ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

ETERNAL LIFE

In his Gospel, John tells us that Jesus taught that ‘eternal life’ is the present and permanent possession of all who believe in him, and that this ‘eternal life’ is the opposite of perishing, death, and being condemned.

John 3:14-16 – ‘the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life … whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

John 5:24 – ‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.’

John 6:27-29 – ‘Jesus answered, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you…” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”’

John 6:40 – ‘For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’

John 10:27, 28 – ‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.’

John 11:25, 26 – ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’

John 17:3 – ‘Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’

In his first letter John makes it very clear that ‘eternal life’ is intimately connected with Jesus Christ – that if a person has Jesus Christ, that person also has eternal life. If you do not have Jesus Christ, then you do not and cannot have eternal life. Jesus Christ and eternal life are one and the same thing. Jesus Christ is the life that he gives:

1John 1:1,2 – ‘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.’

1John 5:11-13 – ‘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.’

1John 5:20 – ‘We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who true. And we are in him who is true – even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.’

It is also important to note that where the above texts from John’s Gospel and his letter refer to those who ‘believe’ in Jesus Christ, ‘believe’ is always in the Present Tense. Eternal life is the possession of those who believe, Present Tense. The New Testament knows only two kinds of people: those who are believing in Jesus Christ, and those who have never believed. If there is no present faith, then there never was any faith.

This is made clear in these verses, where the Perfect Tense is used to refer to those who have not believed:

John 3:18 – ‘Whoever believes (Present Tense) in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe (Present Tense) stands condemned already because he has not believed (Perfect Tense) in the name of God’s one and only Son.’

1John 5:10 – ‘Anyone who believes (Present Tense) in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe (Present Tense) God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed (Perfect Tense) the testimony God has given about his Son.’

The significance of the Perfect Tense is an action completed in the past that still remains in place in the present. Thus – if there is no faith in the present, then there never was what God calls faith any time in the past.

‘Eternal’ life is something that does not come to an end. To believe that salvation can be lost, is also to believe that ‘eternal’ life can cease. If it can cease, then it was never eternal. Those to whom God the Father has given ‘eternal’ life in Christ cannot lose that life and return to a state of spiritual death.