In a recent Thread, I was asked about “eternal life”. Since this is so important, I decided to respond by starting a new Thread on the subject.
1. “Eternal Life” speaks of the life of the Eternal One. It speaks of a quality, rather than of its length.
“What is this ‘eternal life’ which God has given to men in His Son? It is something other than mere endless existence. … ‘Eternal Life’, then, is a particular quality of life which emanates from God, rather than a mere extension of existence. For man, it is the reception and enjoyment of the essential life of God Himself through Christ, the channel, by the Holy Spirit, the agent. It is a gracious participation in the very life of God. ‘It is more than endless [existence], for it is sharing in the life of God in Christ.’ (A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. V, p. 50).” (Life in the Son: A Study of the Doctrine of Perseverance, pp21-22, Robert Shank, Bethany House Publishers, 1989, ISBN 1-55661-091-2)
Problems for a JW include their inability to define the essential attributes of the Divine nature in terms of quality, and that Jesus is hidden from them by the WTS.
2. Jesus is “The Word of life … Eternal Life”.
The beginning of John’s Epistle mirrors the start of his Gospel. In each case, Jesus is said to possess the essential Divine attribute of “life”.
“In [Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (John 1: 4, 5)
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” (I John 1:1 – 2, NIV)
3. Sharing in the life of Jesus brings the benefits of Eternal Life right now. Note that the following is written in the present tense:
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11 – 13)
Since Jesus Christ possesses eternal life, as long as the believer shares his life with Jesus’ life, the believer shares in Jesus’ eternal life. This is unconditional security of the believer, as long as they remain a believer.
The Gospel writer John says that knowing Father and Son is “eternal life”.
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
4. Jesus and the Apostle John use the expression “Eternal Life” as equivalent to “Kingdom of Heaven/God”.
In the synoptic Gospels, Jesus used “kingdom” interchangeably with “eternal life”. When the disciples asked Jesus Christ a question concerning the “kingdom”, he answered using the expressions, “enter into the kingdom” and “enter into life” as having the same meaning. (Matt 18:1,3,1.9).
When Jesus was asked a question as to how “eternal life” may be obtained, he first replied using the expression, “enter into life”, and then twice substituted the expression “get into the kingdom.” (Matt 19:16,17,23) Also in Luke’s account, Jesus parallels the expressions “enter into life” with “enter into the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:43-47).
While the synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) use the expression “kingdom of Heaven” or “kingdom of God”, the apostle John instead uses the term “Eternal Life”. He applies the expression qualitatively, as being the life of the Eternal One. This is not a description of its length, but of its source.
This is difficult for a JW to grasp, because the WTS has given them a delusionary meaning of the “Kingdom”. They think of “kingdom of Heaven/God” in terms of a government in which their leaders are directly involved.
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Salvation is not a question of feeling or of emotion. But it is something we can know for sure, for salvation is a promise that is made by God.
“Much of the First Epistle of John is concerned with the question of how to know we have eternal life. John presents seven important ways to know that salvation is a present reality.” (“Life in the Son”, Robert Shank, page 301).
Shank then discusses (pages 301 – 304) the seven ways that are presented in 1 John. I have scanned these pages by Shank and made them available at
http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/shank_eternal_life.pdf
Doug