Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson C) 06/20/22

^4:16 We know how much God loves us because we feel His love and believe Him when He tells us that He loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God, and God with them.

Walter Hilton (1340-1396), when speaking about discerning the spirits to distinguish the good from the evil, writes that these two are alike in the manner of outward feelings, but they are very different within. Therefore, discerning the spirits is not required nor lightly entertained unless a soul can discern the good from the evil. That is, so a person is not easily charmed, as the Apostle John said: Trust not every spirit, but first determine whether it is from God or not. Wherefore, says Hilton, I think you can distinguish the godly from the ungodly.[1]

John Trapp (1601-1669) talks about our knowing and believing God is love. He mentions an early Christian writer he calls Pelican, who tells about when he used to read this portion of Scripture to his friends at their feasts.[2] A pious practice and well-becoming to those that feast before the Lord. The primitive Christians had at such times their kiss of love.[3]  And Augustine had Peter’s two verses written on his writing-table.[4]

Leonard Howard (1699-1767) states that the foundation of our Christian profession is God’s agápē in redeeming us because His agápē and goodness are the critical elements of His essence. Therefore, every Christian must maintain this spiritual communion with Him in proportion to His agápē for us.[5] By saying this, Dr. Howard wants to challenge us to think of how much God loved us while we were prisoners in sin’s prison and how much we should love Him now that He has set us free.

John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) points out that if we live by the power of ardent love for God through His children for His sake, we have the most delightful and reciprocal union and communion. It didn’t come about through our efforts, but by experiencing what the Bible calls being “born again.” That is, coming to know God personally and learning of His agápē for us, manifested in His giving His only begotten Son to die on a cross on our behalf so that we need not suffer sin’s penalty of everlasting separation from Him.[6]

Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) says this verse in Greek reads: “And we have come to KNOW and have BELIEVED.” It is the natural order; advanced knowledge of God leads to faith. But sometimes faith precedes knowledge.[7] In either case, each completes the other. Complete faith is trust; practical knowledge is believing. We must be “ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks why this hope is in us.”[8] This verse fulfills the conclusion of the Anointed One’s High-Priestly prayer; “I have revealed You to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for Me will be in them, and I will be in them.”[9]

John Owen (1616-1683) combines the Apostle John’s message in verses nine, ten, and sixteen to emphasize that God is love, of nature infinitely good and gracious, to be the only object of all divine love. But this agápē can no way be known, or be so manifested to us, as that we may and ought to love Him, but by His agápē in the Anointed One, His sending of Him and loving us in Him. Before this, without this, we do not, and we cannot love God. It is the cause, the spring, and the fountain, of all our love for Him. They are empty notions and imaginations with which some speculative persons please themselves. Instead, God’s love of divine goodness must be considered. However, infinitely amiable it may be, it is not a reality to them. It is unsuited to their state and condition, without considering its communications to us in the Anointed One.[10]

Owen goes on to say that the same love of friendship expresses itself by that intimate communion with and exceptional residence between God and the believer. God dwells in them, and they in God, for God is love. Did not our Lord say, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make Our home with each of them?”[11]  and, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make Our home with each of them.”[12] These are not empty words; there is a solid foundation beneath them and truth in them. Those whose hearts duly exercise God’s agápē experience the refreshing approaches of the Father and the Son to their souls in the communications of a sense of their love and pledges of their dwelling with them.[13]

And in another document, Owen focuses on John’s phrase, “God is love.”  The title “God” is here taken personally, and that John meant it for the Father is evident in verse nine. He distinguishes Himself from His only begotten Son, whom He sends down to the world. Now, as God passes in front of Moses, He identifies Himself as “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy!”[14] According to His proclamation, that is, not only of an infinitely gracious, tender, compassionate, and loving nature, but also one that highly and peculiarly distributes His agápē to us willingly.

In verse nine, we learn, “This is how God showed His agápē among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” Then in verse ten, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins,” and that this is something unusual to be seen in Him. The Holy Spirit plainly declares, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One. In the Anointed One, God has given us every spiritual blessing in heaven. In the Anointed One, He chose us before the world was made. He chose us in love to be His holy people – who could stand before Him without any fault. And before the world was made, God decided to make us His own children through Jesus the Anointed One. Thus, Owen declares that this agápē came before the Anointed One purchased our salvation by His death, allowing God to adopt us as His children.[15] [16]

Owen asks believers some interesting questions: “How will you commune with the Fa###ther in love? When do you know whether He loves you or not, or should you first throw yourself upon His mercy? Would it be easier to presume that He loves you than to try and experience sweet peace in His arms?” God seems only to be a consuming fire, says Owen, [17] so “people dread getting to know Him.”

Here is Owen’s response to His questions: “I can’t believe you don’t know anything about God’s agápē. Although it operates in the spiritual sense and experience, it is received purely by believing. Knowing about it is believing it as revealed.” The Apostle John tells us that we know God’s love for us and trust that love. God is love.”[18] At the very entrance of walking with God, this is the assurance which you may have of this agápē. He who is truth has said it, and whatever your heart says, or Satan says, unless you wilt take it up on this account, you must endeavor to expose those who say it as liars.[19]

Matthew Poole (1624-1679) notes that the transforming effects of God’s agápē upon us depend upon our misgivings or faith. Therefore, the Apostle John doubles the expression to that of certainty: “We have known and believed,” that is, our experience and confidence assures us of that agápē. It implies that by having this concept of God thoroughly settled in our souls, this agápē will transform us into His nature and image. As a result, we will be as comfortable dwelling in love as in our daily lives, which will help our unity with God, and that He and we indwell each other.[20]

John Bunyan (1628-1688) defines the words “to know” as “to believe.” Those who have received the gift of believing have faith in the working of His mighty power, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His agápē,”[21] which precedes our belief. Many who are justified by God’s gift believed in the power of the Holy Spirit, which must come and awaken faith and strengthen the soul to act on it. Individuals who believe will be saved; believing is a sign, not a reason, for their being right in God’s eyes by implanted belief. However, those who don’t believe will be damned. Their unbelief is a sign that they are not righteous. It’s the reason their sinful tendencies are still active in their lives.[22]

Later on, Bunyan writes about proof that God’s grace is free and unchangeable. First, God loves the saints, says Bunyan, just as much as He loves Jesus the Anointed One, and God loves Jesus the Anointed One with an eternal love; therefore, He loves the saints the same way. Jesus said, “Then the world will know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.”[23] Second, God’s agápē must be everlasting love; that is the love by which God loves His saints in the Anointed One, Jesus. Therefore, His agápē towards His children in union with the Anointed One must be an everlasting love. Third, none would dare say that God’s agápē is a mixture of heaven and earth. So, His agápē is purely His.[24] [25]

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[1] Hilton, Walter: The Scale of Perfection, op. cit., Bk. 1, Part 1, p.41

[2] The Pelican History of the Church

[3] 1 Peter 5:13-14

[4] Trapp, John: Commentary or Exposition Upon all Books of New Testament, Printed by R. W., London (1656), op. cit., First Epistle of John, Ch. IV, p. 954

[5] Howard, Leonard: The Royal Bible, op. cit., loc. cit.

[6] Brown, John of Haddington: Self-Interpreting Bible, op. cit., p. 1328

[7] See John 5:69

[8] 1 Peter 3:15

[9] John 17:6

[10] Owen, John: Christologia, op. cit., Ch. 13, pp. 204-205

[11] John 14:23

[12] Revelation 3:20

[13] Owen, John: op. cit., p. 210

[14] Exodus 34:6

[15] Ephesians 1:3-5

[16] Owen, John, Of Communion with God, Ch. 3, p. 26

[17] See Hebrews 12:29

[18] 1 John 4:16

[19] Ibid. 5:10

[20] Poole, Matthew: op. cit., loc. cit.

[21] 1 John 1:16

[22] Bunyan, John: Practical Works, Vol. 5, The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded, The Heavenly Footman, Ch. 8, p. 265

[23] John 17:23

[24] 1 John 4:16

[25] Bunyan, John: Practical Works, ibid. Vol. 7, Ch. 8, p. 284

In 1639, the elders of the First Congregational Church in Boston convened  a special meeting to admonish and discipline Robert Keayne – by all accounts a shrewd businessman, devout Christian, and all-around good guy – for the sin of greed. Three or four years earlier, these elders decided that Christians should sell their merchandise for no more than a four percent markup. However, it had come to light that Mr. Keayne was selling his for a six percent markup.

Did that four percent figure come from somewhere in the First Covenant? Nope. Is it from something Jesus said in the New Testament? No, it is not. Is it something from one of Paul’s letters? Not a chance. No, that four percent figure was completely arbitrary. The congregation of the First Congregational Church got together and said: in our place and our time, charging anything more than four percent means you’re greedy; anything under that and you’re fine!

