Rarely will you find anyone who will define eternal life outside of the context of "living forever", but Jesus defined it quite differently. Think about it. He knew that everyone will live forever; either with Him or without Him. God created man to be an eternal being. We tend to put the emphasis on the "eternal" part of the equation and Jesus definitely was interested in the "life" part of the equation.
Maybe a better question would be, "Do you have life?" When Jesus saw men without forgiveness, He saw walking "dead men". Even though they had physical life they did not have "eternal life". In fact, they were doomed to "eternal death".
Jesus came so that we could have life. True life. Eternal LIFE! Eternal life begins when we place our faith in Jesus. It begins with birth. Remember Jesus said, "you must be born again." This is life, to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
LIve strong today.
i dwelt on this very topic of life and eternal life here:
ReplyDeletehttp://onceforalldelivered.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-simple-little-matter-of-life-and-death.html
my reflection began with thinking about the first question in the Heidelberg Catechism
Q: What is your only hope in life and death?
A: That I do not belong to myself. But in body and soul, life and death, I belong to my Savior Jesus Christ.