Daily Bible Nugget #306, John 5:24

The Nugget:

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

My Comment:

The tenth proof of the doctrine of the Perspicuity of Scripture is that the Bible must be understandable for each individual is held responsible to hear and believe its message for himself (NTSK, Topic Number 1119, page 1598).

Notice Jesus doubly assures us that those who keep on hearing His Word and keep on believing on the One who sent him continue to have everlasting life. For this to work in an equitable manner, the Word which is being heard must of course be understandable to those who hear it in order for them to be able to believe it. The word Jesus gave, what he here terms “my word,” is now available in only one place–your Bible. Therefore, the Bible must be understandable in order for those who hear or read its message to believe it. That most surely proves the Perspicuity of Scripture, the doctrine that the Bible is understandable to the ordinary person who hears or reads its message.

I remember as a teenager how striking this verse was to me. Now, many years later, it amazes me how much more is taught in this verse than what I understood at the beginning of my Christian life. At first I was most impressed by the portion of the verse which states “and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” At that time I was taught that the perfect tense underlying “is passed” proved the doctrine of eternal security, for the perfect tense points to a past action with ever continuing results.

I later learned upon further study that the promise of “is passed” is contingent upon meeting the conditions specified at the beginning of the verse: he that keeps on hearing and keeps on believing is now having eternal life, the present tense verbs in the underlying Greek text emphasizing a continuing action, not a one-time single act of faith. Thus, the Bible teaches the absolute eternal security of the believer, not the unbeliever. Thus the doctrine widely taught and believed doctrine called “Once Saved, Always Saved,” or unconditional eternal security, is false to the Bible and is heresy and should not be taught.

Another important truth denied by some churches or denominations or religious organizations is the important fact that we have eternal life now, not merely after we die. And we can know for sure that we have eternal life in this present life and do not have to wait until after we die to find out whether we do or not.

I believe that the Council of Trent has an article which denies this truth. The present Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine is founded in large part upon what was decided or affirmed by the Council of Trent. Unfortunately, the Council of Trent was gravely mistaken on this issue if my memory of what it ruled on this issue is correct.

Well, so much for the validity of Church Councils and man-made creeds. If they agree with the Bible, fine. If they contradict what the Bible clearly affirms, they are of course mistaken. That is why it is best to go by the Bible alone and in its entirety. We can do that with the confidence that the Bible is understandable, and must be so for God to justly hold each of us individually responsible to hear and believe what it teaches. This constitutes the tenth proof of the Perspicuity of the Bible.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 1172 for John 5:24.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1193 or in Logos 5 Bible software for John 5:24.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

John 5:24. Verily. ver. Jn 5:19. +Jn 1:51. +*Nu 5:22. +Mt 5:18. +Mk 14:18. He that. T#1119. **Jn 3:16, 18, 36. 6:40, 47. 8:51. *Jn 11:26. 12:44. **Jn 20:31. Mk 16:16. *Ro 10:11-13. **Ro 14:12. 1 P 1:21. **1 J 5:1, 11-13. heareth. +Jn 8:43. 12:37-40. +**Is 55:3. Mt 13:9. +*Mk 4:24. +*Lk 8:18. Ac 3:22. 10:22. Ro 8:17. He 3:7. my word. Gr. logos, Mk 9:32n. believeth. +*Jn 3:16n, Jn 3:36. **Jn 20:31. Ac 10:43. 13:39. +Ac 16:34. Ro 3:28. *Ro 4:5. Ga 3:22. Ep 2:8. 1 Tim 1:16. **1 Tim 4:10. Titus 3:8. He 6:1. *He 10:39. *1 P 1:21. **1 J 5:9-13. that sent me. ver. Jn 5:23, 38. hath. Eternal life is a present possession. ver. Jn 5:26, 39. +Jn 8:12. Lk 10:42. **1 J 5:13. everlasting. Gr. aionios, +Mt 18:8. Jn 3:15, 16. 6:68. **Ro 6:23. and shall not. **Jn 10:27-30. +*Jn 17:6. Ro 5:1, 2, 9. **Ro 8:1, 16, 17, 28-30, 33, 34. **Ep 4:30. 1 Th 5:9. *2 Th 2:13, 14. 1 P 1:5. *Jude 1:24. into condemnation. ver. Jn 5:29. Jn 3:18. **Ro 8:1. Re 20:11-15. but. Mt 18:8. *Col 1:13. *1 J 3:14. is passed. Gr. metabainō (S#3327g, Mt 8:34). FS144C1, +Ge 21:1. *Ps 37:28. Is 45:17. 51:6. Col 1:13. 1 J 3:14. from death. Lk 15:24. Ro 6:13. *Ep 2:1-3. +*James 5:20. 1 J 3:14. unto life. Ps 133:3. Pr 16:22. Ro 6:4. 2 Cor 5:15. Col 1:13. 2:13. 3:3. 2 Tim 1:1, 10. 1 J 3:14. *1 J 5:12.

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One Response to Daily Bible Nugget #306, John 5:24

  1. ken sagely says:

    jn 5.24 Verily,verily, i say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
    that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death to life

    cross ref
    jn 3.16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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