LIFE AXD DEATH
LIFE a:sT> death
699
(b) The ^uri (aliivLos) thus becomes a human posses- ' sion and quality ; and it is witli the manifestations in human character and experience of this life flowing from God through Christ that the apostolic ■writers are principally concerned in what they have to say about it. Their references bear chiefly upon tlie source from which it comes, the means by which it is obtained, its fruits or evidences, its present possession, and its completion in the world to come.
(a) As follows from the fact that this life inheres essentially in God, its primal source is God the Father, from whom it comes as a gift (Ro 6'-^, 1 Jn 5") and a grace (1 P 3'). But this gracious gift is manifested and mediated only by Christ (1 Jn P, 1 Ti 2^). According to St. John, the eternal life which men enjoy resides in God's Son (1 Jn 5^'), and that in so absolute a sense that 'he that hath the Son hath the life ; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life ' (v.^-). Similarly St. Paul writes that it is through the Son that the gift of life is Ijestowed (Ko 6-^), describes Christ as ' our life ' (Col 3^), and declares that this life of ours ' is hid with Christ in God ' (v.*).
(/3) But this gift of life is not bestowed arbitrarily or apart from the fulfilment of certain conditions. It is not thrust upon anyone, but needs to be laid hold of (1 Ti 6^-'^). In the symbolic language of the Apocalypse the fruition of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God is promised to him that overcometh (Rev 2^). Various energies and atti- tudes of the soul are mentioned as conditioning the attainment of life, e.g. patience in well-doing (Ro 2'), endurance of temptation (Ja 1'-), sowing to the Spirit (Gal 6'*). But the fundamental con- ditions, on which all the others depend, are repent- ance (Ac lli») and faith (13-'«, 1 Ti V\ I Jn 5'»-i2). The old life must be renounced if the new life is to begin ; that is what is meant by the demand for repentance. And life cannot be self -generated, but can only be received from a living source ; that is the explanation of the call for faith.
(7) Among the fruits or evidences of the posses- sion of life St. Paul includes freedom from the bondage of sin (Ro 6^) and a way of walking in the world which is new (v.'*) and has God for its object (v."). Inwardly the life reveals its presence in a daily experience of renewal (2 Co 4^^), in the pos- session of a spiritual mind (Ro 8^), in the conscious- ness of spiritual liberty (v.-). Outwardly its fruits are seen in holy living (Ro 6--) and its signature written even upon the mortal flesh (2 Co 4"). To St. John the great evidence of life is love to the brethren (1 Jn 3''*). Everyone that loveth is born of God (4") ; but the love which is the proof of this Divine birth and consequent Divine life must flow out towards the visible brother as well as towards the invisible God if there is to be any assurance of its reality (vv.'"^- ^). In the mystical language of the author of the Apocalypse life has the evidence of a written record. The names of those who possess it are written in a book which is called ' the book of life' (Rev 3^ 17^ 20'2 22^9), or more fully 'the Lamb's book of life ' (13* 212^). With this may be compared St. Paul's use of the same figure in Ph 4^. See Book of Life.
(5) To the apostolic writers life or eternal life is a j)resent possession. While distinct from the ordinary forms of earthly existence, with which it is contrasted (1 Ti 6^''), it is not separated from them in time, but here and now interfused dynamic- ally through them all. This is a conception which is especially characteristic of the Johannine writ- ings. In the Fourth Gospel it occurs constantly (Jn 3^^ 17^ etc.), and in the First Epistle we see it reappearing, as when the writer declares that he that hath the Son hath the life (1 Jn 5^-), and that those who possess eternal life may know that they
possess it (3'* 5^^). But it is evident that St. Paul also conceives of life as a present reality when he proclaims that Christ is our life (Col '^*), and that our life is hid with Christ in God (v.^), when he makes our baptism into Christ's Death, and resur- rection in His likeness, determinative of our pre- sent walk in newness of life (Ro 6^), and declares that to be spiritually-minded is life and peace (S^).
(e) And yet this life, though it is a present ex- perience, is not realized in its totcdity in the present vjorld. The promise given to godliness in 1 Ti 4- is said to be for the life that now is and that which is to come. Similarly it is in ' the time to come' that ' the life which is life indeed ' arrives at its completion (6^^). St. Paul gives especial promi- nence to this future aspect of the life in Christ. He anticipates a time when what is mortal shall be swallowed up of life (2 Co 0^), co-ordinates eternal life with immortality (Ro 2'' ; cf. 2 Ti 1"), and places it in direct antithesis with death (Ro 6^) and corruption (Gal 6-). And yet, though life for its completeness must wait for the full revela- tion of the powers of the world to come, which are only tasted here (He 6^), the present and the future life are essentially one and the same. It is be- cause the Christian life is hid with Christ in God that it carries the assurance of immortality Avithin itself. As, in St. Peter's language, it Avas not possible that Christ should be holden of death (Ac 2-'*), so it is impossible that those whose very life Christ is (Col S'*) should not be sharers in His victory over death's pains and powers. To all who abide in the Son and through Him in the Father there belongs this promise which He pro- mised us, even the life eternal (1 Jn 2-'''-). And in this promise there lies enfolded the hope not only of the immortality of the soul but of the resurrection of the body. It is the frailty and imperfection of the earthly body, its domination by the law of sin and death, that hinder the full enjoyment of eternal life in the present world (2 Co 5'^' ■*). But when mortality shall be swallowed up of life, Christ's people, instead of being ' unclothed,' shall be 'clothed upon' (5--^). To the natural body will succeed a spiritual body (1 Co 15^), to the body of death (Ro 7^^) a body instinct with the Lord's own life, to the house that must be dissolved a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens (2 Co 51).