This eternal life, with its divine course and its vic- torious power, finds its ground in the communion of life with Christ, which is the result of faith. For wiiile God as the absolute being is He whose life is "of himself" (Jolin vi, 57), and is Himself "eternal life" (1 Jolm v, 20), the source of all life, yet the communi- cation of life to the world, i. e. to mankind, has from the beginning, even before time began (John viii, 56), been irrevocal)ly vested in the Son. He is the XoyoQ (word) as well in his relation to God as in his relation to the world. He has received the fulness of divine life from the Father ia such a manner tiiat it behjngs to him as thoroughl}' his (John v, 26; 1 John v, 11). Now, inasmuch as the Logos became flesh, the eternal life, which was of God, became manifested in him. It is, in the next place, the revealed light of life. Christ, in his relation to the world, is therefore as well o Aoyof ri'j(: ^c-JJ)? as i) 'Cio)) (1 John i, 1, 2 ; John i, 3, 4 ; vi, 53 sq. ; xiv, 6) ; in one word, the really sole source of life, the universal principle of life in the world, both spir- itual and material (John v, 21-29 ; x, 9, 28 ; xi, 25 ; xiv, 19 ; vi, 27, 35, 39, 63 ; vii, 38, 39). From this it is easily seen how eternal life is designated in the N. T. as the command of the Father, the knowledge of God and of Christ, or also as the commandment of Christ (John xii, 50; comp. viii, 51 ; xvii, 3; 1 John ii, 25; iii, 14, 15 ; comp. John xii, 25).
Confirmations of this view, by which the Z,it)r) comes to occupy the first place in the plan of salvation in Christ, are to be found in numerous passages of the N. T. Christ is represented as the ever-living (Rev. i, 18), the opx'/yc t'/C iioFjg (Acts iii, 15), the X(3-oe Zmv, by virtue of whom those who follow him become Xi'^ot <^ujvT((j, living stones (1 Pet. ii, 4, 5). In 1 Pet. iii, 7 (comp. iv, 6) we read of a ic\i]poi'Oi.ua x«()(7-og ^loiiQ, and in the apocalyptic description of the heav- enly Jerusalem we still read of a ■n-oraj.ivg veciTOt: toji/c (river of the water of life) which flows from the throne of God and of tlie Laml), as also of a '^vXov ^(tii/f (tree of life) by the shores of the stream (Rev. xxii, 1, 2, 14, 19 ; ii, 7). See the different interjiretations given to Jolin's ^w>y uImvioq in KaeufFer, De hlbl. 'l,. a. noiione, p. 22.
II. Ilistnrii of the Doctrine. — 1. The Talmudists speak only of the N3!l Cl^ir, in which all Israelites have part, but nowhere of an eternal life ; while the Targumists make use of the expression, for instance, in Lev. xviii, 5. , 2. It was long before even the Christian Church
was able to understand the full scope of the idea, in early times the 'Coji] aiwrioQ (eternal life) was repre- sented only as future happiness, to lie fullj' accom- plished only after the resurrection and the judgment of the world. Irenseus {(tdv. Iher. i, c. 10) states what the per universum orbem usque ad fines terra; semi- nata ecclesia (the Church dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth) believes on this point, the rediturum- — ut justis et Sanctis — in- carru|)tibilem statum largiatur ct vitam a;ternam tri- liuat (coming of Christ to confer eternal life ujion the righteous and holy). So also Tertullian {I)e prascr. llaret. c. xiii). Augustine {De Sp. et Lit. c. xxiv): " Cum venerit, quod perfectum est, tunc erit vita aeter- na ; it is totum prtemium, cujus promissione gaude- mus" (that is, the complete reward, in the promise of which we joj') {De morib. eccl. caih. p. 25 ; De Trin. i, 13 ; Eiickir. § 29, etc. Basil {Enarr. Psalm xiv) connects it with the eternal membership of heaven. The Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed end the enumeration of their articles of faith with the dogma concerning eternal life as emanating from God, the ab- solute cause, and represent it as the final object of all ordained development (Const. Apost. vii, 41). John of Damascus, at the end of his OrthoJ.JiJ., where he treats of the resurrection, says expressly, auovioQ ^wfj TO ciTtKtvTaTov Tov j^ieWovTOQ alwvoc o?/\ot" oiiSe yccp ftSTii T))v civcKTTaun' I'li^dpatc Kai vv^h> u xpovog apiSr- l^iri^tjaerac tan St, ^tciWov jda yj-ispa dviaTrtpoc, tov I'lXtov Tijg SiKaioain'r]c Tolg StKaioii; (paiSpug tTTiXc'ifi- TTOi'Toc. Even when the fathers speak of Christ as the c^o))) thej' refer almost exclusively to the impart- ing of future blessedness : Cyril of Alexandria and Ammonius (Catena on John artV, 6), Gregory Nazian- zenus (Orat. 10, c. Eimom.). At all events, thej' call the assurance of life resting on communion with Christ merely Zioi), >) Kvpiov Lwi), but not sw?) ati!j7'ioc. Yet occasionallj' they touch upon nearly all the questions connected with that point, without, liowever, arriving at any definite sj'stem of doctrine. In their descrip- tion of the state of the blessed they mention as the most ini])ortant points its endless duration, freedom from evil, and absolute satisfaction. The latter was sometimes defined as complete knowledge, perfect moral liberty, inner and outer peace, or immediate in- tercourse with God and tlie saints, together with per- sonal reunion with those who have preceded us ; or, again, as the contemplation of God, as the fulfilment of all human desire, or as several of these different points together. The Jinis desiderwrmn nostra) um is God himself, qui sine Jine videhitvr, sine fastklio ama- hitur, sive fatigaiione landabitur (Justin, Apol. i, 8 ; Or- ig&n^ Deprinc. iii, 318, 321 ; Cyprian, De mortal. [1726], p. 166 ; Greg. Naz. Orat. xvi,' 9 ; viii, 23 ; Greg. Nyss, Orat. fvn. de Placilla et Orat. de ]\J<rtms ; Basil, Horn. vi in Hexa'em. et Horn, in Psa. cxiv ; August. De civ. Dei, xxii, 29, 30 ; Chrysost. Horn, xiv in Ep. ad Rom. ; Ambros. in Gal. vi ; Cassiodor. De anima, c. xii). The idea of diff'erent degrees of felicity in future life, as diflTerences of reward, was widely prevalent, without, however, making it lose its character as (/rvtia- pro gratia (grace for grace) (August. Tract, xiii in John ; Theodoret on Rom. vi, 23, and iu Cantiaim i). Accord- ing to the u'£,ia (desert) of every one, there are TroXXai H^(oj/(n'r(Dv viafopai, fia^poi ttoXXoi and ji'tTpa (Orig. i, 1, 2, 11 ; Greg. Naz. Orat. xxvii, 8 ; xiv, 5 ; xix, 7 ; xxxii, 33 ; Basil in Eiinom. i, 3 ; August. De Civ. Dei, xxii, .30, 2; Hieron. ad. Jov. 2). The fathers say also very positively that the joys of heaven cannot lie de- scril)edin words, and human imagination can o'nl^'form an approximative idea of them. So Greg. Nyss. (Orat. Catech. c. xl), " Bona vitaj teternte tam multa sunt ut numerum, tam magna ut mensuram, tam pretiosa ut festimationem omnem excedant" (August. Z^e tripl.hor- Ut. c. i, Covf. Orth.).