Wrapping Paper
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NASB
In – God’s gift of life is free but it comes packaged in a particular way. Since we are often so intent on getting the gift, we have a tendency to ignore the wrapping. In fact, some of us don’t even know the package was wrapped. We just love the gift. But the packaging is particularly important to Paul and he describes all the glorious wrapping in one tiny Greek preposition, en. In fact, en Christos is a Pauline technical phrase that carries a great deal of meaning.
What does it mean, then, to have eternal life en Christos? Well, here’s what it doesn’t mean. The free gift isn’t from Christ. It is from God through the Messiah, the anointed one. The gift of eternal life is not a personal possession. It is found in the Messiah who is Yeshua. I don’t own eternal life. It is a relationship that operates while I am actively engaged in it. Eternal life is not a self-addressed ticket. Without “in Christ” there is no gift. Eternal life does not depend on some religious formula words. It isn’t the result of a proper prayer. It is God’s gift wrapped God’s way even if I don’t know anything about the right words or the gift wrapping. Paul’s statement is not a mechanism. It is an ontological fact of the universe.
Here’s what I do know about “in Christ.” Like most Hebraic ideas, it is active and relational. I participate in eternal life because I have a relationship with the Messiah, but the eternal life that I experience now and later is packaged as “eternal life in Yeshua HaMashiach.” You can’t separate “eternal life” from “Yeshua HaMashiach.” They are the same thing—one thing, not two. Oh, and did you notice that Yeshua HaMashiach is also not separated from kyrio (“our Lord”). He isn’t the “Savior” unless he is “the Lord,” and he doesn’t gift you with some present called “eternal life” without being “our” Lord. That tells me something else about being “in Christ.” It is a packaged deal and it involves more than me. Community is assumed in this gift. It is “our” Lord, not “my” Lord. Of course, to be “our” Lord, I must also participate in a community where he is also “my” Lord, but it is the community that is given the gift, not the all-important “me.”
What I also realize is that the opposite of God’s gift is death. Paul doesn’t say “eternal death” since that seems to be an oxymoron. Dead is dead. How long is dead? If you’re dead, are you really counting? The important point is not about punishment. Paul doesn’t even mention punishment. The important point is not being alive. Life is what matters—to nearly all of us, and God provides life, packaged in His son, the Messiah who is our Lord. This reminds me of Moses. There is a way that leads to death. There is a way that leads to life. Choose life! Don’t unwrap the package so quickly that you fail to see how it is delivered.
Topical Index: in Christ, en, Christos, Lord, eternal life, death, Romans 6:23
Too much richness here. Thank you for so many nails to pound in so many coffins of nonsense all at once I don’t know which one to pound first! Thank you!
Community. I am going to be loving this one all day. Life in community. Together. Starting now. All right, everybody, straighten up! You are carrying my life right now; you are pregnant through Yeshua HaMashiach with something infinitely precious to me. So, please, please, be careful! Walk with me. Help me. Help me to help you. Life starts now, Skip says, like a three-legged race. All, together, now; “and one and two and three…”! Practicing for eternity. (Well, we might as well enjoy it!)
Man’s eternal life is a gift which was purchased by the blood of Yahshua and will be fully given to man at the first resurrection when both the righteous living and the sleeping saints are raised. This gift is an eternal one, allowing the righteous to live forever in the sight of the Father and His Son – our Messiah.
There is also an eternal death which is the result of the wicked being destroyed by the second death after the thousand years when the wicked are raised in the second resurrection. As the name implies it is eternal. And, sin will never again pervade Yah’s creation. Halleluyah!
Jenafor, you did great with your description of the first resurrection!
But you lose me on your conclusion of what is going to happen after the 1000 year millennium. I do not find the phrase “eternal death” in the Scripture. And even if you should find this phrase in the New Testament, you will notice that the Greek word often translated as “eternal” is “aion”. This word never means “eternal”
as we understand it in English.
I have much love and respect for William Tyndale, the great Bible translator, but in translating “aion” as “eternal” he gave the English Bible a tragic legacy as many translations have kept his interpretation down to our day. Because much of mainstream Christianity has since the time of Augustine taught that the fate of the wicked is torment for time without end in this place commonly called “hell”, it suited most reformation church theologians to run with Catholic dogma on this very important issue. Sadly Tyndale did not help either.
But if you look at Literal Translations of the Scriptures, you will find that they usually get the meaning of “aion” right. For instance, Young’s literal translation translates “aion” as “age-enduring”. The Bible is talking about a period which has a beginning and an end.
So, no matter what you think “being thrown into the lake of fire”(Rev.20:15) the Bible teaches that they are in that state for a period that will come to an end. As Skip hints at above, Mashiach’s blood covers everyone’s sins, period. Do not get me wrong. I am NOT teaching cheap grace. Many of us who teach Universal Reconciliation are accused of that by those who have not studied the matter, or sad to say, by some who refuse to forgive others. No, there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth for a while as Yahshua brings these sinners to see the errors of their previous ways and to repentance. Of course, many also will have debts to pay back but God’s great law of Jubilee will ensure that that too will come to an end
Many people assume that “the lake of fire” is something that it is not i.e. a torturing pit with no exit. Torah is God’s Law Book – we all agree. Show me in it where our loving Father ever uses torture as a punishment? It is men who do such things. Our Father loves us all even while we were still sinners. (Rom. 5:10-11) There are a couple of Scriptures in Malachi and Isaiah that give us a peek at how the Father will have Yahshua handle these difficult issues. I will quote Malachi as he tells us how the corrupt priests of his day will be judged by Yeshua:
“For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, TILL THEY PRESENT RIGHT OFFERINGS TO YHVH..” (Mal 3:2-3) RSV – emphasis mine Yes, the Levites will be restored
Also in Isaiah YHVH tells us that his judgments are always corrective in nature
Our God is a God of reconciliation and restoration. Paul teaches this all over the place. Two of my favourite spots are (2 Cor 5:18-21) and Rom. (5:10-11)
Jenafor, thanks for bringing up this topic I pray I have whetted your appetite to look some more at this wonderful and important and greatly misunderstood subject.
Shalom
John, thanks for your comments, but we have to let the whole of Scripture speak for itself without human interpretation. The Scriptures are very clear on a judgement of the righteous and the wicked whether they are living or dead. At which time the wicked will be “rewarded” with the second death and the righteous with eternal life.
Rev 11:18 “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give the reward to Your servants the prophets and to the set-apart ones, and to those who fear Your Name, small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
See also: Dan. 7:10-14, Matt. 25:31-32, Rev. 14:6-7, Rev. 22:11-12 (a few examples)
Mal 4:1 “For look, the day shall come, burning like a furnace, and all the proud, and every wrongdoer shall be stubble. And the day that shall come shall burn them up,” said יהוה of hosts, “which leaves to them neither root nor branch.
Mal 4:2 “But to you who fear My Name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. And you shall go out and leap for joy like calves from the stall.
Mal 4:3 “And you shall trample the wrongdoers, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” said יהוה of hosts.
See also: Ps. 37:20, Ps. 69:27-28, Ps. 37:20, Job 21:30, Matt. 13:41-43, 49-50, Luke 17:26-30, John 5:28-29, Eph. 5:6, Col. 3:6, Rev. 19:17-21, Rev. 20:14-15
Rev 19:6 And I heard as the voice of a great crowd, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunders, saying, “Halleluyah, for יהוה Ěl Shaddai reigns!
Rev 19:7 “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him praise, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife prepared herself.”
Rev 19:8 And to her it was given to be dressed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the set-apart ones.
Rev 19:9 And he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true words of Elohim.”
See also: Matt.24:30-31, John 14:1-3, 1 Co.15:23, 51-55, 1 Thess. 4:16-18
These are but a few texts. One needs to take a Concordance, look up the words and then read every text. To do so will not result in the conclusion that Yahshua brings the wicked to repentance while they weep and gnash their teeth. Yes, I agree that He died for all; but not all will accept that death in order to be saved and have eternal life. The wicked even go out to make war against Yahshua when He comes. (Rev. 19) Your assumption leads people to believe that they can keep on sinning until Yahshua comes and brings them to repentance. This is a lie of the enemy and many are dying in their sins and will come up in the second resurrection at the end of the thousand years and stand before the judgement seat to receive their wages for sin which is death; from which there is no resurrection. What an injustice teachers who teach this lie are doing to these poor souls who could be saved from their sins now, today, while they are living. And, should they die before Yahshua returns they will come up in the first resurrection.
Yes, our Father will put an end to sin and those who cling to it. This He does in mercy to both the wicked and the righteous. The lake of fire exists only until its work of purifying Yah’s creation is finished. Then, our Father creates this world anew, just as it came from His creative power before sin. People are not living in the lake of fire and being tortured by it. The only reason that this is a misunderstood topic is that the Roman Church used it to bleed the people by paying indulgences for their wicked family and friends when they died.
The Book of Revelation is the end of the story.. The Father gave the prophecy to His Son, who gave it to a messenger to give to John who recorded it for us. That is five witnesses.
Rev 1:1 Revelation of יהושע Messiah, which Elohim gave Him to show His servants what has to take place with speed. And He signified it by sending His messenger to His servant Yoḥanan,
Rev 1:2 who bore witness to the Word of Elohim, and the witness of יהושע Messiah – to all he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and guard what is written in it, for the time is near.
May that blessing be yours.
I had to chuckle a bit at your opening sentence. How do you propose to let the Scriptures speak for themselves without human interpretation. Everything you read is read with human interpretation. Even our conversations are loaded with human interpretation. The idea that something can “speak for itself” assumes some sort of absolutely neutral transmission.
Jenafor, thanks for taking the time to respond! It is more than most take the time to do…..I am busy for the next few days but you definitely merit a reply so you here further from me on this :))
Shalom
Is “eternal life” a quantity? – or a quality? (John 10.10)
Skip, what do you mean by ‘relationship with Messiah?’ Elementary question but I’m just trying to wrap my mind around it. I have struggled with this for a while now. How do I have a relationship with Messiah? Relationship with the Father I get. He is who I pray to… How do I have a relationship with the Son if I am not praying to him also? Should I be?