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JOHN CHAPTER 5
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"I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; He has crossed over from death to life."
[Notice: "whoever....believes" = "pisteuon" = present, active, nominative participle, singular, masculine = "one who is a believer".
Whoever is a believer in God's Word about His Son then as a result of this believing he "has eternal life" = "has life..eternal
"echei zoen aionion" =
"echei" = "has" = present tense possession of eternal life once one becomes a believer, ("pisteuon" = one who is a believer) which duration is forever.
"and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to [eternal] life" =
"has crossed over" ="metabebeken" = 3 pers. sing., PERFECT tense, active, indicative. The perfect tense signifies that he has permanently crossed over from death to eternal life. Notice no deeds are in view, faith alone in Christ alone which results in eternal life. It is permanent not only because of the lasting quality of eternal life, (eternal = forever), once one has possession of it when one believes in Christ, (lit, "pisteuon" = one who is a believer), but it is also permanent because of the perfect tense of the verb "has passed" = "metabebeken", representing an action that was completed in the past with continuing results in the present, i.e., an everlasting concept. The believer has thus completely passed from death to eternal life. The perfect tense has no exact equivalent in English, but it is usually best translated as it is here by using the auxiliary 'has' or 'have', i.e., has passed [completely and permanently] out of death into eternal life. So when one trusts alone in Christ alone he completely passes from death unto eternal life with continuing results forever, especially considering that what he has passed into is eternal in duration]
[Jn 5:25-27]:
(v. 25) "I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
(v. 26) For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
(v. 27) And he has given Him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man."
Verse 24 portrays those who are saved - by a moment of faith in Christ - which then leads into verses 25-27 which prophesy (= "a time is coming") the future time 'when the dead [believers, (v. 24 is in view)] will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."
Believers are in view because of verse 24.
[Compare Rev 20:5-6]:
(v. 5) "(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.
(v. 6) Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years."
(v. 28) "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice.
"Do not be amazed at this" = refers to what our Lord just said in vv. 24-27: re: the those who believed, heard His voice in the grave and were raised to live. Now we another event after this:
["For a time is coming" = "For [another] time is coming = This is the second time Jesus says this and it refers to yet another time in the future, (cf. Rev 20:11-15), after all believers are raised unto eternal, leaving unbelievers in the grave: the Second Resurrection.]
(v. 29) and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."
"Those who have done evil will rise to be condemned" = In the absence of qualifiers to the word, 'evil' this must have all of those who have committed at least one thing of evil in their thoughts, words or deeds. So this includes all in the Second Resurrection = all have done evil.
"Those who have done good will rise to live" = Those who have been as absolutely as good as God is - no evil whatsover because the opposite "those who have done evil" demands a perfect record of righteousness. Since no one can claim to be as righteous as God is, then no one in this category of people in the Second Resurrection'will rise to live'.
[Compare Mt 19:17-18a]:
" 'Why do you ask Me about what is good?' Jesus replied. 'There is only One Who is good. If you want to enter life, 'obey the commandments.' "
"To enter life" = eternal life, signifying that one must obey all of the commandments all of the time.
"Jesus replied, 'There is only One Who is good' " =
Notice that there is only One Who is good, God alone. So no one can be good enough in and of themselves to "rise to live" to eternal life.
[Jn 5:28-29 cont.]:
(v. 28) "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice
(v. 29) and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."
[Compare Rev 20:11-15]:
(v. 11) "Then I saw a great white throne and Him Who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them.
(v. 12) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
[Notice that the Book of Life was opened and apparently not used to judge the dead, for the next statement is that they were judged by the other books. The Book of Life secures eternal life if one's name appears in it at Judgment. Apparently, none of these dead had their name in it at this time so they were judged as the next verses indicate in accordance with what they had done.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 982]:
"The purpose of establishing the Great White Throne is to judge the [wicked] dead. John wrote that "the dead great and small," stood "before the throne." From other Scriptures it seems that all the righteous dead have been raised, (vv. 5-6), including the Old Testament saints, the dead of the Great Tribulation, and the church saints, the body of Christ....
Thus it may be assumed that Rev 20 verses 11-15 [which come after this in time] refer to the judgment of the wicked dead, who according to verse 5 would not be resurrected until after the thousand years and will have no part in what is called 'the first resurrection.' "]
(v. 13) The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
[Hades is a literal place where unsaved were held in the 'torments' compartment until the time of this final judgment. Hades also had a compartment called 'paradise' or 'Abraham's Bosom' which held the saved until our Lord was resurrected and came to take them to heaven, (Lk 16:19:31). So the 'Paradise' compartment of Hades was empty at this time of the Great White Throne Judgment. But not empty was the torments compartment of Hades]:
(v. 14) Then death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death.
[Recall that in Rev 20:6 it indicates that the "second death" had no power over those who were resurrected before the millennium, (Rev 20:4-6), so believers are not part of the Great White Throne Judgment since those being judged now will all partake of the second death, the Lake of Fire]
(v. 15) If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire."
[The "book of Life" or the 'Lamb's Book of Life', (Rev. 4:27), is a book in which all individuals have their names written in at physical conception even before birth. Those individuals then have an opportunity to trust alone in God's plan of redemption - His Son the Messiah Jesus Christ - from the time in their lives when God decides to hold them accountable for deciding until the moment of their physical death. At the moment of an individual's death if that person never accepted Christ as Savior at any time in their decision-making life then their name is "blotted out of the book of life", (Ps 69:27-28). The prophet Daniel wrote of the deliverance from judgment of those Jews living in the time of the Tribulation who have trusted in the Messiah Jesus Christ:
[Dan 12:1]:
"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. [The Tribulation] But at that time your [Daniel's] people [the Jews] everyone [of the Jews - other Scripture refers to Gentiles also] whose name is found written in the book [everyone of the Jews who has trusted in Christ as Savior] - will be delivered. [= will be delivered from physical death and from being cast into the Lake of Fire, (Ref. Rev 19:21)]."
This doctrine of the book of life supports the doctrine of eternal security, (once saved always saved), because one's name would only be written in one time and then blotted out one time - never repeatedly written in and blotted out as one kept repenting and crucifying Christ all over again].
So all those who were not written in the Book of Life were judged in accordance with their works. Since no one has led a perfectly righteous life, those in this particular judgment = all unbelievers of all ages will all be found short of qualifying for entrance into heaven and will instead be sent to the Lake of Fire.