John 6:47

6:47 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  the one who believes ²  has eternal life. ³ 

John 8:51

8:51 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴  if anyone obeys ⁵  my teaching, ⁶  he will never see death.” ⁷ 

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¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

² tc Most witnesses (A C² D Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat and other versions) have “in me” (εἰς ἐμέ, eis eme) here, while the Sinaitic and Curetonian Syriac versions read “in God.” These clarifying readings are predictable variants, being motivated by the scribal tendency toward greater explicitness. That the earliest and best witnesses (Ì^66,75vid א B C* L T W Θ 892 pc) lack any object is solid testimony to the shorter text’s authenticity.

³ tn Compare John 6:40.

⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

⁵ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

⁶ tn Grk “my word.”

⁷ tn Grk “he will never see death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

sn Those who keep Jesus’ words will not see death because they have already passed from death to life (cf. 5:24). In Johannine theology eternal life begins in the present rather than in the world to come.