2149.—Immortality and Eternal Life.
By E. L. O.
Is there any difference between immortality and eternal life? Do Christians not have immortal life but mortal bodies? 1 Thess. 5:10-12; Rom. 8:8-17. The terms mortal and immortal are not applied to life in all the Scriptures, but to the person, the body. It is not consistent, it seems to us, to speak of life as mortal or immortal. There is life which is temporal, soulical life, and beasts have that in common with man. There is life which is eternal, which comes direct from the great eternal God. Christians do have eternal life, according to the scriptures cited above; but Christians are not immortal, nor have they any promise of being immortal until Christ our Lord shall come and the last trumpet shall sound. 1 Cor. 15:51-54. Immortal means incorruptible, that which in its very nature will not die. In a certain sense it may be said that man was immortal when he came from God; that is, no seeds of corruptibility were in him; and that incorruptibility would have continued had man remained obedient; but man sinned and the candidate for absolute immortality became mortal. Immortality will be achieved now only by the incorruptible character thru Christ. When man's character is incorruptible, God will give that character an incorruptible body. This will be discussed doubtless more fully in future special numbers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.