 |  |
for his work, but there was no limit of the Spirit for the Son of God. This is taken further
by declaring:
"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands" (3: 35, N.I.V.).
We are told twice in this Gospel that the Father loves the Son, here and in 5: 20, and
this love is beyond our comprehension. Not only this, but He has placed everything in
the Son's hands (verse 35). This the Lord claimed in Matt. 11: 27 and Luke 10: 22, "all
things have been delivered to Me by My Father". There is therefore no limit to the Son's
possession.
Verse 36 sums everything up:
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see
life, for God's wrath remains on him."
It is clear that life is one of John's key words, for he uses this word zoe 34 times,
alternating "life" with "eternal life":
A
|
LIFE (1: 4).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (3: 15, 16, 36).
A
|
LIFE (3: 36).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (4: 14, 36; 5: 24).
A
|
LIFE (5: 24, 26, 39).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (5: 39).
A
|
LIFE (5: 40).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (6: 27).
A
|
LIFE (6: 33, 35).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (6: 40, 47).
A
|
LIFE (6: 48, 51, 53).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (6: 54).
A
|
LIFE (6: 63).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (6: 68).
A
|
LIFE (8: 12; 10: 10).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (10: 28).
A
|
LIFE (11: 25).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (12: 25, 50).
A
|
LIFE (14: 6).
B
| ETERNAL LIFE (17: 2, 3).
A
|
LIFE (20: 31).
A consideration of all these passages will surely show that not once does John use
"life" as pertaining to this present life. The life of which the Evangelist speaks is eternal
and resident only in Christ (John 14: 6; I John 5: 11) and is experienced only by the
regenerate. This is the eternal life that the unsaved will not see or enjoy (John 3: 36).
The Word of God makes it perfectly clear that there can be a resurrection to the present
natural life (the resurrection of Lazarus and those who were raised from the dead after the
resurrection of Christ, and also those mentioned in Heb. 11: 35). But resurrection to the