“We don’t do our people any favours by letting them attend church every week, living with the illusion that they are growing. They may be learning, but they are not growing.” Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. (Kindle location 956).
“The purpose of the church should be more than “body” building. The church should be more like a training facility designed to equip the saints for works of service” Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. (Kindle location 948).
“The way to inwardly build a church is through outward service.” Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church. (Kindle location 934).
gift of life #2
questions and answers about immortality
In this session, I will ask four questions about immortality, and look to the Bible to answer those questions.
First, who does the Bible claim is the only being who currently has immortality? In the last session in this study, we looked at 1 Timothy 6:16, which says that God “alone has immortality, (and) dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.” (ESV). It seems to me if Paul believed that all the sentient beings in the universe are immortal, he would not have said that. If all angels, demons and human beings are created with an immortal essence, then God cannot be exclusively immortal. We are forced to either accept what Paul said, or reject it and accept that traditionalist doctrine. The Bible teaches God’s exclusive immortality.
Second question: who revealed the hope of immortality to the world? Was it Greek philosophers or Jesus? Basic to the doctrine of innate immortality is the assumption that Plato and other Greek philosophers discovered innate immortality, and that by the time the New Testament was written, all its authors had accepted it as fact. But what does the Bible actual tell us about who revealed the truth about immortality? To answer that question, we can come again to the Bible. It says in 2 Timothy 1:10 that God’s purpose and grace “now has been manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” It was not the Greek philosophers, but Jesus, who revealed the truth about human immortality in the gospel. If he revealed the truth, it was in response to non-truth that had been taught by the pagans. The gospel of resurrection life to those who believe in Christ set the record straight.
Third question: is Immortality an innate attribute of all, or a gift to be given to the saved? Here again, the Bible gives us an answer, and that answer contradicts the human tradition of innate immortality. Romans 2:7 says “to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, (God) will give eternal life.” It does not say that everybody already has it. It does not say that we were born with it. It says that we must seek it, and that God will give it. If you have to seek something, you don’t already have it. If it is a gift that God will give, then it is not now an innate possession.
Fourth question: when do believers become immortal? Is it at death, or at the resurrection? These scriptures answer that question: 1 Corinthians 15:52-54 KJV says “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:42 ESV says “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.” According to these scriptures, we get the gift that God promised us – not at death – but at our resurrection. The resurrection happens when Jesus returns. The long-standing human tradition that believers go to be with the Lord in heaven as immortal beings when they die is not biblical truth.
If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com. Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.
(listen to the audio file at Afterlife)
gift of life #1
Eternal life is a gift, not a given.
If we were to allow the Bible to speak for itself, without reading the long standing human traditions into it, then we would see that in it God promises something to those who believe the gospel. He promises to give us eternal life when Jesus returns.
Some people teach that everybody already has eternal life. They believe that human immortality has no conditions – that it is a given. This is the doctrine of innate immortality. An innate attribute is one we are all born with.
In this series, we are going to examine numerous passages of scripture. With these texts, I will argue that the doctrine of innate immortality is not taught in scripture. Instead, the texts show that we really do need eternal life, but the good news is that it is available as a gift from God, promised only to those who believe in Jesus.
The first question we need to look to scripture to answer is not about the what we humans are made of, and it is not about what our destiny is. The most important question is not about what happens when we die. The first, most important question is about God. What makes God different from us? This is a theology proper question. If we are going to talk about immortality as a gift, we must first determine who is the source of the gift.
The Scriptures we look at in this section of our study are going to lead us to two conclusions about the gift of eternal life: First, God is the only one who now possesses eternal life, and secondly, we human beings once had the opportunity to gain eternal life (in Eden), but by sinning we lost that opportunity.
Now we will look at our first text.
— … God ….[is] “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, the only One who has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom none of mankind has seen or can see, to whom be honor and eternal might. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16 HCSB.
This is one of the most important texts in all the Bible on the subject of who God is. It states categorically that God is the only being in the universe who has immortality. Theologians write page after page of God sovereignty, his power and his holiness, and all of those things are also taught in scripture. But when these same theologians come to this text, they either ignore it, or find some way to make it say something it does not say.
What does this text say about God? Imagine two hypothetical boxes. The first box is for us to put all beings who have immortality, the second box is for all other beings. What 1 Timothy 6:15-16 says is that only God can reside in the first box. The rest of us do not fit, because we are not qualified. Angels are not qualified. Satan is not qualified. The only being who has immortality today is the supreme being: God himself. Immortality is exclusive to God alone.
If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com . Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.
(listen to the audio file at Afterlife)
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