“He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life.”

In this verse we have another conclusion from the reasoning the Apostle John has been leading us through. If we do not possess Christ and His person in our lives, we do not have love and we do not have true life – eternal life. If we do possess Christ in our life, we have eternal life as we still live on this earth.

Jesus brings us eternal life through His sacrificial death on the cross. That sacrifice has paid the price of our sin and when we come to know Him and trust in that sacrifice, we receive eternal life. This is not just a hope in heaven, but a quality of life in the here and now, and a strength in our souls that we did not have before we were changed by Christ. We have become new people – new creations in Christ, made for His glory and not our own sinful self. Self is now put on the cross with Christ and we have a new nature that can fight and overcome temptations and sin and live for God.

Those who know Jesus as their Saviour and Lord have this eternal life and those who do not have this living relationship with Him are lost to life and live in this world under the condemnation of God. To have eternal life means your sins are dealt with and there is no condemnation over you at all.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Romans 8:1

Those who have been changed by Christ now live their lives in the power of the Spirit of God and have put to death the compulsion of the flesh, to follow it’s desires and wants. Instead we put on spiritual life and live to God, which we are able to do because of the Spirit within us and the eternal life that we now possess.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.”

Galatians 2:20

This is the quality of life that the Christian possesses and we live it by faith because we have been so loved. The old self is put to death and we live in the life of Christ which has been put in us by the Spirit. It is a resurrection of the soul and we are now alive to God and dead to self. This is true living and will last forever in joy and peace as we walk with God.