Amen, amen, I say to you: If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever.
αμην αμην λεγω υμιν εαν τις τον λογον τον εμον τηρηση θανατον ου μη θεωρηση εις τον αιωνα
10 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Here He speaks not only of faith, but also of a pure life. Above He said, “He has eternal life” (Jn 5:24). Here He says, “He shall never see death,” showing at the same time that they can do nothing to Him. If the one who keeps His word will not die, then much more will He Himself not die.
What love for mankind! He is insulted, yet He leaves the seeking of His own glory and vengeance to the Father. He turns instead to exhortation and teaching, and so does good to those who insult Him.
So must we also repay our enemies. What then did He say to them? "Whoever keeps My word," that is, whoever joins faith to a pure life.
For only the one who also has a pure life truly keeps the Lord's teaching. Such a person will not see the death by which sinners die, being handed over in the age to come to endless torment and falling away from true life.
At the same time He lets them know that, if the one who keeps My word does not die, then all the more so do I not die.
Why, then, do you wish to kill Me, over whom death has so little power that I even give true life to others? For although believers die bodily, yet they live in God.
Here He shows that it is useless to enter into prolonged disputes with men accustomed to reproach. He turns His speech to what was necessary, namely, the calling through faith to eternal life. Having, as it were, dismissed the ignorant insulters, He again skillfully orders His discourse.
Earlier He had spoken as God, saying that he who is of God hears the words of God. He immediately continues, "If anyone keeps My word," thereby revealing Himself as God by nature.
He teaches that nothing remained for the Jews except the last degree of impiety, if they call Him possessed by a demon who gives eternal Life to those who wish to keep His word.
Indeed, is He not known through this also as God by nature? To whom else can the power belong to give life forever to those who hear the words from Him, if not to God by nature?
The divine word is kept when one does not transgress the divine commandment. One must constantly and exactly fulfill what has been ordained, and in no way become subject to the charge of neglecting the divine laws.
Notice again the precision of this saying. He did not allow Himself to say, "If anyone hears My word," but, "If anyone keeps My word." For not only people guilty of sin receive the word of God by hearing, but also the impious multitude of demons.
Thus Satan, the leader of all demons, dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness. Because of the great savagery of his character, he kicked against the goads and presented the divine word to Him.
He said, "It is written that He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You in all Your ways" (Lk 4:10; Ps 90:11).
Therefore the word of salvation is not in mere hearing. Life is not in teaching alone. It is in keeping what has been heard, and in making the divine word the rule and guide of life.
When He says that the firm guardian of His words "shall never see death," He certainly does not abolish the death of the flesh. Rather, as God, He does not regard death as death.
For nothing is dead to Him, since He brings even what does not exist into being. He easily gives life to what has fallen into corruption.
Or He says that the saints will not see death in the age to come. That age alone should properly be regarded as the true age, since it has no end, unlike this age of ours.
When He says that those who keep His divine teaching will not see death in that age, He does not mean that some may die after the resurrection. The death of all has been destroyed by the death of Christ. The power of corruption has vanished.
Rather, with perfect justice He calls eternal punishment death. You may be convinced of this by considering His earlier words: "Truly I say to you, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life" (Jn 3:36).
Yet all will be made alive and will enter Life again, both believers and unbelievers. The resurrection is by no means partial. It is common to all in this respect, that all will live again.
How, then, shall the one who does not believe the Son not see life, although we expect the resurrection of all? Everyone surely knows that Christ is accustomed to call life the eternal living in blessedness and glory that knows no end.
This life is kept in hope for the saints. When He says that the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, although all await being made alive, He does not indicate the life of the body.
He calls life the blessedness prepared for the saints. In the same way, I think, He says that the noble and manly guardian of His divine words shall never see death.
By this He clearly does not mean the death of the body, but the punishment prepared for sinners. As in that saying blessedness is indicated by the word "life," so here punishment is indicated by the word "death."
What then do You say of Yourself, Lord? “Truly, truly, I say to you: if anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death.” “You,” He says, “assert that I have a demon, but I call you to life. Keep My word, and you will not die.”
Find in the sixth chapter the place where it says, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (Jn 6:51), and read its interpretation. From there you will understand of what death Jesus Christ speaks here. Failing to understand this, they again dishonor Him.
This also must be kept in mind: He did not say, “He will not die,” but “He will never see death.” The ever-burning punishment is the same as eternal death, which never ceases. Since death exists at the present time, all men must die. It follows that the Lord was not speaking of this death, but of the future one.
But when the corruption of the impious increases, preaching not only must not be interrupted, but must be intensified. The Lord exhorts us to this by His own example.
After He was called demon-possessed, He continued still more generously the benefits of His preaching, saying: "Truly, truly, I say to you: whoever keeps My word shall never see death."
When the perversity of evil grows, preaching not only must not cease, but, on the contrary, must spread more widely. The Lord shows this to us by His own example.
After they said that a demon was in Him, He poured out the blessings of His preaching still more abundantly, saying: "Truly, truly, I say to you: whoever keeps My word shall never see death."
Turning to those who had believed in Him, Jesus said: “If you who believe in Me keep My word, if you fulfill all My commandments and do the will of God in all things and always. Then you will never see death.” The Pharisees did not understand that Jesus’ words, “He shall never see death,” are equivalent to “He shall attain the blessedness of eternal life.”
"Truly, truly, I say," and so forth. The Lord pronounced a word of strict condemnation against the Jews who did not believe in Him and who were hostile to Him.
But such a sentence was not pronounced against all Jews. Those who believe in Him will not only be free from condemnation, but, on the contrary, will receive eternal life.
Probably among those who had believed in the Lord, but whose faith was superficial and did not withstand the first trial, and who almost immediately withdrew from Him (v. 31), there were some whose faith endured the trial sufficiently.
Their faith was not greatly shaken, and to them the Lord repeats the word of promise spoken earlier to those who believed in Him.
The expression "whoever keeps the word" is equivalent to what was said above: "if you abide in My word" (v. 31). The words "shall never see death" express the same as "the truth shall make you free" (v. 31).
To keep the word means not only to believe and preserve it in the heart, but in general to fulfill it in life. It means to follow, in the whole manner of one's activity, what is commanded by this word; compare Jn 14:23, 24; Jn 15:20; Jn 17:6.
This is the fruit of true faith that has endured trials.
"Shall never see death" is the effect of keeping Christ's word. Not to see death is the same as to receive eternal life; compare Jn 5:24; Jn 6:50 and parallels, with the note.
It is to live forever in blessed union with the source of true life, God. "For although believers die bodily, they are alive in God" (Theophylact).
The incarnate God-man did not seek His own glory, by these and similar words distinguishing His earthly ministry from the eternal "I Am."
"The One who seeks and judges" is the same God-man as God, contemplated apart from the humble human form which He took upon Himself.
We have already drawn the reader's attention to the fact that the Lord's utterance of the words "Amen, amen" always preceded those sayings of His which were to be deeply engraved in man's memory and heart.
"Whoever keeps My word shall not see death forever," says the Lord after the twice-repeated amen.
This joyful and solemn promise to those who keep the Lord's word, see above v. 31, is the revelation of a new and eternal life to man.
With this revelation everything in earthly life is changed. Life and death itself are now only fleeting episodes of uninterrupted eternal existence.
For he who believes in the Lord, loves Him, and keeps His word becomes one with the Lord. In his mortal body he will see "the life of Jesus manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:10-11).
Compare Chrysostom, Homily 9 on Second Corinthians, and so he passes from life to life.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 17 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS