The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Jesus Said You Must Be Alive To Receive Eternal Life!

Everyone

I’m eating some humble pie and admitting that the context of John 11:25-26 does not support “you must be physically alive to receive eternal life”. Although I still believe one must receive salvation while he is physically alive…I just can’t use this verse to support it.

I am not above correction nor should you be. It is OK to be wrong as long as you acknowledge and correct it. :wink: God bless.

Correction: “Plenty of people have given me clear evidence of “the nations” entering the Kingdom after their judgement in the Lake of Fire. But because it wasn’t coherent with my belief in eternal conscious torment, I ignored their exegesis and did not respond to their arguments.”

Answer: Revival, as we were once dead in our sins, so too are the unrepentant today. But we simply believe that everyone will eventually live and believe in the Christ.

Serious blow averted.

yeah, I kinda know this already, but Jesus has a second opinion about that. Acccording to John 11:26 you must be physically alive to believe and receive eternal life. If you are physically dead, you are enable to do this. :wink:

I read somewhere, in some old book, about a physical resurrection coming to the righteous and unrighteous alike. :wink:

Yes, resurrection unto judgment in Rev 20:11-15. Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Jesus says it in John 5:28-29 like this: 28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Huh. And so are people physically alive post-resurrection, do you think? Now, I haven’t challenged your interpretation of this verse, that a person can only come to faith while physically alive. I don’t think it’s as abundantly clear that Jesus is attempting to limit salvation to those that are physically alive as you make it out to be (for instance, He brought the Gospel to “spirits in prison,” people obviously not physically alive and also obviously not in a place that could be called “Abraham’s bosom”). But for now, I’m letting the point stand and pursuing it as it stands. And if people are physically alive after resurrection, and still physically alive after judgment, and if, as you pointed out, the only requirement to be eligible for “eternal life” is to be physically alive, then it stands to reason that they are eligible for “eternal life” in the Age to Come, according to Jesus’ own words here.

John 11:25-26
25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

In other words, Jesus is the resurrection in the sense that whoever believes in him, although he dies physically, will live spiritually. Jesus is the life in the sense that whoever lives spiritually, whoever has received the gift of life through belief in Jesus, will never die a spiritual death.

It doesn’t say that one has to be alive physically in order to be saved. You are reading that into it and taking it out of context.

:wink: Your understanding of the resurrection unto the final judgment is flawed. Who are you talking about being physically alive after the judgment? Not unbelievers, they are thrown into the lake of fire with Satan and his devils.

For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.(Romans 14:9)
Hmm I wonder how that fits in with ECT theology. Oh wait it doesn’t :wink:

What do you think “Everyone living and believing” means, Caroleem? The Greek reads like this: Everyone living and believing on me shall by no means die forever. Notice it doesn’t read like this: Everyone dead and believing on me shall by no means die forever. :wink:

Your understanding of the resurrection unto the final judgment is flawed. Who are you talking about being physically alive after the judgment? Not unbelievers, they are thrown into the lake of fire with Satan and his devils.

Ah. So death is not abolished, then?

Edit to add: Or, I suppose, it might be abolished and then re-instituted?

Read verse 8 and leave verse 9 in context and you would know Paul is referring to both the dead believers and living believers. AKA the body of Christ…not unbelievers.

I’m not making this up, snitzel. Read Rev 20:11-15 for yourself to see what happens to unbelievers. I got news for you they ain’t physically alive in the lake of fire! Yes, death is abolished for the ones who received the reconciliation not for the ones who didn’t.

Snitz

Going to bed now. Pick up later. Good night and God bless.

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Remember this verse? I thought those who believed in Jesus never died? So how, pray tell, can he be Lord of the dead believers? The verse is a complete thought, sure it have something to do with the verses surrounding it. But Romans 14:9,For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living, is a single thought. A Paraphrase of what Paul is saying contextually,

“None of us dies for ourselves, we live and die for the Lord, but whether alive or dead, we are His. That’s the reason he died and came back to life; so that he may be Lord not just in life, but in death as well!”

Yes it may speak of believers, but there is a deeper truth here. Even in death he is Lord, so no one who is dead is beyond hope.

But you just told us that Jesus said that you can’t BOTH be dead and believe on Jesus. So now you’re taking that back? There IS such a thing as dead believers? We don’t lose our salvation upon death? :question:

Really, I mean for you to attempt to read Jesus’ statement of ‘living’ as anything other than spiritual life, or in other words eternal life, is quite disingenuous. You’re really gonna have to try better than that, broski. :unamused:

Exactly. And this is why he has the keys to death and Hades. :smiley:

Revival,

I’m not making this up, snitzel. Read Rev 20:11-15 for yourself to see what happens to unbelievers. I got news for you they ain’t physically alive in the lake of fire! Yes, death is abolished for the ones who received the reconciliation not for the ones who didn’t.

To clarify, then, in your theology, death reigns forever over the lost?

Going to bed now. Pick up later. Good night and God bless.

You as well. :slight_smile: I work nights and am a husband by day, so my sleep schedule is kind of interesting.

Meaning you have to be physically alive to believe and receive eternal life.The ‘living’ in this verse is the Greek word Zao meaning to be alive, used of natural living, to be among the living( not lifeless, not dead).

They don’t…Believers do die physically but not spiritually and eternally. No one dead is beyond hope if you are a believer. You are manufacturing “the deeper truth” in Romans 14:9.