9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which he has testified of His Son. 10 He that believes on the Son of God has this witness in himself; he that believes not God has made Him a liar, because he believes not the witness which God has testified of His Son. 11 And this is the record, that God gave us life eternal, and this life is in His Son. 12 He that has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God has not life.
1 John 5:9-12
If you have spent a few decades on this planet, you’ll have noticed that every few years some fad rages throughout the culture. Say it is a dietary or exercise fad, everyone proclaims the virtues of what such and such regimen did for them. Pretty soon, all your friends have jumped on the bandwagon. Then, after a few months, or in some rare cases, years, they’ve moved on to the next greatest thing. We are prone to believe the witness of men, in many respects, without much persuasion. It explains how quickly social contagions (like wearing masks during a pandemic, the “transing” of minors, or slonking eggs) become a thing. If we easily believe the witness of men, on all variety of matters (what car to drive, which toothpaste 9 out of 10 dentists recommend, what diet to try), how much more should we believe God’s testimony regarding the most important event of history.
John continues to elaborate on this theme of earthly & heavenly witness. We should read this in light of the structuring of John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel is bracketed on the front end by the witness of the Spirit descending, & on the back end by the water & blood streaming from Christ’s wounded side. We have the witness of man (John 1:32), when John the Baptist testified to the divinity of Jesus; and we have the divine witness at Christ’s death, fulfilling all the righteous requirements of the law (John 19:34-35; Cf. Ex. 12:46). This is what the Apostle bore record of, earth & heaven have testified that Jesus was the Christ.
The witnesses have been summoned (vv7-8), and now this is the Divine testimony regarding the Son. The implications here are quite straightforward: either you believe God’s record, or else you say God’s a liar (v10). If you believe on the Son of God, you can be assured that this witness is in you. Once more this is a kind assurance from the Lord, this faith doesn’t have its origin in you, but in God.
John lays out in verse 11, in simple terms, what God’s testimony to the world is: He has given us life eternal. But it isn’t outside of Christ. This life is in His Incarnate Son, and no other. You can search the world over, but this eternal life is only found in the person & work of Jesus Christ. John effectively tells us that the witness of God is the Incarnation. If that isn’t enough for you, then nothing will be.
The Gospel is not a matter of hidden knowledge which must be sought out through desert vigils, or holy pilgrimages, or good deeds. The Gospel is plain as day, and should compel us all to follow as readily as we believe man’s witness on trifles. If you have Jesus, you have life, if you don’t have Jesus, then you don’t have life. But just because it is simple, doesn’t mean it is for simpletons. This is divine simplicity, this is glorious straightforwardness, this is unveiled plainness.
- 1 John 5:20-21 | We Know
- 1 John 5:16-19 | The Sin Unto Death
- 1 John 5:13-15 | Big Prayers
- 1 John 5:9-12 | God on the Stand
- 1 John 5:6-8 | The Threefold Witness
- 1 John 5:1-5 | Swept Up Into Victory
- 1 John 4:17-21 | Bold Sons & Fearful Slaves
- 1 John 4:11-16 | The Offensive Love of God
- 1 John 4:7-10 | God is Love
- 1 John 4:4-6 | Overcoming Swarms of Devils
- 1 John 4:1-3 | Stranger Danger
- 1 John 3:23-24 | The Nail in Timidity’s Coffin
- 1 John 3:19-22 | God is Greater than Our Hearts
- 1 John 3:13-18 | The World Hates You
- 1 John 3:10-12 | Children of God, Children of the Devil
- 1 John 3:7-9 | To Destroy the Works of the Devil
- 1 John 3:4-6 | Sin is Lawlessness
- 1 John 3:1-3 | What Unearthly Love
- 1 John 2:28-29 | A Trumpet Blast for Feeble Saints
- 1 John 2:24-27 | The Pastoral Prerogative for Run-on Sentences
- 1 John 2:20-23 | Knowing All Things
- 1 John 2:18-19 | Rival Christs
- 1 John 2:15-17 | The Imperative to Not Love
- 1 John 2:12-14 | Pastoral Poetry
- 1 John 2:9-11 | The Gospel Scandal
- 1 John 2:7-8 | Nothing New, But All is New
- 1 John 2:3-6 | Knowing that You Know
- 1 John 2:1-2 – Christ Our Advocate
- 1 John 1:9-10 – Forgiven & Not Guilty
- 1 John 1:8 – Deluded or Delivered
- 1 John 1:7 – Fellowship in the Light
- 1 John 1:6 – Do the Truth
- 1 John 1:5 – God is Light
- 1 John 1:4 – Silos Full of Joy
- 1 John 1:3 – Invitation to Fellowship
- 1 John 1:2 – Life Manifested
- 1 John 1:1 – A Cosmic Epistle
Leave a Reply