First John: 1 John 2:25-Experiencing Fellowship with the Father and the Son is Equivalent to Experiencing Eternal Life Lesson # 85
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And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. (ESV)
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 14, 2017
www.wenstrom.org
Lesson # 85
And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. (ESV)
This verse is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) nominative feminine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this” (3) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (4) nominative feminine singular form of the noun epangelia (ἐπαγγελία), “promise” (5) accusative feminine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “that” (6) nominative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “he” (7) third person singular aorist middle indicative form of the verb epangellomai (ἐπαγγέλλομαι), “made” (8) dative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “us” (9) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun zōē (ζωή), “of life” (10) articular accusative feminine singular form of the adjective aiōnios (αἰώνιος), “eternal.”
The conjunction kai means “correspondingly” since the word is functioning as a marker of correspondence.
This would indicate that the statement “this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life” corresponds to the previous statements in .
The demonstrative pronoun houtos means “this” and is anaphoric meaning it is pointing back to something in the immediate preceding context.
Specifically, it is pointing back to John’s previous statements in verse 24.
The verb eimi means “to be identical with” or “to be equivalent to” and functions as a copula placing the subject houtos, “this” and the predicate epangelia, “promise,” in predicate relation to each other and is serving to unite these two words.
Thus, these two words indicate that living in fellowship with the Son and the Father by obeying John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus is the Christ is “identical with” or “equivalent to” experiencing the promise of eternal life.
They are one in the same.
The noun epangelia refers to the Lord Jesus Christ’s promise of experiencing eternal life which He made to each member of the Christian community.
The accusative feminine singular form of the relative pronoun hos means “which, that” referring to the noun epangelia, “the promise” since they agree in gender (feminine) and number (singular).
The nominative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos means “He Himself” emphasizing that the Lord Jesus Christ made the promise of eternal life to the recipients of this epistle through John’s apostolic teaching.
Here it is used for emphasis meaning that it is emphasizing that through John’s apostolic teaching, Jesus Christ Himself promised the recipients of this epistle that they would experience eternal life if they obeyed this apostolic teaching.
The verb epangellomai means “to promise” since the word pertains to announcing with certainty as to what one will do on behalf of another and speaks of a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do or not to do something.
Here it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ promising each member of the Christian community that they will experience eternal life.
The dative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego means “each one of us” since the word is referring to the Christian community as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
This indicates that each member of the Christian community is the recipient of the Lord’s promise of eternal life.
The noun zōē means “life” and refers to eternal life which is the life of God and is received as a gift by the sinner the moment they exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
It is experienced by the justified sinner after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
The adjective aiōnios means “eternal” since the word is ascribing the attribute of eternality to the noun zōē which is referring of course to experiencing fellowship with the Son and the Father by means of obedience to John’s apostolic teaching.
Thus, this adjective is used by John to ascribe the eternal nature of this life which is defined in verse 24 as experiencing fellowship with the Son and the Father by means of obedience to John’s apostolic teaching.
This fellowship is eternal in nature because the Son and the Father are eternal.
Correspondingly, this is the promise which He Himself promised to each and every one of us, namely the life, which is eternal. (My translation)
The apostle John’s statement here in verse 25 corresponds to the previous statements in .
In the latter, John teaches that in contrast to the antichrists, what the recipients of this epistle heard from the beginning must continue to remain in each of them.
This refers to the apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth which asserts that He is the God-man Savior of the world, the Christ.
They heard this teaching from the beginning of their Christian indoctrination.
John also teaches the recipients of this epistle that if this teaching continues to remain in their souls, then they will in fact live in fellowship with the Son as well as with the Father.
Now, here in verse 25, John asserts that living in fellowship with the Son and the Father by means of obedience to his apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth is equivalent to the promise which the Lord Himself promised to each member of the Christian community, namely eternal life (cf. , ; ; ; , ; ; ; ).
Therefore, the correspondence between John’s statement in verse 25 and his statements in verse 24 is that living in fellowship with the Son and the Son by means of obedience to his apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth is experiencing the promise they all received from Jesus Himself, namely eternal life.
In other words, John is teaching that experiencing fellowship with the Son and the Father by means of obedience to his apostolic teaching is equivalent to experiencing the promise of eternal life.
Consequently, John is connecting the concepts of living in fellowship with the Son and the Father with experiencing the promise of eternal life.
They are one in the same.
Consequently, John is teaching that living in fellowship with or experiencing fellowship with the Son and the Father is equivalent to or identical to experiencing eternal life.
He is equating fellowship with the Father and the Son with experiencing eternal life after justification.
teaches that the apostle John teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ who is the incarnate eternal life of God came into the world in order that He might give eternal life to men and He did this so that men could enjoy and experience fellowship with God.
In His Great High Priestly Prayer recorded in , the Lord states that eternal life is knowing the Father experientially.
Eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son experientially in the sense of personally encountering them through the process of fellowship as They are revealed in the pages of Scripture and prayer by God the Holy Spirit.
It also involves being affected by this encounter with the Father and the Son resulting in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
Eternal life gives the believer the capacity to experience fellowship with God after being delivered from eternal condemnation.
Experiencing eternal life after justification is described by Paul in as walking “in newness of life.”
It is appropriated after justification by the believer who obeys the Spirit of life who reveals the will of the Father of life through the communication of the Word of life.
The believer who exercises faith in the teaching of the Word of God that they have been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ will experience eternal life after justification.
The believer will experience eternal life in a perfective sense at the rapture of the church when they receive their resurrection body which will be minus a sin nature.
Like sanctification and salvation, experiencing eternal life is accomplished in three stages: (1) positional: God has given the believer eternal life at the moment of their justification through faith in His Son Jesus Christ and is first experienced by the believer at justification but this experience is lost due to sin. (2) experiential: the believer can experience eternal life after justification by confessing their sins to be restored to fellowship and to maintain that fellowship and to continue experiencing eternal life is maintained by obedience to the Word of God. (3) perfective: the believer will experience in a perfective sense eternal life in a resurrection body which will be minus a sin nature and will enable them to always experience eternal life without interruption.
Therefore, in , the apostle John is speaking of the experiential aspect of eternal life after justification.