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Eternal Life

White Dogwood tree with a Pink Dogwood branch grafted in.

The Greek words for eternal life are aiōnios zōē. Zōē means life, and aiōnios describes the quality of that life. We tend to think in terms of quantity: everlasting, never-ending, etc. But this word aiōnios is as much backward-looking as it is forward-looking. It’s the kind of life that has always existed in relationship with God, that we can inherit, that we are invited into.

John 17:3
"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." —Jesus

Know

From Jesus's prayer in John 17:3, we see that eternal life, this eternal kind of life, is connected with knowing God. Knowing God is much more than knowing about him. This kind of knowing is relational and intimate. Many of us have grown up in a culture that reduces knowledge to information, facts, and data. We may have to work a bit harder to approach knowing as a growing relational connection. Good knowing requires that we move from Analyst Mode to Companion Mode.

Here, we emphasize this kind of covenantal knowing.

Only True

Eternal life is knowing God as he is. We need to constantly challenge our view of God, testing it against the ways he reveals himself. Jesus is the clearest, most relatable, image of God. God incarnate. God in flesh. He says:

  • I and the Father are one (John 10:30)
  • If you knew me, you would know my Father also (John 14:7)
  • Anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father (John 14:9)

What did Jesus teach? How did Jesus live? What did Jesus do? In Jesus, we see what the only true God is really like.

Analyst or Companion?

Most of us have been trained to be Analysts. We study objects, solve problems, memorize facts, and debate from our 'rightness', all while insisting on our independence and objectivity. We are rational. This posture is quite different from God's invitation to know him relationally, as a Companion. The word 'companion' comes from the Latin for with bread. Picture yourself seated at the table with God. Communion. Relational knowing doesn't objectify or solve. Instead it embarks on an unending journey of discovery that actually changes the knower. The knower grows in understanding (or standing under). Companions don't just label and categorize. They show curiosity and share a secure, loving attachment. It's this kind of knowing that Jesus calls eternal life. We are invited in. We are offered this inheritance.