What happens to our spirit after death? (Matthew 17:3)

Almost all of the book of Revelation is a vision, not to be taken literally. E.g. Revelation 9:17:

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, …

The Transfiguration was also a vision, not reality, as stated in Matthew 17:9:

And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

Jesus is quoting from Exodus 3:6:

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. …

in Matthew 22:32:

³¹But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ³²I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

The context is the future resurrection of the dead. By saying "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living", Jesus meant that the patriarchs will be resurrected to life when they are reborn in the Kingdom of God. But meanwhile, they will still remain dead, buried, and unaware until Christ's return though.

This is confirmed in Hebrews 11:13:

These [the patriarchs] all died in faith, not having received the promises …

Given these scriptures, is it more biblically sound to believe that our spirits remain alive and conscious after death, rather than entering a state of soul sleep?

Those quoted scriptures give no support for consciousness while in the grave.

On the other hand, there are many references to death as sleep and to the dead being unconscious, as in this excerpt from my answer to According to Protestantism, what are the strongest apologetic arguments against the doctrine of Intercession of Saints? - Christianity Stack Exchange:

For those denominations that take the Bible fairly literally, everyone that has ever died (with one notable exception) is still dead and buried and awaiting resurrection.

For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, … — Ecclesiastes 9:5

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, … — John 3:13

Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. — Acts 2:29

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. — 1 Thessalonians 4:14

See also my answer to Gehenna (γέεννα) vs Hades (ᾅδης).

We note the following:

• Mortal man is just that, and the soul can die. Eze 18:4, 20, 24, Gen 6:3, 1 Tim 6:15, 16.
• The dead cannot communicate with the living, Job 7:8-10.
• Man is unconscious in death. Eccl 9:5, 6, 10, Ps 6:5, 17:15, 115:17, Isa 38:18, Ps 88:10. Thus, the Bible very often calls death a “sleep”;
• OT: 1 Kings 1:21, Job 3:11-13, 14:12, Ps 13:3, Ps 76:5, 90:15, Jer 51:39, 57, Dan 12:2 (see also Deut 31:16, 2 Sam 7:12, 1 Kings 2:10, 11:21, 43, 14:20, 31, 15:8, 24, 16:6, 28, 22:40, 50, 2 Kings 8:24, 10:35, 13:9, 13, 10:35, 13:9, 13, 14:16, 22, 29, 15:7, 22, 38, 16:20, 20:21, 21:18, 24:6, 2 Chron 9:31, 12:16, 14:1, 16:13, 21:1, 26:23, 27:9, 28:27, 32:33, 33:20, etc)
• NT: (continuing the OT metaphor) Matt 9:24, Mark 5:39, Luke 8:52, John 11:11, 12, Acts 7:60, 13:36, 1 Cor 7:39, 11:30, 15:6, 18, 20, 51, 1 Thess 4:13-15, 5:10, 2 Peter 3:4, etc.
• The soul can be destroyed (and will be destroyed for wicked). Matt 10:28, Eze 18:4, 20, 24, Mal 4:1, 3.
• The soul cannot think after death. Ps 115:17, Job 14:2, 21, Ps 146:3, 4 “their thoughts perish, KJV).
• Man becomes immortal at the resurrection, not before. 1 Cor 15:51-54, Ps 17:15. See also “Resurrection”.
• Man only has the life given by Christ; man does not have life of himself. 1 John 5:11, 12, 1 Cor 15:21, 22, John 5:24, 25, 6:51, Luke 13:3, 2 Peter 2:12. Rom 2:7, 1 Cor 15:12-49. Man cannot have eternal life in hell! Rom 6:23.
• Man waits in the grave until the resurrection. Ps 17:15, Acts 2:29, 31, 32, John 11:11 – 14, Dan 12:1-3, Isa 26:14, 19.
• The wicked will be ultimately completely destroyed and will perish, Ps 37:20, 92:7, Isa 41:11, 12, Eze 18:20, Mal 4:1-3, Matt 10:28, Phil 3:19, 2 Thess 1:9, Heb 10:39, James 4:12, 2 Peter 2:6, 3:7.

The record in Gen 2:7 is entirely phenomenological: Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being [Literally “soul”].

There are three actions recorded here -

1. God forms man, not ex-nihilo, but from the dust of the ground. That is, God takes soil/clay and moulds a figure that is lifeless
2. God “breathes” into the nostrils the breath of life - a phrase coined in numerous places as defining the difference between something being dead or alive such as: Job 33:4, Gen 1:30, 6:17, 7:15, 22, Rev 11:11, Isa 2:22, Dan 5:23, Josh 10:40, etc.
3. Man becomes “nephesh” = soul or living creature. The same word is used of animals in Gen 1:20, 21, 24, 30, 2:19, 9:4, 5, 10, 15, 16, etc. It is also used to describe people, Gen 12:5, 14:21, 17:14, 36:6, 46:15, 22, 25, 26, 27, Ex 1:5, Num 19:18, 31:35, Josh 10:37, 39, Isa 57:16, etc (see also Ps 49:12, 20). See also Eccl 3:19 which says that all these creatures have the same breath [of life].

