Thesis
Application
Events
About us
home page forums

Desire of Ages, p. 530.3

The assumed trinitarian phrase is, "In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived." The full DA 530.3 quote reads as follows (emphasis supplied):

  • DA 530.3: Still seeking to give a true direction to her faith, Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. “He that hath the Son hath life.” 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal life. “He that believeth in Me,” said Jesus, “though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Christ here looks forward to the time of His second coming. Then the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living righteous shall be translated to heaven without seeing death. The miracle which Christ was about to perform, in raising Lazarus from the dead, would represent the resurrection of all the righteous dead. By His word and His works He declared Himself the Author of the resurrection. He who Himself was soon to die upon the cross stood with the keys of death, a conqueror of the grave, and asserted His right and power to give eternal life.

Succinctly. EGW plainly states that "Christ was invested with the right to give immortality" (1SM 302.2). "This life, original, unborrowed, underived is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift" (1SM 296.2). The life of the Father, the life of the Son, can become our life. It is immortal life, original, unborrowed, underived.

It is in the context of the raising of Lazarus that this quote is given. It is also in the context of the entire book itself, where,

  • DA 21.2: All things Christ received from God, but He took to give. So in the heavenly courts, in His ministry for all created beings: through the beloved Son, the Father's life flows out to all; through the Son it returns, in praise and joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. And thus through Christ the circuit of beneficence is complete, representing the character of the great Giver, the law of life.

While DA 530.3 says that "in Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived," yet this same life (from the Father) is given to all who believe in Christ as their personal Savior, as seen below:

  • 1SM 296.2: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). It is not physical life that is here specified, but immortality, the life which is exclusively the property of God. The Word, who was with God, and who was God, had this life. Physical life is something which each individual receives. It is not eternal or immortal; for God, the Life-giver, takes it again. Man has no control over his life. But the life of Christ was unborrowed. No one can take this life from Him. “I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18), He said. In Him was life, original, unborrowed, underived. This life is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift if he will believe in Christ as his personal Saviour. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). This is the open fountain of life for the world.

Understand that "Christ was invested with the right to give immortality" (1SM 302.2). "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will" (John 5:21). And, "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself" (John 5:26). Again, according to EGW, it was the Father who invested (or endowed) Christ "with the right to give immortality." This immortality is "exclusively the property of God," but the believer "can possess it only through Christ...as a free gift" (1SM 296.2). Therefore, in the context of the raising of Lazarus (where the DA 503.3 quote is found), Jesus was not speaking of his pre-incarnate life, but of his power to give life to Lazarus at that very moment and by extension, eternal life—i.e. immortality. Notice,

  • John 11:23-26: Jesus said to her, “Your brother [Lazarus] will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Jesus was not just telling Martha that her brother would rise again, at that very moment, but he extended the concept to include eternal life—i.e. immortality. This life, original, unborrowed, underived, we can receive by faith in Christ. Thus, this quality of life, apart from the power to bestow it, is identical whether it is ingenerate as in the case of the Father, inherited [begotten] by the Son, or conferred as a conditional, permanent gift to God's children. Consider these quotes from EGW:

  • ST June 17, 1897, par. 14: If man will cooperate with God by returning willingly to his loyalty, and obeying the commandments, God will receive him as a son. Through the provision Christ has made by taking the punishment due to man, we may be reinstated in God's favor, being made partakers of the divine nature. If we repent of our transgression, and receive Christ as the Life-giver, our personal Saviour, we become one with him, and our will is brought into harmony with the divine will. We become partakers of the life of Christ, which is eternal. We derive immortality from God by receiving the life of Christ for in Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. This life is the mystical union and cooperation of the divine with the human.
  • 23LtMs, Ms 92, 1908, par.40: What a song that will be when the ransomed of the Lord meet at the gate of the holy city, which is thrown back on its glittering hinges, and the nations that have kept His word—His commandments—enter <into the city, the crown of the overcomer is placed upon their heads,> and the golden harps are placed in their hands! All heaven is filled with rich music, and with songs of praise to the Lamb. Saved, everlastingly saved, in the kingdom of glory! To have a life that measures with the life of God—that is the reward. Just think of it! “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.]

References