October 6, 2011
THL 101.03: Fr. Trueman
Word Study: Life (Jn 10,10) In the Gospel of John, there are various uses of the word "life" that pose different meanings. The three main points that John states about life is: Eternal life, the bread of life, and the sacrifice Jesus made in which we, as sinners, need to be obedient and follow his commands so we can be saved. One nuance according to eternal life is, "he who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal," Jn 12:25. A verse that relates to the bread of life is, "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh," Jn 6:51. Another nuance of "life" that is used in this Gospel is, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life but he who does not obey the Son will not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him" Jn 3:36. These being the main shades of meaning in the Gospel of John there are others as well. In John, "life" is used forty-five times in order to depict the each and every meaning the way life is being described as. People who are doing good things in their life believe we're living the perfect life. However, they're mistaken because there is so much more meaning to it. We need to learn to be good in this world to be accepted into the kingdom of heaven, which is what our Savior, Jesus Christ, promised us. Living on earth is like a practice field for the real big game that we will have to take on to have eternal life after we die. Other shades of meaning depicted in the Gospel of John are described in for example, Jn 6:47. John states if you believe in Him you will have eternal life. Our faith is not concrete, it doesn't provide us tangible evidence that the word of God will be fulfilled. We all have the choice to either believe in Him or not. The beauty of life is the free will that we were granted when we were created; we are not forced to believe in Him. Jesus claims he is the bread of life that came down from heave sent from his father. Before he freely accepted to sacrifice himself to save us he celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples. The Last Supper was celebrated so that we can