<p>1:2 <i>In hope of eternal life</i>- This is to be connected with the fact that God promised this &quot;<i>before</i> times eternal&quot;. The mind boggles at the huge significance which our eternity has to God. He had the idea of it before eternity and He intends to give us eternity.</p><p><i>Which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal</i>- This is an intentional tautology. There can be no point before infinity. But the contradiction achieves its end- we are blown away by the thought that somehow, in a beginning before eternity, the most precious thing in our hearts was promised. And that is, our eternity, our deepest and most passionate hope, that which we fear losing above everything else... was in fact secured and promised. How was it promised at that 'point'? The Greek can mean 'to assert to oneself', and this is I think the idea. God asserted within Himself that we would come to eternity. And God cannot lie, not to us nor to Himself. And He has spent infinity preparing this for us, through developing this earth with its unique possibilities for our existence, our personal gene pool, our calling etc. What a wonderful day it will be when finally all this work of infinity comes to term in our immortalization at the Lord's return to earth This is all a rather deep and intellectual way of saying that God passionately wishes to give us that which is our master passion too- acceptance in His Kingdom. Another take on this phrase would be to go with the AV &quot;Before the world began&quot; and to understand the promise of eternal life made in the promises to Abraham as being before the Jewish world began at the Sinai covenant.&nbsp;</p>