The meaning of the afterlife for Christians

In order to address “the afterlife,” one must first speak of the meaning of life in the present. The afterlife does not stand alone as if disconnected from prior earthly life. The after is connected to the before, to the everyday life of the Christian in the present. The attitude toward death in our society is relevant as well.

After being in ministry with the dying and the bereaved for over six years, I’m aware that most people in our society are reluctant to speak of death straightforwardly. That’s not surprising because we rarely allow death to come close to us. We depend on professionals to care for the dying, and professionals bury the dead. This is primarily true in western, industrialized societies. In most of the world, however, death is as much a part of everyday life as birth.

Our attitudes toward death also affect whether or not we prepare well for our own death. It is a great gift to those left behind if we prepare for the practical end-of-life issues: advance directives for health care, a will and information regarding finances. It is equally important to work toward healing any broken relationships. I emphasize preparation for our death because the meaning of the afterlife for Christians lies at the heart of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The good news is that the ultimate hope for the Christian has already entered this world in the in the birth of Jesus. According to Matthew 1, Jesus came into this world as Emmanuel, “which means God is with us.” That is an astounding statement. God broke into this world in a decisively new way in the birth of Jesus. The Source and Sustainer of all creation, the One we call God, came to us as a baby to live and grow as a divine-human person. Jesus came to reveal what God is like, to demonstrate how to live and to offer us new life here and now.

When we commit ourselves to be Christians, we are given new life in Christ. Paul writes: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). To live fully into the meaning of that new life in Christ becomes our life work through the power of the Spirit. The things in this world that are close to the heart of God then become our concerns as well. We are called to love others as God has loved us in Jesus. The First Testament also teaches us to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Hear the words of the prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Jesus himself did not speak a great deal about the afterlife. In the Matthew 25:31-46 he speaks of the judgment of the nations, but the focus of the passage is on how people had lived here on earth. In John 14, as Jesus prepares his disciples for his own impending death, he says there are many dwelling places in his Father’s house. He promises them: “I will come back and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (verse 3). That promise is as much for us today as it was for the disciples. In John 17, Jesus prays passionately for the Father to protect his disciples from “the evil one” after he is no longer present to protect them.

Soon after that prayer, Jesus celebrates the Passover with the disciples, is arrested, tried, condemned, crucified, dies and is buried in a tomb, a huge stone covering the entrance. His followers are devastated, their hopes dashed to pieces. However, that is not the end of the story. God raises Jesus to life, never to die again. The resurrection is God’s declaration that Jesus is truly his Son and has accomplished everything he came into the world to do. In Surprised by Hope, N. T. Wright expresses the centrality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ as “anticipating and guaranteeing the final resurrection of God’s people at the end of history.”

Paul writes more about the resurrection than any other New Testament writer, especially in Romans 8:18-25 and 1 Corinthians 15. In Romans he writes that “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (8:21). He continues, “We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (8:23). This is the meaning and hope of the afterlife. We Christians will participate in the redemption of our bodies and bodily resurrection through Jesus Christ.

Turn now to 1 Corinthians 15. Some in the church in Corinth did not accept the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul’s response was that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, the proclamation of the gospel is in vain and their faith is in vain. He writes: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (15:19). Paul discusses the resurrection of the body in 15:35-58. He uses a series of images to suggest the nature of our bodies in the present compared with our post-resurrection bodies: Our bodies in the present are “perishable,” the resurrected bodies “imperishable.” They “bear the image of the man of dust” (that is, Adam), and post-resurrection they “bear the image of the man of heaven” (that is, Jesus). Our bodies now are “physical”; in the future they will be “spiritual.” They are “mortal” now and “immortal” after resurrection. Paul is attempting to describe something that is real yet mysterious.

Finally, consider 1 John 3:2: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he [Jesus] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”

Ann Showalter is a retired Mennonite pastor and a member of New Creation Fellowship Church in Newton, Kan.