Containing extracts showing the views held by those leaders among brethren who have expounded scripture teaching on the subject of eternal life, as well as those of other Christians.
Also extracts and letters showing the new system of thought now introduced; with the view held by unitarians on the same subject.
Extracts From Collected Writings of J. N. D.
Notes on the Gospel of John” Vol. 33
The second quality found in Him is, that “in Him was life.”
This cannot be said of any creature; many have life, but they have it not in themselves. Christ becomes our life, but it is He who is it in us. “God hath given us Eternal Life and this life is in His Son; he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” This is a very momentous truth as regards Himself, as regards us and as regards the life that we possess as Christians.
But more; this life is “the light of men,” a word of immense value for us. God Himself is light, and it is the divine light as life which expresses itself to men in the Word. It is not the light of angels, though God be light for all, for He is it in Himself, but as it is relative, adapted to other beings, it is not to angels; His delights were in the sons of men (Prov. 8). The proposition is one which is called reciprocal; that is, the two parts of the proposition have an equal value. I could say just as well, the light of men is the life which is in the Word. It is the perfect expression of the nature, counsels, and glory of God when all shall be consummated. It is in man that God will make Himself to be seen and known. “God was manifest in flesh . . . seen of angels.” The angels are the highest expression of God’s power in creation; but it is in man that God has shown Himself, and that, morally, in holiness and love.
We ought to walk as Christ walked, to be imitators of God as His dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us; and also “we are light in the Lord,” for He is our life . . . And this is not a rule, although there be in it a rule (for we ought to walk as He walked), but a life which is the perfect expression o f it the expression of the life of God in man. Ineffable privilege! Wonderful nearness to Jesus! “Both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one.”
Redemption develops and manifests all the moral qualities of God Himself, and above His qualities, His nature – love and light, and that in man, and in connection with men. We are, as being in Christ, and Christ in us, the fruit and expression of all that God is in the fullness and revelation of Himself (pp. 201-3).
Now the true Light is He who, coming into the world, is light for every man, Pharisee or sinner, Jew or Gentile. He is the Light, who, come from on high, is such for every one, whether He be rejected or received; for a Simon or a Herod, for Nathanael or for Caiaphas. He is the expression of God, and of the mind of God for every man whatever state he may be in. The subject here is not that of receiving the light into the heart. In that case it is a question of the state of him who receives; here, of the fact of the appearing of the Light in this world (p. 206).
But from this time quickening power and Eternal Life in the Person of the Son, who revealed the Father in grace, were come, so that the dead should hear the voice of the Son of God; and those that should hear it should live (John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25)).
This was the great proclamation as to life; it was there and as the Father had life in Himself, He had given to His Son, a Man upon earth, to have life in Himself, a divine prerogative, but here found in a Man come in grace upon earth (p. 276).
As we have seen, the multitude, under the hidden direction of God, had alluded to the manna, asking some similar sign of the Lord. Jesus had said to them (a touching reply), “I am the sign of God’s salvation, and of Eternal Life sent into the world” (the original French, `au monde,’ `to the world’). I am the manna, the true bread, which the Father God acting in grace, gives to you. “He that comes to Me shall never hunger, and he that believes on Me shall never thirst” (p. 288).
Here it is Christ come down from heaven, the incarnation setting aside all idea of promise; it is the great and mighty fact that, in the person of Jesus, people saw Him who was come down from heaven, the Son of God become man, as we see in 1 John 1: “That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes which we have contemplated, and our hands handled concerning the word of life . .,the Eternal Life which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us.” It was as to His Person, not yet as to our entrance into it, the beginning of a new order of things.
The first great point, then, was the incarnation; Christ come down from heaven, the Word made flesh, life in Him and to give Eternal Life to him who should eat Him. The second point is that Christ gave this flesh for the life of the world (pp. 289, 290).
It was necessary that a divine and heavenly life should come down from heaven, and be communicated to souls and that in a Man. It was necessary that this Man should die, and terminate all relation with the fallen race; and risen, should begin a new race, possessing the divine life (inasmuch as they had appropriated Christ to themselves by grace), and which should be raised again by the Savior’s power, when the moment should come, “at the last day” (p. 290).
Personally the new thing, as we have already said, was presented in His Person, – a Man, God manifested in flesh; but He in whom was life, He who was this Eternal Life which had been with the Father, and which was now manifested to the disciples (p. 291).
But the Lord says, in verses 40, 47, that He is come that whosoever believeth in Him may have everlasting life, and that he that believeth on Him hath everlasting life; so that whosoever really sees the Son of God in the despised Man of Nazareth has everlasting life (p. 296).
After this we have the doctrine with regard to the Savior which is connected with the preceding fact: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:1212Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)); not yet here the Messiah of the Jews, but the presentation, on the part of God, of light in the world – light which manifested everything, but which remained alone, for the whole world was darkness, far from God, and the heart of man himself darkness. This light manifested the effect of even the law; it showed where man was, as placed under it. But it was far more.
If man followed it, it was “the light of life” (cp. John 1:44In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)) that which made manifest as the revelation of the divine nature, but that which communicated life to those who received this light. It was an entirely new thing com e into the world. God Himself, in the power of grace, become Man; rejected, all was morally judged; but, received by grace, it was the new life, the life eternal, for Christ is eternal life come down from heaven (1 John 1:1, 21That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (1 John 1:1‑2)) (p. 314).
In 1 John 1 we see definitely what Eternal Life is: it is Christ. That which they had seen, contemplated, and handled from the beginning, it was Christ, the Eternal Life which was with the Father and had been manifested to them (p. 431).
We participate in the divine nature, and we are in the position of Christ: sons according to the good pleasure of the Father’s will. That is the nature of this life.
Here (John 17) it is presented objectively. In fact, in our relations with God, that which is the object of faith is the power of life in us. Thus Paul says, “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me”; but in receiving by grace by faith, the Savior that he was to preach to others, he received life, for Christ is our life.” (p. 431).
Still it is an inward life, real and divine, by which we live although we possess it in these poor earthen vessels. It is no longer we that live, but Christ that lives in us (p. 432).