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Who Has Eternal Life?
Author : Sylvia Huffnagle
Jn: 3:14-18: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(First, we see that the church’s job is to lift up the Son of God. Then, Jesus, Himself says that those who believe in Him shall have eternal life. Many Christians endeavoring to believe and share this passage of scripture have had to ignore or reject many other things that Jesus and the Bible teach in order to hold on to this passage in faith.
There thinking is--it says right here in Jn:3:16 that whosoever believes in Jesus has eternal life so any passage that seems to disqualify the whosoever here must not be saying what it sounds as if it is saying.
Because of this line of reasoning many scriptures seem to contradict other important scriptures and this causes some to live in a bewildered state of just hanging on to Jn:3:16 and maybe a few other verses and not feeling that they understand the rest of the Bible. They figure it must mean that they are to try to live right, but if they fail in some areas, oh well, the Bible says they are saved because they believe in Jesus--so of course, God forgives their trespasses. They know they got that part.
Others don’t even care much what the rest of the Bible says--they like that verse and it says what they wanted to hear--they are content to rest in Jn:3:16.
But remember what Jesus said about the seed--some fell on good ground and brought forth good fruit--this would be the ones who pursue the biblical subject until they understand what is being said and this is done by finding all or many passages in the Bible about it and meditating on each one in the context that it was written. While doing this one must always bear in mind that Jesus is the light of the world--His sayings rule.
I think this next passage of scripture sheds light on what it means in Jn:3:16 to believe in Him.)
Jn: 6:54-63: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55: For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57: As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58: This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 59: These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60: Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61: When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62: What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63: It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
(First, Jesus says you have to eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life. So then we know that to believe in Him as in Jn:3:16 one must take communion thereby confessing that they are a part of Him and that they dwell in Him and he in them. Now we see that this is a bit more involved than merely saying you believe.
In verse 63, Jesus explains--it is His words that give you spirit and life. Then we understand that we are to feed on His Word and partake of His body--that is live by the reality that He sacrificed His body and shed His blood for the remission of our sins. When we take the bread and the cup which symbolize eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood we are confessing that we live by Him.
In 1Jn:5:12 it says: He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. So then we receive eternal life when we receive the Son of God and live by Him.
This is how you understand what is being said in the Scriptures. There are many other passages that I could use to back this teaching up but I think I have made my point. As for the verses often quoted that seem to go well with Jn:3:16, that would be Rom:10:9-10: [That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.] the confession there is Jesus is Lord and if you confess that, but don’t act like it, your confession is made null and void because actions speak louder than words. [Jas:2:17: Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.]
(c) Sylvia Huffnagle
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The Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit
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