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Does John 5:24 Teach One Must Continue in Belief to Have Eternal Life?

John 5:24 (NASB95)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

 

Some people argue that in John 5:24, because the word “believes” (pisteuo) is in the “present active tense it means the one who is believing.” And from this, they argue that one must continue in belief and faith in order to have eternal life. However, this is a gross misunderstanding of the Greek language.

 

In John 5:24, he who “hears” and “believes” are both in the Present tense form. And it’s from this that the claim is made, that like in our English language today, the present tense means a continuous action. If that’s the case, there is a big problem, once we carry that syntactical understanding to other verses.

 

John 5:21

“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.

 

In John 5:21, “raises” and “gives them life” is also in the Present tense. So if we carry the claimed understanding from verse 24 here, it would mean that God is continuously raising and continuously giving people life. That makes no sense.

 

John 5:25

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

 

In verse 25, “I say” is in the Present tense, so again, let’s carry the claimed understanding here as well. If we do that, then it means Jesus is continuously saying “an hour is coming and now is.” Is Jesus on repeat here, since He’s continuously saying that?

 

Matthew 27:38

At that time two robbers *were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.

 

If we fast-forward in time to the crucifixion of Jesus, we read that two robbers “were crucified” with Jesus. The phrase “were crucified” is written in the Present tense. So, let’s again carry forward our faulty understanding of the Greek Present tense. If we do just that, we will read that these two robbers are continuously being crucified. Is that the case? Are they continuously being crucified, let go, then crucified again? Of course not!

 

This just goes to show the misunderstanding of the Greek Present tense, and how when we carry our Western, English speaking grammatical rules to the Greek, we will misunderstand the language every time.

 

In regard to Greek verb tenses, the primary focus is on the “aspect” not the “time” or “duration” of the verb. However, if the verb is in the Indicative mood, it can be time-specific, but that is a secondary focus, with the primary still being the aspect.

 

In John 5:24, “believes” (pisteuo) is a Present tense, Active voice, Participle mood; therefore time is not necessarily relevant because it’s not in the Indicative mood. And since the Participle pisteuo has an article attached to it, it makes it a substantival participle, which means this verb functions as a noun.

 

In other words, as opposed to “believing” being something someone is doing, “believing” is something by which someone is being identified as; “the believer” or “the believing one”.

 

In this same verse, the one who “hears”, is also a Present, Active, Participle, and since it too has an article with it as well, it functions as a noun, just like pisteuo. And therefore, “he who hears” is understood as “the hearing one”. Because both of these Participles have definite articles, they are substantival, and they both function as nouns rather than verbs. Therefore, this verse cannot be as saying one must continue in belief to have eternal life, because the very words they are claiming prove a continuous action are acting as nouns in the Greek.

 

Before I go further, I must point one more thing out for those who still want to argue that continuous believing is meant in John 5:24. As I mention above, not only is “believing” Present tense, but so too is the “one who hears” in the Present tense. Therefore, if we are consistent in our argument, we must say that not only is continuing in belief required for eternal life, but also continuing in hearing is required for eternal life, since it’s also in the Present tense, in the same exact verse. But no one would dare argue that is necessary for eternal life, which goes to show how inconsistent they are in their hermeneutic.

 

I digress.

 

Continuing on, the hearing one and believing one “has eternal life.” Regarding the phrase (has eternal life) the word “has” (echo) is in the Present tense, Active voice, Indicative mood, and, as mentioned above, since it’s Indicative, it can be time-specific, and show progression or be continuous. But in the Greek, it can also be a contemporaneous action of the main verb. Regardless of which time in view is argued for in the Present Indicative, the Present tense in the Greek means it’s written from the perspective of the author (i.e., aspect). Therefore, in this case, “has”, being in Present tense, Indicative mood, is in the perspective of the author, who is saying the hearer and believer has eternal life. Supporting the view of eternal security.

 

However, if a Conditionalist still continues to argue that this verse is meaning one must “continue believing” in order to have eternal life, the phrase at the end of this verse, “has passed” dismantles their argument. The phrase “has passed” (metabaino) is Perfect tense, Indicative mood. Being a statement of fact (Indicative), the Perfect tense indicates the action has been completed. Therefore, at the moment of belief, the individual has passed “from death to life” because they received eternal life.

 

Contrary to what Conditionalist like to claim, Free Grace does seek to exegete the Scripture from the syntactical level of the Greek language. And when we understand how the Greek language actually works and stop bringing our English-syntactical rules into the verse, we see quite clearly that the Greek does in fact support eternal security, or as I like to call it, Security of the Saints (the S in LOTUS), exactly as Jesus promised, and the apostle John penned, in John 5:24.

 

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