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The concept of everlasting life is important. Every person that does the will of God has everlasting life as long as they do the will of God. The will of God is this: persevere in doing good… and by this seek for glory and honor and immortality. When this is done by you, God renders everlasting life to you.
This concept is found in Romans 2:5c-11. Here is the passage: “…God, who will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” John 3:36 also has this idea: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” There are many distinctions made in scripture concerning the righteous versus the wicked. The above passage summarizes it well. Everlasting life is for those who love truth (1st Thessalonians 2:10). As long as a person loves truth, they have everlasting life. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” Christians are commanded to be imitators of God as dearly beloved children (Ephesians 5:1), and Jesus is a perfect imitator of God (Hebrews 1:3). So like Jesus, all Kingdom of Heaven citizens are the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by them. They are in Jesus, and Jesus is in them (John 17:23 & 26, Colossians 1:27, Ephesians 3:14-17, 2nd Corinthians 5:17). 1st John teaches that no evil doer has everlasting life abiding in them. Those who hate their brother are in the darkness until now. They do not know God (Titus 1:16[i] and 1st John 4:7-8[ii]). Those who “walk in the light” have fellowship with one another (1st John 1:7). So you cannot know God unless you love with friendship love the entire Kingdom of Heaven… which is those who do the will of God, which is to do good works (Ephesians 2:10). 1st Timothy 4:7b-10 says, “On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.” God is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. That is important. God loves all of His creatures. In His love, He commands all of His creatures to love all of His creatures, including themselves and even their enemies. God commands all of His enemies to repent into being righteous so that they too can have everlasting life. He loves them with everlasting love. He is kind and patient. He is forbearing. He does things for His name’s sake. He loves to be right. He loves to be just. He loves to be merciful. He is victorious. He commands everyone who exists to live like Him. There are also warnings in the scriptures about people falling away from the faith. If someone falls away from loving the truth into believing lies, they are no longer having everlasting life, but instead are in everlasting punishment. They are still commanded by God and His Kingdom to repent into loving the truth. God is merciful, and is good to all. So is His Kingdom. You cannot do anything to make them not love you with divine charity love as long as they are Kingdom of Heaven citizens. It is true though, that the Kingdom of Heaven has friendship love only for those who love truth. So the good news is, everlasting life is available to all, but only those who choose to love truth will actually obtain everlasting life. ------------------------ [i] Titus 1:16 “They [1] profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny [2] Him, being detestable [3] and disobedient [4] and worthless [5] for [6] any good deed.” [ii] 1st John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born [fn] of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
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