From our modern perspective of people who live in the Google-Facebook-Amazon-Home Shopping Network universe, the idea of drawing a red line in the sand like that seems like a silly thing to do.  But from the perspective of a passage in the Gospel of Matthew, defining greed in such a simple, concrete way like that was very intelligent. Matthew recorded a teaching that doesn’t seem to fit with Jesus’ other instructions on money. Jesus says, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness.”[1]

What does that have to do with anything, let alone what it has to do with money? The basic idea of our Lord’s teaching is that all sorts of light surround us now. Light is pouring in through the windows of our homes, coming out of our overhead lights and lamps. If our eyes are healthy, we can take that light into our bodies so that we can navigate around easily. So, there is a real sense that if your eyes are healthy, your whole body is filled with light.

On the flip side, if our eyes are unhealthy, it doesn’t matter how much light is pouring out of our screens and through our windows; we can’t take it into our bodies. And so, we’re not going to be able to navigate our way around, at least, not without stubbing our toe on our furniture! Logically, if our eyes are unhealthy, our whole body is filled with darkness. As a result, we cannot use them as they are intended to be used.

So, what does this mean in the context of money and even our time and talent? First, it implies that greed and materialism are the only vices to which we are completely and utterly blind, so we can’t navigate our way out. All it takes for us to be blind to them is to be standing next to someone who is a little bit better off than we are, a bit looser with their spending than we are, and a little bit more into things and possessions than we are. Then, when we see that person, we can point at them and say, “Thank God I’m not like that person. They sure are greedy, aren’t they? They sure are materialistic!”

But we cannot see ourselves in that same light because our eyes are unhealthy. So, what is the fix? How do we go from having unhealthy eyes and bodies filled with darkness to having healthy eyes and bodies filled with light? How do you stop serving money and start serving God? How do we stop storing up treasure on earth and start storing up treasure in heaven?

As well-worn and predictable the answer might be, the first step toward getting our spiritual eyes and bodies full of light is to simply understand – on an intellectual level – the Gospel story. At the heart of this whole thing that we’re doing here, we have this story about a God who loves us so much that He gives up being God, takes on flesh and lives, and suffers and dies. But, to what end?

Well, the whole point of this story is that God is showing us what God treasures through it. And what does God treasure? Well, it looks a whole lot like you. And it seems a whole lot like me. So, in other words, this story tells us that each of us, from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich, already has significance. We have value because we are treasured and deeply loved by our Creator. And if we can get to a point where we believe that’s true, then we don’t need to amass money and things around us to feel more significant, meaningful, and better than others.

Instead, we don’t need to measure other people’s significance by the money and stuff they have because we can see, with healthy eyes, that their significance comes from the same place ours does: from the fact that God loves us. Now, as commonplace and predictable as that message is valid, let’s hope that even though, at times, we become a little greedy, our hearts, might come to believe it too!

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[1] Matthew 6:22

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XCIX) 06/10/22

^4:16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

COMMENTARY

Several early church scholars share their thoughts on this verse. One was Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (circa 100-158 AD) tells us that those who have refused to be of one mind in the church of God cannot be in union with God.[1] Cyprian refers to the blessed Apostle John’s word: God, he says, is love; and they that dwell in love dwells in God, and God in them.[2] Therefore, they cannot be in union with God, who would not be of one mind in God’s Church. Consequently, although they burn, given up to flames and fires, or lay down their lives, thrown to the wild beasts, that will not be the crown of faith, but the punishment of being betrayed; nor will it be the glorious ending of religious bravery, but the destruction of despair. Such a person may be slain, but not crowned. They profess to be a Christian just as the devil pretends to be the Anointed One, as the Lord forewarns us, “Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Anointed One, and will deceive many.”[3] They are not in union with the Anointed One. And although they use His name to deceive, they cannot appear as a Christian who do not abide in the truth of His Gospel and faith.[4]

Not only does Cyprian have a message for the Church, but also the non-believing Jews. He quotes Malachi: “Don’t we all have the same father? Didn’t one God create us all? Then why do we break faith with each other, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?”[5] And doesn’t the Apostle John, a converted Jew, say, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who are offsprings of the devil’s brood. Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”[6] John declares that “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in them.”[7] John also wrote, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a Christian brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”[8]

We find this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles, says Cyprian. There we read that the Apostle Peter, a converted Jew, reported: “All the many believers were one in heart and soul, and no one keeps their possessions for themselves, but everyone shared everything they had.”[9] And this was on the Temple mount! Then Matthew, a converted Jew, repeats what Yeshua, a Jew, said: “If you are offering your gift at the Temple altar, and you remember there that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar, and go, make peace with your brother. Then come back and offer your gift.”[10] Not only that, but the Apostle John, a converted Jew, the one closest to Yeshua, tells you that “Those who remain in this agápē remain united with God, and God remains united with them.”[11] [12] While this was Cyprian’s message for the Jews back then, it qualifies as a message for the Church today.

Clement of Alexandria (150-216 AD) shares an interesting custom acceptable in his day. He says we should not surrender our ears to all who speak and write impulsively. Just like vases grasped by their ear handles by careless hands, they are broken and ruined when they fall. In the same way, the ears of those polluted by insignificant chatter become deaf to the pure truth, useless, and fall away. Therefore, we should encourage children to respect their relatives when holding them by their ears to kiss them, indicating that the feeling of love is produced by hearing. And God, who is known to those who love, since love, is God, [13] just like those who are instructed to teach the faithful, are faithful; and we must be allied to Him by divine love: so that by like we may see like, hearing the word of truth guilelessly and purely, as children who obey us. And this was what he, whoever he was, indicated who wrote the inscription on the entrance to the temple at Epidaurus: — “Pure he must be who goes within, the incense-perfumed Temple.”[14]

So then, Basil the Great (330-379 AD) points out that if God is love, it must be that the devil is hate. Therefore, as those who have love also have God, those who hate have the devil dwelling in them. [19]

In one of his homilies on the Apostle John’s first epistle, Augustine (353-430 AD) speaks of God’s agápē dwelling in us so that it will be perfected according to God’s will. He says we cannot always just talk about love, but there is never a moment when we doubt that we have it. Perhaps you all have read what Jesus said in His sermon on the mount that we should be careful that when we do something good, we don’t purposely do it in front of others so that they will see us. If we do that, we will have no reward from our Father in heaven.[15] Of course, that doesn’t mean we should try to hide all our charitable deeds, just don’t do it with an ulterior motive to draw attention to yourself instead of God.

So, says Augustine, that doesn’t mean we should spend all our time praying and fasting but go out and please God by showing love to others. But if we don’t practice love, we risk becoming greedy. As the Apostle Paul warned young Timothy, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”[16] That is another way of saying that when we spend all our time trying to get rich, whether it be in money, position, or fame. When we do, as Paul says, we cause ourselves a lot of pain and sorrow. Jesus certainly gives us plenty of reasons to do things His way, “What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what He wants you to do. Then He will give you all these other things you need.”[17]

Augustine then confesses that the more he preaches about love, the more unwilling he is to finish John’s epistle. None is more passionate than commending and practicing love. Nothing sweeter can I preach to you, says Augustine, nothing more wholesome for you to absorb: but only if by godly living you confirm the gift of God in you. Don’t become ungrateful about His great grace, who, though He had one Only Son, was not satisfied until He might adopt more children who with Him possess life eternal.[18]

Augustine also remarks that the Holy Spirit is shared between the Father and the Son. But this communion is itself consubstantial[20] and coeternal. And although it can appropriately be described as friendship, it is better to call it love. It is a substance because God is substance, and God is love.[21] Augustine then goes on to say that when we come to the subject of love, which is what God is called in Scripture, the Trinity begins to dawn a little, for there is the Lover, the Beloved, and Love.

Bede the Venerable (672-735) states that we know that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Father sent Him to be the world’s Savior. And we believe in God’s love for us, the same passion He has for His only-begotten Son because God did not want His Son to be an only child. Instead, he wanted Him to have brothers and sisters, and so he adopted us so that we might share His eternal life.[23]

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (circa 500-600 AD) asks why theologians sometimes refer to God as someone we yearn for or the Beloved? On the one hand, He causes, produces, and generates what is being referred to; on the other hand; He is the thing itself, namely, Love.[22]

Then, Isho’dad of Merv (flourished around 850 AD) notes that there is no other Scripture calling God love. John desires that we seek Him who is love, from whom the commandment to show mercy came.[24]

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is asked whether the cohabitation of God in us and us in God is the outcome of love? The critics suggest that it would seem that love does not cause mutual indwelling so that the lover is in the beloved and vice versa. For that which is in another is contained by it. That’s why this indwelling cannot be both the container and the contents. Therefore, love cannot cause simultaneous inhabitation so that the one loving is being loved and vice versa. Furthermore, they point out that it implies that both are beloved by each other, which is a false assumption. Therefore, being in each other is not an effect of love.

But Aquinas is quick to answer. In verse sixteen, he notes that the Apostle John states that “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” Aquinas believes this mutual indwelling effect may refer to a person’s expectations and appetite. Because of such uneasiness, the beloved is said to be the loving one in the recipient. The Apostle Paul explains: “It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart.”[25] Since the one who shares their love is not satisfied with a superficial relationship with the one, they love, they desire to establish intimate knowledge of everything pertaining to the object of their love to penetrate their very soul. Thus, it is written concerning God’s agápē, “The Spirit searches all things, even the in-depth things of God.”[26] [27] So, though one believer may be satisfied in awaiting the love from God, the other is driven by their appetite to be in union with God so that they not only believe that God loves them enough to be in them but that He is in them so that they are in Him.

