THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE

John 17:1-3—Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” 

 At the conclusion of the Last Supper, Our Lord commenced what has become known as the Upper Room Discourse in John 13-17. Dr. L.S. Chafer contends that the intended audience of this discourse is different than the Sermon on the Mount or the Olivet Discourse, outlining that its content was “that form of doctrine which belongs only to the Church in the present age.”1 He maintains that it “is the seed plot of all grace teachings...and is the foundation of that which constitutes the positions, possessions, and privileges of the Christian.”2

Turning our attention particularly to the 17^th chapter, known as the Great Intercessory Prayer of the Son of God, Our Lord’s prayer is directed to the Father concerned His work on the Cross, which He was about to undertake, and of His disciples, then and through the ages, that they would be kept from the evil one (vs. 15) and set apart by the Word of Truth (vs. 17).

In verse 2, Jesus proclaims that the Father has given Him “authority over all flesh (mankind)” so that He (Jesus Christ) may give them eternal life. For He is the personification of “the eternal life, which was with the Father”, as declared by John in 1 John 1:2.

In order to provide eternal life to all mankind, He would submit to the humiliation of crucifixion, sacrificing Himself for the atonement of all the sins of mankind (1 John 2:2). This fulfilled the righteous demands of the Father that resulted in “justification of life to all men” (Romans 5:18ff). This “life to all men” is what Our Lord freely gives to those who believe in Him as stated by John, along with a cautionary note:

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

It should be established that ‘eternal life’ is being saved from the eternal wrath of God. It is attained by faith alone in Jesus Christ in response to the gospel of salvation. The Apostle Paul gave the most concise gospel presentation in Acts 16:31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...” And the Apostle Peter boldly proclaimed this also before Annas, the high priest:

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Most Christians believe that eternal life simply means that we are going to heaven after death instead of the eternal punishment of Hell. However in verse 3, Jesus described eternal life not “in chronological terms [after one dies] but by a relationship.”3 This is conveyed by the Greek appositional phrase “that they may know You.” It is a grammatical usage employed frequently by John in his writings and can be translated: “This is eternal life, namely, that they may know You”4—You meaning God the Father. But unfortunately not knowing God is something which impedes the believers’ spiritual advancement. J.I. Packer astutely observed this over 40 years ago and it’s still true today:

Ignorance of God—ignorance of both of His ways and of the practice of communion with Him—lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today.5

Dr. Merrill Tenney explains further:

For the complete fulfillment of our being, we must know God. This, said Jesus, constitutes eternal life. Not only is it endless, since the knowledge of God would require an eternity to develop fully, but qualitatively it must exist in an eternal dimension.6

Love and Fellowship

So what exactly is this relationship with the Father that defines eternal life as knowing Him? The answer to this should produce a desire in every believer to seek and experience this relationship which is fundamental for understanding the true significance of their existence.

First, this is a love relationship that we have with God the Father—the foundational component for knowing God. Our personal love for God the Father should be our appropriate response to the love He has demonstrated to us. This is supported by the Apostle Paul:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8; cf. 1 John 4:19)

Hence, our response should comply in the manner which Our Lord instructed:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5)

This describes the love relationship as being a mental attitude of love emanating from our heart, soul and a mind—our whole being. To accomplish this, the Apostle Paul advises that we “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2a). This is a life-long process that involves the study of God’s Word to gain the knowledge of God (2 Peter 1:3; cf. Ephesians 4:13).

Second, this relationship is described as having fellowship with all three members of the Godhead: “with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3) and with the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14; cf. Galatians 5:16, 25). The Greek word for ‘fellowship’ implies “an association involving close mutual relations and involvement.”7 This means that we participate or share in common all the endeavors of God.

Our fellowship with God is based upon the love relationship as John described:

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

But note also, the effectiveness of our fellowship is conditioned on keeping His commandments as proof that we love Him: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”(John 14:15). We are able to learn His commandments by the teaching of the Holy Spirit of truth who “abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:17)—for “He will teach you all things” (John 14:26).

