DEFINING ETERNAL LIFE

Eternal life is not merely endless existence. Eternal life is knowing God. Jesus said This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3). To know God is the essence of eternal life. Here is the simplest definition of life forever.

The ινα introduces a clause in apposition to eternal life (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1078). Eternal life is explained by what follows ινα in the verse. It is not that the knowledge of God gives life or is the way to have eternal life. When I know God my life is transformed into eternal life for life is found in God and death, by definition, is separation from God (Morris, John, p. 720).

Knowing God is a present tense verb (γινωσκωσιν) indicating that our knowledge starts now. We have eternal life right now as we live on earth because we know God now. We are not merely awaiting eternal life in the age to come. We enjoy it now. The aspect of the present tense indicates a continuous, ongoing knowledge, even increasing knowledge. Certainly our knowledge of God is growing until it culminates in perfect knowledge in the age to come, but we are still living eternally right now because we know God right now.

The contents of our knowledge are laid out in almost a confessional form (Meyer, John, p. 461). The substance of our knowledge is the knowledge of two persons - God and (και) Jesus Christ. One must know both to live eternally. To know a person we must know certain propositions about that person before we can know the person relationally.

God is the only (μονον) God. He is solitary, unique. There are no other gods to know if you want eternal life. God is the true (αληθινον) God (1 John 5:20). He is trustworthy, genuine, authentic and real. He is not spurious or fake like the gods (idols) of this world. To know those gods is not to enjoy eternal life for those gods do not live forever.

John 17:3 is the only place where Jesus calls Himself by His compound name - Jesus Christ. Some suggest that  the verse is an editorial comment by John rather than part of Jesus' prayer. However, the second person verb "whom you sent" (απεστειλας) and the personal pronoun "you" (σε) both prove that Jesus is praying these words. He is Jesus (God saves) and Christ (The Anointed One) who was sent by God so we could know God.

Eternal life is knowing God now and forever!

THREE GIFTS AND THREE GROUPS

Jesus uses the verb "to give" (διδωμι) 3 times with respect to 3 distinct groups of people in the opening words of His great prayer (John 17:2). The order of the groups is significant despite the fact that some English translations reverse the order of the final 2 groups. Each group is a subset of the previous group in the sequence (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, p. 77).

Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, since you gave to Him authority over all flesh, in order that the ones you have given to Him, He may give to them eternal life.

The first group is "all flesh" (πασης σαρκος). The Father gave (εδωκας) to Jesus authority over all flesh. The genitive is best understood as an objective genitive so "all flesh" is the object of authority (Robertson, Grammar, p. 500). The noun "flesh" (σαρκος) is used to stress the weakness of humanity. All (πασης) humans in fleshly weakness are given to the Son to be under His authority.

The second group of people is the Father's gift to the Son.This group is a subset of all flesh. "You have given" (δεδωκας) them to Me, Jesus prays. The verb is from the same root (διδωμι), but it is a perfect active indicative. The Father gave these people to the Son in the past with ongoing results. The disciples were already given to the Son by the Father. The group is identified by the neuter, singular construction "the ones whom" (παν ο).  The neuter singular construction is used for a group of people characterized by some defining quality (Turner, Grammar, 3:21). The quality that defines this group is that they are a gift from the Father to the Son.

The same construction is used by Jesus in John 6:37 where He says: All that (πας ο) the Father gives (διδωσιν) Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. Everyone given by the Father will come to the Son. It is sufficient for anyone coming to Christ that they be given by the Father.

The Son gives (δωση) eternal life to the ones (αυτοις) who have been given to Him by the Father. The pronoun (αυτοις) views the collective group (πας ο) individually. Jesus gives eternal life individually to each one who has been given to Him as part of the collective group. Eternal life is our personal gift from Jesus.

Jesus' words are, perhaps, the strongest statement about sovereign election in Scripture. There is no way to escape the grammatical argument of the passage. All who have been given at some time in the past to the Son receive the gift of eternal life from the Son.

Thank you, Jesus, that I am doubly gifted! I am the Father's gift to you, as incomprehensible as that may be, and I receive your gift of eternal life with joy. Secure forever as the Father's gift to you, I appreciate with joy your gift to me.

