Eternal life (Christianity)
Eternal life traditionally refers to continued
According to mainstream Christian theology, after death but before the
In the
Thus, unlike the synoptics, in the Gospel of John eternal life is not only futuristic, but also pertains to the present.
In the New Testament
Scholars such as
John W. Ritenbaugh says that eternal life is knowing God, and that Jesus implies an intimate relationship with God that matures over time.[11]
While the
In New Testament theology, in addition to "life" (zoe, i.e. ζωὴ in Greek), there is also a promised spiritual life sometimes described by the adjective eternal (aionios i.e. αἰώνιος in Greek) but other times simply referred to as "life".[7][15] In both John and Paul the possibility of attaining eternal life and avoiding the wrath of God is dependent on believing in Jesus, the Son of God. For John abiding in Christ involves love for one another, as in John 15:9-17, and John 5:24. The existence of divine love in believers, then facilitates the influence of the gospel on the world, and lead to widespread salvation.[7] 1 John 3:14 then manifests "the already but not yet" acquisition of eternal life by referring to the acquisition of eternal life as a once for all (ephapax) event, and the role of love in attaining it: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death", somewhat reminiscent of the words of Jesus in John 5:24.[16]
Pauline letters
In the
Paul also discusses the relationship of eternal life to the
1 Timothy 1:16 characterizes Christians by reference to eternal life and calls the followers of Jesus: "an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life." and 6:12 advises them to "fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal".[4]
Synoptic Gospels
The New Testament includes fifteen occurrences of the word life, eight of these including the adjective eternal.[15]
There are parallels in how the synoptics refer to "being saved" and John refers to eternal life, as in the table below:[21]
Matthew 16:25 | Mark 8:35 | Luke 9:24 | John 12:25 |
---|---|---|---|
... whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. | ... whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it. | ... whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. | ... he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. |
In the Gospel of Luke, the Parable of the Good Samaritan begins with a question about eternal life in 10:25 when a lawyer asks Jesus what he needs to do to "inherit eternal life".
The
Johannine literature
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The Johannine concept of eternal life differs from the
There are about 37 uses of the word life in the
Reformed evangelical theologian
However, although as in John 3:16 God has provided the gift of eternal life to believers, the possibility of perishing (απόληται) remains if one rejects Jesus. According to John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Towards the end of the Gospel of John (20:31), the purpose of writing the Fourth Gospel is stated as: "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name".[12] This is often correlated to 1 John 5:13: "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."[29]
John's Gospel positions eternal life around the person of Jesus, the Christ.[30] In the Johannine view Christ can reveal life to humans because he is life himself.[7] 1 John 1:2: "proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us" is compared to John 1:1: "and the Word was with God", referring to the pre-existence of Christ.[29]
The term is used in the Gospel of John in the context of the Water of Life and John 4:14 states: "the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life."[31]
In
In John 10:27–28 Jesus states that: "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." This refers to the personal, heart to heart relationship the Christian is expected to have with Jesus.[34]
Another use is in John 17:3: "And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, Jesus Christ", this usage relating to the "theme of life" in the Book of Revelation.[35]
Teaching by Christian denomination
Roman Catholicism
The English version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II does not contain the term 'afterlife'.
Seventh-day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventists believe that only God has inherent unconditional immortality, all humans can only possess immortality conditionally through faith in Jesus as a gift, unbelievers will eternally perish or cease to exist. This belief is based of biblical texts such as; John 3:16 which states; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” as well as other verses: ( 1 Tim 6:16, Gen 2:17, 3:1-5, 22, Matt 25:46, John 10:28, Rom 7:6-8, Rom 6:23, 1 Tim 6:19, 1 John 5:11-13, 1 Cor 15:33-34, Luke 20:36, Matt 10:28). This view is called conditional immortality
Adventist also believe that when a person dies, death is a state of unconscious sleep until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as Ecclesiastes 9:5 which states "the dead know nothing", and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming.
- "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (cf. Gen 2:7)
The text of Genesis 2:7 clearly states that God breathed into the formed man the "breath of life" and man became a living soul. He did not receive a living soul; he became one. The New King James Bible states that "man became a living being". According to the Scriptures, only man received life in this way from God. Because of this man is the only living creature to have a soul.
- "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field ... wherein is the breath of life." (cf. Genesis 2:19, 7:15)
- "Both man and beast ... have all one breath, so that a man hath no preeminence above the beast."(cf. Ecclesiastes 3:19)
Of the many references to soul and spirit in the Bible, never once is either the soul or the spirit declared to be immortal, imperishable or eternal. Indeed, only God has immortality unconditionally (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16). Adventists teach that the resurrection of the righteous will take place at the second coming of Jesus, at which time they will be restored to life and taken to reside in Heaven, while the wicked be resurrected to face Judgment and be eternally destroyed or annihilated.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses believe the word soul (nephesh or psykhe) as used in the Bible is a person, an animal, or the life a person or animal enjoys. Hence, the soul is not part of man, but is the whole man—man as a living being. Hence, when a person or animal dies, the soul dies, and death is a state of non-existence, based on Psalms 146:4, Ezekiel 18:4, and other passages.[38] Hell (Hades) is not a place of fiery torment, but rather the common grave of humankind, a place of unconsciousness.[39][40]
One group, referenced as "the little flock" of 144,000 people, will receive immortality and go to heaven to rule as Kings and Priests with Christ during the
Those granted eternal life in heaven are immortal and cannot die by any cause.[41] Even God himself typically wouldn't kill them.[42] They teach that Jesus was the first to be rewarded with heavenly immortality, but that Revelation 7:4 and Revelation 14:1, 3 refer to a literal number (144,000) of additional people who will become "self-sustaining", that is, not needing anything outside themselves (food, sunlight, etc.) to maintain their own life.[43]
They make a distinction between immortality and eternal life in that humans who have passed the final judgement and were rewarded "eternal life" can still technically lose that life and die if they were ever hypothetically sin at some future point in time, though they do not succumb to disease or old age, due to their living forever still being subject to obedience.[44] They also still continue to be dependent on food, water, air, and such to maintain life.[45] Nevertheless, those who pass that final test are "guaranteed" to remain faithful throughout all eternity due to the test being perfect and designed to eliminate those who would ever misuse their free will.[46]
Latter Day Saints
In Latter-day Saint (Mormonism) theology, the spirit and the body constitute the human soul. Whereas the human body is subject to death on earth, they believe that the spirit never ceases to exist and that one day the spirits and bodies of all mankind will be reunited again. This doctrine stems from their belief that the resurrection of Jesus Christ grants the universal gift of immortality to every human being.
