What is eternal life?

Eternal life is one of the richest blessings that belongs to those who believe on the Son of God, but how many Christians know that they possess it and what it actually is? Some have confused eternal life with eternal existence. However, all men possess an immortal soul, not only believers. Others go a step further and relate eternal life to the fact that Christians are spared from the "second death", that they do not come into judgment, and that they will spend eternity in God's presence. This may be a little closer to the truth but eternal life, in fact, means much, much more.

Death or life in this respect, therefore, has no reference to mere natural existence. Eternal life is not the prolongation of natural existence. It is an entirely separate and distinct thing. Just as the wicked exist now without it, so they may exist forever without it.

What the Holy Spirit — especially in the writings of John — means when He says "Eternal Life", is not only an existence, not even a quality of existence, but it is a person. The Eternal Son is "the Eternal Life"… God gives us life, and in chapter 5 verse 11 it is said that this life is in His Son. But in these two passages we see that the Lord Jesus, the Eternal Son, is also the "Eternal Life" Himself.

This life finds its highest expression in the knowledge and enjoyment of our relationships with the Father and the Son. It is not like the natural life, limited to the knowledge and enjoyment of natural things and human relationships: it is not confined to earth nor bound by time, nor ended by death. It is a life that enables us to know and enjoy communion with divine Persons. It carries us outside the world, above the earth, beyond time, and into the regions of eternal glory.

The truth is, eternal life is the gift of God. As Paul expresses it: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). Here we have the principle on which God grants this priceless blessing. It is not the reward of good works, or it would be a debt (Rom. 4:4); it is the gift of sovereign love to those who could neither do nor pay anything in order to secure it… His cross, the satisfaction of God's righteousness and the mighty expression of God's love, has made it possible for Him to confer eternal life on all who obey the Gospel.

It should be clear from scriptures such as John 3:16 that everyone who believes possesses ("has") eternal life. It is not merely a promise for a future in heaven, but a blessing enjoyed on the earth, at present. Not only should believers experience this, but they should also be conscious of it as an objective fact. John writes explicitly: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

Everlasting life is here viewed as the end of the wonderful story. In the writings of the Apostle John we find it presented as a present possession of the believer. There is no conflict between these two views of it. That which is ours now in its essence, will be ours in its full expanse when eternity is reached.

How do we receive it? By faith. By believing. "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36). How plain and simple are the terms. Eternal life is yours for the taking. Will you receive it?