Faith in the Son of God. A series on 1 John, part 8. (1 John 5 :1-12)


Read 1 John 5:1-12


We come to the last chapter of 1 John, and here again, we see the main point John has been trying to get across to his readers: Jesus is Christ, the Son of God. Just as love is a sign of being born again, so also, is faith in Jesus as the Christ. At the time John wrote this letter, family members were all considered a unit under the father of the household. This is why John uses the illustration of a family to show that if someone loves the Father, then they must also love the Son and vice versa. 

Another way to show love for God is obedience to His commands. Obedience to God and showing love for God is also evidence of love for His children. John tells us that God's commands are not "burdensome" (verse 3) because we have been born again. By faith, one who has been born again of God is then enabled by the Holy Spirit to obey. It's easy to be obedient to God's commands because God overcame the world and gave us His Spirit to dwell in us. It is thus, then, that the Spirit enables us to overcome sin. If we look closely, we can see that John divides the victory over sin into two parts. The first is at our rebirth; when we first turn to God in faith, we are turning away from the world. In this, through us, God shows victory over sin. The second victory, through God, is the daily victory of living a Christian life. Thus, when by the Spirit, we live Christ-like, obedient lives, God's victory over sin is also shown. First He has overcome sin, and second, He continues to overcome sin.

 Throughout the book, John has been refuting the beliefs of the Gnostics, and here again, he continues to do so. They believed Jesus was not fully God and man throughout His whole time on earth. John tells us that Jesus came by water and by blood, and this is testimony to Jesus's 'God-hood'. Water symbolizes Jesus Christ's baptism at the beginning of His ministry, and blood symbolizes His death at the end of it. John is insistent that Jesus was both God and man from the time He came into the world all the way through His death and resurrection. This was even foretold in Matthew 1:23, where it says, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His Name Immanuel (which means God with us)." John calls on the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit as witnesses to Jesus 'God-hood'. Paul also bore witness to Jesus's deity when he wrote, "For in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form." (Colossians 2:9). In the Old Testament laws, two or three witnesses were required for something to be accepted as true. Therefore, Christ's baptism and death, along with the witness of the Holy Spirit, are sufficient witnesses to Jesus Christ's deity. The new Testament also calls upon more than one witness in 1 Timothy 5:19, where Timothy wrote, "Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses." The Holy Spirit testified to Jesus as God when He descended on Christ at His baptism, but also continues to do so in the hearts of believers. Matthew 3: 16-17 says, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is My Son whom I love; with Him, I am well pleased.'" John tells us that the Spirit is truth and we know this to be true because Jesus said it in John 14:16-17, where He said, "and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world can not accept Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him for He lives with you and will be in you." 

The apostolic testimony also verifies that Jesus is The Christ, the Son of God. John tells us that if the testimony of two or three men is accepted, then God's testimony is all the more so! God testifies that He has given us eternal life in and through His Son. If someone doesn't believe that Jesus is God, not only is he calling God a liar, but he also will not receive eternal life. This is so incredibly important because if Jesus was not fully God and fully man He would not have been sufficiently able to take away man's sin! 

If we look back at Matthew 1, we know that He is both. ‭Matthew 1:18 says, "This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit." What a great comfort we have, to know that Jesus came as both God and man; He saves us from our sins, grants us eternal life and He sends the Spirit of Truth to dwell in us. We can be confident that "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1 John 5:11).

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