Lead:

How is God’s immortality different than ours? And how should that shape us and how we relate to people?

Intro:

If you’re like most people, guessing you don’t pause to think immortality much. I know I don’t. But today we’ll hear Paul mention it in this letter to Timothy that we’ll finish up today, so here’s the question of the day: How is God’s immortality different than ours? And by extension, how should that shape us?

So far we’ve heard the elder Paul writing to this young pastor that the main purpose of his letter is to share how one should conduct themselves in the household of God — being diligent to protect people from false teachers and what our character should look like, and specifically that of those who are called to be leaders. Today we continue with his exhortations about how various different kinds of church members should conduct themselves and then wrapping up with even more warnings about false teachers.

Toward the end you’re going to hear Paul describe Jesus and mentions the uniqueness of his immortality. But wait, don’t we read elsewhere that we have immortality? We’ll get to that in today’s All Our Minds segment.

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Bible:

Passage: 1 Timothy 5-6
Translation: NASB (New American Standard Bible)
Verses: 46
Words: ~942

All Our Minds:

I confess, I can’t ever think about the word “immortality” without associating it with a mid-80s song by Queen that was part of the soundtrack for the movie Highlander — Who Wants to Live Forever? And that’s got nothing to do with anything, except that I did start today be talking about how we probably don’t think about it much.

In the passage we read today Paul described Jesus as King of kings and Lord of Lords who alone possesses immortality. But thinking like a theologian means that we ask what the whole Bible says about a given topic, right? And just in the last couple months haven’t we talked about heaven and hell and how we will have immortal, physical bodies as described by Paul in 1 Co 15. We’re also going to hear him tomorrow in his second letter to young Timmy say that we as believers partake in immortality.

So what’s the diff, and how should that shape us?

This is a good reminder of being clear with words when you’re talking to someone. There are key differences between God’s immortality and ours.

God’s immortality is without beginning or end. It’s part of His very nature — He is immortal or, to put it another way, He is existence.

Our immortality, however, has a beginning. We are created and having a beginning like the universe was created and has a beginning. We aren’t the definition of existence, we have existence that is contingent on the one who gave it to us. He’s without beginning and end, and while we have no end, we have a beginning.

This is an important distinction. Remember the ancient Greeks thought the universe and we were eternal, no beginning and end. This is not only anti-Biblical, it has been disproven scientifically, mathematically, astronomically. But you will find strains of heresy in churches, not to mention other worldviews, who conflate our immortality with God’s and say that we are just little gods and goddesses.

The lesson? To ask, “What do you mean by that? Tell me more”

The bottom line

I close with some word from C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory. You’re going to hear him refer to people as gods and goddesses, small g, and he’s speaking figuratively there. Don’t get bogged down on that…hear his overall message.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.
It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.” ~ CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory

The big question, of course, gets us right back to the Gospel: What has anyone done with Jesus’ offer of grace? The consequences, when we think about immortality, are huge. And that should give us humility and grace and urgency and compassion for every person we ever meet.

Wisdom:

Passage: Proverbs 16:21-33
Translation: NASB (New American Standard Bible)
Verses: 12
Words: ~192

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

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(1) Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume One: Introduction, Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2002), 266.

#955: 1 Timothy 5-6 | Immortality | Proverbs 16:20-33