Vancouver, BC (photo from trekearth.com)
At church on Sunday, I was part of an interesting, short discussion. Someone suggested that within a Christian framework, when a believer dies he/she is instantly placed into eternity with God, meaning it will seem to the person that he/she is instantaneously translated into his/her resurrection body, although much temporal, earthly time may have passed. This view is both tenable and reasonable. I do not want to split hairs unnecessarily, but technically speaking, since only God is eternal, having no beginning or end, only God can have eternal life. Those in Christ, shall inherit everlasting life, which has a beginning, but no ending. In New Testament Greek according to J. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the same Greek word can be defined in English as either eternal or everlasting. The Greek word aíwvios (aionios) is explained as meaning perpetual, used of past time or past and future as well, eternal, for ever, and everlasting. Strong (1986: 8). Strong provides only one word for eternal or everlasting from the New Testament. The everlasting life of those in Christ is not eternal, but exists within time and continues to run within time and therefore this type of life should be properly defined as everlasting life as opposed to eternal life. Something that is eternal according to Simon Blackburn is not moving, and is beyond time, whereas something that is everlasting is running within time. Blackburn (1996: 126). In the archives of November 2006, I wrote an article entitled: Eternal vs. Everlasting. I should state that some linguists although having skills I do not have, are not necessarily theologians or philosophers and therefore may translate a Biblical word as eternal, correctly, in a sense, without knowing the philosophical difference between the concepts of eternal and everlasting.
Another issue comes to mind concerning time. It was suggested that in the process of dying, the believer will not exist in time. This I find troubling. Since God is infinite (limitless) and omniscient, he can exist in eternity and knows all things. He, therefore, does not reason in the same finite way that human beings do. Created finite (limited) beings need time to process all thoughts. They would need time to reason. If persons are merely translated into everlasting existence and from his/her perspective are instantaneously changed into the resurrection body, then for the actual amount of time this takes (years, decades, centuries, millennia) each person does not have consciousness and could not possibly process thoughts.
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul describes being caught up into Paradise, and if he is explaining conscious thoughts on the experience, he existed within time. A weaker alternative idea could be that the Lord merely placed these experiences in his spirit and mind, and this could have taken place without Paul existing in time. Jesus tells one of the criminals he was crucified with, in Luke 23:43, that today he would be with Jesus in Paradise. Laurence Porter explains that the promise of Paradise is one for today. Porter (1986: 1226). Now it is of course possible that what Jesus really meant was that, from the criminal’s perspective, once he dies, in what seems like today, he will have his resurrection body and be in Paradise, although it will not actually take place today. Or, it could mean that the criminal in spirit form would exist that day in a place of the spiritual realm known as Paradise. Perhaps the criminal experienced the same place described by Paul in 2 Corinthians.
Luke 16:19-31 describes a dialogue between a certain rich man residing in Hades and Abraham who is within Abraham’s bosom. Erickson writes that there are indications that the righteous in Scripture are received into spirit form in Paradise, which is also known as Abraham’s bosom. He mentions Luke: 16:19-31 as an example. Erickson (1994: 1193). It can be deduced that the unrighteous in spirit form, from the period of death until resurrection, live in Hades. Erickson (1994: 1193). The implication here being that the unrighteous are eventually placed into the lake of fire of Revelation 20. I must point out that Luke 16:19-31 is viewed by many scholars as parable, and not an actual story and historical event. Dr. Douglas Finkbeiner of Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary points out that scholars such as Guthrie, Blomberg, and Harris would conclude that Luke 16:19-31 is a parable. More specifically, it can be designated as an example story. Finkbeiner (2004: 1). I am not an expert on the book of Luke, and I do not have difficulty with accepting the idea of this story being parable and not historical. This idea would not eliminate the possibility from the context of this passage, and other Biblical notions of Paradise, that Paradise is an actual place outside of our present realm where the spirit of a person trusting in Christ consciously resides in time until the resurrection. I have no doubt that the culminated Kingdom of God described in Revelation 21-22, must take place within time, as it would not make sense for human beings to be given spiritual, physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:44) that do not exist within time, space, and matter.
BLACKBURN, S. (1996) ‘Eternity’, in Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy,Oxford, Oxford University Press.
ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
FINKBEINER, DOUGLASE (2004) Interpreting Luke 16: Abraham, Lazarus, and the Rich Man-Parable or History?, Lansdale, PA , Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary.
PORTER, LAURENCE.E. (1986) ‘Luke’, in F.F. Bruce (gen.ed.), The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Marshall Pickering/ Zondervan.
STRONG, J. (1986) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Pickering, Ontario, Welch Publishing Company.
Additional:
Please scan http://casadipace.blogspot.com/ for a series on creation.
