(_a._) From the passages in which it is spoken of as something to be obtained by one’s own efforts, as (Matt. 19:16) when the young man asks of Jesus what good thing he shall do that he may have eternal life, and Jesus replies that he must keep the commandments, give his possessions to the poor, and come and follow him. Certainly that was not the method to obtain an endless existence, but it was the true preparation for receiving spiritual good. So Jesus tells Peter (Mark 10:30) that those who make sacrifices for the sake of truth shall receive temporal rewards “in this time;” and “in the coming age eternal life” (“ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τῷ ἐρχομένῳ ζωὴν αἰώνιον”). The coming age is the age of the Messiah, when the gift of the Holy Ghost should be bestowed. (_b._) Passages in which eternal life is spoken of as a present possession, not a future expectation. (John 3:36.) “He that believeth on the Son _hath_ (ἔχει) eternal life.” So John 6:47, 54, &c. (_c._) Passages in which eternal life is defined expressly as a state of the soul. (John 17:3.) “This is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,” &c. So (Gal. 6:8) it is represented as the natural result of “sowing to the Spirit;” (Rom. 2:7) of “patient continuance in well-doing;” as “the gift of God” (Rom. 6:23); as something which we “lay hold of” (1 Tim. 6:12, 19). This view of “eternal life” is taken by all the best critics. Professor Hovey thus sums up their testimony:—(33) “On a certain occasion, Christ pronounced it necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up, ‘that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but _have eternal life_’ (John 3:15)—ἔχῃ ζωήν αἰώνιον. Ζωὴν αἰώνιον, says Meyer, who is, perhaps, the best commentator on the New Testament, of modern times, ‘signifies the eternal Messianic life, which, however, the believer already possesses—ἔχῃ—in this αἰὼν, that is, in the temporal development of that moral and blessed life which is independent of death, and which will culminate in perfection and glory at the coming of Christ.’ And Lücke, whose commentary on the Gospel of John is one of the most thorough and attractive in the German language, says that the ζωὴ αἰώνιος, which is the exact opposite of ἀπώλεια (destruction), or θάνατος (death), is the sum of Messianic blessedness. It is plain, we think, that the life here spoken of as the present possession of every believer in Christ is more than endless existence; it is life in the fullest and highest sense of the word, the free, holy, and blessed action of the whole man, that is to say, the proper, normal living of a rational and moral being. The germ, the principle of this life, exists in the heart of every believer; it is a present possession. ‘Whosoever,’ says Christ, ‘drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a