PEACE UNDER PRESSURE

Jesus draws 3 contrasts between our 2 spheres of life followed by 1 command built on 1 reality that clarifies our perspective. He concludes his instruction in the upper room with the familiar refrain, "These things I have spoken to you" (John 16:33; cf. 14:25; 15:11; 16:1,4,6,25,33). This expression (ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν) is not used elsewhere in John (Morris, John, p. 656).

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

There are 3 contrasts in this verse.

In Me  vs.  In the world

Peace  vs. Pressure

Might have  vs.  Have

We simultaneously experience 2 spheres of life. The "in Me" (εν εμοι) sphere of life should be the dominant reality. The expression is emphatic both in position and form. The "in the world" (εν τω κοσμω) sphere of life, while seemingly the dominant reality, should actually be secondary not primary.

The 2 spheres of life are characterized by 2 contrasting experiences. In Christ we have peace (ειρηνην) while in the world we have pressure (θλιψιν). We can experience peace and pressure at the same time because we live in both spheres simultaneously. Peace and pressure co-exist in the life of every Christian. Peace is not the absence of pressure. We can have peace in the middle of our troubles.

Pressure in the world is a given while peace is a possibility. Jesus says, "you have" (εχετε) pressure in this world. The present tense indicative verb implies an ongoing reality. Jesus says, "you might have" (εχητε) peace in Him. The present tense verb is subjunctive in mood which is the mood of probability or possibility. Peace is not guaranteed unless the following command is obeyed.

The command is to "take courage" (θαρσειτε) which follows a strong adversative "but" (αλλα). Peace under pressure comes from courage under fire. We can have courage because Jesus has established a new reality for us. "I have overcome the world." The "I" (εγω) is not only emphatic but contrastive as well. "I" contrasts strongly with "you" (Robertson, Grammar, p. 677). We might have expected Jesus to say, "Take courage. You have overcome the world." He doesn't say that, of course, because the victory is not in us but in Him.

John 16:33 is the only time John uses the verb νικαω in the Gospel, but he uses it 6 times in 1 John (cf. 1 John 5:4) and 17 times in Revelation (Morris, John, p. 714, fn 82). Here in John 16:33 the verb is a perfect active indicative form (νενικηκα) indicating that Jesus has already won the the victory with ongoing results for us. He states this before the cross so certain is He of the results of the looming battle. Jesus faced the cross with assurance of total victory. He goes to the cross with confidence that He will conquer the enemy despite the horror He faces in battle.

We must take courage in His victory. We have victory because He has victory. We are conquerors because He is conqueror (Romans 8:37). We can have peace under pressure because we take courage that He is the conqueror.

SATAN'S WORK BUT GOD'S PURPOSE

"An hour is coming (ερχεται) even has come (εληλυθεν)," but this hour is not merely any hour (John 16:32). This hour is "the" hour! Jesus prayed, "Father, the hour has come" (εληλυθεν) for the glorification of the Son (John 17:1, cf. John 2:4; 7:6). The time has arrived for the greatest event in human history to take place. The enmity between the seed of Satan and the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15) will come to its decisive hour.

Jesus must face this battle alone. The hour has come for the disciples to leave Him alone as they are scattered (John 16:32) each to his own (εκαστος εις τα ιδια). When we are scattered from the Lord and each other, we individually (each one - εκαστος) enter into (εις) our own things (τα ιδια). The expression is used for John taking Jesus' mother into his own household (John 19:27). It could be translated "each for himself."  The adjective is neuter plural referring to our possessions and our relationships.  Our human nature drives us to seek our own personal goals - the matters we control - whenever we abandon the Lord.

The scattering (σκορπισθητε) and subsequent abandonment (αφητε) are introduced by an important conjunction (ινα). The conjunction can be translated simply "that" indicating the content of the hour coming upon them, or it could be translated "when you are scattered" (Dana and Mantey, Grammar, pp. 248-249). However, the original and most common use of ινα was to introduce a purpose clause. In fact, ινα plus a subjunctive verb became "almost the exclusive means of expressing purpose" (A. T. Robertson, Grammar, p. 982). The scattering (σκορπισθητε) and the abandoning (αφητε) are both subjunctive verbs so this is best understood as a purpose behind the coming hour.

