The Results of a New Life in ChristSample

EVERLASTING LIFE

John 5:24—The Bible calls one chief benefit of finding new life in Christ “everlasting [eternal] life.” The character of this wonderful gift may be summarized by carefully looking at each word. The word “life” stresses the quality of this new relationship to God (John 10:10). It does not mean, of course, that we are not physically alive before salvation; it simply stresses the fact that we enter a new, personal relationship with God that gives us a fullness of spiritual vitality that we lacked before (John 17:3). The word “everlasting” emphasizes life without end. Although it will not be completely fulfilled until our future bodily redemption (Rom. 8:23), it is still a present possession that can never perish (John 10:28).

Everlasting life, then, should not be thought of as an exclusively future possession. Rather, its possession is clearly seen in our actions. Thus, “no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). Indeed, love is the confirming evidence that we do, in fact, have eternal life (1 John 3:14). The greatness of this spiritual gift provides us with a wonderful incentive to proclaim the gospel to those who are still “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).

This Bible study is an excerpt fromThe OPEN Bible, Published by Thomas Nelson Bibles