between Lazarus and Dives actually takes place in our text. Abraham, one might say, does Lazarus’ talking for him; (2) the fact that the future state of believers is a state in which they are truly alive and fully conscious;22 (3) the fact that believers enjoy a conscious life in communion with God and with Jesus Christ immediately after death;23 (4) the belief that the state of unbelievers after death is a fixed state. He argues that “the most important passage” to prove the fixity of one’s eternal