the way, and relying on the leading of the Holy Spirit as we do.
Moreover, we must never be judgmental when it comes to this issue because we have no idea what they are going through and experiencing. As I honestly relayed at the beginning of this article, what I personally went through was way beyond human language to describe. Their situation will often be the same. No one can go into the body or mind of another person to experience what they are subjected to, and we would be more than fools to ever compare ourselves with anyone else — ever. The only One who knows exactly what any individual is going through is the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and He alone understands the plight and sufferings of all His creatures.
Conclusion
When it comes to the unsaved who commit suicide, all things are possible with God. We do not know what may transpire in the hours and minutes before taking their own life. They may have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior before committing suicide in their time of utter despair.
For the twice-born believer who commits suicide, for whatever reason – again, even if suicide is a sin – I am persuaded and convinced that the Scriptures unequivocally teach that all sins, past, present, and future, have been paid in full on the cross by our Lord and Savior for His redeemed. Even in their time of intense darkness, never desiring to take the drastic steps that they do, as they take their own life, Jesus, I am certain, is with them through His indwelling Holy Spirit. He would never allow them to be alone in their time of hopelessness, for He will never leave or forsake those who are His.
Considering terminal individuals who abide in chronic unabating pain with no hope in sight, and assisted suicide is available to them, who am I or anyone else to judge the proper course of action they should take? Though I might elect not to be in the room with them when their life is taken – if they decide in that direction – I will never, nor could I ever, make them feel guilty in any way for the choice they have made – a decision I am certain they struggled mightily with.
Job, by God’s grace and his own personal perseverance, survived his ordeal and made it through his trial, receiving mighty blessings from God when he did, though he was always a righteous man in God’s eyes.
“And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
“Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.
“So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
“He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
“After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.” – Job 42:10-17
Speaking from my own personal experience mentioned at the beginning of this article – and I am certain the testimony of countless other believers down through the ages – Job’s experience became my own personal experience. Like Job, my latter end was more than my beginning.
The Lord, through His sovereignty, knew I had to be tried and purified by His holy fire so that I might fulfill His divine calling in my life – something I could never have achieved in my own power. As brutal as the experience was – once again, beyond words to express – like Job, God had His way with me for my own good and His ultimate glory; nevertheless, as I am sure Job also would have confessed, I may not fully understand it all this side of heaven.
Romans 8:26-28 then took on a new meaning for me and my life going forward:
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
When I think back on how close I was to ending the excruciating suffering I was going through, it truly was the love of God and the love and prayers of family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers that pulled me through. I am so thankful for them, and I pray they are an example to all of us in how we should stand in the gap for those going through such horrendous, debilitating situations.
May we all be aware of the suffering of others and be there for them in their time of desperation – helping them find Jesus if they do not know Him, and encouraging and edifying those who have made Jesus their Lord and Savior – so they, too, can obtain additional glory, crowns, and rewards for our Lord on Earth, as we prayerfully endeavor to support them with everything we are, that they might make it through their own intensive trials and tribulations until He finally calls them home to glory.
“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” – 1 John 3:16
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2
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May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
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