NOTES for Joh 8:51
The promise Jesus gives is very serious and vitally important for us. We very much want it to be fulfilled. But it appears that we need to clarify a couple of questions for ourselves.
First, what does it mean to keep Christ's word? Is this about fulfilling the commandments He gave in the Sermon on the Mount? Or does He mean that we simply need to accept on faith everything He says here in this chapter of the Gospel of John? But the first is impossible by human strength, and the second, well, do we not believe it already? It is unclear.
And second, what does it mean that one will never see death? Never see someone else's death? Or one's own death? Or not simply death, but "death forever"? Perhaps sorting out these questions is a worthy task for today.