Jesus used the scattering (σκορπιζει) of the sheep as a description of Satan's work (John 10:12) when the hireling shepherd abandons his sheep. Jesus didn't abandon His sheep, but Satan did scatter the sheep in this hour. Satan's scattering work must be seen as within the scope of God's overall purpose. In the garden at His betrayal, Jesus said, "All this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets. Then all the disciples left him and fled" (Mt. 26:56). Zechariah had predicted the scattering when he wrote, "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered' (Zech. 12:7). God intended to scatter the sheep leaving Jesus alone to battle Satan on the cross. The apparent victory of Satan was part of God's sovereign plan for the disciples.

Satan's work accomplishes God's purpose. We cannot understand, sometimes, why Satan seems to win in this world. We scatter, like the disciples, to pursue our own things in life feeling like Satan has won; forgetting, in our despair, that God has a purpose even in the victories of Satan!

MY FATHER LOVES ME THIS I KNOW!

My Father loves me. He is happy to hear me when I pray. Jesus said, "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father" (John 16:26-27).

The pronoun "himself" (αυτος) is emphatic both by usage (Moule, Idiom Book, p. 121) and in position as the first word of the phrase preceding "for" (γαρ). The verb "loves" (φιλει) indicates ongoing affection in the present tense. It is the only place where John uses φιλειν as opposed to αγαπαν in order to communicate God's love for us (Bernard, John, 2:520). While an absolute distinction cannot be maintained between these two verbs, it is generally true that φιλειν implies the idea of human affection more than the higher form of willful love (αγαπαν) normally used for God by John.

Jesus says that He does not need to persuade the Father to listen to us because the Father Himself has great affection for us. Jesus does not mean He will never intercede for us or be our advocate with the Father. He means that we do not need Him to be our "go between" in prayer because we can go directly to the Father. He, Himself, loves us. He, Himself, hears us!

Jesus gives us two reasons for the Father's love. The οτι is causal and introduces two perfect tense verbs indicating two reasons the Father loves us. First, He loves us because "Me, you, yourselves, have loved." The "me" (εμε) and the "you" (υμεις) are both emphatic. The perfect tense tells us that the choice to love (πεφιληκατε) was a past event (for the disciples) with ongoing results in present time.

The Father loves us because we love His son. This love is different than His love for the world (John 3:16). The affection He feels for those who love His son is an affection He does not feel for those who do not love His son. He loves us in a different way than He loves the world. Like the father who loves a young man because the young man loves his daughter, our heavenly Father loves us because we love Jesus. Our love for Jesus "seals the deal" on His love for us.

The second reason for the Father's love is because we have believed (πεπιστευκατε) is another perfect tense indicating a past choice with continuing results in the present. This is not a nebulous faith. The content of the faith is defined by "that" (οτι) - a content not a causal usage as earlier. We believe that Jesus "came forth from (παρα) the Father." the preposition (παρα) means "from the side of" (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 579,614). It is not enough to believe that Jesus was born into this world. We must believe that Jesus was sent from the side of the Father. Faith in the pre-existence of Jesus is essential to enjoy the personal love of the Father.

My Father loves me.

This I know.

For my Savior

Tells me so!

DARK SAYINGS

Jesus returns to His familiar refrain in the upper room discourse - "these things I have spoken to you." The repeated phrase (ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν) marks the sections of His teachings (14:25; 15:11; 16:1,4,6,25,33), and John does not use the phrase elsewhere in his gospel (Morris, John, p. 656). Jesus is looking back in this section specifically to His instructions about His departure to the Father (16:16) which had confused the disciples (16:17) leading Jesus to talk about a woman experiencing childbirth (16:21) as an example of grief turned to joy.

Jesus says that He has been speaking in "figurative language" (παροιμιαις) and promises to speak later in plain language (παρρησια). John uses the word for figurative language (παροιμιαις) to mean "dark sayings" where "lofty ideas are concealed" (BAGD, p. 629). The word is sometimes synonymous with a proverb or even a parable. The LXX uses παροιμια for the title of the Book of Proverbs (Prov. 1:1). It comes from two words παρα and οιμος meaning "beside the path" to indicate a wise saying alongside a truth (NIDNTT 2:756-757).

