Theories about what happens to us after we die abound, but let me share with you what I believe the Bible teaches about this subject.
In the story of Adam and Eve, God said that they would die if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sin entered the world when they fell to temptation. They didn’t immediately die as creatures, but their fellowship with God was interrupted and they were cast out of the Garden of Eden.
This interruption of their relationship with the divine was a spiritual death, and eventually their bodies died. The emphasis of much of the Old Testament is about how to restore a right relationship with God. Animal sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple eventually became the central way to achieve reconciliation.
In the New Testament, the ongoing sacrifice of animals was replaced with the once-for-all sacrifice of God’s Son, the Lamb provided by God, on the cross. Through going to the cross and responding to God’s act of ultimate love, we are reconciled to God and we change from being in the realm of death, separated from God, to being in the realm of life, reconciled to God.
St. Paul said, “But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11-12, NRSV).
Our sin separates us from God, who is the author and sustainer of life. It causes us to be in the realm of death. Jesus’ sacrifice provides the pathway for us to be reconciled to God and enter the realm of life. Through God’s grace, we participate in the resurrection of Christ and receive the gift of eternal life.
Some believe that there is a divine spark in every person and the natural end of every person is some form of eternal life. That belief is based on Greek philosophy and not the teaching of the Bible. What the Bible teaches is that we are mortal, and like the grass, the flowers, and all organisms, we will die at the end of our lifespans and return to the earth.
In other words, our natural destiny without the intervention of God is to perish. This is the teaching of John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Hell is not an everlasting bad life; it is perishing and an everlasting lack of existence. It is being forever without God. It is not participating in the resurrection of Christ and being regenerated as a child of God. Complete separation from God is the total absence of life. Going to hell is not transitioning from earthly life to another form of life in a bad place; it is transitioning to no life at all. It is perishing completely, fully and finally, without the opportunity for change. If anyone is completely cut off from the presence of God, there can be no life at all, for He is the source of all life.
God’s will is that none of us should perish. He wants all of us to be with Him, the source of all life, for all eternity. His desire is for all to come to the fountain of life and drink deeply from it and receive the living water that satisfies the thirst of our souls and imparts life to us. His will is for us to be born again, leaving the realm of death and inheriting life as the children of God.
Prior to receiving Christ, we are subject to death and perishing, but if Christ is in us, then even though our bodies will eventually die, we will participate in the resurrection of Christ. His Spirit dwells in us. We are adopted into the family of God, an eternal family not subject to the limitations of time.
In the words of St. Paul, “When we cry, ‘Abba. Father.’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God ...” (Romans 8:15-16). That union with the Father is for all eternity.
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
