The Eternal Life Series offers a look at eternal life based on John 17:3 and related New Testament scriptures.
Most or all of the New Testament was written in Greek, so Bible students often dissect scripture by minutely examining Greek words and philosophies. This is natural for Americans because the American education and culture is based on Greek ways of thought.
However, Jesus probably taught mostly in Hebrew, with some of his teachings in Aramaic. Jesus and his followers were well educated in the Hebrew Old Testament. For the first couple of decades after his death, the followers of Jesus were mostly practicing Jews. It seems likely that a better understanding of the teachings of Jesus can be attained by looking at them through a Jewish cultural viewpoint and a better understanding of Hebrew words.
The impetus for this series were some of the episodes of the Bema Discipleship podcast, along with personal study times with Hebrew experts Elle Grove Fricks and Brad H. Young. Working with them, we developed a dictionary of some Hebrew words that you can find in Reference 7 of the Reference section of this website.
Although each episode in this series can be approached individually, the Eternal Life Series is written for viewers to watch all of the episodes in the order in which they are presented.
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The previous 15 episodes of the Eternal Life Series discuss eternal life and how to live it. This episode is a quick summary of some key points of those episodes.
Paul informed that Jesus taught in Hebrew, although the New Testament was written in Greek. He reminded us modern westerners have a different world view than the original recipients of the Bible.
Nicodemus spoke of the origins of the synagogue and how it became the center for Jewish social life and the source of the widespread understanding and obedience to Torah.
The Apostle John reminded viewers of Jesus’s definition of eternal life as found in his prayer of John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” According to this definition, eternal life is a relationship with God and Jesus.
Moses talked of how God is a friend of his followers. Bernice talked of the choice of being a subject in God’s kingdom or a subject in other kingdoms. The traveler from the story of the Good Samaritan told of God’s unfathomable mercy and grace.
