The gospel of John proclaims, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3, citation 2). Those words epitomize this week’s Bible Lesson on “Life.” In fact, John and one of the Johannine epistles, First John, provide seven Scriptural passages for the Lesson, more than from any other book.

The Gospel of John is distinct from the three Gospels that precede it—Matthew, Mark, and Luke present their stories from similar points of view and therefore are called “synoptic” Gospels. John draws on different sources, and some scholars divide this Gospel in two: “The Book of Signs,” chapters 1–11, and “The Book of Glory,” chapters 12–21. The Book of Signs is built around seven “signs,” or marvelous acts, that confirm that Jesus is the Messiah, or Christ. The Book of Glory tells how Jesus is glorified by his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. For example, as he prays for the world, his disciples, and himself, Jesus petitions, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John 17:1, cit. 2).

The rousing Responsive Reading for this Lesson recounts Lazarus’ resurrection, the crowning “sign” in John. It includes one of the “I am” sayings of Jesus, which are peculiar to this Gospel (John 11:25, 26). The New International Version renders it: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” Science and Health corroborates this: “Truth demonstrated is eternal life” (p. 289, cit. 3).

The practical implications of these teachings of Christ Jesus are expanded upon in Sections II through V, building on a striking citation from the chapter “Science, Theology, Medicine” in Science and Health: “The blood, heart, lungs, brain, etc., have nothing to do with Life, God. . . . All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal” (p. 151, cit. 5).

Mark gives a detailed account of the healing of a woman with “an issue of blood,”—a chronic hemorrhage that made her ceremonially unclean according to Jewish law, and unable to fully participate in community life (see Mark 5:25–34, cit. 4). She was probably afraid to openly approach Jesus. This story also appears in Matthew and Luke. Her restoration coincided with Jesus’ awareness that “virtue”—that is, power—“had gone out of him,” and he stopped long enough to insist on a face-to-face encounter with the woman. He pointed to her faith, rather than to her touch, as determinative—“thy faith hath made thee whole”—and referred to both her mental and physical state as he blessed her.

Mary Baker Eddy recounts in Science and Health how she healed of “consumption”—tuberculosis—a woman whose symptoms were aggravated by east winds (see pp. 184–185,
 cit. 15). The book Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, Amplified Edition, by Yvonne von Fettweis and Robert Warneck, includes additional information on this incident and its context on pages 53–54.

“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone;
 a new life has begun!”

Christ Jesus provides the definitive example of the triumph of life over death by his resurrection, according to Second Corinthians. The consequences of history’s consummate act are as life-changing for us as they were for him: “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (II Cor. 5:15, cit. 18). The exposition that follows is rendered this way in the New Living Translation of the Bible: “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (verses 16, 17). This is “the gift of God” (Rom. 6:23, Golden Text).

Two passages from First John conclude the Bible citations in this Lesson (cits. 22, 23). This letter, along with Second John and Third John, the Gospel of John, and the Book of Revelation, make up the Johannine literature of the New Testament, five books traditionally attributed to the Apostle John. Although representing three distinct literary types—gospel, epistle, and apocalypse—these books share common perspectives and elements of language. A representative verse sums up the Lesson: “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life” (I John 2:25, cit. 23).