1 John 5

The Apostle Paul tells us that all creation is waiting in eager expectation for the unveiling of the fullness of the resurrection world and particularly for the revealing of the sons of God. But John indicates that we already have some sense of who is in the Lord's household. The family resemblance is not yet physical, but it is seen in how we live. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has new life from above granted by God, and that life is not only in the faith that we profess, but also in the love that we live out for each other. Those who have been born of God, love the family of God.

Love has always been the fulfillment of the Law. In the true sons of God, love for God and love for one another are closely aligned. As we dedicate our lives to true love of God, love for the family of faith will grow, for God is at work in us.

This is the commandment of God for all who are determined to receive His love and to show their love for Him as He desires: We must love each other. This is not some horrible burden as if we had been asked to make our way to the moon and back. God gives us the incomparable love of the cross in Christ, and he asks that we receive that love and imitate it in some small way that He opens up before us. That opportunity of imitative love is a gift to us, and not a cause for complaint.

This is the victory that has overcome the world: the love of Christ, and we have that love planted in us, for we have been born from above and granted a new faith, a seed of heaven which will work itself out in good time. Already we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Surely it is His intention to make us more like Him. What can this mean but a greater display of His powerful love?

Praise God for the One who came by water and blood! He came through the water of a true human birth, but now by His atoning death, by His sacrificial blood, He has revealed to us a new world of life. Imagine, this heavenly life traveled back home again to Paradise through the road of the cross! That cursed death on the tree has now yielded perfect fruit for the healing of the nations.

The Spirit of God in the resurrected Christ now testifies to us of the power of the cross, and assures us that we are sons of God in Him. We have the water of the birth of Christ as a man, and our baptism reminds us of our new birth in Him. We have the blood of Christ that cleanses and brings life through the cross, and we remember our communion in the body and blood of our Lord at His sacramental table. We have Christ in us by the Holy Spirit, granting faith that will not be stopped until the full fruit of love appears in us and through us. This is resurrection living, and true heavenly worship. The water, the blood, and the Spirit; all three have now touched us and empowered us in new life as sons of God in Jesus.

This is the testimony of God in us, even through our present adversity. But what can we say if someone does not believe that God has given us life in His Son Jesus Christ? Such a person does not yet have that life, because they do not yet have the Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

John writes these words not to condemn anyone, but to give assurance to those who do have the Son of God. He wants his brothers and sisters who believe in the Name of the Son of God to know that they have the true seed of heaven, and title to the fullness of the tree of life in the Paradise of God. They have eternal life. To know this is to have confidence; not a brash arrogance that is quick to speak against others, but a gentle assurance of faith, a faith that learns to ask in the knowledge that we will receive.

We know that some are committed to a hardened unbelief. They reject the doctrine of the divine Christ coming in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. They do not acknowledge the power of the cross or believe the truth of heavenly life in His resurrection. Only God can rescue them. Their salvation is not merely a matter of our asking. They are captives in the prison house of sin and death until God should give them a new birth according to His own eternal plan. That life for the dead must come to them by the preaching of the Word as God chooses to bring such a person to Himself. It is impossible for us, but possible for God.

This is beyond our confidence in asking and receiving, as in the case of the church finding daily forgiveness through the instrument of our prayers for our brothers and sisters in the faith. This hardened rejection of Christ the Son of God is a sin that leads to death. What can any man do about that? But there is sin that does not lead to death, and yet still requires confession and forgiveness. See James 5. We can pray for this forgiveness for the repentant, and know that God will surely grant us what we have asked him on behalf of a brother in need.

It is our every expectation that the One who came by water and the blood, the One who has given us the testimony of truth by the Spirit, will be with us in our battle together against sin. He will protect us from evil, and lead us away from temptation. The whole world is in the power of the evil one, but God will not abandon us to that enemy. May He grant us continued understanding that we might more readily distinguish the truth from deadly error. And may we walk in the light, as He is in the light, and love one another by the power of the cross, keeping ourselves from dead idols that can never save us.