Verse 18

"Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost."

I want to focus on the word "lost" here. And, I will resist all urges to reference the ABC television series, which could easily inspire a blog series of its own from me. But, let the record show I was right about Ben's potential to act with virtue.

Here the phrase "are lost" is actually a friendlier translation than other versions of the Bible which use words like "have perished" or "are in their graves." Or the direct translation of the Greek, which can mean "to destroy, render useless, put an end to, or kill."

Lost is light and airy comparatively.

But there's a hard truth here. The mortality rate is 100%. People will and do perish, get destroyed, and are rendered useless.

Now, due to Jesus Christ and his life, death, and resurrection there is hope. The passage suggests it, that "those who have fallen asleep in Christ" are not lost because Christ has been raised.

But what about that phrase, "in Christ"?

Biblically, there is no responsible position but to conclude that those who are not in Christ are lost. Without taking part in Christ and trusting in Him and Him alone for salvation, "you are still in your sins" (verse 17), "fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and are not just "dead in transgressions and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), but are "by nature objects of wrath." (Ephesians 2:3).

This is bad news.

But . . .

It doesn't have to be.

The greatest conjunction in all of eternity comes after that phrase "objects of wrath."

"Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alice with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved . . . For it is be grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works so that no one can boast" - Ephesians 2:3-5,8-9

That's good news.

Please let it be good news to you. Believe it. Own it. Live it.