You know, when a man receives a pardon from Government, he is said to receive his life. So it is here. This word is used in the same sense in [John 5:24], “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” In this verse, you will notice that life is opposed to condemnation, and it appears to mean justification. The same meaning may be attached to those words in the 20th chapter, 31st verse, “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through his name.” See also the first epistle of John, 5th chapter, 12th verse, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son hath not life.” In this passage, life appears to be the pardon of all sin, and admission into the favour of God. And it is said in Proverbs, “He that findeth me findeth peace.” Now, Christ, when he stood in the midst of the Jews, knew that they were all under the sentence of the broken law, and he knew that he was to die for sinners: therefore, he said to them, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” In my hand there is a pardon: “The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins:” yet ye will not come to me. This is true among yourselves: He is as much here present as he was then. He has suffered, the just for the unjust. He has died for sinners, and now he offers you pardon. Why are ye not saved? The reason is, ye will not come to him, that ye might have life.
-Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843)
The Reformed Parish 