The angel Gabriel already has eternal life. Why would God want to take from Gabriel something he already possesses? Jesus was never in possession of eternal life until he was raised from the dead to die no more.
No angel has eternal life.....no angel is immortal. Like humans, they can have everlasting life, (no natural cause of death) but it is contingent upon obedience to God's commands. Not even Jesus was originally immortal because he was sent from heaven to die on behalf of mankind. He was with God, but he was not God. Immortals cannot die. Mere humans cannot kill God.
I think the word preexistence is self contradictory. Someone cannot exist before they exist. Trinitarians believe that the man Jesus was created in the womb of Mary. A man who they claim is both fully God and fully man with two minds and two wills.
Jesus clearly states that he was with God before his mission on earth. He existed long before he became a human. How can a human be fully an immortal God and at the same time be a fully mortal man? That is completely contradictory.
You are mistaken if you think of a spirit as immaterial. Gabriel has a body.
Gabriel materialized a body, just as other angels had done in the past. What do you think spirit beings are? Spirits have a body but it isn't material. In order to become visible, they must materialize. Why do you have a problem with that? Where do you think heaven is?
The idea is called substitionary atonement. It claims that Christ died in our place so we no longer have to die.
And that is what the Bible teaches....a perfect life had to be given to "atone" for the life Adam lost for his children. The word "atone" means "at one"....one for one...."eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life". That was God's law. Jesus life bought back what Adam forfeited. He never needed to be God to do that.
But we all die. The idea of not dying relates to Christ as the resurrection and the life. The faithful believer can be said to "never die" in the sense that he does not remain dead but is resurrected to life eternal.
Yes, we still die because it is not yet God's time to bring his kingdom rulership to this earth.....but according to the sign that Jesus gave, it must be close. The rule of God's Kingdom will bring great and welcome change to this earth. (Revelation 21:2-4)
In the meantime, we have Jesus' sacrifice to cover the effects of sin in our lives. Forgiveness is assured, as long as we are obedient to Christ's teachings.
Substitionary atonement robs Jesus of his glory in overcoming the world by having come in the flesh (sinful flesh) that all man share.
Really? His humanity was equivalent to Adam's....he was the perfect, sinless life offered on our behalf. That is what the ransom demanded...no more and no less.
The very thought of God becoming a human is ludicrous.
When humans were tempted by the first rebel and he succeeded in alienating them from their Creator, God needed his most trusted servant to undo all the damage that was caused, but at the same time, preserving God's gift of free will. Jesus was his most trusted. As a free willed being, he too was open to temptation. The devil knew this, which is why he tempted him three times after his baptism...each time appealing to self interest, which had worked for him in Eden. It was what set him off on his own course of rebellion. He wanted worship.
When humans became alienated from God, he appointed a mediator as a 'go-between' so that humans could still approach God, but no longer directly. Sin was now a barrier that would have to be removed in due time. That mediator was Jesus Christ.....so if he is God, where is the mediator between us and him?