The Gospel points to real life. When the bible talks about eternal life, it does not mean some other life, but simply the reality of life. The reality of life is spiritual, of the Holy Spirit. This life does not die and does not share in the deception of that life that leads to death. Real life cannot be brought to an abrupt end by death, so it will not prove false. Real life springs from the resurrection, that is, from Christ himself who transcends biological death. This does not mean that we are trying to ignore biological death or substituting some other life for it. On the contrary, the afterlife, as it is called, is the truth and continuation of this life; it is the real side of this life. So death, by which we mean this counterfeit life with which we are presently content, and which carries death within it, is the outcome of the fall. It is a poor, evil and intolerable form of life. The Christian view is that death is never good, but that it is always an outrage.
The gospel is the breaching and breaking of death. The resurrection is the promise that the confusion of false and real life will come to an end and be replaced by real life. The false life to which we are subject will be removed, to leave only the reality and truth of life. What is true and real can never be delimited, or broken off or brought to an end, nor can we run out of. Life that is real is not finite, but unlimited and eternal.
John Zizioulas
