•Intern. Critical Cumiiwiitary, 'St. Mark,' T. i T. Clark,
lived, although sight seems never to be entirely lost of the conception of fu?; alamos as subsisting already and now attainable. He that hateth his soul (^vxv) in this world will keep it fis fuiji/ aiiiviov (12-^) ; the meat {^pCxxis), the gift of the Son of Man, abideth unto eternal life (6"). The same thought recurs in Christ's words to the woman of Samaria ; there it is the water. His gift, which becomes a well of water springing up unto eternal life (4"). And, finally, in connexion with the same incident, the harvest, the ripeness of which the disciples are bidden to recognize, is laid up unto a future which is undefined in time and place ; the reaper gathereth together fruit ei's fuj)j' aidiniov, and shares with the sower in a common joy (4»).
Once also Christ appeals to the knowledge or belief of His hearers in the present reality of this eternal life ; they think that they have it in the OT Scriptures, missing the spirit there, and the testimony of these Scriptures to Himself, and ascribing life to the letter (5'"). A somewhat similar thought underlies the answer of Simon Peter to Christ's question whether he and the Twelve intend to follow the example of others, and be repelled by ' hard sayings ' ; ' Thou hast the words of eternal life' (ei^'),— words, that is to say, which in their sjiirit and teaching bring fwjji' aiuivioi/ to the hearers. Finally, lest, as it were, any linger- ing possibility or suggestion should remain of a I time-limit to be understood in the phrase, or of its being confined under a merely temporal cate- gory, it is twice expressly defined in terms which are ethical and spiritual, and transcend all limita- tions of time or change ; the Divine ^utoX^, com- mitted by the Father to the Son and by Him transmitted to the world, is eternal life (1'2*') ; and in .similar pregnant words (17-') s'wt; ai'iii-ios is the learning to know the only true God, and Jesus (^'hrist whom He has sent.
All the passages in which this phrase is found in the Gospels have now been passed in rcNiew. An extension of the examination to the remaining books of the New Testament would not modify the conclusions reached, or throw fresh light upon its meanins'. It is used twice by St. Luke in the Acts fl3*'*i: bv St. Paul in the Romans (2' 5=' 6~'-), (i^iliii-n- I. ' nti.l Pastoral Epistles (1 Ti l"i6'-, 'I'll I ^ ' ~ i . .lohn himself in his First Epistle ( I - :; ; the adjective not elsewhere), and
by .SI. .Juile: n. '). These conclusions are entirely in harmony with the results obtained from a con- sideration of the term aiiiv, or of the adjective alamos standing by itself, foii; aiiinos is in its significance independent of time-limits, and may be described indifferently as either present or future. When, moreover, the occasion offers to indicate its characteristics and meaning by definition, that definition is fi'amed not on the lines of time and space, as here, there, or elsewhere, now or then, but is wholly ethical, .mpranatural, belonging to the realm of the mind and spirit, and lifting up fuj) aiwi/ios beyond the touch of^ change or end, into the region of the changeless, the immortal.
At the risk, therefore, of repetition, it must again be pointed out that words .and phrases which are crucial for any doctrine of immortality as taught by Christ in the Gospels so far from implying or suggesting an absolute termiiiatiun. wlictlier nearer or more distant, to that future which tlie speakers
I
IMMORTALITY
IMMORTALITY
789
or writers have in mind, seem to indicate that no such idea was ('^■l_■v procnt to them ; and in some passages, wliirli un- ueitlKT isolated nor uniui- r iHk'iiiix'liaion of the writer's
portant, a thought in exclude th found at a towards wl
There yr be retenv,! ness iIku-.i,' the iijiidit when used
: context appears to ]y such limit being r place in the ' age ' locted.
'sVff^ai, ffwT-qpia. woiiK ;iii(l [iliiases to :i..i,- ,,r l.-.^s .li.^tinct- .M c.iilnisl it with of them,
eir fullest sense, imply non taliti/, but they do not bear directly upon the question of the duration of existence after death, which, as we have seen, has come to be the chief element in the connotation of the term ' immor- tality.' The chief of these is fuij with its deriva- tives, including the phrases of ^^■hiell it forms a part, fwi) in the Gospels is not mere physical life, but is an expression for the higher life, the life which is life indeed, life in its fullest, richest aspects. Such life was in the Word (Jn I'') ; it is Christ's gift to His disciples (10'^, cf. 6^=) ; nay, He is Himself ' the life ' ( 1 V-^ 14"). It is so good a posses- sion that to ' enter into life ' is worth tlie sacrifice of an eye or a limb {Mt 18»'- 1| Mk 9^- ■"). It begins after death (Jn 5^) — not in a temjioral sense, but when OdvaTOi as a state ceases to be ; and it is a ' resurrection of life ' to whicli the well-doers will come forth from the tomb (v.-"). 'To have life in himself i> :)u :ittiiljute of the Father, and is His gift til tin- .s.iu (\.-''); and this 'life' or 'eternal life' is n/pr.acillv -tated to be the present posses- sion of tin. l..H,..vr (Jn S'^'- 36 6"- 5^), the gift of Christ whicli some of them wilfully refuse (S*), and which the unbelieving will not see (3^^), but which is emphatically declared to be the final end of His comini;- into the world (IQi", cf. 20^1). The words which III- liiis spoken are fuj} (6"^), and His commaiiiliiicnl i- . 07 aW^-ios (12s»). None of these passiiui s sii.;u;r-t~ ih:it the thouglit of a termina- tion of the • life ' was present to the mind of the Speaker ; some are hardly compatible with such a thought, and others absolutely forbid it {e.ff. Jn I'' 52«). This fuii, therefore, is fittingly represented as aMj-ios.