The Bible also describes the reverse process as well:

• Job 34:15 - all humanity would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.
• Job 10:9 - Remember that you moulded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?
• Gen 3:19 - By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
• Ps 104:29 - When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
• Ps 146:4 - When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. ("thought perish", KJV)
• Eccl 12:7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit/breath [of life] returns to God who gave it.

The “breath” of life is just the act of breathing as recorded in numerous places, Gen 7:22, Deut 20:16, Josh 10:40, 11:11, etc. When the breath of life is separated from the body, the person or soul ceases to exist. Thus, not only humans are described as “nephesh” = “souls”, but so are animals and other living creatures.

Whatever “the breath of life” is, it is an on-going debt we have to God for existence as per Col 1:17 and Dan 5:23. Note especially, 1 John 5:11, 12 - And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

APPENDIX - Theological Implications – the Nature of God

The idea of an immortal soul (or spirit as some suggest) has other practical and logical problems quite apart from the explicit statements of Scripture listed above; for example:

• If the soul is immortal it does not depend on God for life. “He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else . . . For in him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:25, 28. “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:11, 12. Thus, the assertion that we are somehow immortal and do not depend on God for life and all else, is blasphemous! Further, by definition, people in hell do not have the Son and so cannot have life!
• If the soul is immortal, God cannot destroy it - God would therefore not be omnipotent (not all powerful). See Job 42:2 and Matt 19:26. Thus, the assertion that the soul is immortal and indestructible (apart from contradicting the plain statements of Scripture, eg Matt 10:28, Eze 18:4, 20, 24), limits the power of God!
• Some will object to the above assertion by suggestion that our souls are dependent on God for life and that God could destroy the soul if He so chose. However, this leaves us with an even bigger problem that God then keeps people (souls) alive in hell eternally in order to torment them! This makes God, as Ingersoll asserted, into some kind sadistic monster that is inconsistent with His fundamental essence of love (1 John 4:8, 16).
• If the soul is immortal, God could not ultimately destroy evil and eradicate sin from the universe. See Heb 9:26, Nahum 1:9. In fact, God took specific steps to avoid sinful man living forever - see Gen 2:24. Again, the idea of an immortal soul for the wicked, limits God’s ability to solve the sin problem.
• If the soul is immortal and the wicked are tormented forever in a fiery hell, God is not just because such an outcome for sinners is not justice when they would serve an eternal sentence for finite crimes. “God's judgment is right … God is just” 2 Thess 1:5, 6. See also Rom 3:23-26.
• If the soul is immortal, what need is there of a resurrection? If the saints are already enjoying the heavenly paradise, what purpose does the resurrection serve? (Some say the resurrection is to reunite the soul with the body - but why if they already have their reward?) Paul asserts that if there is no resurrection then our faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:12-20). Even William Tyndale arrived at a similar conclusion in his book, “An Answer unto Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue” – “Nay, Paul, thou art unlearned, go to Master More and learn a new way. We be not most miserable, though we rise not again, for our souls go to heaven as soon as we be dead, and there as in great joy as Christ that is risen again. And I marvel that Paul had not comforted the Thessalonians with this doctrine, if he has wist it, that the souls of their dead had been in joy, as he did with resurrection, that their dead should rise again. If the souls be in heaven as in great joy as the angels, after your doctrine, shew me what cause should be of the resurrection?”
• Even worse than this, if mankind is already immortal, why did Jesus come to give immortality for the faithful if they already possess it? Peter Peckard observed in his book, “Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State Between Death and the Resurrection” (1756), page 19: “Jesus Christ came into the world on purpose to redeem men from death and to give them life and immortality. It is very certain the he could not redeem them from a state in which they were not, nor give them that life and immortality which they already possessed. So that by this scheme [the natural immortality of the soul] the whole notion of redemption by Jesus Christ is absolutely destroyed.”
• Worse than all this is the problem of the consequences of Jesus’ atonement. If there is an eternally burning hell where sinners suffer an eternal punishment for finite crimes, then Jesus’ atonement was nothing of the kind – it was inadequate. However, Scripture tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all! See Rom 3:21-26, 6:10, 2 Cor 5:21, Heb 7:27, 10:10, 1 Peter 3:18, among many other references. (See “Election”.) Thus, the doctrine of an immortal soul depreciates the centrality of the Cross, and its all-sufficient nature! Note this well – Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sin and endured our punishment. God will not administer a second lot of punishment on the wicked, other than to eternally destroy them (2 Thess 1:8, 9).
• Isaiah 53:10 contains a fascinating prophecy that Jesus would give his “soul” as an offering for sin. If this is understood literally (as immortal soul advocates insist) then the text makes no sense at all. However, the NIV correctly renders the phrase, “the LORD makes his life an offering for sin”. Therefore, mortal man is just that, and always dependant on our heavenly Father via Christ for our life. “For to me, to live is Christ.” Phil 1:21.