Our Lord proclaimed the results of keeping His word:

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:23)

Making “Our abode with him” is the quintessence of fellowship with the Godhead, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, indwelling the believer. This is the Divine essence of eternal life—the eternal love relationship with our Creator, as intended by the God of the universe for all mankind.

A question for those of you who believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior: Do you strive to achieve this relationship of love and fellowship with God in your daily lives? I encourage you to do so, in order to secure the present and eternal reward of knowing God.

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[1] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 5.140.

[2] Chafer, 5.141.

[3] Tenney, Merrill (1979). John, In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Gaebelein, Frank E., Gen. Ed.), Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 9.162.

[4] Wallace, D. B. (1996) Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, p. 475. Also, Dana, H.E. & Mantey, Julius R. (1957). A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Toronto, Ontario: Macmillan Co., p. 249.

[5] Packer, J.I. (1977), Knowing God, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, p. 6.

[6] Tenney, 9.162.

[7] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.). New York: United Bible Societies, 1.445.

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi
 

SAINT NICHOLAS vs. SANTA CLAUS

It is December and Christmastime is upon us again. The Western culture, in which we in the United States are a part, has become consumed with the celebration of Christmas Day, the 25^th of December. The original meaning of this day was the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. According to Catholic tradition, the name “Christmas”  “is derived from the Old English Cristes Maesse or Cristes-messe, meaning the Mass of Christ,”1 or Christ’s Mass and thus shortened to its present form.

But the culture we live in today has largely supplanted the celebration of Christ’s birth with a variety of ‘reasons for the season’: the season of giving, festivities and most notably a figure that has come to be known as Santa Claus.

So it would be beneficial for all Christians to understand the origin of Santa and the noble man whose life was morphed into one of the greatest distractions of the Christmas season: Nicholas of Myra, reckoned by the Roman Church as Saint Nicholas and commemorated on December 6^th. It is doubtful that Nicholas would ever have wanted to be thrust into the role of displacing the birth of our Savior and the demise of the true meaning of Christmas.

The Real St. Nicholas

The man known as Saint Nicholas was born in 270 A.D. and died in 343 A.D.  He was an early Christian bishop of Myra, a maritime city in Asia Minor, now modern-day Demre, Turkey. The Apostle Paul landed there and changed ships during his fateful journey to Rome (Acts 27:5). It is alleged that Paul evangelized many who believed in Christ, and that “two centuries later Nicholas would be born to descendants of those converts.”2 History records that his parents died when he was a young man and left him an inheritance. He resolved to use his good fortune by dedicating himself to works of charity.3

The clerical account of Nicholas discloses that he became bishop of Myra at a young age; that during Diocletian’s Great Persecutions in the early 4^th Century, he suffered imprisonment and torture for his faith and eventually was released; in 325 A.D. he attended the First Council of Nicaea, where the technical doctrine of Christology was discussed as to the divine nature of Jesus Christ and His relationship with God the Father.

The legends surrounding Nicholas are the basis for establishing his generosity which has led to the present day persona of Santa Claus. He allegedly set free three officers who were unjustly imprisoned; during the night, he clandestinely provided dowries for three poor girls who were destined to be unmarried and forced into prostitution; and he was able to save three innocent youths condemned to death.4 These purported deeds were documented six centuries after his death in an 11^th Century manuscript, being the oldest written reference of Nicholas.5 

How St. Nicholas was Transformed into Santa Claus

Because of Nicholas’ legendary deeds, he was venerated by the European countries and became known by various derivations of his name. The Dutch, as early as the 4^th Century honored St. Nicholas on December 6 and called him Sinterklaas or Sint-Nicolaas.

