Verses 23 and 24 are addressing the resurrection of Lazarus. So Jesus seems to be talking about the physical death and resurrection of Lazarus. In Jesus final words to her, He says, "He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." Again, Jesus seems to be speaking of physical death and resurrection. Four times in John 6, Jesus speaks of raising his own at the last day. Here is one of those: "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." So Jesus' words to Martha seem to say that if a person who believes in Him dies, he will live again, that is be raised to life. But then He says, " And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." But He has just talked about those who believe in Him and DO die—that they will live again. It is also obvious that everyone born since Jesus' day until about the year 1900 has died whether they believe in Him or not. So the latter words appear to be not only a contradiction, but to be a false statement in itself.23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25,26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:23-26 NKJV)
Of course, one could say that the latter words speak of death metaphorically, that they either speak of "death" in the sense of ceasing to exist—that those who believe in Jesus will never cease to exist, or that they will never die in the sense of "being dead in trespasses and sins." But the two sentences are so closely linked that it seems odd that our Lord would use the word "die" in a physical sense in the first sentence, and in a metaphorical sense in the second.
Of course, one could take the position that "die" is used metaphorically in the first sentence as well. But then that also seems odd since Jesus and Martha are speaking of Lazarus' literal death and his literal resurrection to life again.
I am going to suggest the possibility of a mistranslation. Jesus' second sentence could be literally translated from the Greek: "Everyone who lives and believes in me (or 'entrusts [himself] into me') will not die into the age." Possibly "the age" refers to the next age after the present one. To say that those entrusting themselves to Christ will not "die into the next age" may mean that they will not continue in a state of death right into the next age, but will be raised to life again when Jesus returns (the beginning of the next age). If this is the meaning, then Jesus is just reinforcing the truth that those who entrust themselves to Him will be resurrected, by stating that fact in a somewhat different way.
I invite your thoughts.
