You are welcome Alan.
I knew this was something you and I disagree about and since I find Sproul's teaching to be clear and well presented I thought you might be interested. Mom's are great aren't they? You will always be her baby.
The wages of sin are indeed death, but "death" has a basic meaning of separation. In the case of physical death there is a separation between body and spirit. Spiritual death is the separation between God and the individual. "Life" of course has the opposite connotation, so eternal life can be seen as eternally being with God as well as eternally being reunited with our bodies at the resurrection.
So...I think it is important to understand what kind of death is being talked about in the context of each particular passage. All people will be resurrected and in that sense death will be abolished. However there is a clear distinction that is made between those who are resurrected to eternal "life" (an eternal relationship with God) and those who are resurrected to eternal punishment, which seems to include not just separation, but also conscious suffering of the eternal wrath of God.
"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matt 25:46
See also(Dan 12:2; John 5:29; Acts 24:15)
And (Matt 19:29; John 3:15f, 36; 5:24; 6:27, 40, 47, 54; 17:2f; Acts 13:46, 48; Rom 2:7; 5:21; 6:23; Gal 6:8; 1 John 5:11) |