Then, between the 5^th - 6^th Centuries, the Germanic people celebrated a mid-winter festival called Yule (later became Yuletide in the late 15^th Century). This pagan celebration was in honor of the god Odin (Wodan), a gift-giver, who wore a long white beard and rode at night on an eight-footed horse, Sleipnir. Wodan’s physical appearance is believed to have influenced the modern day characteristics of Santa Claus—the white beard and the eight reindeer.6

In 17^th Century England, after the English Civil War (1642-1651), the satirical publication The Vindication of Christmas by poet John Taylor introduced the character ‘Christmas', illustrated as an old bearded man in a brimmed hat, a long open robe and undersleeves.7 This figure would later become known as Father Christmas and would be venerated along with other British folklore notables: the legend of King Arthur, Robin Hood and the Green Man. By the 17^th Century, Father Christmas emerged as a symbol of feasting and good cheer. But by the mid-19^th Century, Father Christmas began to take on the same characteristics as the American Santa Claus.

In the United States during the 19^th Century, the character of Santa Claus was being developed further. Beginning with Clement Moore’s 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, known more familiarly as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, he is seen wearing a red coat, a long white beard and employs elves to make toys for all the ‘good girls and boys.’ On Christmas Eve, he rides through the night in a sleigh drawn by 8 reindeer; stopping at each house, he slides down the chimney, depositing toys under the Christmas tree. And in 1866, Thomas Nast, an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly magazine, added Santa’s address as the North Pole.

St. Nicholas, Santa Claus and Jesus Christ

There is a singular similarity between the real-life Nicholas and Jesus Christ: they both were gift-givers. Unbeknown to a large majority of our culture today, the figure of Santa Claus (and all other noted gift-givers) “is a corruption of St. Nicholas.”8 This corruption may have come to pass by design and not by chance. The name Santa itself may provide an answer—for ‘Santa’ is an anagram of Satan. It is a diabolical drive to erase Christ from Christmas, to the extent that many times the word is spelled: Xmas. This advanced the campaigns to “Keep Christ in Christmas” and “Jesus is the real reason for the season.”

But those who desire to rid Christ from Christmas and spell it ‘Xmas’, little do they know that they have unwittingly provided a Biblical talking point. If you remember when algebra was taught in school, that ‘X’ was the unknown factor. It is a tacit admission by those who embrace ‘Xmas’ that they do not know Jesus Christ. Therefore, a door is wide open for believers’ to introduce to unbelievers Jesus Christ, the gift-giver of eternal life.

Reversing History

The only way to reverse the distortion of Christmas that transposes St. Nicholas into Santa Claus is by knowing the truth and teaching it to our families, especially to our children. We must explain that Santa represents the real-life Nicholas of Myra, who believed in Jesus Christ as his Savior and demonstrated Christ’s grace giving to others by his personal interventions and the surrendering of his wealth. And then clearly reveal that gift-giving at Christmas exemplifies the supreme gift from God of His own Son, Jesus Christ; that with the birth of the Christ child and His grace gift of salvation, purchased by His death on the cross where He endured the punishment for our sins, so “That man will live forevermore, because of Christmas Day.”9 And finally, make the gospel crystal clear; that salvation is simply to “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31, cf. Ephesians 2:8-9). For God desires all to be saved and to know the truth of the true significance of their existence (1 Timothy 2:4).

In the midst of a culture driven by fads, trends and secular dictates, are we rising above these distractions and “contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3) or are we going with the flow of the godless traditions of ungodly men? Observe the Apostle Paul’s directive:

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

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[1] Smith, C. “Christmas and Its Cycle” (1967), In New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 3.655.

[2] Wheeler, Joe (2010). Saint Nicholas, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, pp. 1-2.

[3] Thurston, Herbert J. S & Attwater, Donald, Eds. (1990). Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 4.504.

[4] Thurston, pp. 503-506.

[5] Gibson, A.G. “St. Nicholas of Myra” (2003), In New Catholic Encyclopedia. Detroit, MI: Thomson/Gale, 10.377-378.

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus [Retrieved November 11, 2023]

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas [Retrieved November 11, 2023]

[8] Hoever, Hugo, Ed. (1955). Lives of the Saints, New York, NY: Catholic Book Publishing, p. 480.

[9] Lyrics by Jester Hairston, Mary’s Boy Child © Bourne Co. (1956).  

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi