And this is the promise which he hath promised us, life everlasting.
και αυτη εστιν η επαγγελια ην αυτος επηγγειλατο ημιν την ζωην την αιωνιον
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
For His promise is this: "As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us" (Jn 17:21). And again: "That they may have eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (Jn 17:3).
This is the promise: the faithful one will receive a hundredfold in the present age and will obtain eternal life.
John seems to answer those who ask: Behold, I heard the good tidings from the beginning, and since then I have kept watch and obeyed, undergoing dangers in the struggle against temptations. What reward, then, awaits me for this? John says: the promise that has been promised to us is eternal life.
The Only-begotten Son of God came down to earth according to the all-good will of the heavenly Father. He assumed our human nature, taught, performed great miracles, suffered, and died in order to grant eternal life to all who believe in Him.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16).
For this reason the Apostles preached the Gospel teaching, built up the Churches, and left writings behind. They did this so that believers, abiding in the Church and preserving living faith in Christ, might inherit eternal life.
As the Theologian says in his Gospel: "These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (Jn 20:31).
Because of the weakness of nature and the multitude of temptations, man is always close to falling, and even to final destruction. The first Christians were exposed to this danger all the more, because they had more enemies and persecutors.
The whole world rose up against them, and all the powers of Hades were arrayed against them. Amid such circumstances, even the firmest and most unshaken spirit needed support.
It needed an anchor of hope amid the abyss of despair, and a guiding star able to point toward a calm harbor. St. John satisfies this need with the text cited.
Though visibly brief, this text presents to the eye a whole ocean of hope in God. For this hope embraces the promise of eternal life, which will be inherited by those who remain faithful to God even unto death.
How should one understand the words, "you know all things," if shortly before this it was said that only the fathers, and not the children or young men, had known the One without beginning? If all in the Church know all things equally, what is the advantage of the fathers?
If their advantage is that they have known the One without beginning, does it not follow that others do not yet possess this advantage? We must acknowledge that when the Apostle says, "you have an anointing" and "you have no need that anyone teach you," he means by "you" the whole local Church.
He does not mean each individual member separately, for among its members there were also children. The Church truly knows all things, because within her there are those who know and are able to teach others.
There are also those who do not know, yet are ready to learn from those who know, according to their ability and receptivity. The knowledge of some is ascribed to all because of the universal and inseparable unity.
The ignorance of some is passed over in silence. It will be replaced by knowledge that does not come from outside, but abides within the Church.
The words, "you have no need that anyone teach you," must be understood in relation to those false teachers who left the Church, or who were never in her. They strive to bring into the Church their falsely named truth and their falsely named reason.
The holy Apostle warns against them when he says: you have no need that anyone, meaning someone coming from outside, a stranger to Christ's fold, should teach you. In the same way he warned above against the antichrists.
According to him, "they went out from us, but they were not of us" (v. 19). Members of Christ's Church must certainly beware not of their own teachers, but of these outsiders and impious men.
After this, the "anointing from the Holy One" should not be understood as the anointing proper to each believer individually, given in the second mystery, chrismation. Rather, it means the Holy Spirit who abides in the Church and instructs her pastors to rightly divide the word of truth.
If one understood here the anointing given to each person separately, it would follow that it had already taught everyone. Then there would be no distinction between children and fathers.
But if one understands the Spirit dwelling in the whole fullness of the Church, then it is clear that, while teaching the whole Church, He diversifies His gifts among her individual members. He divides operations and ministries (1 Cor 12:4-11).
See v. 24. This promise is eternal life. That is, the Savior promised eternal life to those who abide in the Father and the Son.
The Lord said to the Apostles, and in their person to all believers: "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (Jn 17:3).
"Keep within yourselves what you heard from the beginning, namely, that Christ is God. This is what the words mean: 'let it abide in you.' If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father, that is, you will be in communion with Him" (Theophylact).
This communion and knowledge of God, of which the Lord spoke (cf. 1 Jn 2:3-4), is founded on faith, produced by faith, and accompanied by faith. It is a living and active communion and knowledge.
According to its content, it embraces the whole essence of Christian knowledge. Therefore such knowledge and communion are eternal life. They place man in spiritual union with the source of eternal life, God the Father and Christ.
They also abide in the one who possesses such knowledge (Jn 3:15; Jn 14:23; Jn 17:21 and note).
This same thing, namely the confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God in the hope of eternal life (1 Jn 2:25), has also been taught and is being taught to you by the inward anointing from the Holy One. Therefore, "abide in what it has taught you" (1 Jn 2:27).
As though explaining why he speaks so insistently about the unwavering confession of Jesus Christ, St. John the Apostle adds: "that when He appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (1 Jn 2:28).
Can various mystical sectarians rely on these words of the Apostle John? They preach that inner illumination alone is sufficient for a Christian, and that he may be guided by it in faith and works without any outward guidance of the Church and hierarchy.
The words of the Apostle John do not favor such false teaching at all. The Apostle speaks of the gracious anointing in inseparable connection with the teaching that has been preached.
According to his words, this teaching must be held exactly as it was handed down from the beginning (above, 1 Jn 2:24). That is, it must be held as we were taught it by the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles.
Therefore, according to the Apostle John, the inward anointing from the Holy One is by no means a source of new revelations. Its instructive action takes place, so to speak, within the limits of the revelation already proclaimed once for all to men by God.
God spoke of old to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. In these last days He has spoken to us in His Only-begotten Son (Heb 1:1). His teaching was written down and set forth in detail for all times by His disciples and Apostles.
Directing Christians' attention especially to heretical false teaching, the Apostle points to the most important error preached by the Ebionite Cerinthus and his followers, who denied the Godhead of Jesus Christ.
Without entering into a detailed refutation of this error, and without offering biblical or other proofs of its falsehood, the Apostle views it from his lofty theological standpoint. From there its absurdity is clearly revealed.
Having in mind the clear teaching of Jesus Christ concerning His consubstantiality with the Father (see Jn 1:1; 1 Jn 1:1-4), he says that heretics of this kind deny the Father also.
By contrast, whoever confesses Jesus Christ as the Son of God acknowledges God the Father also. "He who has seen Me has seen the Father. I am in the Father and the Father in Me," says Jesus Christ (Jn 14:9-10).
From this the Apostle's transition to the thought of Christians' union with the Father Himself is understandable (v. 24). This was also clearly expressed by Jesus Christ Himself.
"As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us," He said in the so-called high-priestly prayer to the Father (Jn 17:21).
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 13 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS