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.

What is the role of John the Baptist in John's gospel?

'There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.' (Jn 1:6-8)

In the Prologue to his gospel, John emphasises that John the Baptist was 'sent from God' as a 'witness' to Jesus Christ, described as the 'Word' and the 'light'. The Old Testament law stated that a matter must be established by two or three witnesses, and John the Baptist is one of several witnesses to Jesus Christ's identity and salvation purpose in the gospel. 'John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'" (Jn 1:15) John's words show that he wants the people to understand that Jesus is greater than himself. They even hint at Christ's divinity, being 'before' him, which links with Jesus' statement later on in the gospel that 'before Abraham was, I am'.

John tells the Jewish authorities plainly, "I am not the Christ." (Jn 1:20). Instead, he identifies himself with the figure Isaiah prophesied: 'the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord' (Jn 1:23). He acts as a servant of the Lord who prepares the way for His coming. His baptizing people symbolises a call for them to repent and be ready to greet the Lord when He comes. Jesus Himself submitted to be baptized by John, and John testifies "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him." (Jn 1:32) This is confirmation that Jesus is the 'Son of God' (Jn 1:34).

Significantly, John gives Jesus the title 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!' (Jn 1:29). This name clearly links Jesus with several important Old Testament images. Firstly, the Passover lamb, slain as a substitute so that the firstborn son would not die in the Israelite household. The blood over the doorpost protected the family from the angel of death. John refers to several Passover festivals in his gospel, and emphasises that Christ's death occurs at the time of the Passover, completing the sense of symbolism that Christ fulfils the Passover by dying as a sacrifice, or a substitute, for God's people.

When the law of Moses was given, a levitical priesthood was established where unblemished lambs were offered as sin offerings on behalf of the people, continuing the Passover tradition. John therefore clearly understood Jesus' role was to bring salvation to God's people by dying in their place.

John the Baptist remains an inspirational figure to imitate, as he shows deep humility. When his disciples leave him to follow Jesus, he accepts this as the right course of action: "The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease." (Jn 3:29-30) If we see John the Baptist as a peripheral figure in John's gospel, that is how he would have wanted it to be. For John the apostle and John the Baptist, the real focus had to be on Jesus, because '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)

What is the role of signs in John's gospel?

'Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.' Jn 20:30-31

The first half of John's gospel focuses on establishing the identity and salvation purpose of Jesus Christ. The 'signs' which John describes act as witnesses or evidence, testifying to Jesus' identity as the Son of God and the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. The signs in chapters 1-11 are "miraculous" events; moments when heaven and earth are connected (NT Wright). In this way, the signs show that Jesus brings a connection between men and God, and that He is the king of a kingdom that is not of this world, as He told Pilate.

The first sign is the transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana (chapter 2). Given the vision of John in Revelation of a great wedding feast once Christ has returned, this sign can be seen as a token of the new order of life inaugurated by Christ's coming, and a pre-figuring of the fulfilment of His kingdom in the new creation.

There are several healing signs: the official’s son (chapter 4), a paralyzed man (chapter 5) and a man born blind (chapter 9). The latter healing forms the longest narrative in John's gospel, and shows how Jesus' signs brought Him into direct conflict with the religious authorities. In a sad irony, the Pharisees are more concerned with the fact that the healing occurred on the Sabbath ('This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath' -Jn 9:16) than acknowledging the obvious truth, which the healed man points out: 'If this man were not from God, he could do nothing' (Jn 9:33). Not only do these miraculous healings indicate that the messianic age has arrived and Old Testament prophecy fulfilled, but in particular the healing of the blind man represents a vivid illustration of the spiritual blindness of the authorities. In this way the signs often interact with Jesus' teaching and discourses in John's gospel. Jesus' phrase 'I am the light of the world' (Jn 9:5) is illustrated by His ability to make the blind man see. The blind man also represents how people come to full salvation, in that he has a progressive understanding of who Jesus is, culminating in a full confession of faith by the end of the account.

Similarly, the feeding of the 5000 (chapter 6) complements Jesus' discourse and statement 'I am the bread of life' (Jn 6:35). Recorded in all four gospels as a major demonstration of Jesus' power as the Son of God, this miracle is shown in John's gospel to link Christ directly with God's provision of manna in the desert for Israel during their wilderness years. Ironically, the crowd mention this miracle themselves, without seeing the connection: 'what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness.' (Jn 6:30-31) Jesus therefore claims to be the 'bread from heaven', sent by the Father, and emphasises that true salvation is only found in Him. The graphic image 'Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life' (Jn 6:54) expresses how a believer has total faith in Christ.

In walking on water (chapter 6), Jesus demonstrates His lordship over creation and His clear divinity. This is further enhanced by the sign of Lazarus being raised from the death (chapter 11). Jesus' great statement 'I am the resurrection and the life' (Jn 11:25) shows His power and ultimate authority over life and death. And therefore the greatest 'sign' in John's gospel is Christ's own resurrection, the proof that He is able to offer 'eternal life' as John so often repeats throughout the gospel, such as in Jn 3:16.