The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives lifeto
the world. (John 6 : 33 )
The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life.(John 6 : 63 )
Jesus said,
Those who follow me will have the light of life.(John 8 : 12 )
I have come so that they may have lifeand abundance. (John 10 : 10 )
Those who believe in me, even if they die, they will live.(John 11 : 25 )
I am the way, the truth, and the life.(John 14 : 6 )
Because I live, you too will live.(John 14 : 19 )
These things have been written so that you may have lifein his name.
(John 20 : 31 )He is eternal life.( 1 John 5 : 20 )
“The life within faith and goodwill” means the spiritual life the Lord
gives people in their earthly lives.359 (d) Nevertheless, no faith, no goodwill, and none of the life within faith or
goodwill comes from ourselves; instead they come from the Lord alone.We
read, “We cannot receive anything unless it is given to us from heaven”
(John 3 : 27 ). And Jesus said, “Those who live in me and I in them bear
much fruit, because without me you cannot do anything” (John 15 : 5 ). This
has to be understood, however, in a particular way: On our own we cannot
acquire any faith for ourselves except earthly faith, which is a persuasion
that something is the case because a man in authority said so. On our own
we cannot acquire any goodwill for ourselves except earthly goodwill,
which is our working to gain favor for the sake of some reward. In both of
them the self is present, but life from the Lord is not present yet. Never-
theless, with this earthly faith and goodwill we are preparing ourselves to
be a vessel for the Lord. As we are preparing ourselves, the Lord comes in
and turns our earthly faith into spiritual faith, does the same with our
goodwill, and brings them both to life. These things happen when we go
to the Lord as the God of heaven and earth.
Because we have been created as images of God, we have been created
as vessels for God. Therefore the Lord says, “The people who love me are
those who have my commandments and follow them. I will love these
people, come to them, and make a home with them” (John 14 : 21 , 23 ).