Immortality

“Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

Man has both mortality and immortality derivatively. That is to say, whichever state it is, mortality or immortality, that condition of being has been given, granted and sustained by God. For man, immortality (New Testament Greek, “Aphtharsia”) is eternal life sustained by God.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Life, animation and being are all held in God’s hands and will.

But the immortality for God mentioned in the verse above is a different type of immortality than for man. This immortality comes from the Greek “Athanasia” and is defined as “deathlessness” by Vines Expository Dictionary and “undying” by Thayer’s Greek Lexicon.

God identified Himself to Moses as, “I AM THAT I AM”. I AM, or “to be”, is an omnipresence in all ways imaginable and unimaginable. God “is”, and can not, “not be”. Immortality comes from Him because it is part of Him. It is an attribute of His being. It (immortality) can never, “not be”.

Whereas Aphtharsia is a mortality dependent upon God to give and for God to sustain, Athanasia is the eternal, deathlessness attribute that God possess. Now here’s where it gets really exciting. There is one other place in the New Testament that Athanasia is used, and it applies directly to you and me.

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-54)

At the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet we, the children of God shall shuck mortality and immortality and will embrace true Athanasia of God, with God! Now that’s exciting!

Bill Hitchcock