Lord Jesus Christ in 1John
Verses within this Study.
1:3, 3-Son, 7; 2:1, 22, 22-Son, 23, 24; 3:1, 2, 8, 23, 23; 4:2, 3, 9, 10, 14, 15, 15-Son; 5:1, 5, 5-Son, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 20, 20-Son.Click on the following links to jump to a section within the study of this Bible Book: Lord only, Jesus only, Christ only, Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, Son , Saviour
Lord Only
Lord
is not used by itself in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord
.
Jesus Only
Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus
.
John uses Jesus
to emphasize that the Son of God is human. Jesus
knows what humans can do. Jesus
knows how to overcome sin while living in flesh. John basically argues that anyone who really believes that Jesus
is the Son of God will obey His instructions on how to overcome sin while living in the flesh.
1John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
The note under Son references this note. Jesus
is used here as 'God in human flesh', which is the identifier of the man named Jesus
. John started out this chapter talking about the difference between God's Holy Spirit and spirits that are not from God. Then he explained things from a spiritual point of view. Now he is talking about the same subject but from the point of view of the people who are controlled by these spirits. When John uses the word confess
, he isn't talking about words because the Devil is a liar and people serving the Devil tell lies. John is talking about a way of life. Confess
means the evidence from how we live our lives as seen over a long time. Liars will eventually reveal their true nature. When John uses Son
here, he is referencing the Jewish belief that a son was equal to the father. In John 10:24-38, the Jews condemned Jesus
because He presented Himself as the Son of God
and they knew that such a claim made Jesus
equal to God the Father. So, what we have here is John saying 'Whosoever lives a life that, over a long time, displays a belief that the man named Jesus was and is the Son of God who is equal to God the Father, has God dwelling in him and he is saved'. Many religions will call Jesus
a good man or a prophet. Many religions call themselves 'Christian' but their members live lives of sin which prove that they don't really believe that Jesus
has the power of God. We can not have God's power in us and go on living a life of sin. This verse, in modern language is: 'Anyone who really is saved and has God living in him will live a life that demonstrates the power of God by the changes that knowing Jesus makes in their daily living.' Look at the verses that follow this, where John provides more of an explanation, including 4:17 where he says as he [God] is, so are we in this world
.
1John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
The note under Son references this note. This verse clearly states that Jesus
is the Son of God with Son
being capitalized. The word the
means 'there is only one and this is it'. So, this verse says what is seen elsewhere that God has only one begotten Son and Jesus
is Him (John 1:18; 3:16, 18; 1John 4:9). Anyone who is not lying and really believes that Jesus
is the Son of God will get saved and receive Him into their lives. This verse is also saying that the people who overcome the world are able to do so because their belief that Jesus
is the Son of God enables them to do so. They are able to do so because, as Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works
. God's the one who makes the change in saved people's lives and the result of God's workmanship is good works
. Coming back to this verse, we see that those good works
include overcoming the world
. It isn't any really big stretch to see implied in this verse the doctrine that says that people who never make any attempt at overcoming the world's influence might not be saved. After all, if receiving the Holy Ghost, which comes as a result of belief that Jesus
is the Son of God, allows some people to overcome the world in some areas of their lives and makes them a 'work in progress' in other areas of their lives, then that same Holy Ghost will do the same for all who are truly saved. Which justifies the question, 'If your claimed belief that Jesus
is the Son of God isn't producing the same fruit in your life as it does in everyone else's life, then where is your evidence that your claim is not a lie?'
Christ Only
Christ
is not used by itself in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ
.
Jesus Christ
1John 1:3, 7 2:1, 22; 3:23; 4:2, 3; 5:1, 6, 20.
Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus Christ
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus Christ
.
We find two types of verses in this book which use Jesus
and Christ
. Twice (2:22, 5:1), John declares that Jesus is the Christ
. In context, John is declaring that the physical man named Jesus
fulfilled the role called Christ
. In the Old Testament, this role was called Messiah
and the Jews understood, to some extent, that God Himself would fulfill this role.
The second type of verse that we find in this book, use Jesus Christ
together. Within that group, two verses (4:2 and 4:3) talk about Jesus Christ
coming in the flesh. In these verses, John is talking about the roles on God the Son. That is, when John says that Jesus
came in the flesh, he is saying that God came in the flesh or that the man Jesus
was a fleshly form of God. When John says that Christ came in the flesh, he is saying that the man Jesus
fulfilled God's role as Christ
.
Beyond these four verses, John uses Jesus Christ
, instead of Son
as he normally does in this book, to tell us about specific ministries that require God to use His human nature and that fulfill an Old Testament promise that God said that the Messiah
would fulfill. These include: fellowship with God, cleansing from our sins, an advocate with the Father, salvation and knowledge of God that only comes from a personal relationship. Jesus
is 'God in human flesh' and God the Son's role as Jesus
gave Him the understanding of human nature that allows Him to fulfill these roles. Many claim that 'nothing occurs to God' or that 'God can't learn anything because God knows all', but the Bible tells us that Jesus
Christ learned obedience
(Hebrews 5:7-10). The fact is that certain things can only be learned by experience and these ministries of God are different than they would be if God had not experienced the flesh.
1John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Verses 1:1 through 1:3 form a single sentence and the breakdown of the sentence is in the Book Study on 1John at the link provided. In addition, the note in this Study under Son has more detail from a different perspective.
In the First Section of this sentence, John tells us that he and others had fellowship with 'God in human flesh' as one human being has fellowship with another and that their fellowship changed to a spiritual fellowship. Here, John emphasizes that God is eternal and that saved people can (but might not [ye also may
]) have personal fellowship with these eternal beings. When John says That which was from the beginning
he is using past tense (was
) at the beginning
. This means that God was before the beginning
of our physical world. After establishing that the Word of life
existed before the physical world was created, John says that they had physical fellowship with the Word of life
. Remember that God spoke all things into existence in Genesis 1. Therefore, the Word of life
implies the power of creation. And, just in case you missed the point of what John said, the included part is put in here to say a second time (and establish the basis of doctrine) that the Word of life
is eternal God that was manifested unto us
(in the physical world).
After establishing that he had fellowship with God in human flesh, John tells us that we personally (ye also may
) might have fellowship with the same eternal God. Only the Bible offers personal fellowship with God. All other religions claim that the best man can have is some formalized ceremonies where their god speaks only through special priests.
In the Second Section of this sentence, John tells us that our fellowship is spiritual in nature because it is with two spiritual beings (God the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ
) . Implied in this spiritual fellowship is that we have to see things from the eternal (spiritual) perspective. Within this perspective, John tells us that we can have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Here we have two persons of the Trinity named as separate beings. People have problems with the Trinity because they insist on looking at spiritual matters from a limited human point of view. The fact is that some spiritual things are outside of our limited human point of view, and we have to accept them as declared by the Bible. That's called living by faith
.
