This is eternal life
John 17:3 - To know God, is eternal life. That sums up John 17:3 in six short words.
Photo by Steven Sande
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
John 17:3 NASB1995
Today’s verse comes from the Gospel of John as Jesus intones The High (or Great) Priestly Prayer. The prayer makes up the whole of John 17, coming just after Jesus gives His final instructions to the disciples, and just before He is betrayed, arrested, and crucified.
It’s the longest prayer of Jesus in any of the Gospels; a prayer not only for Himself, but for His disciples and for all believers. The High Priestly Prayer has tradition behind it. When God gave the Law to the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai, the office of high priest was created. The high priest — Aaron, and then his descendants — were responsible for interceding for Israel before God. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifice that temporarily covered the sins of the people. This is described in further detail in Hebrews 9:6-9.
Jesus offered His life as the ultimate sacrifice, covering the sins of the people and completely cleansing and saving them. Jesus is the ultimate high priest, and His intercession for us in this prayer shows the depth of His love for us.
The first three verses of John 17 are central to understanding the purpose of Jesus coming to earth — to glorify the Father by giving eternal life to those who believe in Him. In the two preceding verses (John 17:1-2), Jesus tells His disciples that His work on earth is finished, and asks the Father to glorify Him as He prepares to complete the actions that would give eternal life to believers.
So what is Jesus saying here in John 17:3? Let’s look at the commentary from Enduring Word:
Eternal life is found in an experiential knowledge (ginosko) of both God the Father and Jesus Christ, God the Son.
i. “In this world we are familiar with the truth that it is a blessing and an inspiration to know certain people. Much more is it the case when we know God.” (Morris)
ii. “Life is active involvement with environment; death is the cessation of involvement with the environment, whether it be physical or personal.” (Tenney) Eternal life means that we are alive and active to God’s environment. If God and His spiritual environment does not affect (and even dominate) our life, then it can be said that we do not have or experience eternal life. If this is true, then we live life in the same dimension that animals live, and we exist as if we are dead to God and His environment.
iii. That they may know You: “In the Greek the verb is in the present subjunctive indicating the ‘knowledge’ is a growing experience.” (Tasker)
Eternal life is to know the Father by experience. From Precept Austin:
Knowledge possessed through the intellectual process of learning is one thing. Knowledge gained by experience, by an active relationship between the one who knows and the person known (in this case God the Father), is far superior to the former. And in the case of salvation knowing the Father is not only superior but absolutely critical and necessary for salvation and obtaining of eternal life. Ginosko speaks not of an intellectual acquaintance but of an intimate relationship and is what every Christ follower has experienced when they entered into a personal, permanent relationship with the only true God.
I can’t leave such an important verse without looking at what the “Prince of Preachers” Charles H. Spurgeon had to say about John 17:3 in his “Exposition of the Gospel of John”:
To know God, is eternal life. If you know God, if you know Jesus Christ whom he has sent, you are spiritually quickened. That knowledge has brought to you, nay, it is, in itself, the new life: “This is life eternal,” — not life for a few years but life eternal. Mark the final perseverance of the saints, how they shall hold on and hold out for ever.....No man has life eternal, then, who is in ignorance of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ; but once to know God, and to know Christ, is sure evidence that we possess a life that can never die: “This is life eternal.”....This does not mean mere head-knowledge; but to know in the heart and soul the one only true God, and Jesus Christ who was sent of him to the sons of men, “this is life eternal.” God without Christ brings not eternal life, and Christ, if he were not sent of God, would not bring eternal life to us, but knowing God in Christ Jesus is eternal life......The knowledge of God, and the knowledge of the Messiah, the Sent One, — this is not only life, but it is life that can never die: “This is life eternal.” Have you, dear friend, received this eternal life? Do you know the only true God? Do you know Jesus Christ whom he has sent? Then, at this very moment, you possess eternal life, and you shall never perish, for eternal life is a life that cannot possibly die.
To know God, is eternal life. That sums up John 17:3 in six short words.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I thank You for the new life in Christ bestowed upon me when I accepted Him as my Savior, and for the eternal life that is already mine through Christ. I pray that I know You more fully as that eternal life unfolds, and that I may grow both in grace and in knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN.