Eternal Life a Present Possession

1905

By Rev. C. A. Dixon
in the Gospel News Pulpit

Immortality Not Eternal Life

The difference between immortality and eternal life is clearly intimated in these scriptures. Immortality means everlasting existence, but eternal life is not eternal existence. Dead things exist. I can imagine a stone existing a million years, but after the million years have passed it will be as dead as it is now. Corpses exist. Men dead in trespasses and in sins on this side the grave exist, and they will exist after death. One does not begin really to live until he has accepted Christ; but he exists.

Let us accept the definition of eternal life which the Lord Jesus himself gave and this will clear away all misunderstanding. Turn to John 17:3: "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." It is as clear as a sunbeam that eternal life is here defined as knowing God through Jesus Christ. To know God is to live; to refuse to know God is to continue to exist in a state of death.

A Present Possession

Eternal life is a present possession, not a future continuity. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." Write the little word "hath" in capital letters, for eternal life is in the present tense. It is the gift of God through Jesus Christ. Immortality was imparted when God created man in his own image. Sin brought death which is separation from God, but it did not bring non-existence. Man continued to exist after he had sinned. To say that the words, "perish," "die," "destruction," mean annihilation is to speak unscripturally and unscientifically. Science knows no annihilation, it simply recognizes changes of form and substance. Death does not bring about annihilation of the body. We keep it several days after death and tenderly lay it away beneath the flowers.

Note: The main text of the sermon was Job 14:14, "If a man die, shall he live again?" This is just an excerpt of Rev. Dixon's sermon.

—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Aug. 21, 1905, p. 9.