What is "Eternal Life?"

Most of us might consider "Eternal life" what happens to us after we die---we continue to live somewhere "eternally."  But the Greeks, thank God, seemed to have a more precise language--at least for the philosophical realm---than we do in English.  The New Testament makes a distinction between zoe (eternal life) and bios (physical life).

The night before his death, Jesus told his disciples:  Because I live, you will live also.  Clearly, He was not speaking about physical life, but about the essence of life---life itself, the life that death cannot harm or destroy.  The early Christians, before they were called "Christian," called themselves "the living" (hoi zontes in Greek.)  They had found indestructible life, life eternal.

Jesus even told us, in His last prayer, how we might grasp "eternal life:"

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (Jn. 17:3).

"Knowing" in biblical terms, means not head knowledge, but heart knowledge, even physical union:  Adam "knew" Eve, and she conceived a son.  "Knowing" means clinging to, being united to, embracing.....

We "have" eternal life because we are united to, clinging to, holding onto the One Who alone IS zoe, Life itself.  That does not necessarily mean we are "good Christians" and deserve eternal life, but only that we are poor shipwrecked people clinging to a Rock.  If we cling to Him, He is faithful to help us.  If we embrace His feet, as did Mary Magdalene, He is compassionate toward our helplessness.  If we refuse to let go of Him, He will bring us to where He is.

Jesus told Martha:  anyone who believes/trusts in Me shall never die---even if he dies, he will live.   The darkness cannot overcome eternal Light; death cannot overcome eternal Life.  And we can embrace this Life even before we physically die, if we "know" the One Whom God has sent.