Jesus lives forever (1,3)
I believe the answer is:
i say
'jesus lives forever' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'lives forever' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'lives' could be 'is' ('be' can be a synonym of 'live') and 'is' is found in the answer.
'forever' could be 'ay' (historic term for 'forever') and 'ay' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for i say that I've seen before include "Blimey!" , "Gosh!" , "Look here; oh, my" , "That is surprising!" , "Comment from protestor" .)