The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

IV. Immortality Not Inherent, but a Gift

1. PROVISION FOR ATTAINING IMMORTALITY

Book seven (“Of a Happy Life”) deals (in chapter two) with “The Error of the Philosophers,” and in chapter three with a “Censure of the Stoics and Epicureans.” It affirms, “That is more correct which they derived from Plato.” Lactantius then summarizes Plato’s argument as affirming that the “work of God” would “remain for ever.” And he poses the question, “If it was made for the sake of men, and so made as to be eternal, why then are not they on whose account it was made eternal?” ³⁰ He adds that God did not make the world “for His own sake, since He can exist without the world.” ³¹ CFF1 1040.1

Coming to the positive side, and the “mystery of man” and how the world was clearly made “for the sake of man,” Lactantius asks, “Why did He make him [man] subject to death and decay?” Lactantius asserts that God, “the Maker of all things,” placed men “in the midst between good and evil,” that they might not “attain to immortality by a delicate and easy course of life, but might arrive at that unspeakable reward of eternal life with the utmost difficulty and great labours.” ³² That is the heart of his argument—immortality an attainment, a reward. CFF1 1040.2

2. SO PLACED AS TO ATTAIN IMMORTALITY

Thus God, “formed man from the earth itself, which He prepared for him from the beginning as a habitation; that is, He clothed and covered his [man’s] spirit with an earthly body.” Man was “formed of a fragile substance, and could not exist for ever.” Lactantius asks, “Why, then, did He make him [man] frail and mortal, when He had built the world for his sake?” CFF1 1040.3

He answers, “That He might set forth before man virtue, ... by which he might be able to gain the reward of immortality.” Man, he says, consists of “two parts, body and soul.” Then he adds, “We received the former at our birth; we attain the latter by striving, that immortality might not exist to man without any difficulty.” ³³ Such was his reasoning. CFF1 1041.1

3. IMMORTALITY NOT A CONSEQUENCE OF NATURE

Lactantius continues his closely reasoned argument by saying, “He [God] has given us this present life, that we may either lose that true and eternal life by our vices, or win it by virtue.” Otherwise this “bodily life” will be “destroyed.” But “that which has an end does not contain the chief good.” ³⁴ And now Lactantius comes to the heart of the issue: CFF1 1041.2

“For other animals incline towards the ground, because they are earthly, and are incapable of immortality, which is from heaven; but man is upright and looks towards heaven, because immortality is proposed to him; which, however, does not come, unless it is given to man by God. For otherwise there would be no difference between the just and the unjust, since every man who is born would become immortal. Immortality, then, is not the consequence [“sequela,” footnote] of nature, but the reward and recompense of virtue.” ³⁵ CFF1 1041.3

Words could scarcely be more explicit—man is not universally, innately immortal, but is a candidate for immortality, and may be made immortal. That is the heart of Lactantius’ argument. CFF1 1041.4

4. GOD ALONE CAN CONFER IMMORTALITY

From this Lactantius reaches this conclusion: CFF1 1041.5

“This argument teaches that man is born mortal; but that he afterwards becomes immortal, when he begins to live in conformity with the will of God, that is, to follow righteousness.” ³⁶ CFF1 1041.6

And he concludes, “Therefore this temporal light ought to be subject to that eternal life, as the body is to the soul.” And he adds, “He who prefers to live well for eternity, will live badly [“in discomfort,” note 9] for a time ... as long as he is on earth.” Contrariwise, “he who shall prefer to live well for a time” will be condemned of God to “eternal [aionion] punishment.” ³⁷ Then he concludes: CFF1 1042.1

“God seeks to be worshipped, and to be honoured by man as a Father, that he may have virtue and wisdom, which alone produce immortality. For because no other but Himself is able to confer that immortality, since He alone possesses it, He will grant to the piety of the man, with which he has honoured God, this reward, to be blessed to all eternity, and to be for ever in the presence of God and in the society of God.” ³⁸ CFF1 1042.2

5. IMMORTALITY IS RECEIVED AS REWARD

Lactantlus then sums up his whole argument to this point in this closely reasoned, comprehensive paragraph, thrice declaring unequivocally that we “receive” immortality, and are “rewarded” with immortality: CFF1 1042.3

“Now let us mark the whole argument by a brief definition. The world has been created for this purpose, that we may be born; we are born for this end, that we may acknowledge the Maker of the world and of ourselves—God; we acknowledge Him for this end, that we may worship Him; we worship Him for this end, that we may receive immortality as the reward of our labours, since the worship of God consists of the greatest labours; for this end we are rewarded with immortality, that being made like to the angels, we may serve the Supreme Father and Lord for ever, and may be to all eternity a kingdom to God. This is the sum of all things, this the secret of God, this the mystery of the world, from which they are estranged, who ... have devoted themselves to the pursuit of earthly and frail goods.” ³⁹ CFF1 1042.4

Such is the source and the basis of man’s immortality. It is for the righteous only, Lactantius avers. CFF1 1042.5

Illustration: Stresses of Lactantius CFF1 1043.1