The preachers quoted here say eternal life is life that never ends, and more than that: a quality of life that makes fellowship with God possible. They describe it as God's gift, given because of Christ's shed blood, and in the end as God giving himself.
Jesus gave his own definition: "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). The phrase joins zoe, life, with aionios, belonging to the age to come and without end.12 It describes a kind of life as well as a length of life.
In John's writings it is a present possession. "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12).
It is a gift. "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28). A. W. Pink reasoned, "Eternal life is a gift, and if a gift it can neither be earned nor claimed."3
It also has a future. Jesus joins it to the resurrection: "every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). Daniel foresaw some awaking "to everlasting life" (Daniel 12:2), and Paul calls it a hope promised before the world began (Titus 1:2).
New Testament scholars have explained how both can be true. In Jewish expectation eternal life was the life of the coming age; John's Gospel announces that in Christ that life has already begun.
John states why he wrote: "that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 20:31). Eternal life is knowing God through his Son, begun now by faith and completed in the resurrection.
- Strong's Greek 2222, zōḗ: "life (literally or figuratively)".
- Strong's Greek 166, aiṓnios: "perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well)".
- A.W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, "Chapter 17 christ at the pool of bethesda".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
Eternal life is not only the gift of God, but the gift is God himself.
Rolfe Barnard
in Gift of Eternal Life
Listen at 16:28
Eternal life is a special quality of life that makes it possible for us to fellowship with God.
Theodore Epp
in Life, Light, Love
Read in context
And eternal life is given because of the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus.
Peter Brandon
in Eternal Life
Listen at 33:54
Eternal life is what Christ is, as the risen Second Man.
John Nelson Darby
in John's Gospel Lonsdale Square
Read in context
Eternal life is just exactly what our Lord said it is, life that never ends.
Rolfe Barnard
in Gift of Eternal Life
Listen at 18:36
Eternal life is the same for all believers, regardless of their sinful past.
Theodore Epp
in Life, Eternal and Abundant
Read in context
What Scripture says
- John 17:3 this is life eternal, to know the only true God and Jesus Christ
- John 5:24 he that believes has everlasting life and is passed from death to life
- Romans 6:23 the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
- John 10:28 I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish
- 1 John 5:11-12 this life is in his Son
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