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1 John 5 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
At the time of this writing, John was battling the incredible deception that had come against the church. There were false teachers parading around true believers and teaching that when Jesus died, He was simply human and not divine.
We saw the same theme yesterday when John warns us to test the spirits. John was the right person to address it. If you remember, this was a topic near to his heart, as even his Gospel writings share this theme. He starts out John 1 with the most beautiful and powerful statements about how Jesus was indeed God in the flesh.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:1-2 NASB
Like many Biblical themes of today, people of John’s time were trying to use logical reasoning as a means to verify truth instead of faith. They thought they were wise to try and explain something “new” that hadn’t been considered before. Don’t get me wrong, the Bible is incredibly practical. It is backed with loads of historical and factual information. It’s breathtaking to consider how these books come together with such perfect harmony through the sweep of Scripture.
But the Bible’s truth doesn’t hang on strictly “factual” information because it’s based on spiritual realities. These spiritual principles are so far above our knowledge, there is no way we can figure everything out with logic and facts. I am very skeptical of someone who believes only because of the evidence.
How do they explain Jonah and the whale?… or Peter walking on water? Where’s the evidence for that? How do you logically understand the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountaintop with Elijah and Moses hanging out up there with Him? I could go on and on. These are faith issues. By faith, we believe these things happened even though we can’t truly grasp every specific detail.
John was passionate about believers understanding the truth by faith.
We believe human testimony; but God’s testimony is much stronger, and he has given this testimony about his Son. 10 So those who believe in the Son of God have this testimony in their own heart; but those who do not believe God, have made a liar of him, because they have not believed what God has said about his Son. 11 The testimony is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
1 John 5:9-12 GNB
John is calling us to put our trust in God. It’s a call to faith. Though man’s testimony can have flaws, God’s is perfect. And that testimony is this – His Son, Jesus, came as fully man and fully God to be a sacrifice for sin.
John is contrasting those who accept and those who reject what God says. A person who trusts in Jesus possesses the witness, namely, the truth of God (v. 1Jn 5:9). The one who rejects God’s testimony is claiming that God is a liar.
Nelson’s New Illustrated Commentary