Eternal Life-A Promise
by W. Claude Hall
Scriptures
should not be arrayed against each other. One should have insight enough into the
Scriptures to know then are no contradictions. If the Lord did not give us a perfect
revelation, then we have no guide in religion. Infidels are made by preachers oftentimes. For instance, one preacher will proclaim that
the Book teaches we have eternal life right now and can't lose it. The other will stoutly deny this and say we
have eternal life in the world to come. Each
reads his proof out of the Bible, and the poor listener cannot tell which is
right, hence sometimes goes into unbelief. Who can blame him?
These are a few of the passages referred :0 as teaching one has eternal
life now: “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life" (John 6:47); "He that heareth my word, and believeth on aim that sent me hath everlastinG Life" (John 5:24); "He that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; And whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). There are many more such passages. These all seem to teach that actual possession
of eternal
life comes here and now.
But
there is another set of Scriptures that seem to teach right the opposite. Here
are some of them: "But he shall receive an
hundredfold now in this time ... and in the world to come eternal life" (Matthew.
What
kind of explanation shall we make these seeming contradictions? Is it the proper procedure to continue to
array these statements against each other? The plan more reasonable to pursue
is to find a solution which is reasonable and true. This may be done, for John himself, the one
who wrote the former passages, makes the matter plain in his last writings. I have often wondered if he did not read his
gospel in later life and decide that some preachers in later centuries would
misinterpret those statements, so he made one more which would forever settle
the case with those who would de sire a harmony of all Scriptures. He may have done this, but we know the Holy
Spirit guided his writing and made his meaning clear. Here is a Scripture which makes both sets of
statements relative to eternal life easily understood: "And this is the promise that he
hath promised us, even eternal
life" (1
John 2:25).
There
are two ways of having anything; one by promise, and
the other in actuality. We first have
our wives by promise, then by actuality. We have eternal life by promise. That is the way John said we have it. Paul had
it "in hope," and when we get to the city of
When John says, "He that believeth hath everlasting life,"
that is, of course, nothing but the truth. We do have it, but in which way? We have it in promise. When Paul said he had eternal life in hope, he
stated the truth. When Jesus said, "and in the world to come, eternal life,"
He spoke of the actual possession of eternal life.
One
additional thought is sufficient for this lesson. If one has eternal life in promise, then there
is a possibility of being cut off from that promise by unrighteous living. Let us, then, "take heed lest we fall."