Can we have eternal life right now?

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1 John 2:12-13 "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

does this passage suggest that we can have eternal life while still living our earthly life? Well, I do believe that you could only have eternal life after you died in a state of grace, in a state of friendship with God. But what about this passage? Does this suggest just the contrary?
 
life on this earth is NOT eternal:nope:
He who believes in Christ AND is sorrowful for their sins is capable of -having not only eternal life in Heaven- but also Christ IN them, and they in HIM while they are here on earth.
 
Paul says that in baptism we die with Christ and are raised up in Him. (Col. 2:12) So in a very real way, we do enter into eternal life at that moment. Paul says, dramatically, “So I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20) (Some scholars believe this is what the “first resurrection” mentioned in Revelation refers to. Rev. 20:6)

But, as Paul also tells us, as long as we live in the flesh we are subject to the struggles against “the world, the flesh and the devil” (Gal. 5:17, Rom. 7:22-25)- and so we, like Paul, “work out” our salvation, staying in a state of grace by remaining in close communion with the Lord (in both senses of the word “communion”) in His Word, His sacraments, and His Body which is the Church. Only at the moment of death does this struggle end, and so we can “rest in peace” - because it will no longer be possible for us to reject God (or to accept Him, if we rejected Him in life).

So - both statements are correct - we are living our eternal life right now, and it begins at the moment of our death.
 
NHInsider said:
So - both statements are correct - we are living our eternal life right now, and it begins at the moment of our death.
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yeah… so does that suggest that being in a state of grace is actually having eternal life?
 
jamil_joseph02 said:
yeah… so does that suggest that being in a state of grace is actually having eternal life?
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(**"He who has the Son has life; **} This is the stipulation. If you reject the Son then you do not have eternal life. What is eternal starts in this life; eternal life or eternal death. If you choose to be in the grace of God then you can have a moral assurance of eternal life. This does not undermine our particular judgment which occurs at the moment of death but rather points to the hope we have in the infinite love and mercy of our God. Saint Paul refers to this in 2 Timothy 4:7-8.
 
jamil_joseph02 said:
yeah… so does that suggest that being in a state of grace is actually having eternal life?
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Yes.
CCC #1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of His own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism.
“His own life” (God’s life) – is eternal.]

We also receive eternal life when we receive Jesus in the Eucharist. That is the meaning of Jesus’ words in John 6:63 – “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” St. Cyril of Alexandria’s words about the bread of life discourse in John clearly connects reception of the Eucharist to reception of life (the life in Jesus because of His Divine nature - Divine life, eternal life):
"…So Christ gave His own body for the life of all, and makes it the channel through which life flows once more into us. How he does this I will explain to the best of my abiliby.

When the **life-giving **Word of God dwelt in human flesh, He changed it into that good thing which is distinctively His, namely, life; and by being wholly united to the flesh in a way beyond our comprehension, **He gave it the life-giving power which He has by His very nature. **Therefore, the body of Christ gives life to those who receive it. Its presence in mortal men expels death and drives away corruption because it contains within itself in His entirety the Word who totally abolishes corruption."
 
jamil_joseph02 said:
1 John 2:12-13 "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

does this passage suggest that we can have eternal life while still living our earthly life? Well, I do believe that you could only have eternal life after you died in a state of grace, in a state of friendship with God. But what about this passage? Does this suggest just the contrary?
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We do live forever, death is separation from God, all humans actually live forever because none of us, good or evil, goes into nonexistence. We are all transformed either to be in hell or heaven but noone actually stops existing so in that way death doesn’t actually exist literally. You posivitely will not die only pass from one existence to another but always alive and consciouse.
 
Cashue said:
We do live forever, death is separation from God, all humans actually live forever because none of us, good or evil, goes into nonexistence. We are all transformed either to be in hell or heaven but noone actually stops existing so in that way death doesn’t actually exist literally. You posivitely will not die only pass from one existence to another but always alive and consciouse.
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Yes, that is what this world’s Christianity believes – that we will all live forever, the righteous as well as the wicked. In fact, the vast majority of the people on earth today [regardless of religious leanings] believe that eternal life is not something we still have to seek for – that we already have it right now.

But this is contrary to the teachings of Christ, His Apostles, and the Holy Scriptures. Paul says: “To them who by patient continuance in well doing SEEK FOR glory and honour and IMMORTALITY, ETERNAL LIFE” (Rom. 2:7).

Eternal life, according to Paul, is something we still have to seek for. It is not something we already possess. We live in this world right now, Paul says, “IN HOPE of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, had promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).

We hear Jesus preaching the same thing. He says that “whosoever believeth in him” – that is, only those who believe in Jesus Christ – “… have eternal life” (John 3:15). And, “whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood” – only these people, not just anyone – “hath eternal life” (John 6:54). Christ further tells us that God the Father has given Him “power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life TO AS MANY AS THOU HAST GIVEN HIM” (John 17:2).

If we believe in those words of Jesus, eternal life is not for everyone. The Jews in Jesus’ day were aware of Christ’s teaching on the subject, for a few asked Him saying, “Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” And Jesus showed them how it’s done. He tells them: “IF thou wilt enter into life” – IF you want to live forever – “keep the commandments” (Mat. 9:17).

But really, if eternal life is already an inherent attribute of all human beings, then there is no point in God sending His only Begotten Son to this world, for He tells us that the reason “he gave his only begotten son” was that “whosoever believeth in him… should have everlasting [eternal] life” (John 3:16).
 
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