I want to conclude this series of blogs by mentioning a number of Scriptures that present us with a true gospel, that is, good news. This message is largely unknown in the Christian world, mainly because people lack insight into the aeons. Due to the arbitrary translation of the words aion and aionios, many lack any understanding of these ages, and thus their view of the gospel is obscured. There is often a belief that when we die or when Christ returns, an endless eternity will begin. This is incorrect, because as we have seen, two more aeons follow afterward.
End?
Believers receive aeonian life and participate in the future aeons. Unbelievers do not participate in this. They are dead and remain in death during these ages. But is that the end for them? No, because God has all people in mind and brings every creature to His purpose.
This is evident from, among other places:
1 Timothy 4 NKJV
10 For to this end we labor and suffer reproach, because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
God is referred to here as a Savior of all people. The NBG translation renders this as “for all people,” but that is linguistically incorrect. The original text uses a genitive case, which indicates not an offer (for), but a possessive relationship (of). The Revised Statenvertaling (HSV) is correct here, as is the Statenvertaling (KSV), which speaks of “a Savior of all people.”
All die in Adam – all are made alive in Christ
In 1 Corinthians 15:22, Paul establishes a parallel that encompasses all people: all die in Adam, but all are made alive in Christ:
1 Corinthians 15 NKJV
22 For as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Just as all people without exception share in Adam’s mortality, so all people without exception will share in the life that comes from the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), Christ. The second “all” is no more limited than the first; it refers to the same humanity.
The question then arises whether this contradicts statements like John 3:16.
John 3 NKJV
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Contradictory?
People often think that the salvation of all conflicts with the fact that people are “lost.” This tension arises, however, because “lost” is understood as an eternal condition, while the biblical meaning of the word “eternal” (aionios) is not taken into account.
Scripture does indeed teach that people are lost: they enter the aeonian judgment, which means they are lost for the coming aeons and do not experience these ages. Unlike those who receive aeonian life, they are dead (cf. 1 Cor. 15:18). This is serious, but it is not the end.
That John 3:16 does not set a final destination for a portion of humanity is clear from the immediately following verse. As well-known as John 3:16 is, the following verse is equally unknown.
John 3 KJV
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
The purpose of God’s action is not condemnation, but salvation. And God’s purpose is not to save only those who now believe, but the world. And God does not miss His purpose.
The Completion: Death Abolished
How God saves all people is explained in the same chapter that also contains 1 Corinthians 15:22. Paul concludes with this all-encompassing statement:
1 Corinthians 15 NKJV
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
As long as death exists, there are people who are dead. But when death is abolished, no one will be left in it. Death can only be abolished in one way: by making all people alive! Then what Paul stated earlier becomes clear: all who died in Adam are made alive in Christ, each in his own order and time.
In Summary
There is no contradiction between 1 Corinthians 15 and John 3:
- John 3:16 speaks of aeonian life for believers; Unbelievers do not possess that aeonian life and miss out on the life of the aeons to come.
- John 3:17 on the ultimate salvation of the world.
- 1 Corinthians 15 on the universal victory over death.
Thus it becomes clear that the gospel is truly good news—not only for those who believe now, but for all!