Introduction

God existed in eternity past, and He will exist forever. God had no beginning and will have no end. He is eternal life and has always existed.  God is not subject to time – He invented time and has always existed apart from time.  We, as believers in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, have been given everlasting life from God at the moment of salvation. This fact is presented in 1 John 5:11-12 and John 10:28-29. This means that we had a beginning, but we are given everlasting life permanently after salvation and will be with Jesus Christ forever. God had no beginning and will have no end as presented in John 3:16.  Therefore, God is the only being to possess eternal life.  But He is more than that, He is eternal life.

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (1 John 5:11-12)

“And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God is spirit as in John 4:24.  God is perfect self-existence and is absolutely self-sustaining and independent from any other being. He is absolute existence. God exists eternally unsustained either by Himself or by any other source.  God is the cause of all existence outside of Himself, but there is no cause for Himself.

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:58)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

“Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:13)

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17)

“Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable. (Job 36:26)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1‑5)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8)

God Is Spiritual Life

God is not made up of matter as we are. He is invisible yet possesses real life.  God is not only eternal life, but He is also spiritual life as in John 4:24.  No one can receive spiritual life until they believe in Christ.  If we have everlasting life at the moment of salvation, we develop our spiritual life through the consistent learning and applying of Bible doctrine to our lives. Our spiritual life depends on how consistent we follow God’s mandates for us to learn Bible doctrine and by applying it to our lives, we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)  

The Relationship Of God’s Eternity To Time

The eternity of God means that God has always existed. God is the cause of time as in Deuteronomy 32:40, Psalm 90:2, Psalm 102:27, and Ephesians 1:4. Before God invented time, He always existed. Billions of years before He created the angels and mankind, He eternally existed. This attribute of God is difficult for mankind to grasp as we have finite frames of reference and finite minds. How do we measure the immeasurable? Time was designed by God in eternity past for man's convenience and so we could orient to our life in the simplest possible way.

“Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, as I live forever,” (Deuteronomy 32:40)

Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (Psalm 90:2)

“But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” (Psalm 102:27)

Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love (Ephesians 1:4)

God is not in time, but time is in God and subject to God.  God created the universe on which time and space are constructed.  God transcends all creation. Although without substance, both time and space are objects of God's creation.  Time is finite and has succession and duration. It began at a point of God’s choosing and will end at a point of God’s choosing.  In contrast, eternity, which is infinite, has duration only.  The difficulty with human frames of reference is that we cannot fully understand the infinite. Therefore, we have trouble fully understanding the concept or eternal life because all that we see or understand apart from God in finite.   

The Imputation Of God’s Eternal Life To The Believer

God has always lived as in Jeremiah 10:10 and 1 Thessalonians 1:9.  God does not merely possess life. God is life.  Each member of the Trinity has eternal life, infinite life, and spiritual life. God imputes His very own eternal life to the believer through Jesus Christ as the only Savior. This is seen in John 6:47 and 1 John 5:11-13.

But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. (Jeremiah 10:10)

For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” (John 6:47)

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)

The imputation of eternal life is one of the 40 things that God does for any person at the moment of faith in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit creates in us a human spirit as the target for the imputation of God’s perfect eternal life.  When we are physical born, the life we possess is human life or soul life.  This human life or soul life is imputed to us from God at birth when we take our first breath.  Eternal life is given to us when we are spiritually born again - the new birth. This is why we must be born again. 

The unbeliever does not have the life of God. The unbeliever has only soul life created by God and given to every member of the human race at birth.  Soul life means the human soul will live forever.  The issue is where the soul will reside forever – in heaven with God or in hell apart from God as stated in John 3:36. To receive the eternal life of God, you must believe in the substitutionary spiritual death of the Lord Jesus Christ. This in the only path to everlasting life.

“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.” (John 3:36)