IMMORTALITY NOT INHERENT.
If man has an immortal soul, then he is endowed with eternal life in himself; and if this be true, why did God have to make so great a sacrifice in order that eternal life might be made possible? and why is it that, after the sacrifice has been made, there are conditions to be fulfilled before eternal life can be obtained? The doctrine of Christ makes it very clear that man has not immortality in himself. Note the following points:— 1. God forbade Adam to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying to him, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17. What this meant is stated farther on in the record. After Adam had eaten of the forbidden fruit, the Lord pronounced sentence of death in these words: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen. 3:19. The man did not die on the very day that he disobeyed, for the reason that the plan of salvation by faith intervened, and he was granted a respite, or a new probation. The penalty of sin and the Gospel of salvation are thus briefly stated by the apostle Paul: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23. 2. Jesus says: “This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40. Here are two things on which eternal life is contingent—believing on Christ, and being raised up at the last day. If a man were born immortal, both of these conditions would be superfluous, as the sentence of death would be impossible of execution. 3. The will of God that those who believe shall have eternal life is emphasized by the words of Christ to Nicodemus: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. As “the wages of sin is death,” and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), then all must “perish” who do not believe on the Son. The class to whom this “gift of God” shall come is again noted by the Lord in John 10:27, 28: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” 4. Eternal life is inherent in God (“who only hath immortality,” 1 Tim. 6:14–16), and, with the power to impart it, was the gift of God to Christ. “As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. . . . For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:21–26. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us [believers] eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” 1 John 5:11. Then it is not in us, because in our sinful state life was forfeited; we were under sentence of death. But, “he that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Verse 12. 5. Eternal life will be imparted to believers at the second advent of Christ. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” Col. 3:2–4. In the judgment, eternal life will be given “to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality.” See Rom. 2:6, 7. “For this mortal must put on immortality;” it is not inherent in our mortal nature. 1 Cor. 15:47–55.