Assurances of Immortality
By Charles Thompson
Jesus Christ the Great Fountain of Eternal Life — All Are Invited to Receive Freely His Priceless Reward
IT was because man forfeited his life through disobedience, and because Christ was not willing that any should perish, that He left the throne of the Infinite and came to this world. This the Scriptures clearly reveal, “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Rom. 5:19. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 5:21. Jesus Himself declares, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. Again, “As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:12. We are at a loss to know how any who believe that the Scriptures are inspired and that it is impossible for God to lie, can believe that man possesses life as a birthright. When man sinned, he became a dying creature, and could transmit to his posterity the nature only which he possessed by reason of disobedience. Therefore it is truly written, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. THE POSSESSION THAT BRINGS ETERNAL LIFE
How do we come into possession of the Son? is the important question; “for he that hath the Son hath life.” The apostle Paul answers directly, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:26. Hence life is a result of faith. Paul so affirms when he says: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Gal. 2:20. The act of Christ in which we are to exercise faith, that brings the desired result, is also stated in this verse: “And gave Himself for me.” This is what He did that we might live. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” “All have sinned.” Hence judgment came upon all men to condemnation, and there is no way in and of himself for man to escape. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Heb. 2:9. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” THE RECKONING THAT BRINGS LIFE
Therefore, we have the life which comes by faith, when we accept His death for us by faith. When we account ourselves dead, Christ counts us alive; and so long as we reckon ourselves alive, Christ reckons us dead. Therefore the doctrine of inherent life — of the inherent immortal soul — is the doctrine of death. Paul says again, in Rom. 6:8, 11: “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. . . . Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” I am sure that from these few scriptures placed together, we see that life comes only through Christ. May God help us all to accept Him.