We also see here that John declares that Jesus Christ
is the Son
of God the Father
with a capital S
on Son
. This is distinguished from sons of God
, which John is going to tell us that we can become. John is going to make further important statements about the position of the Son of God
and, therefore, includes it in his opening. Within this context, John tells us that we can have fellowship with Jesus Christ
. John uses Jesus
because this fellowship is limited to saved people. He also uses Christ
because maintaining this fellowship requires spiritual growth that results from the ministry of Christ
. However, John uses Jesus Christ
and not Christ Jesus
because the main requirement for fellowship is salvation. John is going to tell us, later in this book, that even if we break our fellowship by refusing the ministry of Christ
, we can restore it at any time based only on the fact that we were saved through the death of Jesus
. John uses Jesus Christ
here to tell us about a fellowship that all saved people have access to and that grows through the ministry of Christ
but which is mainly
dependent upon salvation.
After establishing that we can have fellowship with God, John tells us why we would want that fellowship when he says And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full
. There is a separate teaching on joy
that I won't go into here but while 'happiness' is fleeting, joy
can be eternal.
1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Please also see the note under Son. Verses 1:6 and 1:7form a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study on 1John. There we see that this sentence has two Equivalent Sections that are polar opposites of each other. In the First Equivalent Section of this sentence we are told that if our walk doesn't match our talk then we are liars. In the Second Equivalent Section of this sentence we are told that if we claim to be Christians (walking in the light
) then we will have fellowship
with other Christians and with Jesus Christ
with the result being that fellowship
with Jesus Christ
will cause us to stop our sinning. Hopefully the reader can see that these two Sections are equivalent because they say the same thing but say it two different ways.
People who claim to be Christians but never go to church are liars, according to this verse. (The Biblical definition of Christian
is different form the many popular definitions used in the world. The Bible, and God, only recognize the Biblical definition.) People who never stop any of their sinful ways (walk in darkness
) are liars, according to this sentence. Please notice that this is not saying that the person is lost. As we have seen time and again in this study, God does not take away the free will of saved people. Romans 8 and other places teach us that saved people can walk
in sin and darkness
. When the saved chose to walk in darkness
they loose their fellowship with him
. They do not stop being children of God
(do not loose salvation). One of the biggest sources of confusion about this epistle is that people do not pay attention to context. Here, John is talking about our walk
. Later in the epistle John talks about our relationship. The two produce different results because there is more to our relationship than our walk
.
Notice the Second Equivalent Section off this sentence says But if we walk in the light we have fellowship
. Our fellowship
is determined by our walk
. Our salvation is not determined by our walk
. Walk
is an ongoing progression of steps. Amos 3:3 says Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
Unless we agree with the Son of God, we will not walk
with Him and will not have fellowship with him
just like a child that is mad at their parent doesn't have fellowship
with the parent while the two aren't talking.
This sentence is an excellent example of the general note where I explained the Biblical use of 'if'. It shows us both sides of the 'if' equation. However, when only one side is presented in the context, it should be remembered that not meeting the 'if' conditions eliminates the results. You can not get them some other way.
This verse goes on to say that if we if we walk in the light, as he is in the light
then His blood cleanseth us from all sin
. John didn't say 'might cleanse' but said cleanseth
which is a definite ongoing present tense action verb. The th
of the word cleanseth
means that the Son of God 'keeps on keeping on cleansing us from sin'. However, as explained in this chapter of 1John, we need to maintain our fellowship
in order to let the Son of God to continue to cleanseth us from all sin
. This isn't talking about forgiveness but is talking about removal of the addiction of sin. We will be free from the bondage of sin, but we have to walk in the light as he is in the light
in order to remain free because He is the one Who makes us free
(John 8:32-36). This is the ministry of Christ
. Many people make the mistake of thinking that a saved person can't get addicted. However, protection form the addiction of sin is found in fellowship with him
, not in just making a one-time profession.
If someone isn't cleansed from their sin, they aren't walking in the light
. If they never are cleansed from their sin, they don't meet the requirement for being a Christian according to Romans 8:9. The error that many people make is that they equate being saved with being a Christian. Other places in the Bible, and mentioned in this study, prove that there are saved people who are not Christians
(Acts 11:26). All of this is similar to the logic that we see in Romans 6, especially Romans 6:16, which is talking to saved people who are living in sin. This verse directly connects walk(ing) in the light, as he is in the light
(meeting the Biblical definition of a Christian) to cleanseth us from all sin
. Since John uses Jesus Christ
, we know that this is an ongoing progressive cleansing through the ministry of Christ
that only happens to those who are saved through Jesus
(Romans 3:26).
1John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
John 2:1 has a single sentence in it and part of a second sentence that is completed by 2:2. This second sentence starts with And
, which joins it to the first sentence of 2:1. Therefore, verses 2:1 and 2:2 need to be considered together. The second sentence in these verses has the name of Jesus Christ
in it, which is the subject of this study. This sentence also has two colons in it, which makes three equivalent parts. These sentences can be divided by punctuation in the Book Study on 1John. That Study also has several considerable notes related to these verses which deal with the context and with the legal considerations. Since the word advocate
identifies a legal role, the legal considerations are critical to proper understanding of what is said here.
The Second Equivalent Section, of the second sentence, tells us that he (Jesus Christ) is the propitiation for our sins
. The Third Equivalent Section tells us that Jesus Christ
is the propitiation...for the sins of the whole world
. This lets us know that propitiation
is not something that is reserved for saved people. It is freely offered to all with the saved accepting the offer and the lost rejecting the offer. The First Equivalent Section, of our second sentence, tells us why the saved accept the offer and the lost reject it. Remember that all three Sections are equivalent. The First Equivalent Section, of our second sentence, tells us that if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous
. That lets us know that propitiation
is related to Jesus Christ
acting as an advocate
, which is a legal representative. The saved accept the offer to have Jesus Christ
as their advocate
, and thereby also receive propitiation
. The lost do not receive propitiation
because they will not accept Jesus Christ
as their advocate
.
We see the same thing in John 14:16 which tells us Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The lost insist that they can approach God the Father another way while the saved accept Jesus Christ
as their legal representative. The real reason for this is the first sentence in 1John 2:1 which says that ye sin not
. The lost would be happy to receive Jesus Christ
as their propitiation
and as their advocate
, but not if they have to give up their sin. John uses Jesus Christ
in this verse because both of these roles are involved while He provides our propitiation
and while He acts as our advocate
. As John says in this book, we sin after salvation and, therefore, we need Christ
to go on being our advocate
. However, John puts in the qualifier of that ye sin not
. The best that I can understand from my study, if we flagrantly continue in sin, Christ
is liable to refuse to represent us when Satan brings (truthful) accusations of our sins. Christ
is liable to tell the Father to let the devils have their way with us until we change our attitude about the sin.
