Meaning of LIFE

Life is that by which a created being enjoys the place in which the Creator has placed it. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, "and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7).

When sin enters, man loses the right to this life, and God claims it, saying: “I will surely demand the blood of your lives; I will require it at the hand of every animal, and at the hand of man; at the hand of a man his brother I will require the life of a man »(Gen. 9: 5) In this the capital punishment for murder is instituted, never abrogated or altered.

The difference between “life” in a moral sense and “existence” is recognized in Scripture. This is seen in this passage: "Who is the man who desires life, who desires many days to see good?" (Ps. 34:12).

Here you see man desiring life, desiring to enjoy it. This responds to the objection of those who try to deny eternal punishment, stating that "living forever" is only affirmed of believers, as in Jn. 6:51, 58.

This is true, but many other passages of Scripture demonstrate that the wicked will have eternal existence.

Man, in his natural state, is considered morally dead in sins, and needing to be quickened by the power of God; or as living in sin, and needing to accept death in order to live in Christ (cf. Eph. 2:1; Rom. 6:2, 11).