Those who believe in/have received, accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior will live with God forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16 - 17; 2:Corinthians 5:8).
Eternal life is not just a quantity of life because everyone lives forever, it is a QUALITY of life:
1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said,
“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify
You,
2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You
have given Him, He may give eternal life.
3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:1-3)
Our Lord Jesus Christ defines Eternal life in verse three, there He says that it is a personal, intimate relationship with God the Father and God the Son (God the Holy Spirit indwells us) that is continuous and dynamic!
Life with God, forever. That is not redundant, that is transplendant!
JMouse, thanks for taking the time to think this through.
We agree it is not just the quantity of life because everyone lives forever but rather the quality.
This is the point of dropping ‘eternal’ so we can focus on the quality.
The definition is as you mentioned - to KNOW the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.
Here the semantics is of utmost importance ... what does it mean to KNOW a spirit?
You suggest it is a personal, intimate relationship with God the Father and God the Son through the indwelling of the Spirit.
True enough but it goes much deeper than that. Here is where there is no escaping the fact that the scriptures must be spiritually discerned.
To get to the bottom of this, we have to take up a related question. What does it mean to be born of a spirit?
Don’t sneer, this is important. To be born of a woman is different than to be born of a chicken.
If we understand what it means to be born of a spirit, we’ll understand what it means to KNOW God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.
I’ll pause to hear your take.
Regards,
fogman.
Seven