“To “live” is more than to be alive physically. The prideful who try to earn the approval of God for their righteousness cannot truly live. Since they are condemned, they are spiritually dead (Galatians 3:10). On the other hand, the Lord promised in the Gospel of John: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Christ was speaking of the eternal life that He gives to believers by faith (John 3:16)…It is “abundant “ or “overflowing” in the grace, goodness, and energies of Christ…Living by faith means we “abide in Him” (John 15:4). As He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6), when we remain in Him, we share His everlasting life.” (Fr. Basil)
“ “Everlasting life” is a term denoting the present spiritual condition of all who hear and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even before physical death, every person who unites himself to Christ “has passed from death into life” (John 5:24). Although death tyrannizes us and negates the meaning of our life, its devastating power is broken when we receive God’s gift of everlasting life (1 Cor 15:54-55)….By stating that he who “has everlasting life . . . shall not come into judgment” (Jn 5:24), the Lord Jesus discloses that after physical death this everlasting life which He gives to the faithful will operate decisively to give us eternal standing with God. He then makes two additional – and essential – points. First, He assures us that even we who are spiritually dead are able to hear His voice, meaning that everlasting life is possible for us even before we die. This is the hope of all who, by God’s grace, have united ourselves to Christ as King and God.” (Dynamis 4/30/2020)
“If we really think about what it means to be a Christian, we understand that our time in this world is relatively brief and the purpose of our life here is to prepare ourselves for everlasting life with God.” (Melissa K. Tsongranis)
“That gift of everlasting life is not natural. It requires so great a change that nothing less than a rebirth is in order. The New Testament is replete with the theme and possibility of our being born again. To be a Christian is to be one who is reborn into a new life that affects everything we do, think or attempt. Christianity is a radical faith. It calls on a person to go to the root of his or her being and make a complete break with all that is opposed to a life committed to serving, following and loving Jesus Christ.” (Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky)
“Yet, as we know too well, our existence remains full of corruption, illness, and passion, and ends in physical death. So, in what way have we been set free by the Savior’s death? We are set free because, though we suffer, though we endure illness, though we die, we need not fear death. Death is no longer a dark abyss of nothingness, but rather becomes the very place where we behold the risen Lord in all His glory, a glory that today pierces even to the depths of hades. We are free because the grave is no longer our final dwelling place but has become an entrance into another life which is eternal, an entrance into the life which Christ Himself has given to us, ‘to those in the tombs.’ In this new life, we not only come before the presence of the Lord but we gain Him for ourselves. As the Apostle Paul cries out: For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). If we have Christ, we live in Him and our physical death is merely the final veil to true and authentic communion with Him. How could one fear this? What we experience on the bright and radiant day of Pascha is not simply an external light and a passing jubilation but a transformation of our fear, our pain, and our sorrow into a taste of the freedom of everlasting life.” (Metropolitan Tikhon)