What Does the Bible Say Eternal Life Is and Is Not?
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What Is Eternal Life According to the Bible?
“He is not Lord of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32). Those profound words mark the conclusion of Jesus’ refutation of the Sadducees’ false belief that there was no afterlife. In this remarkable discourse, Jesus brought up the reality of eternal life by quoting the well-known passage from Exodus 3:6 where God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. When God spoke to Moses, He said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” How did this prove eternal life was real? Notice God spoke to Moses in the present tense, not the past tense. He did not tell Moses He was the God of Abraham, but He said, “I am the God of Abraham” (emphasis mine). At that point, Abraham had died on earth, but God’s words logically lead one to realize the patriarchs were still with the Lord. Death had not separated them from God, Who grants eternal life.
Eternal life can be understood as a state of existence given and sustained by God in which a person remains in a permanent, unending fellowship with Him.
What Are Some Misconceptions about Eternal Life?
Eternal life advocates annihilationism.
The biblical teaching of Hell can make people uncomfortable. Some have made the claim God’s judgment against sinners will not last for eternity. In this view, after God casts people into Hell, they suffer for a temporary period of time and then cease to exist. Since believers are the only ones granted eternal life, one might think that those outside of Christ are destined to perish (i.e. cease from existence) because their lives are mortal, not eternal. Scripture refutes such a position and teaches that sinners will spend eternity in Hell (2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:10-11).
Eternal life centers around our existence.
The secularized perception of heaven portrayed in movies has influenced our culture’s understanding of eternity. Often displayed is a godless heaven that centers around people who enter paradise with their friends and family. In this state of bliss, a person’s earthly passions and relationships transfer over to paradise, and they get to pursue them forever and ever, without hindrance and certainly without the bother of worshiping God. If God is included in the secular version of heaven, He is often treated as part of the surrounding atmosphere instead of the central focus. This is a far cry from the truth. Our eternal life centers around God, Who will receive our unbroken worship and praise (Revelation 4).
We will get bored after a while.
Although God has set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), it’s impossible for us to fathom what it will be like to live forever. At this point, we can only relate to our temporal, earthly experiences. No matter how much you enjoy life now, the pleasures of this world are not enough to satisfy us forever. Eventually, life loses its glimmer, and it becomes difficult to find joy. It’s easy to transfer this understanding of life onto our eternal lives with the Lord. However, if we took a moment to consider this notion, we would realize it’s insulting to think God will be like the babysitter who ran out of ideas to entertain the children. The glorious truth is we will never grow tired or weary of our eternal life with God. The riches of God’s glory are inexhaustible; we will never be able to get our fill. We will indeed enjoy our loving relationship with Him forever.
Eternal life is granted to good people.
It’s very natural for people to compare moral appearances with one another. Anyone who seems like a good person (by human understanding) is often assumed to have a place in heaven. Many pastors have made the fatal error in their message at funerals when they automatically assign people to heaven based on the good reports they hear from family members. This may be easy on the human conscience, but it is far from truthful, and actually benefits no one. God only grants eternal life through Jesus Christ alone. Our works have nothing to do with salvation (Titus 3:5). There is no compromise. A person’s good works may impress other people, but when compared to God’s perfect and holy standard, they are nothing but filthy rags. Mother Teresa did not impress God with her works. If she didn’t put her faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture, she wasn’t given eternal life. The same is true for all people.
People are given eternal life by saying the right things.
It’s a common misperception that God automatically grants eternal life to people who say the right things. There are many who treat the Sinner’s Prayer like magic words which force God to dispense His grace. People think if they can just convince or manipulate a person to say the right words, they’ll go to heaven for sure. This cheap view of salvation is not biblical. That is not to say a person cannot be saved if they say the Sinner’s Prayer, but they absolutely must say it with faith in Jesus Christ as He is revealed in Scripture. A person who has been granted eternal life demonstrates this reality by the way they live. They continually seek repentance and bear spiritual fruit because they are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). They begin the process of putting off their old sin nature and putting on the new nature God has given them (Colossians 3:1-10). Is this done perfectly? Of course not. We will never be perfect on this side of heaven (Philippians 1:6). However, we will display godly change because it is impossible for a person to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ and not be changed.
Eternal life begins when we get to heaven.
Christians can view their eternal life as some far-off abstract thing that only begins once we step foot into heaven. The truth is our eternal life has already begun. Our eternal life is grounded in our relationship with God (John 17:3). Since we have entered into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we can begin to enjoy our eternal life here on earth.
What Must a Person Do to Receive Eternal Life?
God grants eternal life to all who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16). In order to believe the Gospel, a person must first acknowledge God as our holy Creator to whom our lives belong. They must also acknowledge that they are a sinner; they have rebelled against God and deserve His eternal judgment as a result of their sin. With that understanding, they need to know God loved them and came down to earth as a man, Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless life which enabled Him to pay the price for our sin, which He did when He died on the cross. As proof of God’s acceptance for Christ’s atoning death, Jesus was resurrected on the third day and now sits at the right Hand of God, pleading on behalf of all who believe in Him as Lord and Savior. When we talk about believing in Jesus Christ, we are speaking about an internal disposition of trust and submission. When a person believes in Jesus as Savior, they trust in Christ and His atoning work as the only means by which God forgives their sins and grants them salvation. When a person believes in Christ as Lord, they acknowledge Him as God and submit themselves to Christ’s rightful authority over their life. This means their life revolves around living in obedience to Jesus by obeying His commands, which are found in Scripture. Everything revolves around knowing Jesus Christ for Who He really is. A person cannot have a saving faith if they do not know Who Christ really is.
Further Reading:
The Top Bible Verses about Eternal Life in Scripture
Is There an Expectation of Eternal Life in the Old Testament?
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