1 John 5:11

And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

The sum and circumference of the religion of Christ are encompassed here in a single sentence. All of God's witness for thousands of years in the Bible, all the messages through the holy prophets, all the typical significance of Judaism, and whatever else God did in his dealings with the human race were all directed to a single purpose: the identification of Jesus Christ as his only begotten Son and that priceless gift of eternal life which he brought to people.

Eternal life ... How utterly beyond all human comprehension is such a thing as eternal life! To live forever in joy in God's very presence, to know the Creator, to see the Saviour face to face, to know as we are known - such conceptions can be understood only in part. And yet, this is the essential central message of the faith in Christ.

This life is in his Son ... Here is the Johannine equivalent of the apostle Paul's "in Christ," having exactly the same meaning as a reference to the corporate body of Christians who have believed God's testimony that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, and who have been united with Christ in baptism, being baptized "into him" (Galatians 3:26,27). Neither Paul nor John, however, developed or invented this doctrine. It began with Christ himself (John 15:1-10). In this series, a liberal amount of space was devoted to the discussion of "in Christ" in Romans 3; and a much fuller treatment of the doctrine is found there. In a word, eternal life for mankind is promised only to those who are "in Christ" and who shall be "found in him" (Philippians 3:9) at the end of probation. See also Revelation 14:13.