We not only need Jesus Christ
to be our propitiation
, but we need Christ
to continue to be our advocate
. Read the rest of 1John 2, which these verses introduce, and you should see that what I've said matches what John wrote in this chapter. Even the next sentence, which starts with And
, adds as much. It says And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments
. If we don't keep his commandments
then we don't know him
, we aren't having fellowship
with Him or with the Father
. It should be obvious that it's pretty hard to get someone to be your advocate
when you won't even talk to Him about your problems. The same type of logic applies to all else that John says in 1John 2.
Building upon this sentence is 2:5 which says But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him
. In the general note, it was mentioned that the love of God
is found in 2:5; 3:16-17; 4:9; 5:3. Everyone wants to claim the 'no fear' of 1John 4:18 but most ignore the qualification that it is perfect love
that casteth out fear
. They don't want to limit the love to that which meets the Biblical definition of perfect
, and they certainly don't want to meet the requirement of this sentence which tells us whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected
. Most want perfect love
while they refuse to keepeth his word
. As said, we could go through the rest of this chapter and apply the introductory sentence to everything in the chapter, as John really expected us to do when he wrote it. However, t5hose considerations will be dealt with in the notes for the rest of the chapter.
The other thing to note here is that the sentence in 2:5 says hereby know we that we are in him
. Then the rest of this chapter teaches the same thing as a study of the Relational Prepositions that tell us about being 'in Christ' or 'in Jesus Christ' Basically, if 'we are in him' then He makes our life different and anyone who does not stop their sinning but claims to be 'in him' is a liar.
1John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Please also see the note under Son. This verse has two sentences in it. The second, which does not contain the names of Jesus Christ
or Christ
does contain the term antichrist. Since antichrist
is covered in detail in another Study, I will only make a couple of simplistic comments here. In the first sentence, we see John say Jesus is the Christ
like we could say 'George Washington was the first president of the U.S'. In both statements, Jesus Christ
and 'George Washington' are the names of people and Christ
and 'president of the U.S. ' are roles. This is one of the verses that clearly show us that Christ
is not a name but is a role and the Jesus Christ
and Christ
mean different things. If they meant the same, there would be no possibility of someone denying that Jesus Christ
is the Christ
. In addition, we see here that John says that anyone who denies that Jesus Christ
is the Christ
is a liar and is an antichrist. Our verse also says that he denies the Father
and that he denies the Son
. This brings us back to this term antichrist. In the Bible we see devil used for many spiritual beings and we see Devil
used for the particular spiritual being that leads them and is named Satan
, along with other names. We often can tell the difference between role of devil
and the being who leads all devils by the presence or absence of a capital 'D' in the word Devil
or devils
. (Sometimes the Bible uses a lower case 'd' for the Devil
, but the context makes it clear.) The same applies to the term antichrist. There is no 'Antichrist' (with a capital A) in the Bible. There is no 'Antichrist' in the Book of Revelation. That claim is doctrinal error taught by the true Biblical antichrist so that we won't look at them and their doctrinal error.
The prefix 'anti' is used for 'against' or for 'alternate'. So an antichrist is anyone that opposes the role of Christ
in the lives of saved people or that provides an alternate for the role of Christ
in the lives of saved people. These antichrist would include those Paul warned us about in Philippians 3, especially 3:18-19 and those of Galatians, especially Galatians 5:4. As you can see throughout this study, the Bible uses Christ
for the role of the Son of God that deals only with saved people to bring them to spiritual maturity after salvation. Those who claim to be saved by Jesus
and deny the spirituality maturing ministry of Christ
, are part of the antichrists John is warning about. However, those who claim salvation by faith, then claim keeping a bunch of religious laws for spiritual maturity are also part of these antichrists. Yes, the lost people, and false religious leaders, who stand against the gospel of the Bible can be called antichrists. But the way that John and Paul use the term means that it applies to saved religious leaders who tell people that Jesus
didn't become Christ
or that Christ
wasn't the physical man named Jesus
or that they don't need spiritual maturing after salvation, or that claim that maturing comes from keeping rules and not from a personal relationship with Christ
. People who teach these and other heresies that go against the Bible teachings about the Son of God are antichrists.
1John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
The note under Son references this note. This sentence is part of the summary of 1John 3, which is more than I will go into for this study other than to say that, in general, 1John 3 says that those really saved will walk their talk and those without a walk to match their talk are liars and not saved.
This verse is worded very much like (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:25-29) where Jesus
agreed with the scribe / lawyer when he said what the two basic commandments were: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself
. In Luke, this command is followed by the 'parable of the good Samaritan', which pretty much explains the command to love one another
. We've all heard lots of messages on this second command, but for some reason most preachers avoid the first command. The Bible uses the word / concept of first
as 'first in a sequence' but it also uses it as 'most important'. The first (most important) command in this verse is we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ
. This is the equivalent of the first (most important) command in the gospel accounts which are Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind
. Any who would disagree with this claim should study what the Bible really means by believe
or faith
especially what Hebrews and James say on these subjects.
However, there's another word that gets lots of different definitions from lots of different Christian
religions and lots of argument about the true definition by people who are defending their religion's definition, and who never did a proper word study in the Bible. That word is repent
. I've done a proper word study (in another document) and while most people will be sorry for their sin if they truly repent
, being sorry isn't (Biblically) repenting
. Also, 'changing your mind' is a wrong definition because 'change your mind' might come from the Greek, but the Greek definition of 'mind' is not the English definition of 'mind'. True Biblical repentance is obeying this command to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself
. True Biblical repentance isn't just changing our 'mind' (as defined by the English definition) but it's " changing the mind, heart and soul'. Further, true Biblical repentance isn't 'turning 180 degrees' (toward another religion of man) but it is turning 90 degrees upward toward God.
Matthew 4:15 and Mark 1:15 tell us that the first thing Jesus
preached after being tempted by Satan was repent
. It was first in time sequence and also the most important. There is a difference between repent
and believe
but true Biblical saving belief
isn't possible without true Biblical repentance
. That true Biblical saving belief
is going to result in our loving the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind
. If we realize what the Biblical definition of repent
really is and see what 1John 3 says about true love verses false love; and realize that this verse summarizes this chapter by telling us that we are to first believe
and then love one another
, the true meaning of this verse should become clear. We must believe
so that we can follow the example of Jesus
for how to live in the flesh using the power of the Holy Spirit. We must also get the spiritual maturing, which Christ
gives to us, which is the only way that we can love one another
the way that this chapter tells us to do. Without these ministries, no person, even if they are saved, can live up to all that we are commanded to do within this chapter.
John uses Jesus Christ
because we need the spiritual maturing that comes through Christ
, but most importantly we need the Spirit of God that comes at salvation which was provided by Jesus
. If you look at the next verse, which finishes the summary of this chapter, John tells us And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us
. Our salvation isn't based upon our saying some prayer but is based upon God answering our prayer and giving us His Spirit
. Unless we truly believe, including repenting (as I've explained here), God won't give us His Spirit
. And if He really gives us His Spirit
, we will love one another
the way that this chapter defines love
.
