What does John teach about eternal life in his gospel?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (Jn 3:16)

'Eternal life' is one of John's most frequently used phrases in his gospel, as he seeks to explain the nature of the salvation which Jesus Christ came to bring. Jn 3:16, in many ways a summary of the gospel message, explains that eternal life is given to anyone who believes in Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus Himself taught Nicodemus this truth using an Old Testament incident as a picture: 'as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.' (Jn 3:14-15) In the wilderness, the people were punished for their grumbling and disobedience with poisonous snakes. After Moses' intervention, God provided a solution in the form of a bronze serpent. Anyone bitten by a snake who looked on the bronze serpent would live. Jesus uses this as an analogy for how He would be lifted up on the cross, and anyone looking to Him for salvation would therefore receive eternal life. John wants to show throughout his gospel that the reason Jesus came was to die, so that men could obtain eternal life through faith in Him.

'Eternal life' perhaps seems a rather abstract concept. It isn't present in the Old Testament in this particular phraseology, and yet it makes sense that an eternal God offers a salvation to His people that is eternal. "His love endures forever" is repeated twenty-six times in Psalm 136 alone (Robert Yarbrough). Psalm 16 shows David prophesying that God won't leave His 'holy one' in the grave. As Peter's sermon in Acts 2 explains, this refers to Jesus being the holy, loved one of God who is raised from death in resurrection power. But Ps 16:11 can therefore be the song of the Christian believer: 'You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.' Jesus' resurrection gives us the hope of our future resurrection, and it gives us certainty that He is able to save us from the power of death, because He Himself defeated it.

This is ultimately where John's gospel takes us; Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead pre-figures His own resurrection. His statement 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live' (Jn 11:25) emphasises that it is only through Him that we can find eternal life. John explains this further:

'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.' (Jn 3:36)

If we don't believe in Jesus as the Son of God, He cannot bear our sin for us. Thus the 'wrath of God' remains on us and we have to bear our sin for ourselves. The wonderful truth of John's gospel is that Jesus came to freely offer salvation to anyone who wants to receive it. In Chapter 4, He speaks to a Samaritan woman with a morally dubious background, and offers her living water: 'whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (Jn 4:14) Rather than being embroiled in a discussion of where to worship, Jesus clearly explains to the woman that He is the centre of worship; He is the long-awaited Messiah. He ultimately replaces any temple made by human hands, because He is the way we can connect with God.

The salvation Jesus offers in John's gospel is a present reality as well as a future experience. Jesus says, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.' (Jn 5:24) The verb tense makes it clear that those who trust in Christ can know that they are no longer under God's wrath and condemnation. Time and again Jesus urges people to think about their eternity, rather than getting distracted by temporal things: 'Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." (Jn 6:27) Jesus makes certain and definite promises about His ability to offer eternal life to those who believe in Him: 'everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (Jn 6:40); 'Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.' (Jn 6:54). Although Jesus' teachings are difficult and many abandon following Him, Simon Peter recognises that He has 'the words of eternal life' (Jn 6:68), though it is not until the disciples' encounters with the risen Christ that they fully understand what this means.

In John's gospel, Christ's resurrection validates all of His claims. After all, how can someone say 'I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.' (Jn 10:28), if he dies and is buried like any other human being? Jesus' resurrection shows his 'authority over all flesh' (Jn 17:2), which enables Him to 'give eternal life' to all the Father has given Him. It is in Jesus' great intercessory prayer that John finally gives his readers a clear definition of 'eternal life': 'And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.' (Jn 17:3) Eternal life is not some static state of being after death; it is the reality of knowing the living, eternal God, and worshipping Him forever. That is the salvation which we can look forward to as Christians.