[1] Ibid. (Bray Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, op. cit., loc. cit., On the Unity of the Catholic Church, Treatise 1:14

[2] 1 John 4:16

[3] Mark 13:6

[4] Cyprian of Carthage: Treatise I on the Unity of the Church, ⁋14, New Advent digitized version 

[5] Malachi 2:10 – Complete Jewish Bible

[6] 1 John 3:10

[7] Ibid. 3:15

[8] Ibid. 4:32

[9] Acts of the Apostles 4:32

[10] Matthew 5:23-24

[11] 1 John 4:16

[12] Cyprian of Carthage: Treatise XII, Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Bk. 3.3

[13] Ibid 4:16

[14] Clement of Alexandria, Stomata Book V., Ch 1, On Faith, New Advent digital publication

[15] Matthew 6:1

[16] 1 Timothy 6:10

[17] Matthew 6:33

[18] Augustine, Homilies on the Epistle of John, Homily 8, pp. 1001-1013

[19] Basil the Great: Ibid, Ascetical Discourses 2

[20] Consubstantial is used in the Roman Catholic church to attribute the same substance or essence (used, especially of the three persons of the Trinity in Christian theology).

[21] Augustine: (Bray Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, op. cit., loc. cit., On the Trinity 6.5.7; 15.10

[22] Ibid. Pseudo Dionysus the Areopagite: On the Divine Names 4.14

[23] Bede the Venerable, Ancient Christian Commentary, Vol. XI, Bray, G. (Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John

[24] Isho’dad, Ancient Christian Commentary, Vol. XI, Bray, G. (Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John

[25] Philippians 1:7

[26] 1 Corinthians 2:10

[27] Aquinas, Thomas: Summa Theologica Vol. 2, op. cit., Question 28, Article 2, pp. 320-321

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NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XCVIII) 06/09/22

^4:15 Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is God’s Son has God living in them, and they in Him.

David Jackman (1947) believes that the Apostle John means more by the Greek verb homologeō (“shall confess” KJV; “acknowledge” NIV) than an intellectual acceptance of a fact of history. Saving faith depends not just on a general warmth and positive feeling towards the Anointed One, whatever some evangelistic presentations imply. It depends on a doctrinal confession concerning the Anointed One, on which the whole of our experience of God depends. And further, the mark of that reality is a life that expresses personal faith in the Anointed One as God by obedience to His commands and growth like Him in character. Neither of the two strands of truth and love is optional. They are inseparable.[1]

Judith M. Lieu (1951) observes that a foundational story is needed to protect the community’s self-understanding. This risk must be countered by recalling the embodiment of the Son, the primary story of Jesus, for it was the preaching about Jesus as the Anointed One to the claims made for what He as the Son of God had achieved. For the Apostle John, the definition of “Anointed One” or “Son of God” is not something independent of the story of Jesus. That identification has to be reclaimed or restored, which means that what we know about Jesus provides the content of how God acted. At the same time, while God has acted, gives content to who Jesus is. Hence, this verse reminds us that the Son of God, whose sending John has declared three times in this chapter, [2] is none other than Jesus of Nazareth.[3] John found that it was hard to put the two together as one for some. But unless that unity existed in their minds, they did not know God; consequently, they did not know Jesus. This made it impossible for them to experience anything about God’s agápē.

Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) says that back in the Apostle John’s Day, the term “Son of God’’ was for both Christians and pagans a salvation figure, a messenger of God. Therefore, John highlights what separates the two sides, insisting that the man Jesus “walked among us and died on the cross.” It isn’t that He “was” but “will” always be the only Son of God. John also highlights the function of the Spirit in directing the believer to a necessary understanding of Jesus so that all may come to know that Jesus, who is the Son of God, [4] is none other than Jesus the Anointed One who arrived in flesh and bone.[5] By revisiting the testimony of the previous verse, John’s language attempts to underscore the vast chasm[6] that defines the difference between the faithful and the unfaithful, between belief and unbelief, and between the life of the age to come and the abyss of everlasting death.[7]

Duncan Heaster (1967) states that confession was required, not just “secret belief,” and such confession meant being put out of the synagogues and thereby out of the Jewish world/society. Therefore, many “believed” but would not “confess.”[8] God’s abiding in a person is through the Spirit. And yet, the Comforter passages promise that the indwelling Spirit will empower our witness or confession. Therefore, this is more evidence of having received the Spirit; that we will testify, in the power of the Spirit. The false teachers and infiltrators didn’t do so and were not, therefore, “of God,” and their claims to possess the Spirit were false.[9]

Karen H. Jobes (1968) states that it is not sufficient to believe in the historical Jesus; one must also believe that the man Jesus was the Son of God whom the Father sent to atone for sin. Mutual indwelling of God in the believer and the believer in God echoes John’s gospel, where the Greek verb menō (“remain”) occurs dozens of times in reference to the intimate relationship between the three members of the Trinity.[10] Believers in the Anointed One can enter into a fellowship with God.[11] The idea of living or abiding with God stands behind the promise of having a place in the Father’s house, referring to eternal life.[12] [13] 

David Guzik (1984) writes that it isn’t enough to know the facts about who Jesus is; we must confess that this is the truth. The idea behind the word confess is “to be in agreement with.” We must agree with God about who Jesus is, and we find out what God says about Jesus through God’s Word. You may know something without agreeing with it; but God demands our acceptance. Although John has been writing much about love, he does not ignore the issue of truth. John does not think it is “sufficient” if a person has some kind of love in their life if they do not confess that Jesus is the Son of God. It isn’t a matter of deciding between love or truth; we must have both. Therefore, acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God is not simply to make a statement about His physical status, but vow obedience to the only one who has that status. Simply to say that you believe in the Anointed One and love fellow believers is not a condition required by God for Him to dwell within us. Instead, they are evidence that God already lives in us to make this possible.[14]

4:16     Now that we understand God’s love for us, we can trust that love.

EXPOSITION

Once more, John repeats that God lives in us, and since nothing can exist outside of God, we live in Him.  His presence in us was delivered on the wings of the Holy Spirit, who took up residence in us.  It leads John to focus again on the central theme of his Gospel, Jesus was a man sent from God to bring the message of salvation and pay the price for our deliverance.  Consequently, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) do not qualify as part of the Christian faith.

Just because I learn Hebrew, memorize the Old Testament, read the Mishnah and observe all the Jewish holidays and feasts, that still does not make me a Jew.  The only way to start that process is to be born again as a Jew, circumcised, and baptized.  The same is true of a Christian.  Learning the Bible, singing hymns, and practicing Christian virtues and ethics do not make one a Christian.  We must be born again and become a new creation in the Anointed One Jesus.  And that will only happen when we say with all sincerity and faith that we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and is the only one authorized to offer salvation from God through His grace.  Holding on to that promise of salvation and eternal life is the best way of saying we trust God and the love He has for us.  If you can’t trust God’s agápē, whose love can you trust?

This verse summarizes 1 John 3:24-4:16 – intimate fellowship with God is impossible without love for fellow Christians. Notice the order of “have known and believed.”  We must first hear the Gospel before we can believe it.  By the same token, we must know God’s agápē before we can believe God loves us.  Those who experience God’s agápē come to have confidence in Him to love.  Faith in God’s agápē comes from fuller knowledge about agápē. John inserts his discourse of the doctrine of the Anointed One into a discussion of God’s agápē and Christian love.  This is a logical deduction from the nature of God, from His orientation to love.  God is unconditional, incomprehensible, incomparable love.  We see this clearly in the sacrifice of His Son.

John previously used the phrase “God is love” in verse eight to make a case for loving fellow Christians.  He reiterates the truth that “God is love” here to show the close connection between fellowship with God and loving fellow believers.  Only by abiding in God’s agápē can true fellowship with Him be made real.  Verses eight and nine connect with verses fourteen and sixteen to the idea that God sent His Son into the world.  God reveals His agápē through Jesus the Anointed One.  God sending His Son is proof of His agápē for us and the execution of that love in us. 

There is a close correlation between loving Christians and fellowship with God. Since God in His essence is love, where God is, love is. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. God’s agápē operates within the sphere of the believer. John is confident that God’s agápē works in Christians, as they love one another. If God dwells in a believer, love dwells there too. The doctrine of God occupying the believer also implies love indwelling the believer. There is an indwelling love that God imparts to every believer. There is a great interchange between God’s agápē and the loving believer. 

So, we have come to know and believe. Both perfects are virtual presence, expressing the present continuance of a condition begun in the past: “We know and continue to believe.” Experience and faith are intimately connected, and sometimes the one precedes, sometimes the other.[15]  What John says in verse nine should be rendered “in us,” not “to us” or “toward us,” and in verse fifteen, the interpretation of “in our case” is certainly possible and perhaps safer. But the meaning may be that the object of our knowledge and faith is that portion of God’s love in us. It is “in us” and exercised towards Him and our fellow believers, but in reality, it is Him abiding in us. In either case, love is the object of our faith. Thus, love is not only the mission of the Church;[16] it is also the Church’s creed.

