The Nature of Eternal Life and Knowing God Intimately
Question: On Wednesday, you touched on the unique messianic expectations of first century Judea. On Tuesday, you answered my previous question very well concerning John 17:3, concluding that Jesus spoke these words in the third person under the umbrella of the kingdom pattern, noting that we should be careful not to shoehorn this text into the Pauline pattern. My deeper question is to explore "this is eternal life.’’ Is there a dispensational difference in the qualitative definition of eternal life, earthly versus heavenly? Is there a qualitative difference in what it means to "know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent’’ in John 17:3? As believers living under the Pauline pattern, is our peace in knowing God intimately, or is it more simply being known more intimately by God? I feel I'm surrounded by evangelicals who in the meekest way are so proud of the deeply intimate relationship they have achieved with God. Can a mortal know God intimately? Emphasis on intimately.
John 17:3 declares:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’’
In its immediate context this is spoken within the kingdom framework of John’s Gospel and Israel’s messianic expectations. It should not be read as a direct, technical definition of Pauline salvation doctrine. Nonetheless, it reveals something true and enduring: eternal life is inseparably bound up with the knowledge of God and of His Messiah.
Qualitative nature of eternal life
Eternal life is more than endless duration. It is a mode of existence characterized by fellowship with God. The question is whether there is a dispensational difference in the qualitative nature of that life—earthly kingdom life versus heavenly life in the body of Christ.
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Believers in this age who have died in Christ presently experience conscious life with Him, though their bodies remain in the grave. Scripture gives limited detail about that intermediate state, but what it does show suggests a real, conscious, personal existence, not a mere abstraction. When all is consummated—new heavens, new earth, New Jerusalem—the descriptions involve recognizable created realities: trees, rivers, precious materials, social worship, and so on.
It is therefore reasonable to see continuity: God created human life for embodied, relational existence in His presence. Eternal life in its consummated form is not less real but more; it is life without curse, without sin, without corruption. The qualitative difference is not that it ceases to be life in a recognizable creation, but that all that is disordered is removed. The “earthly” and “heavenly” aspects differ in setting and administration (Israel’s kingdom promises versus the heavenly calling of the body of Christ), but both partake of this God-centered, curse-free vitality.
Knowing God and being known by God
In John 17:3, “that they might know thee” expresses a covenantal, relational knowledge. In Pauline terms, the emphasis often falls on being known by God. For example, Paul speaks of those who “are known of God.” Both aspects are present: God’s gracious initiative in knowing us, choosing us, placing us in Christ; and our growing experiential knowledge of Him.
Under the Pauline pattern, our peace fundamentally rests in God’s knowledge of us in Christ—His gracious, settled regard—and in the objective work of Christ on our behalf. Our subjective sense of intimacy, while valuable, is not the ground of our security.
Can a mortal know God intimately?
“Intimately” often gets loaded with mystical or achievement-oriented overtones. In Scripture, to know God is to relate to Him personally, to trust Him, to walk with Him in faith and obedience, to grow in understanding of His character and ways as revealed in His word. That sort of “intimacy” is both possible and intended for mortal believers.
However, it remains creaturely and partial. We do not exhaustively know God, nor do we remove the Creator–creature distinction. Our knowledge is real but finite. When contemporary rhetoric exalts a claimed “deeply intimate relationship” in a way that sounds like a spiritual attainment, it risks turning a gift into a badge of personal achievement.
A healthier emphasis is that God has graciously made Himself knowable in Christ and in Scripture, and that believers can genuinely know Him—truly, though not exhaustively—while resting in the greater truth that He knows us perfectly. Our eternal life, in any dispensation, is bound up with that relational reality: living in the presence and favor of the only true God and of His Christ.
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