1John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
Verses 4:2 and 4:3form a single sentence which is divided by the punctuation in the Book Study on 1John. In addition, that note also has links to other significant notes which are related to this sentence. Please also see all of the other related notes in order to understand all that is said in this sentence. This note only deals with John's use of these roles of the Son of God.
Each part of this sentence is telling us how to tell the difference between the Spirit of God and other spirits, which are devils. Our sentence is also a follow up to 4:1 which tells us that we need to believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God
. Notice that 4:1 also says because many false prophets are gone out into the world
. False prophets aren't preachers of other religions, but are preachers who claim to be 'Christian preachers' but who are really preaching another message. The false message that John is warning us about is the same thing that he has warned about in other verses of this epistle. Read the first three Equivalent Sections of this sentence (4:2-3). I can not make them any clearer than John did. Now we take the Fourth Equivalent Section, which has an equivalent meaning to the other Equivalent Sections, and we get that the spirit of antichrist...already is in the world
and that this spirit confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
.
In the Bible, confesseth
means 'how we really live, not the lies that come out of someone's mouth'. This spirit of antichrist
teaches people to trust in religion instead of a personal salvation by the Son of God that includes living in submission to God and letting Christ
live through our life. This spirit of antichrist
teaches that Jesus
wasn't really 'God in human flesh' and that he was just 'a good man' or a 'prophet' such as Judaism, Islam, Seventh Day Advocates and others teach. This spirit of antichrist
teaches that Jesus
didn't really provide salvation, such as Mormonism claims, and so you have 'another testament' or some other religious thing that adds to the salvation provided by Jesus
. But we also have the spirit of antichrist
in churches that teach a salvation in the name of Jesus
that denies the work of Christ
so that people can continue in sin and claim Heaven while they live for Hell. This spirit of antichrist
also can teach salvation through Jesus
but sanctification through keeping some religious law, which denies the individual personal intimate relationship with God through the ministry of Christ
. Basically, these verses are giving us a better definition of antichrist that John introduced in chapter 3.
John uses Jesus Christ
to mean any and all of the ministries of God the Son through His role as Jesus
and/or His role as Christ
. The spirit of antichrist attacks one or more blessing that comes through these two roles of God the Son.
1John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Please see explanation above as this verse is part of the same sentence and the sentence is explained above. This verse is the equivalent of the prior verse, with both verses in the same sentence. However, where the prior verse said the message in a positive way, this verse uses double-negatives to say the same thing. Thus, between the two, every possible objection to this message has been covered. Either we live a lifestyle that shows that Jesus Christ
came into the world and shows us how to live in the flesh and how to spiritually mature, or we are not of God
. The word of
means: 'belongs to'. We may be saved, but our life does not 'belong to' God
if our lifestyle does not 'keep on keeping on displaying the influence of'
Jesus Christ
(confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
). However, if we are truly saved and living this type of lie, Peter 2 warns us if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning
. Simply put: God will really hurt anyone who is truly saved but following the doctrine of an antichrist
.
1John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
This verse introduces a new sub-topic in John's book. It also shows us that Jesus
and Christ
are different as explained in the note on 1John 2:22. In this chapter, John is dealing with those who deny that Jesus
is God (see notes on Son) or deny the ministry of Christ
. In Matthew 16:16, Peter says Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God
which shows us that the Jews understood that the Christ
was also the Son of the living God
, which made Him equal to God. John and Peter were both common Jews of their day and understood as the common Jew understood. Matthew 26:63 tells us that the high priest understood the same thing. So, Jews at all levels understood the same thing about the definition of Christ
. This includes the definition of Luke 2:11 which says a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord
. So in addition to Christ
being God (the Son of God), Christ
is also Lord
and Saviour
. Further, John himself tells us that Christ
is the source of grace and truth (John 1:17), the one we are to get answers from (John 4:25) and the source of eternal life (John 17:3). So when John says Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God
, he is assuming that the reader understands at least what was commonly understood by the common Jew about Christ
. Especially in light about all that John is saying in this book about antichrists and love
, John is saying that if you're really saved (born of God), you will believe these things about Jesus
. If you really accept these things about Jesus
, you will have to reject the false teaching and the non-loving sinful life taught by antichrists. This verse is divided into two parts by a colon and it equates believing that Jesus
is the Christ
with loving the Father. This was more of a problem with the Jews who claimed to love God the Father but rejected that Jesus
was Christ
than we see today.
1John 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
This verse has two sentences; the first tells us that Jesus Christ came by water and blood
. The second sentence seems to be unrelated but actually lets us know that there is spiritual symbolism involved in the true
interpretation and understanding of these two sentences. Symbolism is easy to misunderstand because it requires proper consideration and understanding of the context and that is because the words which are used as symbols are not given their normal meaning. With the true symbolic meaning dependent upon the context, it becomes easier for people to get the wrong meaning if they fail to properly consider the context.
There is more than one opinion about what John means by came by water and blood
. A lot of this disagreement is because people are using symbolic meaning for these words which comes from elsewhere in the Bible instead of looking at the surrounding context. In this book, John is talking about salvation, our being sons of God, and the true (spirit, love, etc) verses the false (spirit, love, etc). One of the best known places where John talks about salvation is John 3 (3:16, etc) which includes John 3:5 where Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
In that verse, water
is used for a woman's water that breaks at physical birth and in this book, John says a lot about people denying that Jesus
came in the flesh or denying that Jesus
is God in the flesh. As for blood
, John uses it in 5:6 and 5:8. In 1:7 John tells us that the blood cleanseth us from all sin
. In John 1:13 John uses blood
for 'ancestry'. The blood of Jesus
was/is sinless. I believe that John is talking about the dual nature of Jesus Christ
in this verse. He inherited His human nature from His mother Mary (through the water
) and His godly nature through the blood
from the Holy Ghost. Jesus
could remain sinless because of His blood
, but could still pay for our sin because of His human nature (water
) . Christ
can cleanse us from sin by the godly blood
and still understand our sinful human nature because of the water
. I believe that, in this verse, John is saying that the Son of God is both human and God in His roles of Jesus
and of Christ
.
1John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Please also see the note under Son. John started this book by declaring that he knew and had fellowship with the eternal life, and was writing to us so that we also could fellowship with the eternal life. In this verse we have John's conclusion to his book. John is saying that eternal life is knowing that Jesus
Christ
is come in the flesh, having an ongoing relationship with Him that keeps us in Him (in action, attitude, etc) and gives us understanding of Him. John is also telling us that This is the true God
. That means that any so-called salvation that does not include a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
or that does not require getting an understanding of God or that does not include a requirement for us to be in Him (showing His attitudes and actions) is from a false god. Again, John uses Jesus Christ
because the main requirement is the new nature that comes with salvation, but that new nature is alive and requires growth after salvation and spiritual growth is the ministry of Christ
.
Christ Jesus
Christ Jesus
is not used in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ Jesus
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ Jesus
.