Therefore, where God is, His love is. Love always flows from fellowship with God. God works in Christians as they love one another. We cannot fellowship with God if we harbor malice toward fellow Christians. God inhabits all Christians, so all believers are indwelt by love. God living in the believer is tied inseparably to the confession of the Anointed One as God’s. Thus, a domino effect resulting from belief results in God’s residence in the believer, producing passionate love in the Christian. We must first know the love of God before we can believe the love of God. It is another way of saying that when we experience the love of God, we know more about loving others. It is possible by unbelief to block appreciation for God’s love in advance. Knowledge and belief act and react with each other. Any truth not applied to experience is worthless. God’s Word must be known and believed to be effective. Belief without knowledge is pure gullibility.   

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[1] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Letters, op. cit., pp. 127-128

[2] 1 John 4:9, 10, 14

[3] Lieu, Judith: The New Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 191

[4] 1 John 3:23; 4:9-10,14-15

[5] Ibid 4:2

[6] Cf. Luke 16:26 – NIV & NLT. (Synonyms for chasm: ravine, gorge, rift, crater, canyon)

[7] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, op. cit., p. 483

[8] John 9:22; 12:42; see 2:23

[9] Heaster, Duncan: New European Commentary, op. cit., 1 John, p. 34

[10] Example: (NIV) John 1:32, 33; 15:10

[11] 1 John 1:3; cf. John 12:46; 14:17; 15:4-7

[12] John 14:2, 23

[13] Jobes, Karen H., 1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Book 18), pp. 196-197

[14] Guzik, David: Enduring Word, op. cit., loc. cit.

[15] See John 6:69

[16] Ibid. 13:35

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XCVII) 06/08/22

^4:15 Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is God’s Son has God living in them, and they in Him.

Amos N. Wilder (1895-1993) says that another proof to the Christian that God abides in them, and they in God, is the confession they make. The required insight can come only from God. To recognize the Father and His working certifies true sonship. But this proof is closely related to the witness of the Spirit.[1] For it is by God’s Spirit that we testify that the Father sent His Son and anyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son.[2] To such a witness, John has in mind, “This is what God told us: He told us the truth about His Son.”[3] [4]

Paul Waitman Hoon (1910-2000) takes what the Apostle John says here as a way to make sure his readers understand that abiding in God and His dwelling in them is an important testimony that you live a good Christian life. However, this inward witness of the Spirit must be complemented by the outward witness of fellowshipping with other believers. But, while one’s Christian assurance can be verified by the traditions and heritage of the Church, a problem arises when those traditions are raised above what the Scriptures say. Therefore, every believer must apply, define, and confess their beliefs.[5] Not based on Creeds, Catechisms, or Articles of Faith, but on “Thus says the Lord.”

Rudolf Schnackenburg (1914-2002) states that faith in Jesus is the necessary assumption for belief in God’s agápē for us. This leads the Apostle John to raise a point we would have expected him to bring up in verses one to six, says Schnackenburg. While faith and love are conditions and hallmarks of our fellowship with God, they are inseparable. The confession “Jesus is the Son of God” calls our attention back to verse fourteen, where the words “God sent His Son” show how the title Son of God has both personal and Messiah implications for the mission of our Lord. In Jesus, we perceive One who is the Son of the Father in a relationship sense.[6] The only-begotten One was sent into the world by His Father to enable men and women to participate in the divine life of Father and Son.[7] In a formal sense, John repeats this confession.[8] But it is also related to the person, nature, and role of the Anointed One.[9] Knowing this adds additional weight and meaning to John’s words, “Anyone who says, ‘I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,’ is a person who lives in God, and God lives in them.”[10]

Once more, John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) examines two verses as one. What the Apostle John said in verse fourteen that we have seen, he now says we must believe what we’ve seen in verse fifteen. It is all about gaining confidence for the future, especially on Judgment Day. This confidence does not result so much in knowledge as it does in freedom of speech. They will not grow bolder in telling others about Jesus but gain confidence to speak the truth on Judgment Day. However, a Christian’s faith does not belong just to the future, the Second Coming, [11] or Judgment Day, [12] but to the here and now.

It describes both the manner of our approach to God as free and bold[13] and our expectation of its outcome, namely “that … He hears us.”[14] The qualification, however, is “if we ask anything according to His will.”[15] To put this all in a nutshell, if we just sit around and do not become involved in sharing God’s Good News and manifest it by the way we live, then when we are summoned before the Judgment Seat, it will finally hit us that we will have nothing to say. However, if we both talk and walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we can march into the heavenly courtroom and be happy to answer whatever questions God has for us.[16]

David E. Hiebert (1928-1995) notes that the Apostle John says that God’s agápē is established between Himself and mankind through mutual fellowship. God’s agápē is further confirmed in the experience of believers. Verse fifteen indicates how people enter into fellowship with God. The conditional statement, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,” indicates how God’s redemptive purpose in sending the Anointed One becomes operative in human lives. The scope of the conditional statement, “Whoever confesses,” literally, “the one who may confess,” is restricted only by the individual’s willingness to make the indicated confession. The aorist verb “confesses” denotes a specific and public admission born of an inner persuasion. The verb, which means “to say the same thing,” shows a personal acceptance that the reality being testified to is the same thing the Holy Spirit says to them.[17]

Simon J. Kistemaker (1930-2017) says that when we look at this phrase from a biblical point of view, we soon realize that John causes us to look at theological truth. The word Jesus embodies the entire history of Jesus, from His birth to His ascension and seated at the right hand of God. The term God has its roots in the First Covenant prophecies that were fulfilled when Jesus came.[18] The confession “Jesus is the Son of God” gives voice to His humanity and divinity. It excludes everyone who denies that Jesus is God’s Son[19] as one who has no fellowship with God.[20]

My dear wife, who is a naturalized citizen, told me of the pledge of allegiance she said with her right hand raised: “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America.” In the same way, the Apostle John is saying that to become a naturalized citizen of God’s Kingdom, you must vow that you believe Jesus the Anointed One is His Son.

Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) notices how the description of Jesus as “the world’s Savior” in verse fourteen is now interpreted as the Apostle John shows how that salvation becomes effective in the Church and the believer: acknowledgment of the divine sonship of Jesus leads to the mutual indwelling of God and His people. The fact that John returns to this subject seems to be in line with the orthodox “confession” given in verses two and three. But, again, this may be driven by John still having in mind the need to resist the heretical members of his community, who, even though they’ve left, their teachings are still causing trouble in the minds of some believers.[21] That’s why when a pastor becomes aware that some new trending gospel or interpretation has caught the attention of his parishioners, not to let it colonize and produce trouble among the membership. Instead, neutralize it with the serum of the Gospel, and wipe it out.

Muncia Walls (1937) notes that the Apostle John is not saying here in this verse that all one needs to know is that the Anointed One dwells in them to make a confession that Jesus is the Son of God. There is more to salvation than just mere lip service. It reminds us of another verse often quoted by those who want to think that all that is needed to be redeemed is some kind of oral declaration of accepting Jesus as Savior, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[22] Like the one here in verse fifteen, this verse, if taken out of its context, can be made to appear to say that all one needs to be saved is make a public declaration that Jesus is Lord. But neither verse should be taken out of context and interpreted independently of the other.[23]

This testimony is taken out of the prophet Joel’s assurance that when God’s people are assaulted by an enemy[24] – whom John likens to a locust, those who go to God in earnest prayer will be delivered. On the contrary, it was brought forward by the Apostle Paul to prove the truth of what he just suggested, that all that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus the Anointed One will find Him rich and plenteous in mercy and ready to dispense His grace and salvation to them: as many as will call on Him, whether Jews or Gentiles; not with temporary salvation only, but with a spiritual and eternal one; for the words of the prophet refer to Gospel times, as the context shows, and is cited and applied by the Apostle Peter.[25]Besides, the deliverance and salvation Joel speaks of is of a “remnant whom the Lord shall call;” and designs the remnant according to the election of grace, whether among Jews or Gentiles, whom God calls by His effectual grace; between which call and eternal glory, there is a certain and inseparable connection.

William Loader (1944) says the Apostle John has spelled out the basis of assurance in the preceding verses. He now returns to the centrality of love as the manifestation of God’s being and activity and as evidence of our being in a right relationship with Him: God is love; they who dwell in love are dwelling in God, and God in them. No doubt John is looking back at where he wrote, “God lives in us, and His agápē is made complete in us.”[26] This indwelling finds its realization not simply in private devotions; but its life is in community. The Apostle bases this fact on what he said earlier, “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.”[27] [28] As a child of God, you may want to affect your community positively; the best way to begin and end is with God’s agápē.

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[1] See 1 John 4:13

[2] Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3

[3] 1 John 5:9

[4] Wilder, Amos N., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exposition, p. 283

[5] Hoon, Paul W., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exegesis, p. 283

[6] Cf. 1 John 4:10 and 4:14

[7] Ibid. 4:9

[8] Ibid. 5:5

[9] Ibid. 2:22; cf. 2:23; 5:1

[10] Schnackenburg, Rudolf: The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., pp. 220-221

[11] 1 John 2:28

[12] Ibid. 4:17

[13] Ibid. 3:21

[14] Ibid. 5:14

[15] Ibid. 3:22

[16] Stott, John. The Letters of John (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries), op. cit., pp. 184-185

[17] Hiebert, David E., Bibliotheca Sacra, op. cit., January-March, p. 81

[18] Cf. Hebrews 1:5

[19] 1 John 2:23; 5:10, 12

[20] Kistemaker, Simon J., New Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 337

[21] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, op. cit., p. 253

[22] Romans 10:13

[23] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John & Jude, op. cit., p. 76

[24] Joel 2:32

[25] See Acts of the Apostles 2:16-21

[26] 1 John 4:12

[27] Ibid. 4:7

[28] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, op. cit., p. 55

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XCVI) 06/07/22

^4:15 Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is God’s Son has God living in them, and they in Him.

John Stock (1817-1884) helps us see that what we say about our faith is empty unless we practice what we believe. He says that confessing the Anointed One as Savior and Redeemer upon the forgiveness of sin is firmly linked with salvation. The Apostle Paul makes it clear, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”[1] And here, in verse fifteen, John declares that those who make such a confession signify that God is in union with them; they with Him. Salvation needs such a connection to be real.

Secret confessions do not accomplish the same thing, says Stock. The mouth must unashamedly declare Jesus to be the Anointed One, the Son of God, and the Son of man; that others may hear, learn, and believe. Faith gives birth to faith, [2] even that God will do the right thing every time and any time. How the Lord counts us, ungodly sinners, right in His sight is on our faith in the Anointed One. So, says Stock, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.”[3] By a true confession, this faith increases in believers who already possess it, who are comforted by this faith of the brethren.[4] It takes only one spark to ignite a flame, but it takes many flames to create an ongoing fire.

Stock tells us there is a triangle for the elements of fire. It represents the ingredients needed for fire: oxygen, fuel and heat. Air contains about 21 percent oxygen, and most fires require at least 16 percent oxygen content to burn. Oxygen supports the chemical processes that occur during a fire. When fuel burns, it reacts with oxygen from the surrounding air, releasing heat and generating combustion products. This process is known as oxidation. A combustible source is necessary for igniting fire and maintaining the fire as it spreads. Fuel is any kind of combustible material. It’s characterized by its moisture content, size, shape, quantity, and arrangement in which it spreads over the landscape. The moisture content determines how easily it will burn. Heat allows a fire to spread by drying out, preheating nearby fuel, and warming the surrounding air. It is another form by which nature illustrates the inner workings of Trinity, says Stock.[5] After all, did not the Holy Spirit come upon the apostles in the Upper Room with flames of fire after God’s Son promised He would after He ascended back into heaven, where He received the approval of the Father. Just something to think about.

Brooke F. Westcott (1825-1901) says that in verses fourteen and fifteen, the Apostle John highlights the experience of the Christian assembly in that of its leaders. The apostle speaks of himself as representing the Church for which he had a particular ministry to do. Nevertheless, his experience [6] was, in another form, the experience of all his fellow brothers and sisters during that time.[7] The vision and witness of the immediate disciples correspond with the knowledge and belief of the disciples of all ages. Or, to express the same truth otherwise, that vision and witness remain an abiding endowment of the living Body.[8]

John James Lias (1834-1923) says that nothing could be more alien to the whole spirit of this Epistle than to imagine that the condition of abiding in the Anointed One could be the result of a “once for all great act introducing a believer into a state of confessed security.” Instead, the confession is one of life. Those who are willing to own Jesus publicly as their Lord and accept the shame and humiliation and the unchanging spirit of self-sacrifice that attaches to such a confession are a person in whom God is abiding and who abides in God. The action of the Divine Spirit produces confession, [9] and such a confession needs to involve living the same life of love which He, the Son of God, lived and must testify to the saving power which proceeds from Him. The point is the unity of essence, mind, and will between the Father and the Son so that the confession of God manifest in the flesh is a confession of God Himself.[10]

Lias expounds further on confession. There is our lip’s confession, our heart’s concession, and our life’s commission. These all go together. There cannot be one without the other. But it is possible to be mistaken about either. We can fancy we are confessing the Anointed One in the heart, when a glance at our lives would inform us whether it’s true or not. Let us examine our lives in every aspect and seek conformity to the image of the Anointed One. Then, again, it is possible to imagine that we are confessing the Anointed One with our lifestyle and yet to be deceived.

What if we have no inner love for Him, notes Lias; our hearts never light up with the flame of devotion; we have no pleasure in the sacraments, prayers, praises, or the study of His Word; we are fake believers. In addition, when we do our deeds of charity mechanically, without love and sympathy and brotherly kindness towards those for whom we do them, then we may suspect that something has gone wrong in our confession; that though we have “the form of godliness,” we are strangers to the power thereof.[11] The husk of godliness is there; the life which animates the kernel is dead or dying. Is there anyone who desires to know what is meant by confessing that Jesus is the Son of God? Let them ponder this: “God is agápē, and they that dwell in agápē dwell in God, and God in them.”[12]

Robert Cameron (1839-1904) mentions that in the previous chapter we saw God’s perfect agápē attain a flawless manifestation in humanity. It came from God as its fountain, through the Son as its channel, into the world as its sphere, and to us, under the curse because of sin, as its objects. It continues to come and finds its goal and perfection when we love as God loves. Although John does not present that such love came to us through the Holy Spirit, he steadily keeps to his central thought of life. He links us in everyday life to God as “we abide in Him and He in us.” This life, fostered by “the agápē of the Spirit,” goes out from us in its sympathy and activity, and in us, it is made perfect. It is agápē that came from God’s Son, and it continues to go through the many born-again “sons and daughters” exhibiting the same traits and lavishing its wealth upon the same objects in us as in Him.[13]

Sir Robert Anderson (1841-1918) says that the Anointed One’s “coming forth from God”[14] does not point to the manger in Bethlehem, and the date of the Nativity, but to a past Eternity and the Father’s throne. This is the truth on which the faith of the Christian rests – that “overcomes the world.” It is not an inference from the Virgin birth but a revelation from the Father in heaven. If His title of “Son of God” does not depend on the Virgin birth – and it is a vital moment that the word “begotten” is used of Him only in relation to His resurrection from the dead[15] — what can be its significance? The meaning can be that conveyed to those who heard His teaching, those among whom He lived and died. Just as by “Son of man,” He claimed to be human in the highest and most absolute sense, so by “Son of God,” He laid claim to Deity. His disciples understood it that way, and they worshipped Him as divine, and those who refused to believe in Him misunderstood and crucified Him as a blasphemer.[16]

James B. Morgan (1850-1942) points to the Apostle John’s statement in verse fifteen, “God dwells in them, and they in God,” indicates that John often uses such terms to express the communion that arises out of faith in the Anointed One, between the believer and God who dwells in them by His Spirit. He fills their minds with His light, life, love, and purity. The believer “dwells in God” by faith. They look to Him, only, to Him always. They say and act upon, “The LORD has a reputation for providing a strong fortress; that’s why the godly run to Him for safety.”[17] While they contemplate the Anointed One as the connection for their fellowship with God, they may say, “We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”[18]

According to Morgan, this supposes an enjoyment of the divine favor. It assumes confidence in the divine strength. It expects an earnest effort after the divine holiness. Likewise, it presumes unreserved devotion to the sanctified service. It imagines a burning zeal for heavenly glory. It infers that we inquire at our hearts whether the truth of the text has found lodging there. Have we yielded our consent to the divine testimony? Have we embraced the reality testified to in the Gospels? So, have we confessed the Anointed One in the glory of His person, offices, and work? Do we enjoy the communion of the Father, He “dwelling in us, and we in Him?” Can we honestly say of the Anointed One, “through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit?”[19] We should never be satisfied with lower attainments.[20]

Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951) says that after all the Gospel preaching we have listened to, following all the Christians we have known throughout the years, are we among those who have never yet definitely received the Lord Jesus the Anointed One into our heart? Ironside begs everyone not to delay settling this question for even one hour. He urges them to lift their heart to God and confess being the sinner for whom the Anointed One died. Kindly let Him know you are coming to Him for the salvation of your soul, which He provides through His blessed Son, and are trusting Him, the Lord Jesus the Anointed One, as your personal Savior. Then go out and confess Him before the world, for, “Whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in Him, and God abides in them – yes, God is in them!”[21]

Amos N. Wilder (1895-1993) says that another proof to the Christian that God abides in them, and they in Him, is their confession. The required insight can come only from God. To recognize the Father and His working certifies true sonship. But this proof is closely related to the Spirit’s witness.[22] By God’s Spirit, we testify that the Father sent His Son to those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God.[23] John’s witness is that “This is what God told us: He told us the truth about His Son.”[24] [25]

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[1] Romans 10:9

[2] See James 2:22

[3] Romans 1:17

[4] Ibid. 1:12

[5] Stock, John: Exposition of First Epistle of John, op. cit., pp. 364-365

[6] John 1:14

[7] Ibid. 1:16

[8] Westcott, Brooke F., The Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 153

[9] See 1 John 4:2

[10] The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 327-328

[11] 2 Timothy 3:5

[12] The First Epistle of St. John with Homiletical Treatment, op. cit., pp. 332-333

[13] Cameron, Robert: First Epistle of John, op. cit., loc. cit.

