Contrary to some popular versions of Christianity, Jesus declares that eternal life starts now, rather than waiting until one “gets to heaven.” So, how does one experience eternal life now?

When Jesus speaks of eternal life, it should actually be translated as “life of the age to come.” Eternal life isn’t simply living forever. Rather, it is a radically different quality of life that is fully experienced in the age to come. The quality of that life is so rich and vibrant it is undying and goes on forever simply to contain it.

Jesus provides the only definition of eternal life in the New Testament. In John 17:3, he says to his Father, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” The life of the age to come is a deep and ongoing intimate, interactive relationship with God and Jesus.

If possible, imagine the quality of life that God is. Jesus is saying that a deep relationship with God makes God’s quality of life available to us. And this life transforms us.

As we apprentice ourselves to Jesus and learn to live in deep communion with God, our character is shaped into the vibrant character of God — his divine love. In Galatians, Paul calls God’s love the “fruit of the Spirit.” But because God’s love is so deep and concentrated, he must also describe its many facets — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Other facets of God’s love are described in 2 Peter 1:4–8, 1 Corinthians 13, and Romans 5:1–5.) The multifaceted love of God is the very character of the Trinitarian community that is God and the rich quality of his life that transforms us into his likeness. 

Eternal living, experiencing the life of the age to come, begins now. That is the core of Jesus’ good news. We can enter into and live interactively with God’s activity through Jesus. In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard summarizes five stages of progression in eternal living here on earth.

Confidence in and Reliance upon Jesus:  The first stage is trusting Jesus as the one appointed to save us and deliver us. We trust him to receive us as we are. We take to heart his invitation to repent and believe in him. We rethink how we’re thinking and living and trust that he has a far better way to thrive and flourish.

Desire to Be Jesus’ Apprentice: This confidence in Jesus naturally leads us to desire to be his apprentices, learning from him how to live in and from God’s kingdom. Our faith in Christ leads us to want the faith of Christ. We want to learn from him how to be like him. We want to learn his lifestyle and practices so we can integrate our entire lives into God’s life like he does. Our confidence in Jesus leads us toward wanting to have his character, power and faith.

Obedience to God: The abundant life we experience through our ongoing apprenticeship with Jesus naturally leads to obedience. Our experience of living Jesus’ lifestyle and practices and the rich life it brings compels us to love God with everything we are — thoughts, feelings, body, will, and soul. Love of Jesus then sustains us through the discipline and training that makes genuine obedience possible. We are intentionally training with Jesus to be people who naturally and routinely obey God from the inside-out.

Inner Transformation: God then uses this obedience and its life of training to bring pervasive inner transformation of our lives into God’s multifaceted love. Who we are at our deepest inner core is shaped by the Spirit into all of the facets of God’s love, which is then habituated into our thoughts, feelings, will, body and soul.

Power To Do the Works of God’s Kingdom: With the inner transformation comes the power to do the works of the kingdom. Jesus told his first apprentices that they would do the works he did and even greater ones. Willard frequently states that God is desiring to create a people who he is able to empower to do what they want. 

Summarizing the five phases of spiritual formation Willard writes, “Looking back over this progression, one of the most important things for us to see and accept is that, once confidence in Jesus lives in us, we must be intelligently active in stages or dimensions two through five.” Eternal living is not passive. It requires our effort combined with God’s grace.

This progression prepares us for our eternal destiny in God’s great universe. We are his co-creators and co-reigners, released into his creation to bear his image in character and power for the glory of God and the good of others.