Life After Death?

God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. Romans 2:6-8

Paul presents a very clear contrast for the future of individuals beyond death. Two very different futures await every one of us without exception.

On the one hand, there is the prospect of eternal life. This means not merely unending life, but literally, "the life of the age to come" - a new type of existence lived in the immediate presence of God, enjoying Him forever.

On the other hand, there is the prospect of wrath and anger for others. Paul has spent a lot of time in chapter one of this great letter showing that the wrath of God is now being revealed upon planet earth through the moral and spiritual breakdown of human society. Now he reveals that this wrath - God's intense displeasure against sin - has also a future dimension. There is a "day of wrath" in the future, a day that John the Baptist had earlier described as "the coming wrath."

Since this division of the human race into these two groups is without question the most significant event that we will ever participate in, it is clearly essential that we understand the reason people are in one group or another. This will be the theme of the next post in this series.