Definition of Eternal Life
Submitted for your approval, comment, objection, and insight.
Definition of Eternal Life
Eternal life is a gift and yet a reward.
Eternal life is a possession and yet an experience.
Eternal life is a promise and yet a guarantee.
Eternal life is a future hope and yet a present possession.
Eternal life is static and yet dynamic.
Eternal life is quality and yet quantity.
Eternal life is infinite and yet measured in degrees.
Eternal life is in Christ and yet is Christ.
Eternal life is knowing God and yet had by those who do not know God.
Eternal life is the seed planted and yet the harvest reaped.
Eternal life is not the result of works and yet something you must work to lay hold of.
Eternal life is a liquid that cannot be lost and yet a solid that may be taken away.
Eternal life is a present which must be received and yet cannot be returned.
(Credit: Marty Cauley, of Silva, NC. Friend and Free Grace proponent)
*Note: This is my 100th post!
* 2cd Note: Definition has been expanded from original post
Definition of Eternal Life
Eternal life is a gift and yet a reward.
Eternal life is a possession and yet an experience.
Eternal life is a promise and yet a guarantee.
Eternal life is a future hope and yet a present possession.
Eternal life is static and yet dynamic.
Eternal life is quality and yet quantity.
Eternal life is infinite and yet measured in degrees.
Eternal life is in Christ and yet is Christ.
Eternal life is knowing God and yet had by those who do not know God.
Eternal life is the seed planted and yet the harvest reaped.
Eternal life is not the result of works and yet something you must work to lay hold of.
Eternal life is a liquid that cannot be lost and yet a solid that may be taken away.
Eternal life is a present which must be received and yet cannot be returned.
(Credit: Marty Cauley, of Silva, NC. Friend and Free Grace proponent)
*Note: This is my 100th post!
* 2cd Note: Definition has been expanded from original post
posted by Antonio at 6:34 PM
12 Comments:
Hi Antonio!
I read the interaction between you and Marty on the GES board when he posted that. One word - excellent! Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God [the one who freely gives them eternal life] has that life!
This line especially captures the essence of 1 John. Eternal life is knowing God and yet had by those who do not know God.
Danny
Interesting thoughts Antonio, seeming contradictions at first glance.
Yeah, the parallelism is quite good. What are your thoughts on them? Are their any you wish to further explore?
"Eternal life is not the result of works and yet something you must work to lay hold of."
I think this one would be a real zinger to explore. If works are the inevitable fruit of faith and repentance, why the repeated commands to endure, work out your own salvation, etc.?
Glad you asked, Jim!
Let's explore this one:
Eternal life, when viewed in the Scriptures as a present possession, is always a gift received by faith.
yet
Eternal life, when viewed as a future prospect/attainment in the Scriptures is always the reward for works and/or faithful endurance until the end. (Examples: Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; John 12:25; 1 Tim 6:18, 19; Gal 6:8)
Eternal life is not merely static (the present possesion), it is dynamic. Eternal life as a reward is the superlative experience of eternity reserved for those who overcome in their faith.
It is grown and developed through discipleship.
Remember Jesus' words:
Mark 8:34-38
Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
(call to the hard works of discipleship_
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
(the Christian who is unwilling to give up his life for Christ because he is interested in doing his own thing, in preserving the life that he is making for himself, will lose out on 1) the abundant life now and 2) the superlative experience of eternal life in the kingdom)
but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
(The man who mortifies his own desires for his life and gives up his life to follow Christ, will actually save it [Matt 16:25 says "find it"], for he will have the abundant life now, with purpose, meaning, and siginificance that will transect INTO eternity)
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
(What profit is it for a man if he extracts out of life his own selfish desires only in the end to lose his life (greek-psuche, same word used used in verse 25, translated "life")? Answer: nothing. This man has no profit to show. He has both forfeited the abundant life in the here and now, and also the superlative experience of eternal life in the time to come. Wherein he COULD HAVE invested for a dividend that could be experienced now but reaped fully in the future by discipleship to Christ, he has unwisely wasted his time, talents, and treasures in transient and evanescent things.)
37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
(When the life is over, it is too late to experience the abundant life, and too late to reap the divident of a superlative experience of eternal life. Nothing can be exchanged for the life!)
38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
(The Christian who does not submit himself to discipleship:
1) Will not experience the abundant temporal life with attendent joy, purpose, meaning, and significance (that transect and directly corresponds with our future, eternal experience)
2) Will not be rewarded with the superlative experience of life in eternity
3) Will suffer shame before Christ, the Father and His holy angels
4) Will be denied co-heirship, co-rulership with Jesus Christ (cross-reference Matt 10:33 with 2 Tim 2:12)
Lets discuss more!
(PS: perseverance in works are NOT an inevitable fruit of saving faith!)
Antonio
Antonio,
The following is part of a comment I posted in response to a comment you left at my blog. Go there for the entire comment
I have a challenge for you! I have written approximately 60 photo meditations that are brief, not complicated and illustrate basic doctrinal points. Fifty-two of them were written before I ever had a blog or knew anything about FG theology. I say this to point out that there have been no revisions to prepare for issuing this challenge.
THE CHALLENGE………… Search the Jazzycat blog and all of these photo meditations and copy and paste a direct quote in context showing where I present justification (eternal life) as requiring works or deeds. If you fail to meet this challenge, then I will consider your caricatures of reformed theology as a failed attempt at mischaracterization. I will defend my blog and my Photo Meditations only. I am not interested in quotes from books or reformed theologians.
Hey Antonio, your preaching to the converted here. :)
I understand Watchman Nee was considered a FG advocate. Are you familiar with his writings?
Watchman Nee had some very odd ideas.
He was accepted into fellowship with the Raven/ Taylor Exclusive Brethren, but was put out again when he broke bread with another group of Christians.
God Bless
Matthew
Jazzy,
I have many posts condemning Lordship Salvation as works-conditional for entrance into heaven.
Why must you put me to the arduous and burdensome task of reading 60 some-odd posts?
I recently wrote a post called:
Inescapable Logic Proving that Lordship Salvation/ Perseverance Theology is Works-Salvation
I see you have spammed this so-called challenge even in the comment meta of that post, yet you did not provide an argument or a refutation.
Read 60 of your posts and extrapolate your theology to logically show that your contractual provisos of commitment on the front-end and your perseverance theology on the back end = works salvation?
I will not play that game.
I have already done this in many posts on this blog and UOG.
Do you understand commitment, surrender, and repentance to be conditions for eternal life given in the gospel presentation? If you do, you propose front-loaded works-salvation.
Do you understand that without perseverance in faithfulness, obedience, and works one will not enter heaven? You have made those things conditions for heaven.
Antonio
Antonio,
My response is that you have two choices.
(1) Punt and run from the challenge. This will allow you to continue to tell people in your opinion what lordship Calvinist believe about justification.
(2) Actually copy and paste a quote from a real live active lordship Calvinist from his concise work on all the major doctrines and show it is like you say about justification.
If you choose option 2, I will respond at my site only since that is where your first comment in this string all began.
I notice you mention works, perseverance, repentance. I have Photo Meditations on these although the perseverance one is called eternal security. It has a photo of a pretty german sheppard holding on tight to a biscuit. You don't have to extrapolate as my meaning is concise and clear.
Happy 100th Post !!!!
Oh, now I see where it says this is your 100th. I hadn't read this post.
Congratulations!
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