Lord Jesus
Lord Jesus
is not used in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus
.
Lord Christ
Lord Christ
is not used in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Christ
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Christ
.
Lord Jesus Christ
Lord Jesus Christ
is not used in this book. Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus Christ
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus Christ
.
Son
Click here for all of the Verses that use Son
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Son
.
1John 1:3, 7; 2:22, 23, 24; 3:1, 2, 8, 23; 4:9, 10, 14, 15; 5:5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 20.
John uses Son
to emphasize the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to emphasize all of the roles of the Son. See individual notes for more of an explanation.
1John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Verses 1:1 through 1:3 form a single sentence and the breakdown of the sentence is in the Book Study on 1John at the link provided. In addition, the note in this Study under Jesus Christ has more detail from a different perspective. Most of what is to be said is in that note. In addition, we see in this verse, and in other verses of this book, that John declares Jesus Christ
to be the Son of God. John capitalizes Son
(in this verse and others) because he is using the Jewish definition that the Son of God is equal to God (John 10:33). John also capitalizes Son in recognition that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16, 18; 1John 4:9). In this book, as well as in his gospel, John talks about people becoming sons of God
(1John 3:1-2), but in all cases John does not capitalize sons
in recognition of our lesser status, power and position. Here, in the introduction of his epistle, John declares that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God
(3:8; 4:15; 5:5, 5:10, 5:12-13, 5:20). As John goes through this epistle, he will tell us more about the position of Son
, but here John is introducing the relationship that he plans on describing.
1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Verses 1:6 and 1:7form a single sentence which is divided by punctuation in the Book Study on 1John. There we see that this sentence has two Equivalent Sections that are polar opposites of each other. Most of what is to be said is in the note in the Book Study on 1John and in the note under Jesus Christ. Please see those notes also since what is said there will not be repeated here.
In addition, to what is in those notes, we see in this verse that it is the blood of God's Son that cleanses us from sin. We all inherited our physical blood from Adam. That means we inherited our sin nature from Adam. The blood of the Son of God was physically different from the blood of all other men (because His blood came from God [his Son
]) , which is one reason that He is called the 'second Adam
(Romans 5; 1Corinthians 15). Life begets similar life. Since God is a Spirit, blood from God will be Spiritually alive. The Son of God received His Spiritual life from God, not from the human woman named Mary. We are told that life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11; John 6:53). When this sentence tells us the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin
, it is saying that our sin is cleansed
by Spiritual life being applied to the sin. Also notice 1:9 where we are told that He cleanse us from all unrighteousness
. That means he changes our walk
since we were in sin, but as part of cleansing
the sin, He removes all unrighteousness
.
In addition, Jesus Christ
took His blood to Heaven after His resurrection. Sinful blood could not be taken to Heaven. When Jesus Christ
met the Apostles in the upper room after the resurrection, He used flesh and bone
to describe His physical body while earlier in the gospel He used flesh and blood
to describe His physical body. There is a lot more in a Biblical study of blood
than can be covered here. The main point is that the blood
of Jesus Christ
is physically and spiritually different from the blood of all other men because He received His blood, and Spiritual life, from God the Father. That's why it can do spiritual things (like cleanse us) that other men's blood can't do.
While what was said about the blood of Jesus Christ
is true and it is critical for us to understand this truth, John deliberately added his Son
to this sentence. It should be obvious that his Son
means God's Son
. In the Bible, the word son
means that the son
receives the character of the father. John 1:12 tells us But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name
. We also see this message in other places within the Bible. However, while this message is true, there is more implied and required before we can become the sons of God
. Please notice that John 1:12 only says that to them gave he (God) power to become the sons of God
. It does not say that God made all saved to be the sons of God
. You do not cook dinner in a pot which was last used as a chamber pot unless you cleanse
it first. Sin makes our life like a spiritual chamber pot. All through the Bible we see that God cleanses
us before He puts anything spiritual into us. Thus, our sentence puts the blood of Jesus Christ
before his Son
because the blood of Jesus Christ...cleanseth us
before his (God's only begotten) Son
puts God's character into us to make us the sons of God
.
In our sentence we see that Jesus Christ
his Son
but also links the two together. Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ...cleanseth us
, but our sentence links it to his Son
so that we know that the linked purpose is that the Son of God can do His ministry and make us into the sons of God
. God does not use the precious blood of Jesus Christ (to)cleanseth us
just so that we can look spiritually pretty for the instant before we sin again. No, God does this to change our life by having his son
make us into the sons of God
.
1John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
This verse has two sentences in it. Please also see the note under Jesus Christ for the use of Jesus Christ
within this verse. In addition, since antichrist
is covered in detail in the Book Study on 1John, that doctrine will not be covered in this Study. In addition, the Book Study on 1John provides the context of this verse, including how several of the surrounding sentences need to be considered in order to have the correct contextual understanding of this verse. Therefore, those other notes need to also be considered in order to have the proper interpretation of this verse.
In this verse, we see two sentences which are really asking the same question using different terms. Both use denieth
as the verb and the main action of these sentences. The th
in the word denieth
means that this person 'keeps on keeping on denying' this truth. People can be mistaken but when someone refuses to let God's word correct their doctrine, then they denieth
the truth.
We denieth that Jesus is the Christ
when we deny
that Jesus
is our example of how to live in this flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit and shows us how to spiritually mature using His role as Christ
. That is the function of the role known as Christ. We denieth...the Son
when we refuse to let Him give us the character of God the Father. That is the function of the role known as Son.
It should be obvious that John equates liar
and antichrist. It should also be obvious that John equates denieth that Jesus is the Christ
to denieth the Father and the Son
. In this equate, John is saying that to deny the personal ministry of Christ
in a saved person's life is to deny the Son
and to deny the Father
. Neither the Father
nor the Son
paid the terrible price of our salvation so that we could go on living in our sin. Elsewhere, the Bible is more blunt when it says that those who claim salvation, but never stop their sinning and never suffer the consequences, are bastards
. In 5:16 of this epistle, John says There is a sin unto death
. John uses Son
there for each and every role of our Lord Jesus Christ
. To deny that Jesus
is the Christ
is to cut yourself off from every blessing that comes through any and all of the ministries of the Son of God in His roles as Lord Jesus Christ
.
In the Bible, son
is used to mean someone who has the same character as the 'father'. Paul trained several men but only called a couple my son
. In John 14:8 we read Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
. In response, Jesus said ...Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
. No, they had not seen the Father physically but had seen the Father in the character of Jesus
. Then in John 1:12 we read But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
. It takes time and effort to become
something. Also, if we must become the sons of God
, then we are not already the sons of God
even though the verse says this about those people who already (past tense) received him
. That means that when we get saved we receive the power
to get God's character but it takes time and effort. That is one of the main reasons why God saves before we die and why He gives us a personal relationship through Christ
.
