EXTRACT
From notes of a reading with Mr Pellatt on the same subject but in a different locality.
Eternal life has conditions suited to it just as natural life has certain conditions proper to it. These conditions are light, atmosphere, and rule. A new-born babe cannot thrive in darkness—that condition is not favourable to it. Another natural condition is atmosphere—it must have air. And then there must be rule, or it has no protection.
Ques. How do you apply that spiritually?
J.P. Light, righteousness and love are the conditions of eternal life in the order of John’s first epistle. I suppose the atmosphere is the love of the brethren, and “rule” is abiding in the Son. If we abide in Christ we abide in righteousness; we do not sin. “He that is born of God sinneth not”, 1 John 5: 18. These are the conditions of eternal life in those who are born of God; they are all unfolded that we may have the consciousness that we have eternal life, and when we come to consciousness there is an end of opinion, an end of disputation.
Ques. Is it for us then to live in these conditions?
J.P. Surely it is.
Ques. Is eternal life the result of believing in Him?
J.P. Well, it just depends upon what you mean by ‘result’. We do not get eternal life by believing, but it is only believers who have it; faith is the title to it, no one can have it without faith; those who believe not have no part in it. There is a very straight line drawn in chapter 3: 36 between the one who believes and the one who does not believe. Your faith is your title; there is no title but in the faith of that blessed Person, but you must have the “living water” to enter into eternal life. “The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”, John 4: 14. So in Galatians, “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”, Gal 6: 8.
Ques. What is the meaning of the fountain? Is it life in the power of the Spirit?
J.P. Yes, the thought is—there is activity—it is “living water” not a stagnant pool. It is like what we call in the West ‘a flowing well’, the water is a long way down, but when it comes to the surface it rises four or five feet into the air.
Rem. I believe the word “springing up” is the same as “leaping” in Acts 3 as to the man who had been lame.
Rem. You said just now that we do not get eternal life by believing; why?
J.P. You get it by the Spirit, you acquire the title to it by believing. It does not say ‘hath’ in John 3: 16 but “have”. You have it as title, but you come into the good of it by the Spirit; so you are brought to what is stated in Romans 6: 22, “Having got your freedom from sin, and having become bondmen to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life”. What gave offence at a brothers’ reading in the spring of 188817 was that Mr Stoney insisted that unless Christians are in the good of deliverance they know nothing about eternal life. In reply it was insisted—He that believeth hath. Scripture does not put it so. Take John 5: 24: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life”. That is a statement by the Spirit showing the kind of people who have it. That implies moral condition.
Rem. As we had last night, the objective and subjective go together. One is thankful through all the exercise we have had to be awakened to the truth in its fulness—the objective and subjective.
Rem. This would correspond with the end of Romans 6.
J.P. It is God’s desire that we should have eternal life. In John 3: 16 it is not our experience; it is God’s gift, God’s purpose. John 4 is our side: the living water springing up into everlasting life—we want both sides.
Ques. What about rivers of living water flowing out in John 7: 38?
J.P. That goes with John 4, only the one is “springing up” the other ‘flowing out’. One springing up towards its source—divine affections, and the other flowing out in a testimony descriptive of the Man in glory.
Ques. Would you say eternal life is the region of divine affections? Are not divine affections connected with it?
J.P. “God so loved the world”, that is enough. There are affections connected in Scripture with eternal life, but we must keep things distinct. Eternal life in Scripture is never confounded with sonship. With me this has been a very important exercise, and we learn slowly; we can afford to have patience with one another. The expression ‘divine affections’ gives the thought of affections between divine Persons, and conveys the thought of sonship. God loved the world, there is no mistake about that.
Ques. Why do you connect eternal life with children rather than with sons?
J.P. Scripture connects eternal life with children and never with sons. “This life is in his Son” (1 John 5: 11), not in sons.
Ques. Would it not bring in the thought of sons?
J.P. That is an interesting question. I would like to answer it from Scripture. The Lord in John’s gospel uses two expressions as to the Father. He speaks of “the Father” and of “my Father”. Now these expressions are not interchangeable and must not be confounded. Eternal life is connected with “the Father”, sonship with “my Father”.
How do we take account of the Lord Jesus Christ? Nothing is of more importance than having a definite and clear apprehension of His Person. I do not mean simply as divine—He was ever and always that, but looked at as Man born in time the greatness of His person is wonderful. He as Man is Son of God: “I will be to him for father” (Heb 1: 5), there He is looked at as Man born in time. Then you find the Lord still as Man in a special relationship—that of “my Father”. Let me suggest a change. If it were ‘in the Father’s house are many abodes’—Do you like that change? No; it is not as good as “my Father’s house”. Then how would you like Mary’s message changed to—‘I ascend to the Father’? No! He says, “my Father and your Father, my God and your God”. Then in John 10: 14-15, would you like a change? ‘I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine, as my Father knoweth me and I know my Father’. No! that will not do, it must be “the Father” there. We must leave Scripture as it stands; the Lord puts it perfectly; He never makes a distinction without a difference.
Rem. Matthew 11 bears out what you say, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father”.
J.P. It is very interesting to read J N Darby’s translation taking account of these distinctions. Take 1 John 3: 1: “See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God”. You will find nothing about sons in the first epistle of John, but the epistle is brimful of children, and that epistle gives a great place to eternal life in its unfolding and details; you never find it connected with sons, always with children.
Ques. Is the thought of children connected with what is down here, and hence with eternal life?
J.P. Yes. One would not separate the two thoughts—children and sons, but we must distinguish them. Parallel lines go side by side—you get a beautiful instance of it in Romans 8: 15: “ye have received the Spirit of adoption”, and in verse 16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God”. Here we have children and sons side by side. But there is a point where the two merge in one. In verse 21 the apostle speaks of the liberty of the glory of the children of God, and in verse 19 of the revelation of the sons of God. There we have the two together. We do not wait to be children, we are just as much children as we ever shall be, but we wait for sonship in actuality.
Rem. We wait for the redemption of the body.
J.P. Yes; adoption is the same word as sonship.
Ques. Are we not looked at in Galatians as sons now in contrast to servants?
J.P. “Child” in Galatians gives the thought of minority. In that epistle we are “God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”.
It is most beautiful the way the consequences of eternal life are traced out in John’s first epistle.
Ques. Did you say that eternal life is connected with children and not with sons?
J.P. I cannot find it connected with sons in Scripture. We have the spirit of sonship now, but sonship is proper to heaven. The final overcomer, in Revelation 21: 7, “shall inherit these things”—the things just mentioned that characterise the eternal state, and “I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son”. Sonship goes into the eternal state. So in Ephesians we are marked out beforehand according to His eternal purpose (chap 1: 7), and Romans 8: 29, “that he might be the firstborn among many brethren”.
Then there are the consequences of eternal life—walking in the light, righteousness, the activities of righteousness and love in the saints. Walking in these we have the consciousness of eternal life. It is a great mistake to think that the Christian may walk independently in the domestic, social, or business circle.
Rem. At one time we had the idea that if our sins are forgiven, we have eternal life.
J.P. That would simply mean eternal existence, and the wicked have that. The doctrine of annihilation is abominable—the enemy is at the bottom of it. People want to get rid of responsibility because it makes them feel uncomfortable. We have an absolute guarantee of present, perfect, and eternal satisfaction, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst for ever”. Have you got it, or are you seeking something here?
A purged conscience, a satisfied heart—that is Christianity.