1st JOHN - # 5, You either trust Christ (eternal life), or you don't (eternal punishment). (3-18-25)

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“For the life was manifested.” That is, the life was brought out into the open where men could see it. John is talking about the Word of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall see in the next verse.
On one occasion after I had given a message, a man whom I would call a smart aleck came to me with this question: “You talked about eternal life. What is eternal life? I would like to know what eternal life is.” So, I gave him this verse: “The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.”
Then I said to him, “The eternal life that John is talking about is none other than Jesus Christ. If you want a definition, eternal life is a Person, and that Person is Christ. It is so simple that even you can grasp it. You either have Christ, or you don’t have Christ. You either trust Christ, or you don’t trust Christ. If you do trust Christ, you have eternal life. If you don’t trust Christ, you don’t have eternal life. Now, since that’s eternal life, do you have eternal life?” He turned and walked away without answering, which was evidence that he did not have eternal life, and he did not want to pursue the matter any further. J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary, electronic ed., vol. 5 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 758.

“We declare to you a Being both eternal and yet seen and known by us.” That of ver. 2 is, “This Being, in his character of the Life, became visible, and in him are centered all the relations between God and man.” H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., 1 John, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 2.

This refers to Jesus Christ Who is the mediator between God and man. We must go through Him in order to have access to God the Father (G.F.)
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

Matthew 11:27 "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

1 John 5:20 And we know (v.rai) that the Son of God has come, and has given (v.rai) us understanding, in order that we might know Him (G.F.) who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
“A person who knows God has an intimate personal relationship with Him. And that relationship is eternal, not temporal. Eternal life is not simply endless existence. Everyone will exist somewhere forever *(Matt. 25:46), but the question is, In what condition or in what relationship will they spend eternity?” Edwin A. Blum, “John,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books,), 331.

*Matthew 25:46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."