[14] John 16:28

[15] See Psalm 2:7; Acts of the Apostles 13:33

[16] Anderson, Sir Robert: The Lord from Heaven, Ch. 4, op. cit., p. 28

[17] See Proverbs 18:10

[18] John 1:14

[19] Ephesians 2:18

[20] Morgan, James B., An Exposition of the First Epistle of John, op. cit., Lecture XXXIV, p. 342

[21] Ironside, Harry A., The Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., p. 160

[22] See 1 John 4:13

[23] Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3

[24] 1 John 5:9

[25] Wilder, Amos N., The Interpreter’s Bible, op. cit., 1 John, Exposition, p. 283

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XCV) 06/06/22

^4:15 Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is God’s Son has God living in them, and they are living in God.

COMMENTARY

Early Church scholar Tertullian (155-220 AD) pointed out to Praxeas (213 AD), a priest from Asia Minor, that the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity constitutes the most significant difference between Judaism and Christianity. But, this doctrine of yours, says Tertullian, resembles the Jewish faith to believe in One God and refuse to recognize His Son, and after the Son, the Spirit. What difference would there be between Jews and Christians without this distinction you are trying to demolish? What need would there be of the Gospel, which is the core of the Final Covenant, laying down that the Law and the Prophets lasted until John the Baptizer, if then the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not both believed in as the only three-in-one God?

God was pleased to renew His covenant with humanity, argues Tertullian so that we could believe in His unity, utilizing the Son and the Spirit, so that God might now be known openly, who was not plainly understood in ancient times, though declared through the Son and the Spirit. Away, then, with those “Antichrists who deny the Father and the Son.” They reject the Father when they say that He is the same as the Son and negate the Son when they suppose Him to be the same as the Father by assigning ministries to them that are not theirs and taking away their roles. But “whoever confesses that (Jesus) the Anointed One is the Son of God” (not the Father), “God dwells in them, and they in God.”[1] “Those that do not have the Son have no spiritual life.”[2] So, the person who does not accept Jesus as God’s Son believes Him to be someone other than God’s Son.[3]

Early Christian writer Lactantius (250-325 AD) also addresses this issue. He says that if God has rejected the Jews, and the Gentiles were grafted in and freed from the darkness of this present life and the chains of demons, it follows that no other hope is available to mankind if they do not follow the true faith and divine wisdom, which is in the Anointed One. Those ignorant of Him are forever estranged from God and the truth. Therefore, do not let the Jews, or philosophers, flatter themselves with their respect of the Supreme God. They who do not acknowledge the Son have been unable to accept the existence of the Father. This is wisdom, and this is the mystery of the Supreme God. Therefore, God willed that the Anointed One should be recognized and worshipped.[4] On this account, God sent the prophets to announce His Son’s coming so that when the things prophesied were fulfilled in Him, then He might be believed to be both the Son of God and God.[5]

Early Church scholar Didymus the Blind (313-398 AD) gives this advice to believers who may have come into contact with the Gnostics of his day: You need to understand, God will not dwell in anyone who does not obey His commandments, no matter how much they may confess Him with their lips. Some people are confused by the various names of Jesus because they do not interpret the Scriptures correctly. They think that because He came out of the womb of Mary according to the flesh and was given the name Jesus at that time, He is not to be identified as the eternal Son of God, who did not think it robbery to be considered equal with God.[6] Therefore, they restrict themselves to the physical form the Word of God assumed, even though being the Word was never changed into humanity. To confess the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, is to acknowledge Him as God and man.[7]

Later in the medieval period, we see that this was still a concern. Christian scholar Bede the Venerable (672-735 AD) writes: “John says that the perfect confession of the heart is one which the wicked persuasion of the heretics cannot corrupt. It cannot be overcome by the tortures inflicted by pagans in persecution or slacken under the pressure of the example of worldly brothers or the weakness of our frailty.”[8] While we do not have people openly declaring on non-Christian TV shows today that Jesus was the true Son of the Living God, it is still alive in books, magazines, and various gatherings, even some on campuses of what used to be Christian universities. Therefore, John’s teaching on this subject is just as relevant now as when he wrote it.

John Calvin (1509-1564) notes that the Apostle John repeats the truth (whosoever shall confess), will be united with God by the Anointed One, and cannot be connected with the Anointed One unless God abides in us. Unfortunately, the terms faith and confession are used indiscriminately in the same sense. Too often, hypocrites boast of faith, yet the Apostle here clarifies that it takes more than an ordinary confession. Confession must be genuinely motivated by a believing heart. Besides, when he says that Jesus is the Son of God, he includes the sum and substance of faith, for there is nothing necessary for salvation that faith cannot find in the Anointed One.[9]

Daniel Whitby (1638-1726)  says that we should note that what John said in his Gospel[10] and the Apostle Paul in his epistle[11] is that this hearty confession must be accompanied by a readiness to believe all that this Son of God taught us in His Father’s name, for if He tells the truth, why do we not accept Him?[12] So also, we must have a real reason to obey His commandments. Otherwise, why call Him Lord, Lord, and don’t do what He told us to do?[13] [14]

Thomas Pyle (1674-1756) contends that, by the extraordinary and miraculous powers of God’s Holy Spirit, we are qualified to demonstrate and prove beyond all doubt the truth of those facts of which the Apostles were eye-witnesses. Therefore, Jesus is the true Messiah, the very Son of God, the Word, the Anointed One, who was with the Father and sent into the world for the redemption of mankind, by his death and sufferings. This is a doctrine that every Christian must embrace. Anyone who denies it deserves not that character, nor is entitled to any privileges of God’s true church.[15]

James Macknight (1721-1800) says that some commentators understand that confessing Jesus is the Son of God is an outward profession of faith in the Gospel. But, notwithstanding that profession of one’s faith in the apostolic age, John was exposed to persecution. No doubt, very few would think that such a person had God living in them and they in God.[16]  The expression “God abides in him, and he in God” often occurs in this epistle and must be understood differently according to the individuals they are applied to. If directed at teachers, as in verses thirteen and fifteen in this chapter, and verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight in chapter two, their meaning is that these teachers are faithful to God in teaching the true doctrines of the Gospel and are assisted and beloved by God. But if spoken of persons, as in verses five and six,[17] they mean one’s abiding in the belief of those doctrines, practicing the precepts of the Gospel, and enjoying God’s agápē.[18]

John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) tells us that even though God did all of this for us through His Son, that unless we, during these difficult times on the principle of faith and love, boldly confess that Jesus the Anointed One is the only begotten Son of God the Father, and the only qualified Savior of lost and dying sinners, can we thereby prove that God lives in us through His Spirit and has led them to their understanding of the Anointed One. Therefore, they dwell in God by faith and love through His Son, the great Mediator.[19]  

English Vicar James Slade (1783-1860), generally remembered as Canon Slade, says that confessing Jesus as the Son of God implies the following: (1) A deep and living conviction, an accurate perception of mind and heart, that Jesus the Anointed One is the only Savior for lost humanity.[20] (2) A vital belief in His salvation, in the effectiveness of His blood, and the power of His grace. (3) A hearty and complete acceptance of the Gospel of God’s Son; resting securely in all the doctrines, waiting for all the promises, observing all the ordinances, and obedience to all the commandments. (4) Proclaiming of the Lord as our Divine Redeemer in the face of the whole world.[21]

William Lincoln (1825-1888) exclaims, “It is a dreadful accountability to reject the Gospel.” If a person hears the Gospel and turns a deaf ear to it, it is not they are merely a fallen creature; for God made a provision for them as such; the agápē of Jesus has come down so low that even for the vilest sinner there is mercy if they accept salvation. The ground of condemnation in the Final Covenant, why people are self-condemned, is not that they have done one or the other; for all sin, there is a provision, but there is no answer for rejecting the Lord Jesus the Anointed One. So, “It is not the sin-question, but the Son-question,” between God and the world, and according to whether you receive Him, you have condemnation or salvation. As the Apostle John says here in verse fifteen, “All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.”[22]

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[1] 1 John 4:15

[2] Ibid. 5:12

[3] Tertullian Against Praxes: Ch. XXXI, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, p. 1097

[4] John 14:6, 13; 5:23

[5] Lactantius: Epitome of the Divine Institutes, Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries, Philip Schaff, Ch. 49, p. 366

[6] Philippians 2:6

[7] Didymus the Blind: (Bray Ed.), James, 1-2 Peer, 1-3 John, Jude, op. cit., loc. cit.

