I JOHN: A STUDY IN SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT

XV. Discerning The Triune Godhead’s Objective Assurances Of Salvation

(1 John 5:6-12, 13)

I. Introduction

A. 1 John was written to counter heretical views (B. K. C., N. T., p. 881), so the epistle provides discernment.

B. A great need for discernment exists in the realm of gaining assurance of salvation apart from experience, for many people do not have an unusual experience when they trust in Christ, so many doubt that they are saved.

C. Accordingly, we study 1 John 5:6-12, 13 on discerning the Triune Godhead’s objective assurances of salvation that surpasses mere human experience (as follows):

II. Discerning The Triune Godhead’s Objective Assurances Of Salvation, 1 John 5:6-12, 13.

A. As we previously noted, in 1 John 5:6-12, John wrote of the true, authoritative testimonies of God the Holy Spirit and God the Father about the Son of God to give believing readers assurances of the truth about Jesus:

1. John had written about the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning Christ in 1 John 5:6-8:

a. In stating that Christ came not only by water, but also by blood, John had countered the heretic Cerinthus who “taught that the divine Christ descended on the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before His crucifixion.” (Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 901, 881), 1 John 5:6a.

b. However, the Holy Spirit had witnessed by the Old Testament prophets (2 Peter 1:20-21) and by John the Baptist (Luke 1:15; John 1:29-34) that Messiah was God Incarnate in life, in death, in His resurrection, and in His coming kingdom, cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; 53:3-11.

c. John the Baptist clearly testified that Jesus was not only the Son of God as to His deity, but that He was also the Lamb of God Who took away the sin of the world by way of His sacrificial death, John 1:29-34!

d. Thus, the historical record of Christ’s baptism with the confirmation of the Holy Spirit’s coming upon Jesus in the form of a dove in John 1:32-33 coupled with the Spirit’s leading John to testify of Jesus’ Person as the Son of God and Lamb of God (cf. John 1:33 with Luke 1:15) all agreed – the Spirit, the water, and the blood – regarding Christ’s deity at His baptism and at His death, 1 John 5:6b-7a. [The KJV words beginning with the phrase “in heaven . . .” in verse 7 and ending with the phrase “ . . . in earth” in verse 8 are not in any early Greek manuscript, only in later Latin ones, Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 1 John 5:7-8.]

2. John had then written about the testimony of God the Father concerning Christ in 1 John 5:9-12:

a. If Deuteronomy 19:15 directs that we believe the witness of two or more humans, we must certainly accept the witness of God which is infinitely greater than man’s witness! (1 John 5:9a; Ibid., p. 901)

b. Accordingly, John had written of the witness of God the Father regarding Jesus in 1 John 5:9b-10:

i. John, Peter, and James had personally heard God the Father on the Mount of Transfiguration say of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him,” Matthew 17:5 KJV.

ii. Later, in John 12:28 KJV, after Jesus asked, “Father, glorify thy name” in front of Jesus’ disciples and a crowd of Hebrews at the Feast of Passover just before Jesus died on the cross (cf. John 12:27), a voice came heaven said, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The Father thus said that as He had glorified Himself in Jesus’ life, He would do so again in Jesus’ death!

iii. These verbal testimonies by God the Father about His Son, Jesus Christ regarding His life and death thus not only align with the witness of the Holy Spirit about these things, but to refuse to accept these claims about Christ is to reject God the Father’s witness about Him, 1 John 5:9b-10.

B. Since the record that the Holy Spirit and the Father approved includes their sanction of Christ’s words as the words of One Who is God’s Son, and hence God (Jn. 1:33; Matt. 17:5 with Jn. 5:18), the Spirit and the Father approved Christ’s claim that God has given us eternal life, that it is in His Son, and that he who has the Son by faith in Christ has life, but he who does not have the Son does not have that life. (1 Jn. 5:11-12 with Jn. 3:16)

C. Thus, based on these objective testimonies by the Triune God, we who trust in Christ can “know absolutely” (eidete, from oida, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 825; The Analy. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 117; Moulton & Milligan, The Vocab. of the Grk. N. T., 1972, p. 439-440) that we have eternal life, 1 John 5:13 ESV.

Lesson: Based on the testimonies of God the Holy Spirit, God the Father, and God the Son, we know absolutely and thus objectively apart from human experience that by believing in Christ for salvation, we have eternal life!

Application: May we believe the testimonies of God the Holy Spirit, God the Father and God the Son that apart from human experience, we can know that we are saved and have eternal life by trusting in Christ for salvation!