"Life in Himself" - Jesus' claims

"I tell you the truth, the time is coming and has now come when those who are dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  

For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted for the Son to have life in Himself." 

(Jn. 5:25-26).   

A Secret Ingredient

Scientists have recently discovered that it's entirely possible for God to have made man "from the dust of the earth" as the Bible says.  

After all, the average human body, broken down into its elements, is not all that mystical.  You would need enough potassium to fire a toy cannon, enough phosphorus to make 2,200 match heads, carbon to make 900 pencils, fat to make 7 bars of soap, iron to make a 7.5 cm nail, enough water to fill a ten-gallon tank, and enough sulphur to kill all fleas on an average dog.  

The scientist who wishes to create life should be able to purchase all the materials he needs at the local Wal-Mart.  Yet, despite this, cloning remains an extremely delicate operation even today.  Stem-cell research flourishes.  And infertile couples spend tens of thousands of dollars on fertilization procedures or adoption fees.  If we could assemble and activate life from scratch, anybody could make a baby in their backyard shed.  

But, unlike Dr. Frankenstein, a real scientist who assembles the first human body would have nothing to show for his efforts but a clumsy-looking corpse.  Humans can only arrange matter.  We cannot call matter into being, or create life from non-life. 

What does it mean to have "life" in yourself?  

John 5:26 (above) has tremendous weight for our understanding of who Jesus is and what He is capable of doing when we have fellowship with Him through faith. 

Nowhere else in the Bible is it said that someone has "life in himself." That is because only God has life in Himself.  Yet the Son has life in Himself the same way the Father does. 

Life is a gift.  Somebody else's life became yours.  Even the first man, Adam, was not self-existent.  He was dust until God breathed the breath of life into him.  God imparted life into the creation, and as we separate ourselves from Him, we begin to die and gradually return to the dust from which we came.

Jesus' analogy of the vine (John 15), highlights a relationship in which He is the living being and we are merely the "branches."  Cut off from Him, the source of life, we quickly start to die by falling into sin and a meaningless existence. 

In describing who Jesus is, the first words of John's gospel point to the life in Jesus, a theme that resurfaces throughout his writings:  

 

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:4-5

 

The life in Jesus was both physical and spiritual.  Capable of raising the dead bodily, He also gave "light" and life to those who were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.  Where John writes of "light" referring to our reflecting the character of God in His love, mercy, and holiness, he points to the Son as the one and only source of that life.  (I John 1:5-7, 2:9-10, 3:3, 5-6, 5:11-12, John 1:9).

Let’s take a look at how the Bible speaks of Jesus’ ability to give life.  

The Son: Giver of Life

First of all, Jesus giving life to the world is not a passive act.  As the giver of life, Jesus has the authority to decide whom to give life to—whomever He will.  In fact, He is the ONLY source of this life, as whoever does not have Him does not have life.  

"For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will." -John 5:21

"He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son does not have life." I John 5:12

This life is available through faith in the Son.

"For as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness, so the Son of Man shall be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:14-15

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains in him."  John 3:36

"But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."  John 20:31

Paul approaches this idea of God giving life from multiple Persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit.  

"And you... were dead in your trespasses and sins... but God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."  Ephesians 2:1b, 4

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven all your tresspasses."  Colossians 2:13

"So it is written, 'The first Adam became a living soul,' the last Adam, a life-giving spirit." I Corinthians 15:45

"... for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." II Corinthians 3:6b

And, for good measure, here we see all three Persons of the Trinity...

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."  Romans 8:11

To Be Continued...