And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
And this is life eternal [ hee (G3588 ) aioonios (G166 ) zoon (G2198 )], that they might know thee the only true God - the sole Personal, Living God, in glorious contrast with all forms of pagan polytheism, mystic pantheism, and philosophic naturalism.
And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. This is the only place where our Lord gives Himself the compound name "JESUS CHRIST," afterward so current in apostolic preaching and writing. (See the note at Matthew 1:1.) Here all the words are employed in their strict signification: First, "JESUS," because He "saves His people from their sins;" Second, "CHRIST," as anointed with the measureless fullness of the Holy Spirit for the exercise of His saving offices (see the note at Matthew 1:16); Third, "WHOM THOU HAST SENT," in the plenitude of Divine Authority and Power, to save. 'The very juxtaposition here,' as Alford properly observes, 'of Jesus Christ with the Father is a proof, by implication, of our Lord's Godhead. The knowledge of God and a creature could not be eternal life, and such an association of the one with the other would be inconceivable.' Thus, then, "the life eternal" of which Jesus here speaks, and which He says it is His proper office to confer, is no merely conscious, unending existence, but a life whose most distinguishing characteristic is acquaintance with the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with Jesus Himself as the Way to the Father, and the Truth and the Life (Job 22:21; Matthew 11:27, etc.)