Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life.
- KJV He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
- NKJV He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
- NASB The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
- NLT Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
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
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God's Son does not have life. Eternal life depends entirely on possessing Christ.
Overview
John draws the sharp, exclusive conclusion of his argument: life is found in Christ alone, with no middle ground. To 'have the Son' is to belong to him by faith and so to share his eternal life. The verse leaves no room for salvation apart from Jesus, underscoring the necessity of personal trust in him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 3:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- John 5:24Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
- John 1:12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- 1 Cor 1:30It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
- Mark 16:16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
- John 3:15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
- 2 Jn 1:9Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching has both the Father and the Son.
- Heb 3:14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.
- 1 Jn 2:23–24Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.
- Gal 2:20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 5:12 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.