Translating eternal life

Translating eternal life is a fundamental question of how best to translate into English a phrase that occurs 18 times in the Gospel of John, multiple times in each of the other Gospels, and 6 times in John's first letter, which is commonly translated as "eternal life." This phrase is part of perhaps the most significant Bible verse of all: John 3:16

In the original Greek, the phrase is "αἰώνιον ζωὴν".

An issue is whether this phrase is only about the future, or whether it refers immediately to the present also. For example, does it merely mean "life forever," or does it also have value immediately for overcoming pain, anxiety, or addiction?

John 3:16

John 3:16 uses the phrase "eternal life" as the opposite of "perish" (which is sometimes translated in this verse as "be lost" or "destroyed", which are more suggestive of anxiety or addiction).

The Greek work in this verse for perish is ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi), but it translated as "ruined" in Matthew 9:17 as to the wineskins metaphor.

Header text	Header text	Header text
Gospel of John verse	ESV translation	Counterpoint to "eternal life"
John 3:16	“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."	perish v. eternal life
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John 3:14-15	"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life"	no counterpoint