And this is the witness, that God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son.
John has been naming three witnesses: the Spirit, the water and the blood. Here he states what they testify to — a gift already given, and where that life now is.
Notice what God gives here — and what He does not.
William KellyIt seems impossible to make the truth plainer than the apostle was given to do. He is showing that God's witness deserves greater attention, being in itself beyond comparison greater than any witness of men. And it is this: that God gave to us, Christians, eternal life — not merely promises or a kingdom — and this life is in His Son.
The verse says God "gave" this life — a finished act. That leaves no room for any other route to life, including the law.
J. N. DarbyThe apostle sums up in a few words the testimony of God about the eternal life He has given us. This life is not in the first Adam, it is in the last — in the Son of God. Man, as born of Adam, does not have it and does not get it. He ought indeed to have gained life under the law. That was its character: "Do this and live." But man did not and could not.
Two things are true at once. The life is truly ours, and it is never ours apart from Christ.
Hamilton SmithAll these great truths — the death of Christ, and the presence of the Spirit in the believer — witness the same thing. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. It is in us as a gift; it is in Him as a source. Apart from the Son there can be no life before God.
Nature shows how something can be alive in itself and still owe that life to another.
A. J. PollockWe know that a leaf has life in it, just as the believer knows that eternal life remains in him. But it is just as true that the leaf has life in the tree, and only in the tree. In the same way, Scripture tells us that the believer's life is in the Son. Clearly, if the leaf were cut off from the tree it would perish at once.
If the life were rooted in us, its future would rest on us. Its spring is in Christ, so its future rests on Him.
J. N. DarbyThough we have the life, its proper seat is not in us but IN HIS SON. When God makes us alive, the life is not viewed as being in us, for Christ says, "Because I live, you also will live." It is therefore unchangeable. If Christ's life could in any way be cancelled or set aside, then the life in us could be too — but not otherwise. If Christ can die, so can we; but if death no longer has dominion over Him, neither does it over us. And this is what gives this life its amazing value and most blessed character: that its spring and source is in Christ.
Security follows from the verse, but writers warn against shrinking the word "life" down to that one idea.
The Christian's FriendIt is very blessed to know that the life is in Him. No such thing could be said of us, and there is never any thought of life apart from Him. We enjoy heavenly things already, not merely security in Him. We shall eat of the tree of life in the glory. But we already have the power to enter into these privileges and joys, and all is in the Son. Of course security is implied, and life in Christ is secure indeed. But we should not make "life" just another word for "security." It includes security, but it is far more.
The words "in His Son" also settle what this life is like.
J. N. DarbyAll the character of the life, and all the communion, flows from that blessed truth: "in His Son." The character of this life is nearness to God. Christ Himself is my life.
God has made a statement, so doubting it is not modesty. One writer recalled an older believer who found his assurance here.
Eugene P. Vedder Jr.As a young man he thought it was outrageous to claim, "I have eternal life, I will not be lost." Then he read these verses. He saw that following such teaching meant calling God a liar. It might sound humble to men, but that is what it does. When God says, "The one who believes in My Son has eternal life," we have to take Him at His word.
- Witness. God is testifying, not negotiating; He announces eternal life already given, "not merely promises or a kingdom."
- Gift. The life was never in the first Adam, and no one earned it under the law's terms, "Do this and live." God hands it over.
- Source. It is in us as a gift and in Him as a source, like a leaf that lives, yet lives only in the tree.
- Security. Nothing can cancel this life unless it can cancel Christ's. Yet it means more than safety — it means nearness to God.
- Assurance. The one sure ground is God's own word; to doubt this witness is to charge God with lying.
He that has the Son has life he that has not the Son of God has not life.
Two short clauses divide the whole human race, and the dividing line is one Person. John has just said that God has given eternal life and that this life is in His Son; verse 12 draws the plain conclusion.
The verse does not treat life as a quality we develop. It tells us where life is: in Christ.
Hamilton SmithAll these great truths — the death of Christ and the presence of the Spirit in the believer — witness that God has given us eternal life. This life is in His Son. It is in us as a gift; it is in Him as a source. Apart from the Son there can be no life before God.
So the question is not what we achieve, but whom we have. And there is only one place to get this life:
C E StuartTo get it we must come to Christ, and go nowhere else.
"Have" here is not a vague sympathy for Jesus. It has content — a definite faith about who He is and what He did.
An Outline of Sound WordsThe test of life is whether you possess the Son of God, by faith and by the Spirit of God. Some have no living faith in the glorious Son of God, who gave Himself for our sins and who lives in the presence of the Father. They do not possess eternal life. To have the Son means accepting His deity, His true humanity, and His finished work on the cross to make propitiation. Refusing any of these great truths means the Son is not known in the heart, whatever the lips claim.
Propitiation is the work of Christ that answers to God for our sins.
The second half of the verse is deliberately absolute. It does not weigh what a person has against what he lacks; it says the lack settles the matter.
William Kelly"Whoever has the Son has life"; and if someone does not have the Son of God, it does not matter what else he may have — he does not have life. Life is in the Son, and only in Him.
That includes the religious name a person carries. The words fall hard on a Christianity that is only a label:
C StanleyDo not be deceived. Has the Holy Spirit brought you, as a lost sinner, to receive Jesus as your Saviour? He is your Saviour from the guilt and condemnation of sin, by His death on the cross. He is also your living Saviour, to free you from the present power of sin. If that has not happened, then no matter what you claim, and no matter what you have, you do not have Christ, and you do not have life.
The positive and the negative stand side by side, so there is no middle group. The verse also puts ordinary human life in a striking light.
Leslie M. GrantHere it is either eternal life or no real life at all. From this viewpoint, man's natural life is mere existence, for after all it is a dying thing, subject to decay and corruption. Eternal life is living, vital, untainted, far above and beyond all that is mortal.
The second clause uses the fuller title, "the Son of God." Some have argued that this means something different from "the Son." One writer answers that the verse itself settles it:
William KellyThe alleged difference between "the Son" and "the Son of God" is rash and wrong, and the text itself refutes it. It is true that "Son of God" is said of Christ as the King of Israel (in Psalm 2 and elsewhere, as John 1:49, as well as Luke 1:35). But if you want one clear disproof of that error, you could not have a more decisive one than 1 John 5:12.
If God had handed the life to us to look after, we could lose it. The verse says otherwise.
J. N. DarbyWhat is it to have eternal life? It is to have Christ... Observe, it is the gift of God, and it is "in His Son." It is not in our keeping, but is secured for us in Christ... Faith believes the record of God, receives Christ, and passes from death to life.
- Source. Eternal life is not produced in us; it is in the Son. It is in us as a gift, in Him as its source.
- Gift. We do not earn this life. God gives it, and faith receives Christ.
- Person. To "have" the Son is living faith in who He is — His deity, His true humanity, His finished work — not a name on the lips.
- Line. Whatever else a person holds, without the Son he has no life. There is no third group between eternal life and no real life at all.
- Certainty. Because Christ keeps this life, and not us, it is secure.