“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 BSB)
“And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.” (1 John 5:20 NLT)
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.” (Romans 6:22 BSB)
I have three questions that have been growing in my spirit for quite some time.
- What is “eternal life”?
- When does “eternal life” begin?
- What, if anything, should I expect to be different in my experience of “eternal life” before and after the grave?
Today let’s look at question number 1:
What is “eternal life”?
There are two main elements to eternal life. There is the “quantity”, or duration, element which is typically referred to as “everlasting life.” This element can be deceiving as everyone has “everlasting life” regardless of their spiritual condition. I am a spirit, I have a soul, and I live in a body. My spirit and soul will never die in the sense of ceasing to exist.
When Adam committed high treason in the garden, turned his back on the Father, and pledged his allegiance to Satan, he died spiritually. He didn’t cease to exist, he detached himself from the spiritual life of the Father, and in doing so he attached himself to the spiritual death of Satan. Everyone born since that day has been born spiritually dead in need of reattachment to the life source of the Father.
The primary focus of “eternal life” is on the “quality” of life (or death) that is resident within a person. While everyone will live forever, not everyone will live forever with the Heavenly Father. While it is the Father’s design and desire (will) that none should perish, He created each of us with the capacity to choose life or death. We were created in His image and likeness which features the ability to make “god-like” decisions pertaining to eternal life. We have the ability, and freedom, to accept or reject, the Father’s eternal plan of redemption. We can choose life and blessing or death and cursing.
When I recognized that I was detached from the life of the Father, and realized that Jesus made the way for me to be reattached through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, I chose to accept what Jesus did for me. The Bible calls that being saved, or being born again. This is the event in my life that brought me back into the family of God by reattaching me to my life source. It gave to me the quality of life that exists only in the Father.
We will look closer at question number one tomorrow as we continue to consider…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 165: “Eternal Life: Don’t leave home without it.” Part 1: What is “eternal life”?
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