The few who do not inherit any degree of glory (though they are resurrected) reside in a state called
Other Christian beliefs
The doctrine of
Some sects who hold to the doctrine of
See also
References
- ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church - I believe in the resurrection of the body". www.vatican.va. Archived from the original on 2002-09-10.
- ISBN 0060507152..
- ^ ISBN 0-8028-3782-4page 161
- ^ ISBN 0-8308-3872-4pages 87-90
- ISBN 0-664-22394-Xpages 115-116
- ^ ISBN 0-86554-373-9Entry for "eternal life", pages 264–265
- ^ ISBN 0-86554-373-9page 513
- ISBN 0-664-25192-7page 296
- ^ ISBN 90-5356-503-5page 430
- ^ D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Apollos, 1991), p. 556.
- ^ "Eternal Life (Forerunner Commentary)". www.bibletools.org. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
- ^
- ^ ISBN 0-8146-5812-1pages 195–196
- ^ ISBN 0-8028-0680-5page 70
- ^ ISBN 0-664-22394-Xpages 296–298
- ISBN 0801026873page 200
- ISBN 0-7814-3445-9page 162
- ^ ISBN 0-8028-4423-5page 479
- ^ ISBN 3-16-149817-8page 121
- ISBN 0-8028-2609-1page 264
- ISBN 0-8254-3838-1pages 33–34
- ISBN 0-8010-2684-9page 469
- ^ ISBN 0-8010-2684-9page 473
- ^ Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible summarizes this as follows: "The NT searches for a balance on eternal life between present and future - the believer has passed in Christ from death to eternal life, but this remains to be fully realized in God's future, specially in the Resurrection and new creation at the eschaton".
- ^ Note: Different authors provide slightly different counts for the use of the term life in John, e.g. 37 in The Westminster theological wordbook of the Bible vs 36 in Painter and Harrington's book
- ^ D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Apollos, 1991), p. 256.
- ISBN 0-8028-0680-5page 528
- ISBN 0-8028-3784-0page 525
- ^ ISBN 0-8146-5812-1pages 69–72
- ISBN 0-8132-1405-Xpage 159
- ISBN 0-8308-2699-8page 312
- ISBN 0-310-45571-5pages 267–269
- ^ Catechism item 1212
- ISBN 0-89870-308-5page 116
- ISBN 0-8308-2023-Xpage 53
- ^ "What Is Purgatory?". Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- ^ "What Is Purgatory and Is it in the Bible?". iBelieve.com. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- ^ "Is There Life After Death?". The Watchtower. July 15, 2001.
- ^ Hell-Eternal Torture or Common Grave? The Watchtower, April 15, 1993, p. 6.
- ^ "What Really is Hell". The Watchtower. July 15, 2002.
- ^ The Watchtower, 1 December 1963, 732, "The Gift of Immortality"
- ^ "The Watchtower", 1 April 1956, 219, "Question From Readers"
- ^ Insight on the Scriptures Vol. 1 p. 1196: "Incorruption"
- ^ "Questions From Readers — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY". wol.jw.org. Retrieved 2018-03-02.
- ^ The Watchtower, April 1st, pgs. 30-31, Questions From Readers, "What is the difference between immortality and everlasting life?" Though immortality is, in a sense, everlasting life, immortality apparently implies more than that its possessor will live forever. It seems to indicate a particular quality of life, and it is linked with incorruption. The Bible says about spirit-anointed Christians who receive the heavenly reward: “This which is corruptible [in its human body] must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. But when this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and this which is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up forever.’”—1 Corinthians 15:53, 54. Still, the Bible does not provide much detail about the quality of life termed immortality. We do know that mortal humans—even perfect humans having the prospect of endless life on earth—must eat and drink to maintain life, or they die and their bodies experience corruption. (Genesis 2:9, 15, 16) No doubt immortality involves a quality of life that does not need to be sustained like that. Thus it could be said that all who become immortal are not subject to death or that ‘death is master over them no more.’ That would harmonize, too, with their receiving incorruptibility, indicating that their spirit body or organism is inherently beyond decay, ruin or corruption. (Compare 2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 20:6.) In these ways a difference might be seen between immortality and everlasting human life.
- ^ The Watchtower 1974 6/1 pp. 346–348; The Watchtower 1967 9/1 pp. 525; The Watchtower 1967 8/15 pp. 508–509; The Watchtower 1954 4/15 pp. 255 par. 23
- ^ "Section 76 churchofjesuschrist.org". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
- ^ The Nature of Hell. Conclusions and Recommendations Archived 2012-02-22 at the Wayback Machine by Evangelical Alliance
External links
- Eternal Life is Now! Archived 2018-08-20 at the Wayback Machine