1 JOHN: DISCERNING TRUE FROM FALSE SPIRITUALITY

Part XV: True Spirituality's Knowledge Of Who Truly Has Eternal Life

(1 John 5:9-13)

I. Introduction

A. Many people today, including some evangelicals, believe that all religions lead to God and His salvation. On the other hand, many professing Christians struggle with doubts of their salvation for fear that they don't "feel" saved or for fear that they "have failed to believe strongly enough for their salvation to be activated," etc.!

B. 1 John 5:9-13 applies to both contemporary issues, so we study the passage for our insight and edification:

II. True Spirituality's Knowledge Of Who Truly Has Eternal Life, 1 John 5:9-13.

A. HIn the Apostle John's era, some false antichrists presumably taught that those who believed in God's Son did not actually possess eternal life, what would tempt professing Christians to doubt if they had hope of gaining heaven and escaping hell, Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 902.

B. John thus wrote 1 John 5:9-12, 13 to counter this error, providing insight on who truly possesses eternal life:

1. John had already noted in 1 John 5:6-8 that the Old Testament prophets by the Holy Spirit ("the Spirit") testified that Jesus was God Incarnate at conception, that John the Baptizer had witnessed Jesus was God Incarnate at His baptism ("the water") and Apostle John testified that Jesus was God Incarnate at His death on the cross ("the blood"). These three testimonies were in agreement, testimonies of credible, godly men.

2. However, the Apostle John added that if we accept this witness by these godly men, the witness of God is greater, for that witness was what God Himself had once-for-all, permanently given (memartureken, perfect tense of martureo, "testify," U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 824; The Analyt. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 262, 258) concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, 1 John 5:9.

3. John added that he who believes in the Son of God has that witness of God in himself, but he who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar because he has not permanently believed (pepisteuken, perfect tense of pisteuo, "believe," Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 316, 314) the witness God has permanently given (memartureken again, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.) about His Son, 1 John 5:10.

4. Thus having noted the great importance of accepting the witness of God Himself, in 1 John 5:11-12, the Apostle John then defined what that divine witness was (as follows), Ibid., Bib. Kno. Com., N. T., p. 901:

a. John wrote that this is the (all-important) testimony of God Himself, that He has given us eternal life, and that this eternal life is in His Son, and that it resides in the Person of Jesus Christ, 1 John 5:11.

b. Thus, he who possesses (echon, present participle of echo, "possess," Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 180) the Son (of God) is also possessing (echei, present tense of the verb echo, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., p. 825; Ibid., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 179, 180) the life (the eternal life in the context), but he who does not possess (echon, present participle again, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.) the Son (of God) is not possessing (exhei, present tense of the verb again, Ibid.) the life (eternal life), 1 John 5:12.

c. In summary, John claimed that God's own, all-important witness that supersedes the testimony of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptizer and the Apostle John, is that eternal life resides exclusively in Jesus Christ, His Unique (monogenes, cf. John 1:18; Ibid., p. 322) Son. If one then possesses the Son of God, he possesses eternal life, but if he does not possess the Son of God, he does not possess eternal life.

d. This leads two important conclusions for us today: first, (1) salvation is exclusively obtained by faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:16); and second, (2) one who trusted in Christ has eternal life regardless of all human doubts or claims to the contrary, for the all-important, permanent testimony of God certifies it to be so!

5. John thus concluded that he had written these things in the immediately preceding context of 1 John 5:9-12 to certify that those who believed on the Son of God might know that they have eternal life, 1 John 5:13.

Lesson: Those who truly fellowship with God assuredly realize that salvation is available exclusively through faith in Jesus Christ, and they realize that they possess eternal life regardless of personal feelings or doubts to the contrary based on the all-important, permanent testimony of Almighty God on these matters!

Application: (1) May we hold that salvation is only by faith in Christ and that those who have trusted in Him are assuredly saved based on the all-important, permanent testimony of Almighty God. (2) Thus, if the world around us claims (a) there are other routes to eternal life besides faith alone in Christ alone, or if (b) we harbor doubts that we are saved since we don't "feel" saved or since aren't sure if we "believed hard enough for our salvation to take," may we instead rely on God's all-important, permanent testimony on these matters for the truth.