Monday, 11 May 2015

Immortality on Earth: A Biblical Doctrine? Part 2 Raising the Dead or Not Dying?



            Jn 6:49-50 is used by the immortality preachers to identify that Jesus preached immortality. For them, the one who believes in Jesus will not die as he/she will be made immortal in salvation. Jesus says in 6:47, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” In addition, in 6:48 Jesus identifies himself as the ‘bread of life.’ In 6:49, he says that the forefathers of the Jews ate mannah in the wilderness and they died. However, the one who eats “the bread which comes down out of heaven” will not die but have eternal life (6:50). Jesus further says in v.51 that “if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever.” Thus, for the immortality preacher if anyone believes in Jesus he/she will not die but will live forever. For him, the word “die” in 6:50 should not be taken as figurative (eternal death not physical death) but it should be understood literally. The preacher who “always” reads the whole chapter must read few verses before and after 6:50. The same concepts mentioned in 6:47-51 are repeated again in 53-54 which give more clarifications.

            Though all these verses mentioned above say similar things v.54 is the key as it gives more information about living and not dying of vv.47-48. Jn 6:54 says that “he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” How? Jesus answers by saying, I will raise him up on the last day.” My sincere question here is this: how could Jesus raise the one who does not die (6:50)? Therefore, 6:50 should mean like this: “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die, i.e., the eternal death.”

John is known for his frequent use of imageries, metaphors and similies, etc. Let me show this from this passage itself. Jn 6:50 says that the one who eats the bread will not die. In this verse alone many metaphors are used. Jesus is the Bread. Eating the bread is believing in Jesus Christ (v.40). And how about the verb “to die?” For the immortality preacher this word alone should be read literally. If this should be read literally how about 6:35? Jesus says in 6:35 that “I am the bread of life he who comes to me will not be HUNGRY and he who believes in me will never be THIRSTY.” If “dying” in 6:50 should be understood literally then we should understand 6:35 also literally. Do the immortality preachers get hungry and thirsty? Then they must not teach about immortality. If “to die” in 6:50 should be taken literally then “hunger” and “thirst” in 6:35 should also be taken literally. If 6:35 should not be taken literally then 6:50 should not also be taken literally.


In addition, in this chapter many times John relates eternal life with raising up the dead on the last day. In 6:39, Jesus says, “This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me [the believers] I lose nothing, but raise them up on the last day.” Jn 3:16 says that “whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Most immortality preachers use this verse. However, in light of 6:39 this verse should mean something like this: The believing one has eternal life as Jesus will raise him up on the last day. The same thought is explicated better in 6:40: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.” By believing in Jesus the believer has eternal life, as Jesus himself will raise him up on the last day. Thus, eternal life in Jn 6:40-54 is about resurrection and not about “not dying.”


The context of 6:49-50 does not suggest that the believer will not die at all. The context suggests that eternal life is connected with the raising up of the dead on the last day. John mentions the raising up of the dead in this passage alone for four times (Jn 6:39, 40, 44, 54). Therefore, the one who believes in Jesus Christ will have eternal life that they will be raised up again on the last day. The similarity (parallelism) of v.50 and 54 validates this hypothesis better. If one eats the bread (Jesus’ flesh and His blood) he will not die in the sense that he will have eternal death as he will be raised up from death on the last day. 

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