HARMONY WITH GOD Part 3 of 3 by Zane C. Hodges - Chafer ...

Harmony with God 33
impossible to believe that he thought of it as a condition for eternal
life.
Our review of the relevant Scriptures fully supports this
deduction. Repentance is never presented in the New Testament as
a condition for eternal life. Yet at the same time, repentance is an
important theme in the Bible and, as part of God’s revelation to
man, we are called upon to preach it.
But our consideration of these passages, and of related
themes like forgiveness of sins, gives us a new appreciation for the
technique used by the Fourth Gospel. Let us think about this before
we conclude this article.
The Simple Gospel
What emerges from our study is the realization that the
Gospel of John is a presentation of the simple gospel of Jesus
Christ. John deliberately avoids the many possible complications
that can sometimes cloud the simplicity of God’s offer of life. He
is wisely content to focus on the core issue, which is: How can a
person know that he possesses eternal life and that he will never
perish under God’s judgment?
As we have seen, the failure to possess eternal life is the basis
upon which men and women will be condemned to eternal hell
(Revelation 20:15). This means that eternal life is the critical
consideration. How then can one possess it? The answer is the
simple one given in the words of Jesus, who said, Most assuredly, I
say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life (John 6:47).
This is a theme John articulates over and over again, using mainly
the words of our Lord Himself to do so.
Precisely because of his focus on the core issue of the gospel,
John has nothing to say either about repentance or about the
subject of an individual’s experience of forgiveness. It should be
evident that, even in John’s day, which was by no means free from