Life and Death
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.
John 5:24
God loves you so much. He truly desires that we each experience His life abundant, His joy, His peace, His rest, Him. He desires that we move along the spectrum from where we are toward Him. He died for us while we were yet sinners, but He does not want us to stay in the darkness. He wants to transform us. He wants to make dead people alive.
The good news of Christ Jesus is a matter of life and death. Apart from Christ Jesus, we are dead. The good news of Christ Jesus changes each person who hears and believes. It gives them life. God’s holy word gives life to those who hear and believe, but those who reject Him continue living in God’s wrath. Jesus’ word is the line of demarcation. Jesus says:
The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” John 12:48-50
The Greek word translated as “will judge” is “krino,” which means to separate, to distinguish, to choose between good and bad, such as distinguishing the grain from the chaff.[i] It would be like weeding a garden and distinguishing between the weeds and the flowers.
The word is the judge. It is the standard. It is the dividing line that separates into two groups – those who believe and those who do not. The ones who do not believe continue living in their spiritually dead state while those who believe gain spiritual life – the Father’s “commandment is eternal life.”
God’s holy word discusses salvation in a variety of ways. It discusses it as new life, life lived in communion with Him, life abundant, the kingdom of God, and eternal life. As Jesus prays to the Father, He says,
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3
Eternal life is intimate knowledge of God the Father and Christ Jesus. Eternal life is relationship. It is living in communion with Father and Son. Jesus surrendered His heavenly glory to come to earth for a single strategic purpose – He came to give life. The tactics He used to fulfill the purpose included, among others, teaching and demonstrating the kingdom of God, dying on the cross, giving life abundant, and giving eternal life. He came so that we might live.
Scripture communicates the message of salvation in terms of life and death. People who commune with the Father through Christ Jesus are described as alive, and those who do not are described as dead. He says this in a variety of ways. Turning through the Gospel according to John, let’s consider a few.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:18
The Greek word translated as “condemned” is “krino,” the same word translated as “will judge” above, meaning to separate, distinguish, choose between good and bad. As the judge considers how to separate the group before Him, the determining factor is belief in “the name of the only Son of God.” According to Jesus, we are separated, one from the other, based on our belief or lack of belief. Later in the chapter, Jesus says,
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. Jesus 3:36
In this passage, we see several interesting thoughts. First, by saying “the wrath of God remains on him,” Jesus says that God’s wrath is on everyone until the moment they believe in Christ Jesus, and at that moment God’s wrath is removed from each person who believes. Second, believing is equated to obeying. Belief means much more than mere intellectual understanding; belief means following and those who believe in Jesus obey Him. Third, those who do not believe in Christ Jesus continue to have God’s wrath on them.
In the next chapter Jesus talks with a woman at a well saying,
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but 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.”
In the next chapter Jesus is in Jerusalem talking with religious leaders. During their conversation 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. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. John 5:24-25
The word translated as “judgment” is “krisis,” the feminine noun derived from the word mentioned above translated as “will judge” and “condemned.” It involves choosing between the desirable and undesirable, or deciding which is righteous, and which is sinful.[ii] The one who hears Jesus’ word and believes God the Father is viewed by the judge favorably. That person passes from death to life. The statement forces to conclude that everyone is dead before hearing and believing the good news of Christ Jesus. If we fail to connect the dots and reach the conclusion on our own, in the next breath Jesus explicitly states it saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:24-25).
The dead who hear and believe gain life. This refers to spiritually dead people who breathe, and walk, and talk, and move about on earth. They have physical life, not spiritual life. People gain spiritual life through Christ Jesus by hearing and believing, and those who do not hear and believe stay as they are. They continue living as spiritually dead people. They do not receive spiritual life, life abundant, eternal life; they do not commune with the Holy Trinity; and they do not know the kingdom of God.
In the next chapter, Jesus frequently discusses the notion of spiritual life as eternal life. Following are a few of the passages:
Do not work 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.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” John 6:27-29
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. John 6:54-56
Those who believe in Jesus and abide in Him have eternal life. Eternal life is the state of being lived in communion with Him.
In chapter 8, Jesus uses imagery of light and darkness, and He returns to the imagery of life and death saying,
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” John 8:51
In chapter 10 Jesus uses imagery of a door saying He saves people who enter through Him, and imagery of a shepherd who knows His sheep, and they know and follow Him, and He gives them eternal life.
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27-28
Jesus discusses our spiritual condition while living apart from Him as being in God’s wrath, being dead, living in condemnation. Jesus’ holy word is the judge. Jesus is the Word. He is the standard. He is the dividing line who separates people into two groups – those who believe and those who do not.
May you know Christ Jesus, may you follow Him, may you obey Him, may you tell others the good news that is Him. Amen.
[i] HELPS Word-studies. 2919 krino. https://biblehub.com/greek/2919.htm
[ii] HELPS Word-studies. 2920 krisis. https://biblehub.com/greek/2920.htm