What did HE say? (continued)
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:1-3).
Continuing the theme on eternal life as it comes to us in Jesus words we come to His own definition of the term here in the Gospel of John.
We must remember always that we are looking today at New Testament words written in a language (Greek) by people who spoke in another language (most likely Aramaic but some claim Hebrew) and then translated into a form of our language (English of the 17th century) in the King James Bible (KJV). The later Revised Version and the American Revised Version are from the late 19th century and early 20th respectively and are in most points the same. These however come from somewhat newer original manuscripts than those that produced the KJV. Most all other translations, whether literal or in paraphrase, use these as a basis and it could be said that some of the newer versions evidence a slant toward the personality of the translators. Thus, there are versions that are considered better suited by denomination as the ‘Catholic’ or the ‘Jehovah’s Witness’. Now all this about words is again said so that we remember and understand that an English word in the New Testament Bible that you read is the translation of a word from the Greek (from words spoken in Aramaic) that is intended to give to the English reader the same understanding that the original word had in the Greek language. In some cases however there is no English word to match the Greek idea and the resultant translation uses wording that is as close as possible but not exact.
Bringing us back to this phrase ‘eternal life’. We should note the above language and translations issues and we need also to compound this by the teachings on this subject by the churches since the beginning. What the early fathers thought of a biblical idea or what the reformists thought of it plays an large role in how it is preached about and how it is understood by the masses. In Christianity eternal life is generally seen as the converse to eternal damnation; believers have eternal life and non-believers have eternal damnation. Eternal life in the ‘heavenly places’ with Jesus and the Saints and God; eternal damnation in the ‘pit of fire’ with Satan and the demons. The only place that eternal damnation is mentioned by Jesus is in this regard “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” (Mark 3:29) which in itself is a difficult saying to understand.
The Greek word krisis which is translated in the KJV as damnation is defined in the lexicon as a separating, sundering, separation; a trial, contest, selection, judgment; and qualifying judgement it says: opinion or decision given concerning anything esp. concerning justice and injustice, right or wrong, sentence of condemnation, damnatory judgment, condemnation and punishment**. You should see here that the influence of the translators plays a large part in the understanding of the Greek word. The translation into English as damnation is called by Vincent an utterly false rendering which should be of an eternal sin not eternal damnation****. You should note that the word sin is not even included in the lexicon definition cited above and that sin is used in most other translations of this verse with its reference being a different Greek word. Aside from this there are other issues here with the KJV using in danger of while the others that use sin in place of damnation also use guilty of. However, we cannot address this here other than to let it show that there is sometimes much ambiguity in translation and uncertainty in the sources of the original.
Add to this the definition of eternal that was discussed in the last post and we find additional confusion. For if eternal is seen as always was and always will be how can one be in eternal sin or eternal damnation. So regarding the word eternal there is a specific issue of a contradictory nature when viewing it in the manner that it is used. If we limit this word by the way it is presumably used in scripture, which some dictionaries have done, are we carrying the right thought? Can this be a place where there is no English word that corresponds to the Greek word aionios and which should not have been translated as eternal in any event? Or is there here a dichotomy of understanding things spiritual vs. things of this personality form nature? And could it be that they may even be purposefully veiled by the Master in His use of a Greek word, using it to mean two different things and confirming to us further that we can see and not perceive and can hear and not understand concerning things of the Spirit.
For us then, based on the lexicon, krisis can mean to Christians a separation from God (as the word sin is for some denominations) and it could be sensible for us to understand this as such: if one is antagonistic toward God, speaks against God and teaches others the same, that they are, in reality, separated from God now and will be until they change this behaviour. To add to this the word eternal would be to say that if on a spiritual level one could position oneself against God then this condition could be forever more. But how can we understand this condition going backward to creation as in always was. We should see here that the Master could not have meant to imply this type of eternal (which is most likely why, laking any better understanding, there were created alternate definitions based on scripture) and that He either meant something different altogether or that it must have been strictly on a worldly level that He spoke.
This brings us to our lead statement from the Gospel of John in which Jesus defines eternal life for us and gives some criteria of what it may mean. In His prayer to the Father after the Passover Supper with His disciples He says, speaking of Himself “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (John 17:2) signifying that He is over all; that all are His and that He should give eternal life to all that He has been given. Away from the constraints of Christian thought regarding the ‘theirs only’ philosophy of Christ, can we say here that Jesus is acknowledging power over all flesh (the whole of humanity)**** and that within this statement the all that thou hast given him is not just Christians, which did not then exist, nor believers, which is never stated, but just simply all as in all flesh. Now with this as the criteria for eternal life, all that were given to Him, He goes on to say that “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3) defining for us what He means and that eternal life clearly is knowing God in both the attributes of Father and Son. What is it then to know God and to know Christ? Is this not the same thing as we have been discussing in these posts? Is it not being in His Presence, doing His word and His works and being in, or at least striving for the strait gate to, His Kingdom and having this all as a conscious activity in this life here and now.
“This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” Should this not, in itself, totally remove the idea of eternal life being in the future; being a reward, being the result of salvation and going to heaven. The clarity of this statement is striking to use the words of Vincent and it should color our understanding and our behaviour as Sons of God living in this physical world. It should show us that we should know God by focusing on God and on the Christ and bringing to our conscious minds the reality of eternal life.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it (Luke 9:23-24) In this Quote of the Day we have another view of eternal life vs separation from God. Whosoever will save his mortal carnal life; whosoever places all his focus and attention on this will lose his conscious ability to know God and have life eternal. Conversely, whosoever will give up attention to this mortal life and concentrates on knowing God will have saved himself into life eternal.
- ** from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- **** Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
