If we have the Son, we have eternal life. If we do not have the Son, we do not have that life. When Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became man, His life was the light of men. He was not received, for man in the flesh is not just in the dark but is darkness itself and in a dead condition before God. God, through the Son, speaks to such dead men, “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).
Before time, we only existed in the purposes of God. Now we belong to eternity. We came into existence, being born of flesh, but now we have been born “anew” by the Spirit of God through the Word of God received in faith. Our new life is from heaven. Our new life is life in the Spirit, “in Christ Jesus,” and Christ Himself is our life. God has begotten us into His family, and as His children we participate in the divine nature. The life we have flows from that Man who was raised from the dead and glorified by the power of God — a life beyond the realm of death. As God’s children, we have it now, and by faith we are to lay hold of what it will be when we are with Him and like Him in our glorified bodies.
Theme of the Issue