Returning to our present epistle, John said in his first sentence For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
. Just as Jesus shewed
God the Father's life and character to His disciples, John is trying to do the same with this epistle. If we let the lessons from John become real in our personal lives then we will receive the character of the Father (become the sons of God
). If we listen to antichrists, then we will not receive the character of God the Father and will not become the sons of God
. That is what John literally says in his next sentence, which is below this note in this Study.
1John 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
This verse is a continuation of the prior verse. Please also see both notes on 2:22 (under Jesus Christ and under Son). John is dealing with the Jewish emphasis on the Father
, which is also emphasized by some modern cults. This verse fits exactly with John 14:6 which says Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me
. In both this verse and John 14:6 we see that people who claim salvation through the Father
that does not come through the Son
is a liar
and an antichrist and are not Biblically saved. However, anyone that claims salvation through the Son
, has the salvation of the Father
that the Jews and these cults like to claim, even if they don't know about it.
1John 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
John starts this chapter telling us that he is writing to encourage us to not sin and how to handle the times that we sin. Then in verses 2:7-8 he tells us that he isn't writing a new commandment to us and that he is writing a new commandment to us. Basically, in these verses, John is telling us that he is showing us a new way to look at an old commandment. When he tells us to walk in the light, it isn't really a new commandment but a different way of looking at an old commandment. John then goes on and gives further instructions but all of John's instructions are basically telling us to look at old religious commandments from a spiritual point of view.
Obviously, in context, John's walk in the light
is talking about spiritual light and not some physical light as in sunlight. He is telling us that all of the religious stuff that we used to try and understand in a physical religious way is really to be understood spiritually. That is only possible, for humans, if they are operating in the Spirit of God provided by salvation. Understanding this point of view is necessary in order to understand these three verses: 2:22-24. First, John deals with those that deny that Jesus is the Christ
. That is, they deny that the man named Jesus
provided the ongoing spiritual ministry of the role of Christ
. Then in this verse, John says that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.
What we are to allow to abide in us is the Word of life
(1:1) that we have heard from the beginning
. That means no new doctrines added to the Bible. But more than that, in the first chapter of the gospel of John, we are told about Jesus
that And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us
(John 1:14). The Bible (Word of life
) is our only Spirit based, Spiritually alive, God approved, picture of Jesus
(Word of life
).
A man can put all off the dead seed that he wants into a woman and no life will result. It takes life to beget life and the Bible (as well as our own experience) tells us that there are different types of life (plant, animal, man, etc). John 1:12-13 tells us But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
It takes Spiritually alive seed
to produce Spiritual life. In Matthew 13 and Luke 8 Jesus
tells us The seed is the word of God.
1Peter 1:23 tells us Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever
. In this epistle, 1John 3:9 connects this Spiritually alive seed
/ Word of life
to being born of God
. This all ties together by simply saying that we received Spiritual life when we accepted the Word of life
(Spiritually alive Bible) and we are to keep that same Word of life
(Spiritually alive Bible) abiding in us.
When this verse tells us If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father
, it is telling us that all of the blessings, that we find in the verses within the Study called Relational Prepositions, from being in Jesus Christ
/ in Christ
, or from having Jesus Christ
/ Christ
'in us', can be ours if Word of life
(Spiritually alive Bible) abides 'in us'. Again, we need to remember that in this chapter John is talking about how we live. We find different results here than we find in chapter 3which is talking about our position within our relationship with God.
As said before, this book (and this verse) have to be understood from a spiritual point of view. Since the Bible is Spiritual in nature, having it abide
in us keeps us connected to the Son (ye also shall continue in the Son
) and to everything provided by the son like salvation, guidance in this life, cleansing from sin, eternal rewards, etc. John uses Son
here to mean everything provided by the Son of God through all of His roles as Lord Jesus Christ
. John is telling us that our link to all of that is the Bible. John links this verse to the prior two as a warning. Those people that don't let the Bible abide
in them usually end up following an antichrist. See John's continuing remarks in the remaining verses of this chapter, especially the end of 2:26.
1John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
John starts a new subject with chapter 3. He is now telling us about our relationship to God as sons of God
. Again, this chapter has to be understood from a spiritual point of view. The only way that a living saved person is a son of God
is spiritually and to the limited extent that Christ
changes our lifestyle by our submitting to the commandments of the Spirit of God
. Please note all of the action verbs in 1John which end with th
or st
. This suffix means that the person 'keeps on keeping on doing the action verb'. Thus, these words show us the actions of a lifestyle and the multitude of them in this epistle shows us that John is writing about lifestyle s and not one-time events.
After declaring us to be sons of God
, John goes on to explain our relationship to law, sin and righteousness. Many people err by taking these verses out of this context and all of these verses, including this one, must understood within this context. In relationship to law, Hebrews and Romans and possibly other places tell us that the principals of law are the same for God's Law and man's laws. Most men violate the principals of Law, but God never does. Verses 3:4 says Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
There are two parts to every transgression of law. The first is the deed which is done and the second is the recording of that deed as a charge in the law books. Diplomats have 'immunity to the law' because a charge is never recorded against them. There is nothing to prevent them from doing the deed. Even when they do the deed, they have not violated the law because there is no charge recorded. This is critical to understanding the verses of 1John 3.
When people read 3:9, and take the first out of context, they think that Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
means that saved people can't do the deed. However, just like the diplomat, saved people have 'immunity to the Law' because God refuses to record a legal charge against them. Look at the rest of 3:9which says for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
The only thing that prevents a saved person from sinning is the fact that he is born of God
Being born of God changes our relationship to God, and as John tried to explain in this book, God deals with saved people as sons of God
. God definitely disciplines His own children, but He does it outside of the (great white throne
) legal system. God will not take away someone's free will to keep them from going to Hell and God will not take away someone's free will to prevent them from doing a sin unto death
(5:16). So, in context, John is explaining that as sons of God
, we are removed from God's (great white throne
) legal system and put into the judgment seat of Christ
(Romans C14S16; 2Corinthians 5:10) legal system. In regards to sin, that changes the legal system which the son of God
are judged in from the legal system that lost people are judged in. No one can meet God's legal definition of righteousness
unless they are legally considered to be a son of God
because it is only after we are saved that God gives us His righteousness
and no one has any righteousness
unless God gives it to them. Without their own righteousness
, people can not get any of God's blessings.
The other thing about being a son of God
is that a son
has the same character as his father
, according to Bible usage of the term. Romans 8:14 tells us that true sons of God
are led by the Spirit of God
. That's how true Biblical sons of God
get
the character of God. This sentence has a colon in it which tells us that we will be treated by the world
the same way as the world
treated Jesus
. This will happen only if we have the same character as Jesus
. Please also see the other notes on the sons of God
for John 1:12; Romans 8:14, Romans 8:19 and Philippians 2:15.
1John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Please see the note above and the note for this verse in the Book Study on 1John. It has the details on this verse and links to other notes on this verse within this site.
