"Having Eternal Life" is not equal to "Being Raised Up at the Last Day"

Having eternal life is not being raised up at the Last Day, John 6:39-40 & John 6:44 & John 6:54.
Having eternal life is not the Resurrection unto Life, John 5:28-29.
Having eternal life is not the Resurrection of the Just to which Paul predicted, Acts 24:15.
Having eternal life is not the Resurrection of the Dead for which Paul still yearned, Philippians 3:1-14.
Having eternal life is not the dead in Christ rising first at Christ's Return, 1 Thess 4:16.
Having eternal life is not the First Resurrection, Rev 20:4-6.

Someone else has written, "Preterism is an interpretive system that is locked on the events of 66-70 A.D. It views this as the decisive eschatological event. The Second Coming, Resurrection of the Dead and Great Judgment are seen as having taken place in and around these years."

I agree with this statement. And I would be considered a Preterist for doing so. But I see an inconsistency is its author's system of thought as layed out in other places. Though he admits that the Last Day and its associated events began somewhere around 66-70AD, he continues to confuse the blessing of Eternal Life that was granted BEFORE these events with the Resurrection that was to come AFTER these events. But Jesus made a distinction between the two:

"Whoso eatheth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath Eternal Life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day." ~ Jesus, circa AD 28.
Jesus uses present tense "hath" to describe what Lord's Supper partakers ALREADY HAD BEFORE the Last Day, ("Hath Eternal Life").
Jesus uses future tense "I will" to describe what Lord's Supper partakers WERE TO RECEIVE AT the Last Day, ("I will raise him up").
(This promise would be innane if Jesus was going to raise up everybody else at the Last Day, too).

The Scriptures that speak in past or present tense of what believers already had in Christ are talking about them already having "Eternal Life."
The Scriptures that speak in future tense of what believers would receive at the anticipated Resurrection are talking about "Being Raised Up."
But many Preterists gladly confuse the two: they like to equate John 6:54's "Eternal Life" with John 6:54's "Being Raised Up."
(As mainstream Christianity would put it, "They confuse Justification with Resurrection").

So when someone gladly and consistently and insistently and publically equates
A) all the Scriptures that describe what pre-Parousia Christians ALREADY HAD BEFORE the Last Day, ("Hath Eternal Life"),
with
B) all the Promised blessings that were TO BE GRANTED AT the Last Day, ("I will raise him up"),
he is only attempting to spread his confusion. (Why not just back up and quietly think again?)



IN SUMMARY:

IF we hold to a Preterism defined strictly in this wise: "Preterism is an interpretive system that is locked on the events of 66-70 A.D. It views this as the decisive eschatological event. The Second Coming, Resurrection of the Dead and Great Judgment are seen as having taken place in and around these years," that is, the Last Day occured in or about 66-70 A.D.

AND we agree with Jesus in John 6:54 that those who were regular partakers of the Lord's Supper already had Eternal Life
and were to receive Resurrection at the Last Day,

THEN we should agree that there is no honest way any of those Scriptures describing what Christians already had prior to the Parousia can be employed to describe the Resurrection for which those Christians yearned. Already received pre-Parousia blessings (Eternal Life) are distinct from anticipated post-Parousia blessings (Resurrection). "Eternal Life" and "The Resurrection of the Just" are not the same thing.

For a fuller explanation of the distinction between "Eternal Life" and "the Resurrection of the Just" please follow this link:

Soul & Body: the 2 Parts of Resurrection

In brief,

1) "Eternal Life" = Resurrection of the Inner Man, the Soul

2) "Raised Up" = Resurrection of the Outer Man, the Body

"Whoso eatheth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath Eternal Life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day." ~ Jesus, around AD 28, (John 6:54)

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell." (Matthew 10:28)



*Feel FREE to claim as your own anything I write - while I retain the right to do the same the same with it.*