Afterlife

Afterlife can refer to eternity in Hell (See Hell) or eternity in Heaven (See Heaven). Here, afterlife refers to eternal life with God in heaven, following judgment, as a result of salvation. Death is not the end, but a transition to eternal life determined by faith in Jesus Christ. Believers' souls immediately enter God's presence, awaiting a future bodily resurrection and a perfected existence in a new heaven and earth. Non-believers face separation from God in a state of judgment. (See Purgatory).            

Upon death, the souls of believers are considered to be "at home with the Lord". The personal identity (soul/spirit) continues to exist after the physical body dies (See Soul and Spirit). Afterlife is a future event, a bodily resurrection, coinciding with Christ's second coming, where bodies are raised, glorified, and reunited with the soul. Heaven is described as a state of eternal, blissful communion with God, free from pain and death (Revelation 21:1-4, 2 Corinthians 5:8). Hell is described as a place of separation from God, punishment, and suffering (Matthew 25:46, 2 Thessalonians 1:9).            

In John 11:25-26 Jesus declares, "I am the resurrection and the life," promising that those who believe in him will live even after dying. 

Second Corinthians 5:8 describes the state of being "away from the body and at home with the Lord".

First Corinthians 15 is a central passage outlining the theology of the resurrected body. 

In Revelation 21:1-4, the apostle John describes the new heaven and new earth, where God wipes away every tear.            

A critical factor for the eternity afterlife in Heaven is accepting Jesus Christ's sacrifice, which offers forgiveness of sins. (See Faith).            

All humanity will face a final judgment regarding their relationship with God. As the apostle Paul stated, “I make it my ambition to be pleasing to Him... for we must all appear before the judgment (bema) seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad.”  (2 Corinthians 5:9-10).            

As the apostle Paul approached death, having lost all hope of a social rescue, he sees in his mind’s eye a spiritual rescue that includes a reward: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6–8).

      Although the bema is not mentioned explicitly, Paul certainly is looking toward a positive judgment of his life.[1] The New Testament utilizes the term Bema twelve times in both a secular and a sacred context. The bema is the official platform used for the ruler to make decisions on civic or governmental issues. Pilate stood on the bema to judge Jesus’ guilt when he was brought before him (Matthew 27:19; John 19:13). Herod, putting on his royal robes, climbed the bema to make a speech. The people declared him to be a god and he accepted their praise; God determined that his life be forfeited (Acts 12:21–23). Paul stood before Gallio who, upon the bema, heard Paul proclaim his testimony and defense only to be interrupted by a crowd that sought the life of poor Sosthenes (Acts 18:15–17). Paul also made a defense of his conversion to Christianity in front of Festus who sat upon the bema (Acts 25:17). In fact, Paul himself appeals to be brought before the bema of Caesar (Acts 25:10–11).

[1] Murray J. Harris states the following regarding the judgment seat: “A divine scrutiny and disclosure, is the necessary prelude to the receiving of appropriate recompense. . . . This judicial appearance will take place before Christ’s “judicial bench” or “tribunal” (βῆμα).”… “So that each may be duly recompensed for actions, whether good or bad, performed through the body.” Here Paul states the purpose (ἵνα), and by implication, the outcome, of the divine illumination of what previously had been hidden in darkness (1 Cor. 4:5). ἕκαστος, “each person,” indicates that τοὺς πάντας ἡμᾶς does not imply judgment en masse. Accountability and assessment are individual (cf. ἕκαστος ἡμῶν after πάντες in Rom. 14:10–12). In the middle voice, κομίζω (“bring”) means “get for oneself,” “get back,” “receive back” what one owns or is owed or deserves. τά in the phrase διὰ τοῦ σώματος [πραχθέντα] is not simply metonymy for “the consequences of,” as though the κομίσασθαι were merely the outcome of some immanent process by which the reaping of consequences followed inexorably on the sowing of actions, for in this case the reference to an appearance and examination before the βῆμα would be rendered superfluous. The recompense received comes from Christ, for it is his tribunal” (Second Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2005) 407.