1John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
This verse must be considered within the context of the verses starting from 1John 3:1. Please see notes above and then we can deal with 3:8. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning
means 'He that violates God's law, and gets it recorded in God's law book, is of the devil, for
(Here's why) the devil sinneth
(violates God's law) from the beginning
. When lost people sin, God has a violation of His Law recorded in His Law books. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil
means that the Son of God was manifested (made active in all of His roles as Lord Jesus Christ
) to (legally) destroy all of the works of the devil. There isn't room here for detail, but Jesus
had to legally be a man to free man from the curse of inherited sin. Christ
has to be active in our lives to free us from the control and consequences of ongoing free will sin. As Lord
, He takes care of all of the legal matters and gives us things we couldn't provide for ourselves (like protection from the Devil) and does other things. John uses Son
here for all of the roles of our Lord Jesus Christ
.
1John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
In this verse, John is, again, emphasizing that Jesus Christ
is the Son
of God. When John says That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ
, he is making a reference (that should be obvious) to salvation. The phrase believe on the name
means that 'we trust in the power and authority represented by the name'. The Son
of God shows us the character of God. The 'power and authority represented by the name' Son
is seen in John 1:12 where we read: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name
. The Son
of God has the 'power and authority' to make us into the sons of God
. He does this through His roles as Jesus
and as Christ
, which is why our verse has Jesus Christ
added after the name of Son
. Please see the note for this verse under Jesus Christ because that note provide3Sthe further details about the use of the names of the Son
of God within this verse.
1John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
John starts out in 4:1 by telling us to try the spirits whether they are of God
and then links our demonstration of love to the spirit that we are really following. Then in this verse, John tells us that God sending His only begotten Son
manifested (demonstrated and more) God's love for us. John uses God's manifested love as the standard for us to measure our love. (We are not to compare our love to another person's love). The depth of this manifested love is carried in John's phrase of only begotten
. While each of us receives a spirit at birth, and each receive God's Spirit at our second birth (salvation), none of us received God's spirit at our physical birth. Only Jesus
has God as his physical Father. Even Adam received a body made from the dust of the earth. What's more important than the body, though, is that Adam's spirit was not God's Spirit. To be clearer, most people think it takes a man and a woman to create a baby. However, the Bible is full of cases, like Abraham and Sarah, where the man and woman could not create a baby without God. And the truth is that every baby requires God to provide the spirit. It normally takes three (man, woman and God) to create a baby, with the man sometimes not being required. What John is emphasizing is what his entire Gospel is about: Jesus
is the only begotten Son
of God. In God's eyes, all of the billions of people throughout history are not worth as much added together as the only begotten Son
that He gave to pay the debt of our sin. That is the standard of love that we are to try to match in our own manifestation of love.
We have dealt with the word begotten
in the phrase begotten Son
. Now we need to look at John's use of the word Son
. In the Bible, a son
is not the physical descendant of the father, (that is the word begotten
), but a Biblical son
receives the character of the father. This is the doctrinal truth of John 1:12, which tells us But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name
. Our sentence
tells us that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him
. Look at the word that
. This is the
reason why God's Son
had to come into the world
and live as a physical fleshly person. He did this so that we might live through him
. The word might
means that 'it is possible but not guaranteed'. The word through
means that 'this is a barrier which we must enter on one side and come out on the other side in order to reach our goal'. Our goal is the spiritually live
. We must enter God's Son's example of how to live in the flesh and come out the other side with a life which shows that we followed Him if we want to truly reach our goal of truly spiritually living
. That is what it means to live through him
and John says that we might
do this because not all saved will accomplish this goal. Yes, all save have God's life
in them but John is talking about the quality of our spiritual life
. If we truly want to live
with the quality of spiritual life
that God offer4Sthen we must truly live through him (God's Son)
.
1John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
This is a continuation of 4:9. Even a complete understanding of the Gospel of John would not let us know how much God had to pay for the removal of our sins. The functional definition, of the word propitiation
, is: 'The act of appeasing wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person'. Thus we see the ongoing ministry of God's Son which He is doing for saved people after their initial profession.
1John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Please also see the note for this verse under Saviour.
There are many verses which, put together, tell us that while the body of Jesus
was in a borrowed tomb for three days and nights, the Spirit of Jesus Christ
went to Hell (Matthew 12:40; Ephesians 4:9-10;) , defeated Satan and all of his devils put together (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21), took the keys to hell and death (Revelation 1:18) and led the Old Testament saints to Heaven (Ephesians 4:8). No man's spirit was/is capable of doing any of that. It took the Son of God, with the power of God, to be the Saviour of the world
. Here, John uses Son (of God)
in the Jewish sense of being equal in power to God.
1John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Please see the note under Jesus . Please also see the note on prior verse, which leads into this verse. Here, John uses Son (of God)
in the Jewish sense of being equal in power to God.
1John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Please see the note for this verse under Jesus. Please also read the other notes under Son for this epistle. If we really believe (and not just tell a lie about our belief) that Jesus
is the Son of God, we will be saved and have His Spirit in us. His Spirit in us will change our lives so that we stop sinning (overcometh the world
) . If we believe that Jesus
is just 'a son of God', or anything else than His being THE (one and only) Son of God
, we will not receive God's Spirit which enables us to overcome the World and stop our sinning. John uses Son
here to mean having the same power and authority as God the Father, just like the Jews used the word Son
.
1John 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
This verse is a continuation of verse 5:8 and needs to be understood within the context of all of chapter 5where John is emphasizing the position of the Son of God
. The witness of God
in this verse is the three witnesses of verse 8, which says there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood
. In context, the spirit
is the the spirit
of saved people who are guided by the Holy Spirit to follow the example of Jesus Christ
. In the context of this verse, John symbolically uses blood
to represent spiritual life. The prior sentence, where John tells us about these witnesses
, is talking about witnesses
in this physical world. All of the witnesses
, that are in this physical world today, are in the truly saved people. However, in addition to these witnesses
in this physical world, John is telling us that the Bible (the witness of God
) is greater
than these witnesses
which are in this physical world.
1John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
Please see the note on the prior verse, which feeds this verse. In addition, to the witness from the life of Jesus
, saved people have the witness in their own lives. Saved people have the direct witness from the Spirit of God that shows them truths in the Bible that were closed to them before. They have the witness of the Spirit when they are tempted to sin and at other times. They also have the witness of the water
and the blood
. They can see their own sinful nature that they were born with (water
) . They can also see their own changed life that comes from the cleansing provided by the blood of Jesus Christ
(see 1:7 and note on 1:7). But in addition, note that this verse has a colon in it. John is saying that God's witness is so complete that people can not miss God's witness that they need to get saved and live a changed life and that the only way that someone doesn't get saved is to effectively call God a liar. In addition, John is saying, through the equivalency of the colon, that people who do not have the witness that John describes within themselves are lost.
