Death:

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

The subject is Christ, yes. But we are told HE ONLY IS IMMORTAL.

That should be powerful proof that no one else is. Think about it. He ALONE has IMMORTALITY. That means no one else does.

He only is immortal because we are yet subject to death and dying. He is already glorified. This has nothing to do with the afterlife.

That verse proves that Paul understood the parables and visions as needing to be reconciled to the plain teaching not the other way around. He knew the parable of Lazarus and the rich man was just an illustration concerning eternal life after death and not that Yeshua was now teaching something as doctrine that would contradict the teaching given in the OT.

Old Testament was nothing by types and shadows. It wasn't a complete revelation. What Christ indicated is far more detailed, as expected, because He is God.

Also, the Pharisees, and most mainstream Jews, believed in the afterlife long before Christ's birth. Yet Jesus never rebukes them for such a false belief. Instead, Christ's lesson concerning Lazarus and the rich man, in addition to Christ promising the thief on the cross Paradise that very day, all indicate that He two proclaimed life after death. Add to this Paul's statement regarding being ABSENT from the body being PRESENT with the Lord. And... John's vision of the SOULS of martyred believers before the throne in the Revelation.

After all he would have not been able to say Yeshua ONLY has immortality if Abraham and the beggar, and the thief on the cross also had it.

Not so. Here's why... Jesus has already entered the eternal glorified state. No one else has as of yet. Those who have passed on are in a state of death, not immortality. Those of us who are alive are currently subject to death, we are not immortal. However, after the Second Coming, we all shall be resurrected and glorified, like Christ. In that day, we will be like Him... immortal... alive bodily... yet no longer subject to death or dying. Until that day, He alone is currently immortal.