Eternal life is the opportunity offered to all to learn about and live like Jesus Christ, both of which depend on the choices of the individual. If we desire eternal life, we must learn and live what Jesus would do in your place. The Lord came to show us how the Father is and provide us with the power to follow his example in all things. Jesus obtained eternal life before this world was, and by laying down his eternal life, he provided the opportunity for all men to advance toward the same. The life of Jesus Christ was a demonstration of the process and outcome of obtaining the character of the Father, which in combination define the outcome and process of eternal life. The Lord obtained eternal life through learning about and living like the Father.5 We obtain eternal life through learning about and living like the Son.6 God, knowing all things, provided a way whereby any individual could come to understand the same. Through learning what he knows and acting and feeling how he does, an individual can come to possess all things that God possesses.
Immortality and eternal life are not the same thing.111 Immortality comes because of what Jesus did, but eternal life comes because of how Jesus is. Eternal life is not about what you get after you die, but who you become here and now. Through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ,112 all people will be resurrected,113 whether they believe in God or not, and irrespective of how well they know and obey him. Eternal life does not come from what you say you believe about Jesus, nor from him visiting you. You receive eternal life as you learn how Jesus is and live that way yourself.114 Only those who live as they sincerely believe Jesus would in their place will be saved from spiritual death.115
Footnotes
- 1. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Psalms 45:7) ↩
- 2. And the day soon cometh that your mortal must put on immortality, and these bodies which are now moldering in corruption must soon become incorruptible bodies; and then ye must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to be judged according to your works; and if it so be that ye are righteous, then are ye blessed with your fathers who have gone before you. (Mormon 6:21) ↩
- 3. And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him. Wherefore, the ends of the law which the Holy One hath given, unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment that is affixed is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed, to answer the ends of the atonement. (2 Nephi 2:10) ↩
- 4. Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you— that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works. And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world. (3 Nephi 27:13-16) ↩
- 5. For just as the Father obtained life in himself, he gave the Son the ability to obtain life in himself. (John 5:26, Author’s Reflection) ↩
- 6. Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24, NIV) ↩