[8] Bede the Venerable, Ancient Christian Commentary, Vol. XI, Bray, G. (Ed.), James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John

[9] Calvin, John: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, op. cit., loc. cit.

[10] John 1:12

[11] Galatians 4:6

[12] See John 8:46

[13] Luke 6:46

[14] Whitby, Daniel, op. cit., p. 467

[15] Pyle, Thomas: Paraphrase, op. cit., p. 397

[16] See Romans 10:10

[17] See 3:6, 24; 4:16

[18] Macknight, James: Literal Paraphrase, op. cit., p. 94

[19] Brown, John of Haddington: Self-Interpreting Bible, op. cit., p. 1328

[20] 1 John 2:2

[21] Slade, James: Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., Vol. 22, pp. 99-100

[22] Lincoln, William: Lectures on 1 John, op. cit., Lecture VII, pp. 120-121

Perhaps you have heard of someone who was not very “tactful” in dealing with a touchy situation. In other words, they made things worse instead of better. Psychologists tell us that tact is said to “make contact with” those around us and refers to behavior under the control of primary reinforcement. For instance, food is a primary reinforcement for humans and animals because it removes hunger. But how can money, which cannot directly remove a deprivation condition, be reinforcing? The answer is that money is a secondary reinforcer, while hunger is a primary reinforcer. The primary controlling stimulus is nonverbal and affects some portion of “our whole physical environment.”

Psychologist Jeremy E. Sherman thinks we should all know how good it is to be tactful, but rarely do we wonder how to motivate tact. Instead, we treat tactfulness as a goal and say, “Just do it.” But a goal is not a plan. Nor is “Just do it.” Instead, we consider tact to be aspect of politeness, best cultivated through self-censorship: Always appear authentically tactful whether you mean it or not. Here, instead, is an approach to achieving authentic tact naturally, not as strategic maneuvering but as a representation of a heartfelt realism about ourselves and others. Tact can be cultivated in three kinds of realistic balance. (1) culpability (I’m capable of such an act), (2) unclear value (One person’s trash is another person’s treasure): and (3) self-tact (Embrace someone else’s lack of self-confidence through self-examination).

Psychologist have also described tact as a term used to designate a verbal characteristic in which a response of a given form is aroused (or at least strengthened) by a particular object or event. That’s why we must examine the question, “What is this?” Thus, tact is the property of the subject to adhere to a certain measure in conversation, in committing acts, as well as the ability to assess the situation in advance and find an effective way to resolve conflicts without causing moral damage. A person who can act in accordance with the established norm of etiquette, regardless of the situation, is called tactful. Tact is the secret to personal success in all areas of life. In particular, one should not forget that tact, as part of an individual’s character, is formed on the basis of natural qualities, in the process of hard work on oneself, during the period of upbringing and training.

The word tact (dexteritas) in the Latin language is to touch or touch. It follows from this that tactfulness makes it possible to “understand” the current situation, behavior, feelings, and subject of interaction. One who has a sense of proportion and knows how to understand the speaker’s needs, desires, and experiences, will always be a welcome person in society. Therefore, tact allows a person to behave culturally among people, to take into account all the specifics of the situation, which is indicated by a kind of behavior. Tactfulness is the ability, if necessary, to talk about a mistake, make comments so as not to belittle a person’s dignity, not hurt their feelings, spare their pride, and despite everything, point out their merits.

A tactful person knows not to utter a false impression or offend an opponent. You should not speak sarcastically, under conditions do not mention errors or non-standard appearance. Such an individual, on the contrary, will be able to pick up good words to praise or cheer up the speaker. They will find a way to suspend the conversation in time, which can contribute to the beginning of the development of the conflict or caution others who are not correctly speaking to their circumstance.

Psychologists also tell us that an effective apology involves a delicate balance between tact, tone, and timing. It can be even more challenging when jobs and reputations are on the line in tense settings. The significance of an apology can vary in different settings and professions. For instance, Dr. Guy Winch, a leading advocate for integrating the science of emotional health into our daily lives, workplaces, and education systems, says that what he found when potential plaintiffs, someone who is injured, get apologies from the people who hurt them, are more optimistic about the encounter, they’re less likely to blame the person who wounded them with hatred. So, tactics are a verbal method where the speaker labels things in the environment.  Tact is used when a non-verbal stimulus is presented, which becomes a discriminative stimulus through discernment training.  When tact produces secondary conditioned reinforcement, it becomes controlled by a primary nonverbal stimulus.

Furthermore, Dr. Lance Sobel, a Seattle psychologist specializing in adolescent and family therapy, says that if my daughter’s 16-year-old boyfriend comes to the door with alcohol on his breath, I will let him know that’s the last time he will drive my daughter anywhere. That’s where I care more about her life than her feelings. If the disapproval is based on a general dislike of the person, then “say what you feel, but say it with respect, both for the family member and the date. Go soft on judgments or ‘I know better’ statements. Remember, your goal is to be heard, so you won’t have to say, ‘I told you so’ later.””

Sobel also suggests parents tactfully voice their concerns about the date. Not doing so is where parents go wrong, he says. The psychologist says problems can arise when children of single mother’s date. Single parents have been known to rebel against their kids the same way teenagers’ rebel against parents. But ultimately, parents need to understand they don’t get to pick their children’s spouses. However, they can tactfully let them know how they feel about their child’s feelings and future.

Nonetheless, what does God’s Word say about tact?

Wise King Solomon tells us that when speaking to someone who has offended you, we must remember that a tactful answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.[1] Later Solomon would advise that “By being tactful, you can make anyone change their thinking, even a ruler. Therefore, tactful speech is very compelling.”[2]

Then the Apostle Paul remarked that even though “I am a free man with no master, I have become a servant to all people to bring many to the Anointed One. When I was with the Jews, I tactfully lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to the Messiah. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I, too, lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this to bring those who are under the law to the Anointed One. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I tactfully live apart from that law so I can bring them to the Anointed One. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of the Anointed One. When I am with those who are weak, I tactfully share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to the Anointed One. Yes, I try to be tactful with everyone, doing everything I can to save as many as possible. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t be that untactful because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God.”[3] Paul tells the Ephesians, “Instead, we will speak the truth tactfully, growing more and more like the Anointed One, who is the head of His body, the Church.”[4]

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[1] Proverbs 15:1

[2] Ibid. 25:15

[3] 1 Corinthians 9:19-22; 2 Corinthians 12:6-7a

[4] Ephesians 4:15

“Feed someone with a long-handled spoon” is a figurative expression in American English that means exercising caution while dealing with someone liable to hurt you. The picture this expression paints is a vivid one. Imagine yourself dealing with someone so nasty, so vicious, that you have to use a spoon with a handle long enough to stay out of biting range to feed them.

The origins of this expression are quite old. It appears to be a variation of an Old English proverb is first documented in the 1300s in Chaucer’s Canterbury’s Tales: He needs a long spoon who sups with the Devil.[1] This proverb is later alluded to by no less than Shakespeare! Shakespeare references it both in his Comedy of Errors [2] and The Tempest.[3]

How precisely this proverb evolved into the contemporary expression “feed someone with a long-handled spoon” is unclear. Because its use is primarily among African Americans in the southern United States, it seems likely that the current form of this expression came into being in the Antebellum South.

The “Parable of Spoons” is not one of the parables of Jesus that we find in the Bible. Rather, it is well-known Jewish teaching attributed to the Lithuanian Rabbi Haim of Romshishok. Rabbi Haim was a travelling preacher who reportedly used this parable to begin his talks whenever he entered a new village.

This is how author Jonathan Bernis describes the parable: I ascended into the earth and sky. First, I went to see hell, and the sight was horrifying. Row after row of tables were laden with platters of sumptuous food, yet the people seated around the tables were pale and emaciated, moaning in hunger. As I came closer, I understood their predicament. Every person held a full spoon, but both arms were splinted with wooden braces, so they could not bend either elbow to bring the food to their mouth. It broke my heart to hear the tortured groans of these poor people as they held their food so near but could not consume it.

Next, I went to visit heaven. Again, I was surprised to see the same setting witnessed in hell: row after row of long tables laden with food. But in contrast to hell, the people in heaven were sitting contentedly talking with each other, obviously satisfied from their sumptuous meal. As I came closer, I was amazed to discover that here, too, each person had their arms splinted on wooden slats that prevented them from bending their elbows. How, then, did they manage to eat?

I watched as a man picked up his spoon and dug it into the dish before him. Then he stretched across the table and fed the person across from him! I suddenly understood that the recipient of this kindness thanked him and returned the favor by leaning across the table to feed his benefactor.

Heaven and hell had the same circumstances and conditions. The critical difference is in the way the people treat each other. So, the message of this parable is clear: We suffer when we think only of ourselves. We thrive when we work together.[4]

While there is no historical connection between the expression “feed someone with a long-handled spoon” and the Parable of the Spoons, there is a deep spiritual meaning. The Parable of the Spoon encourages us to love our neighbors. Likewise, the expression “feed someone with a long-handled spoon” offers wise guidance for how we can love those neighbors who make it difficult to do so.

