Eternal Life
“If a man dies, shall he live again” (Job 14:14 English Standard Version)? Eternal life has always been the question of humanity since the beginning of days. Death is the ultimate fear I believe in a man's heart, and it is natural for one to want to live forever. As we read through the Bible, many people have this same question in the New Testament. A rich ruler comes to Jesus and asks Him how he can obtain eternal life (Luke 18:18), the Philippian jailer asked Paul how can I be saved (Acts 16:30), and Nicodemus asked Jesus how does one become born again (John 3:4)?
Salvation means deliverance from the power and effects of sin (Barry, et al., 2016). It is a FREE, gracious undeserved gift from God and it is a gift that if we receive it by faith and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior then we have the promise from God that we are going to Heaven. Another way to put it is to have eternal life with our Savior.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:4-9; Acts 4:12). How does one obtain this salvation or eternal life with God? To simply put it, one must put their faith and trust in Christ and believe in the Gospel message (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-10). The message is this; God created humanity to be perfect, but man fell by disobeying God and sinned (Genesis 3). This sin has separated us from a perfect and Holy God (Isaiah 59:2). No one is good, and all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23 & James 2:10).
To be reconciled to a holy and perfect God, atonement must be provided. That atonement can only be given by someone who has lived a perfect life and can substitute Himself to take the punishment of our sins upon Himself. This person who has done this is Jesus Christ, the God-man. He is the only one who could bore our punishment and die in our place that we would have life and be reconciled unto God (Isaiah 53:5; John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Galatians 2:20). One must believe in Jesus’ birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection to be saved (1 Corinthians 15:3-11). John Calvin put it this way, not only do we have to have knowledge of something and agree with that knowledge, but we must also trust it with our lives (1536/1845). Just because you have information about something and even agree with it doesn’t mean anything. You have to put your faith and trust into that belief. We read in scripture that even the demons believe and tremble, but we know they are not going to inherit eternal life with God (James 2:19). Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:25-26)? It is putting our faith and trust in Jesus’s work by which one can be saved and gain eternal life. Faith is to have self-denial and trust is surrendering your life to Christ to be selflessness (Merrick, 2015). The Gospel can be summarized beautifully by explaining the three R’s: rescue, redemption, and renewal (“Lecture 5,” 2017).
Regarding other worldviews, Christianity stands on its own. Many other faiths believe that you are granted eternal life by your good works. These good works have to outweigh your wicked works, and then one will be able to gain eternal life. Other faiths believe that once you die you just become one with God and there are even some worldviews which do not even believe that eternal life exists. Hinduism offers liberation, Islam offers mercy, and Buddhism offers peace (Lamca, 2015). These other worldviews only offer good advice, but Christianity offers good news (“Lecture 5,” 2017)! Christianity not only gives humanity a way of salvation, but it is also the only worldview that even offers salvation (Migliore, 2004). In Summary, how does one gain eternal life? Here are some key scriptures I think that helps define this question:
Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
John says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
Peter said, “Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus” (Acts 3:19-20).
Paul said, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10).
References
Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). In the Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Calvin, J. (1845). Of faith. The definition of it. It's peculiar properties. In H. Beveridge (Trans.), Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 3). Retrieved from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.v.iii.html. (Original work published in 1536).
Lecture 5. (2015). CWV-101: Christian Worldview. Phoenix, AZ: Grand Canyon University.
Merrick, J. (2015). The wisdom and power of God. In A. DiVincenzo (Ed.), The beginning of wisdom: An introduction to Christian thought and life. Available from http://lc.gcumedia.com/cwv101/the-beginning-of-wisdom-an-introduction-to-christian-thought-and-life/v2.1/#/chapter/6
Migliore, D. L. (2004). Faith seeking understanding: An introduction to Christianity (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Lamca, C. (2015). Intellectual obstacles to wisdom. In A. DiVincenzo (Ed.), The beginning of wisdom: An introduction to Christian thought and life. Available from http://lc.gcumedia.com/cwv101/the-beginning-of-wisdom-an-introduction-to-christian-thought-and-life/v2.1/#/chapter/8