1John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
When John says And this is the record
, he is referring to his earlier talk about God's legal record. Many preachers ask people if there would be enough evidence to convict them if being a Christian was illegal. John is saying that there had better be enough evidence from the change in how we live our life, after receiving God's Son in salvation, to prove in God's court that we are saved.
1John 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
In this verse, John is summing up all that he has argued from 5:1. Please see all of those notes. John is saying, He that hath the Son
(salvation) hath life
(evidence in their personal life of God making a change) ; and he that hath not the Son of God
(salvation) hath not life
(evidence in their personal life of God making a change). This is similar to where James says faith without works is dead
(James 2:20). This verse isn't given to judge someone else but to judge our own lives. Many people foolish say 'I'm just a modern day Lot' without knowing what the Bible says about Lot. Lot started out living righteously and left that life for sin. But he did have a witness of God working in his life before he turned his back on God. Further, when God dragged Lot out of his sin, but gave Lot a choice because God doesn't take away anyone's free will, Lot
deliberately shoes his sin after seeing the consequences. Lot
asked for a chance to continue his sinful lifestyle in Zoar, and he also realized the consequences of that sinful lifestyle with a dead wife and dead children. After he thought about it, Lot
chose to live in a cave and change his life, but couldn't undo his sinful influence upon his daughters. Also, Lot
didn't have the indwelling Spirit. If you believe that you're a modern day Lot, John says you're really lost, calling God a liar, and need to receive the Son of God who is the Truth and the Life and who will change your life. You do not have Lot's circumstances in your life. You can not stop the sun from shinning, yet the Son of God will stop it from shinning. Basically, John is saying that it is not possible to have (in your life) everything that John has shown us about the Son of God and not have a changed life that reflects the Truth and the Life which is the Son of God.
1John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
This verse is, in my opinion, one of the best, if not the best, to start a witness for salvation to a lost person and to give assurance of salvation to someone who believes they can lose their salvation. First of all, it is God who wrote the Bible by 'moving' holy men (2Peter 1:21). It is God that had John write these things. So, when this verses says These things have I written unto you
, we can assure people that it was God that had them written. Secondly, when it says that ye may know that ye have eternal life
, we can assure people that our knowing that we have eternal life
, and therefore will go to Heaven, is based upon what God put in writing and not based upon what any religion or person says. Thirdly, it says and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God
. And
means 'in addition'. This may believe
is added to our initial profession and is increased spiritual maturity from an ongoing personal relationship with the Son of God
. This increased maturity must be based upon what God put into writing and not upon what any person or religion says. Fourthly (and finally), we can point out that this verse has a qualifier of that believe on the name of the Son of God
. Not everyone believes on the name of the Son of God. As John 3:18 says, those that believe are not condemned (will not go to Hell) and those who don't believe are condemned (will go to Hell). And, there are some that Jesus
said He will tell depart from me..
(Matthew 7:23; Matthew 24:41; Luke 13:27) because they thought they believed but didn't do what God meant by belief
. Therefore, the main thing for us to understand is what God put into writing was His definition of believe on the name of the Son of God
. From there, I go on to show them what the Bible says about believe on the name of the Son of God
(while giving the plan of salvation). While all of that is beyond this study, what is incorporated in this verse is important and fits within this study. As we have seen every other place that John uses Son of God
in this epistle, he either is emphasizing the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ
, or he is using Son
as a replacement for Lord Jesus Christ
and means each and every role. In this verse, I believe that John means both. I don't have space here, but elsewhere in this study, and in separate papers, I have proven that believe on the name of the Son of God
does not mean 'say a prayer to Jesus' and it does not mean say a prayer and keep all of our religious rules. It does mean having a belief that is lived in our everyday life that shows complete recognition, trust and obedience to the Deity of the Son and to the Lordship of the Son. It does mean having a life (conversation) that recognizes our sinful nature and that only the sacrifice of God's only begotten Son, the PERFECT Lord Jesus Christ
, could pay for our personal sin. It also means having a life (conversation) that recognizes the ongoing ministry of Christ
that causes us to stop our sinning and to overcome the world, the flesh and the Devil. While I would love to go on, I will stop here. In conclusion, John uses Son
in this verse for God
and for each and every of His roles as Lord Jesus Christ
.
1John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Please also see the note under Jesus Christ. This is the conclusion of John's epistle. In this verse, John uses Son
twice. The first time, John says we know that the Son of God is come
to emphasize the Deity of the Son of God
and John spent chapter 4 emphasizing that God came in the flesh. The second use of Son
in this verse directly links Son
to Jesus Christ
and John's whole epistle is about telling people that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God
, is God
, and is the only source of salvation (through His role as Jesus
) and definitely changes true believers through His role as Christ
. In 2:4, 22; 4:20 and 5:10, John uses the term liar
for those that claim salvation while not having a changed life through the ministry of Christ
. John starts out saying we can have fellowship with God and proves all through his epistle, and concludes that true fellowship with God changes us and anyone that claims otherwise is a liar and is lost. In his concluding verse, John uses Son
to emphasize the Deity of Jesus Christ
.
Saviour
Click here for all of the Verses that use Saviour
and here for the Summary on the name / role of Saviour
.
1John 4:14.
1John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Please also see the note for this verse under Son.
Many people claim that 'Jesus means Saviour'. However, our sentence literally says that God's Son
is Saviour
and the Bible uses Son
for all of the roles of the Son of God, not for just Jesus
. In addition, the Bible tells us that God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, the Son of God as Christ
and the Son of God as Lord
are all Saviour
in addition to Jesus
being Saviour
.
God's Son
is Saviour
in that His sacrifice enables us to receive the character of God the Father. He does this by giving us the guidance which we need in order to receive the character of God
the Father and, thereby, become the sons of God
(John 1:12). In addition, God's Son
is Saviour
in that He is involved in our initially receiving God's life and in that each and every one of His roles are involved in in our sanctification, which is growing God's life within us.
As Lord
, the Son of God is judge of all men. When we call upon the name of the Lord
(Acts 2:21; Acts 15:17; Acts 22:16; Romans 10:13; 1Corinthians 1:2; James 5:14) we are accepting Him as our personal Lord
and agreeing to obey Him and to trust Him to
take care of our needs which we can not take care of ourselves. In turn, He calls court into session in Heaven and Blots out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us
(Acts 3:19; Colossians 2:14) and legally adopts
(Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5) us as God's children
. Then, as God's children
, He judges our works
at the judgment Seat of Christ
(Romans C14S16; 2Corinthians 5:10) and gives us rewards or punishment.
As Jesus
, He died as a literal physical man to pay for the sins of all men (Romans 5:12). He now is our representative before God because He experienced being a weak human being and understands our infirmities
(Romans 8:26; Hebrews 4:15).
As Christ
, He suffered and died to pay the dowry for the church but He never exercises the rights of the role as Christ
with anyone who is not saved because the relationship between a man and his wife is the picture of the relationship between Christ
and the church (Ephesians 5). A godly man does not exercise the rights of a husband with anyone but his own wife and then only after they are married.