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[1] Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Harper & Brothers, New York, p. 281 from William Chaucer’s Canterbury’s Tales, Penguin Classics, [Group F] The Squire’s Tale, Part II

[2] Shakespeare, William: Comedy of Errors, Dromio of Syracuse, Scene III

[3] Ibid. The Tempest, Stephano, Scene II

[4] A Rabbi Looks at the Afterlife

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XCIV) 06/03/22

^4:14 Furthermore, we have seen with our eyes and now tell the world that God sent His Son to be their Savior.

Ben Witherington III (1951) points out that here is one of the rare places where it is clear that the Apostle John knows and approves of sharing this witness with the world. In Johannine theology, God has not limited the scope of who may be redeemed, [1] as John proves in his Gospel.[2] Instead, God desires that everyone come to salvation. So, He sent a Savior, not just for Jews or even the elect among the nations. Here we may see a counterclaim to Cæsar Augusts’ followers that he was the world’s rescuer and benefactor. The Greeks used the term soter (“savior”) for many pagan deities, including Zeus, Asclepius, Isis, and Serapis.[3]

Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) begins with the words:

             “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,

                      Hail the incarnate deity.”[4]

It is another way of saying that God the Father sent the Son in human flesh to be the world’s Savior. The Apostle John references not seeing God with human eyes; after all, “no one has ever seen God.”[5] Instead, John references seeing what is genuinely veiled, what must be seen with something other than physical eyes. The contention between John and the secessionists likely would have been over “the Father sent His Son to be the world’s Savior.” The words of Jesus can supplement the correct sense clarified by the Apostle John, “You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me.”[6] That’s why the blessed are those who have been made to see what the eyes can in no way see, for theirs is the “sight of faith” brought by the Spirit.[7]

Ken Johnson (1965) says that to have a real relationship with God, a person must have the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is made evident by testifying that Jesus, the Son of God, is the world’s only qualified Savior.[8] Why is this important? Because it is a message that there are no other saviors, one need not trust in them or their words. And that includes people, places, things, and churches. You may find something that promises to let you work your way into Nirvana.[9] But don’t look for any streets of gold, no river of life, no gates of pearl, nor the presence of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Peter Pett (1966) states that we cannot abide in God if it means we must see Him. Indeed, no one has beheld God at any time. But His presence among us and His abiding in us is revealed in the agápē that flows from us to our fellow believers. Those surrounded and inhabited by the God who is agápē will become channels of that love, especially those who are also the same love channels. This agápē, which is the evidence that we have been born of God and know God, this oneness of heart with God’s faithful people, this agápē and those who are in the truth, will result in God’s agápē being perfected in us. As we love each other, we get to know God’s agápē better. For inherent within this is the response to the truth proclaimed by those who are truly God’s children.

For Duncan Heaster (1967), the Apostle John continues his narrative on the result of the gift of the Spirit John spoke of in verse thirteen. For it was the Comforter who would “testify” of the Lord, “and you also will testify.”[10] The power to witness comes from the strength of the Spirit we received. This way, timid individuals can somehow find the ability to be effective witnesses.  God can also arrange circumstances whereby the most reserved of us encounter others searching for the truth about the Anointed One, so we can share with them. John and his fellow apostles testified of what they saw in Jesus’ preaching, of which the Gospel of John is a transcript.[11] John sees himself as following the example of the Gentile Samaritan woman, who “testified” that the Lord was the Savior of the world.[12] [13]

Peter Legge (1969) notes that John then tells us the second way this love is demonstrated in the apostolic message of the cross. “We,” the apostles, “have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the world’s Savior.” We must show practical love as Christians, and it’s a great thing, and it’s a significant lack in the church today – but if you want to love someone, you need to give them the Gospel, you need to preach to them the cross. Dr. Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984), whom I knew in Switzerland, said, “We must never forget that the final apologetic which Jesus gives is the observable love of true Christians for true Christians.”[14] – it is the most excellent argument for people to believe in God and have their souls saved. That argument doubles when they not only see the love of the Anointed One dying for them on the cross, but they see that same love in your life as you love them.[15]

4:15     So anyone who says, “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,” is a person who lives in God, and God lives in that person.

EXPOSITION

In other words, believers do not need to come up with some physical evidence that God lives in them through the Holy Spirit; all they are required to have is their acknowledgment of faith.  But this cannot be merely words recited from a prayer book or said as part of a sinner’s prayer; it must be founded on their relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior through conversion and the new birth.

Admission is one condition for having the Anointed One abiding in us. The basic idea of conceding the presence of sin is telling God what He already knows, but He wants to hear it from us. The Greek verb for “confess” is the compound homo-logeō which combines “same” and “speak.”  That means we agree to make a compact with God about His Son based on what God said. Disclosure can also be a synonym for faith.  Affirming that Jesus is “the Son of God” means that we acknowledge He is God.  The Greek aorist tense in homo-logeō means that this person comes to a decisive moment when they recognize Him as the Son of God.  Conceding the Anointed One’s deity implies surrendering to His character and authority. 

There is a connection between confession in verse two and here in verse fifteen. Verse two has to do with the genuine humanity of the Anointed One.  Such a proclamation differentiates true believers from pretending believers. Here in verse two, it has to do with agreeing that He is the Son of God.  Homo-logeō serves to distinguish between those who talk about love and those who never show it.  In each case, the Holy Spirit produces the profession of belief. Those who meet the condition for abiding, and God in them. That one condition reveals personal trust in God’s Son and His finished work on the cross. God only lives inside born-again people; He does not fellowship with those without the Anointed One. God exclusively fellowships with God’s elect.

Rev. Benjamin Charles Caffin (1826-1894), Vicar of Northallerton, England, says that the KJV rendering “Whosoever confesseth.” seems preferable to “whosoever shall confess” or “shall have confessed.” The exact meaning is, “Whosoever has once and for all taken up the position of confessing.” Verse fourteen gives the ease of the apostles and those who accepted their witness. In verse fifteen, we have that of both together.[16]

Therefore, confession is one condition for abiding. The basic idea of confession is an agreement to say the same thing.  “Confess” comprises two Greek words: to say and concur. Therefore, we agree or make a compact with God about His Son. Confession is also a synonymous term with faith.  The confession that Jesus is “the Son of God” means acknowledging that He is God.  The Greek tense in “confess” means that this person comes to a decisive moment when they recognize Him as the Son of God.  Confession of the deity of the Anointed One implies surrendering to His character and authority.

There is a connection between confession in verse two and verse fifteen.  Confession in verse two has to do with the genuine humanity of the Anointed One, distinguishing true believers from the fakers. In verse fifteen, confession has to do with acknowledging His deity, that He is God’s Son. It differentiates between those who give evidence of love and those who do not. In each case, the Holy Spirit produces the confession. Confession is more than a proclamation of doctrine; it is proof of a life united with God.

As a result, there is a correlation between what we say and do. Many people confess to knowing the Anointed One but have never trusted Him as their personal Savior.[17] Therefore, the confession implies that the Anointed One is God’s Son and sovereign Lord over our lives. He is God Almighty to us. He imparts His life to us, called eternal life. The nature of that life changes the individual. God abides in the believer and changes their perspective on love. Love finds its source in faith in the Son of God. God’s agápe does not see others as obstacles, but as people worthy of His attention. God’s proof of this is Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross for our sins. True love shows itself in concrete action.  

Those who meet the condition for abiding in God will have God dwelling in them. The one prerequisite is the confession of personal trust in the Son of God and His finished work on the cross. We need to remind ourselves that we are children of the King. We have rights and privileges with God. We hold the same position as Jesus holds with the Father.[18] Since God abides in the believer, the believer is never alone. This is great encouragement in times of sorrow.  He never forgets us nor forsakes us.[19]

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[1] Cf. Titus 1:3-4

[2] John 3:16-17

[3] Witherington III, Ben: Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: op. cit., loc. cit., : (Kindle Locations 7237-7242)

[4] Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, by Charles Wesley (1739), Stanza 2

[5] 1 John 4:12

[6] John 20:29

[7] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, op. cit., p. 481

[8] Johnson, Ken. Ancient Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., pp. 78-79

[9] In Buddhism, Nirvana is a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth. It represents the final goal of Buddhism.

[10] John 15:26,27; 1 John 5:6

[11] John 3:11; 19:25; 21:24; Revelation 1:2

[12] John 4:29

[13] Heaster, Duncan: New European Commentary, op. cit., p. 33

[14] Schaeffer, Francis: The Mark of the Christian, (1970 L’Abri Fellowship); Reprinted by IVP Books, Downers Grove, Illinois, p. 29

[15] Legge, David: 1,2,3 John, Preach the Word, “Christian Love: Its Source and Sign,” Part 13

[16] Caffin, B. C., The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, op. cit., p. 104

[17] Romans 10:8-11

[18] Ephesians 1:6; Romans 8:1

[19] Hebrews 13:5; cf. Deuteronomy 31:6