Limitless Word
This is the promise which he promised us, the eternal life.
1 John 2:25 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
  • BSB And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.
  • NKJV And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
  • NASB This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.
  • NLT And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The promise Christ has given is eternal life. This is the believer's sure hope.

Overview

John names the great promise attached to abiding in Christ: eternal life. This is the gift Jesus himself has pledged. It assures believers that remaining faithful to the gospel leads to everlasting communion with God, a hope that anchors the soul amid deception and trial.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • John 10:28I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
  • Titus 3:7that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
  • Jude 1:21Keep yourselves in God’s love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
  • John 17:2–3even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
  • Titus 1:2in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
  • 1 Tim 6:12Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
  • 1 Jn 1:2(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us);
  • Rom 5:21that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
  • Rom 2:7to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;
  • John 6:68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
  • John 12:50I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”
  • 1 Jn 5:20We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
  • 1 Jn 5:11–13The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
  • John 6:47Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.
  • John 6:27Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”
  • 1 Tim 6:19laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.
  • Dan 12:2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
  • John 6:54He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
  • John 5:39“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
  • Luke 18:30who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.”
  • Gal 6:8For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
  • 1 Tim 1:16However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience, for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life.
  • Rom 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 1 John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 1 John 2:25YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 1 JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'

How 1 John 2:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.