John, however, uses παροιμια more in the sense of a dark saying or riddle (John 10:6, 16:25,33) in a similar manner to the word "mystery" (μυστηριον) in the other gospel writers. The contrast with speaking plainly (παρρησια) leads to this conclusion since proverbs were normally quite clear in meaning unlike riddles or dark sayings. Jesus has been talking about leaving them; His coming sacrifice for them; the hatred of the world, and His going to the Father. He has talked about suffering grief and loss. Surely these are dark sayings for the disciples to hear!

In what sense are these dark sayings? They are dark sayings not because Jesus was intentionally concealing information from them or because they were intellectually incomprehensible words. They were dark sayings because the teachings were emotionally unacceptable. The disciples were not ready to embrace His teachings. The darkness was in them not in Jesus (NIDNTT 2:758).

When will they understand? Jesus predicts that He will speak plainly in the future. The disciples think they understand and tell Him so (16:29), but they do not yet grasp His dark sayings. Jesus speaks plainly in His post-resurrection appearances, but it is not until after Pentecoast and the coming of the Holy Spirit that the disciples truly grasp the dark sayings of Jesus (Bernard, John, 2:519). Jesus said as much when He taught that the Holy Spirit would take His words from the Father and "disclose" them to the disciples (16:13-15).

We, too, experience the dark sayings of Jesus when we struggle emotionally to understand and accept our loss, our grief, and our suffering in this life. The deep waters threaten to overwhelm us even though we have the rest of Scripture to bolster our faith. We still need the Holy Spirit as our "Special Friend" to disclose Jesus' dark sayings to us because of the darkness that sometimes shrouds our minds.

Thank you Holy Spirit for being our teacher during the dark times of our lives

TWO KINDS OF ASKING

There are two kinds of asking in our relationship with God. We can ask a question or we can ask for a favor. We can seek information from God or we can make a request for God to do something for us. Both kinds of asking are seen in John 16:23. "In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you."

The first asking means to ask a question. The verb is ερωτησετε. The word was used to describe conversation, and it generally meant to ask a question of someone in a dialogue between two people in close relationship with each other (NIDNTT, 2:856-857). The implication of the word was to seek information.

Jesus is not referring to prayer in this clause. He refers back to John 16:19 where the disciples were asking questions about His teaching. The "Me" (εμε) is emphatic in form and position as is the double negative (ουκ - ουδεν). The disciples would soon experience a change in their relationship with Jesus. He would no longer be present for them to ask questions.

The second asking means to make a request. This is the language of prayer. It is the new medium of communication for the disciples. The clause is introduced by "truly, truly" (αμην, αμην) which generally starts a new thought. The verb is αιτησητε which means to ask for or even demand something from someone (BAGD, p. 25). Whenever the disciples make requests to God the verb αιτεω is commonly used. Whenever Jesus asks God anything, the verb ερωταω is used. The verb αιτεω refers to a suppliant making a request of a superior while ερωταω refers to a person in a relationship of general equality (NIDNTT, 2:857). Prayer, of course, is the language of a suppliant.

A textual problem occurs with placing the phrase "in My Name" (εν τω ονοματι μου) in the sentence. Does it modify the asking or the giving? Do we ask in Jesus name or does the Father give in Jesus name? Some manuscripts place it after the giving so there are those who argue that God's answers to our prayers are in Jesus name making them more certain (Morris, John, p. 708).

The stronger manuscript evidence is for the asking to be in Jesus name. The evidence is more diversified across the geographical spectrum for this reading (Metzger, Textual Commentary, p. 248) making it the stronger reading. This reading also fits better in context because the next verse (16:24) clearly associates "in My name" with asking. We are to direct our requests to the Father in the name of Jesus. This is the normal order of prayer for us.

We have a new relationship with God on the basis of the cross. We now have direct access to the Father. The Old Testament believer did not have this experience. It is new because of the mediatorial work of Jesus. The veil between us and God has been torn down. Even for the disciples prior to the death of Christ, prayer to the Father had been hindered by the presence of the Son. Now they went directly to the Father because the Son's mission was to connect them (and us) with the Father.

Jesus has been accepted so we are accepted in Him. The intimacy of prayer characterizes our relationship with the Father through Jesus.