“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.
- KJV Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
- BSB Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life.
- NKJV Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
- NASB Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes has eternal 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
Jesus solemnly declares that whoever believes in Him has eternal life. Faith in Christ brings the present, sure possession of everlasting life.
Overview
With another emphatic 'Most certainly,' Jesus states the gospel in its simplest form: believing yields eternal life now. The present tense 'has' assures believers that this life is already theirs, not merely a future hope. This verse distills the message of John's Gospel into a single promise grounded in faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 3:36One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
- Col 3:3–4For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
- Rom 5:9–10Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
- John 5:24“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
- John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- John 3:18He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
- John 6:40This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
- 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 14:19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
- 1 Jn 5:12–13He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 6:47 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.