Every so often, I answer Bible Questions and Theology questions that people send in by email. I not only answer them by email, but also try to post the answers on my blog, since I am sure that others might have similar questions.
Question about the Hope of Eternal Life
Here is a theology question that a reader sent in last week:
I am a new convert to the truth in God’s word of eternal security, therefore I was once a “conditional” securist but I no longer believe in this false doctrine. However something has been bothering me and I am having trouble understanding it, I have searched your website for the answer and was unsuccessful.
In the book of John in many places it is recorded as Jesus having told us we “have” eternal life now in the present, however elsewhere it the scriptures it seems to say we have the hope of eternal life but we don’t actually posses it.
This has confused me, does the Bible mean we have eternal life now, we just enter into it when we die? Or does it teach that we don’t yet have eternal life, but we will obtain eternal life in the future? The latter one sounds to me like conditional security (which I know we both do not believe in). However I am having trouble with this.
Could you perhaps help me to understand this?
Answer about the Hope of Eternal Life
Here is my answer: