Half-Life or Have Life? (May 12, 2024) 1 John 5.6-13

We have been hearing a lot in the news about testimony. People are testifying in trials that make a big splash, people are testifying in Congress to committees, and there are those who are testifying in courtrooms and other places that we will never hear about in our lives. But what is testimony? Webster’s defines it as: “a solemn declaration usually made orally by a witness under oath in response to interrogation by a lawyer or authorized public official; firsthand authentication of a fact; an open acknowledgment.” Testimony is something that when someone gives it, there is a certain trust that what is being said is the truth.

To testify. What image does that usually bring to mind? A thrilling courtroom drama where the guilt or innocence of the parties involved will be revealed? A committee room in Congress where members of the committee ask longwinded (and sometime pointless) questions for someone to answer? These are only a couple of examples can be used. When I was growing up, testifying could be a part of the service where people stood up and told how blessed they had been by God. Sometimes these “testimonies” could turn into little preachy moments and sometimes it was thanking God for the most excellent parking spot near the store, but for most people, these were times to talk about God in in a way that might help build up the community.

Witness. This is another term that brings legal matters to mind. One can hear the judge intoning “The witness must answer the question.” or someone saying, “There was a witness who saw the whole thing.” Growing up to witness meant we were to go out and tell people who were outside the church about God. I never cared for that because while we were told we should do it; we were never given any guidance about how to do it. I guess it was just assumed that we would allow the Spirit’s lead to witness to our classmates in middle and high school. That should work in the environment of acceptance and goodwill that is middle/high school, right?

You may be trying to figure out where I am going with these technical terms and strolls down amnesia lane. Hear me out. When I say that the Spirit would lead us to testify or witness, it meant that we believed that the Spirit already did this. And the writer of 1 John believed that the Spirit already had done witness and testimony. I am saying this because according to the text, the Spirit has already testified to Jesus and the Spirit is truth. But the Spirit is not the only one who testifies. In the bible there is always the need for corroborating witness, not because just one witness is not telling the truth (see that the Spirit is truth) but because when there is more than one witness, then there is no question of the veracity of those making the statements (see Deut. 19.15 and MT 18.16). In this text there are two other witnesses to Jesus: water and blood. The water is thought to be baptism. Here we have the spiritual side. It was believed by those who left the church that Jesus became God’s Son at his baptism, when the Spirit came down and dwelt in the human Jesus. But at the crucifixion, the Spirit left because the divine cannot be killed. That is just wrong on so many levels. But the writer of 1 John says “Aha! This is where the testimony of the blood comes into play!” Jesus atoned for our sins and for there to be an atonement, there has to be a sacrifice. For there to be a sacrifice, there has to be blood. Therefore, Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine and the testimony of the water and the blood corroborate with the Spirit to testify to who and what Jesus was and is.

This is just in the first three verses of this text. And they are not even included in the lectionary. But they should be because they speak of testimony that Jesus is the one whom we call the Christ, the one who came to take our sins and put them as far as the East is from the West.

We come now to a vast use of the word testimony. For those counting, the word testimony as a noun appears six times in verses 9-11. Now when a word appears that much in such a short time, I say pay attention because that usually means that the writer is making a point.

The word translated testimony is μαρτυρία (marturia) from which we get the word martyr. A martyr is someone who testifies or is a witness to something (particularly the faith), not necessarily someone who suffers or dies for the faith. And if you bear with me, I will show why it is so important.

Our writer says, “If we receive human testimony”. Here we are told that we take people at their word. If we believe they are trustworthy, then we will believe what they say. And it is here where we sometimes certify testimony. How do we certify? By acknowledging the authority of the one testifying. How many are familiar with the movie site Rotten Tomatoes? On this site there are reviews of movies from critics as well as audiences. Enough positive reviews earn a movie a “certified fresh” rating, meaning that people like it and say go see it. On the other hand, negative reviews certify that it is “rotten”, and one should stay away, (or watch the movie, enjoy it and never, ever admit it. This is known as a guilty pleasure). What I am trying to say here is that we give a lot of credibility to people whom we have not and will probably never meet. We take their testimony as true because, well, it’s on the internet, therefore it has to be true! But if we are so willing to take the testimony of humans as true, why do we have such a hard time accepting the testimony of God? God whom we do know, who knows us inside and out, testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. Should not the testimony of God have a teeny bit more weight than that of humanity?

Here is where the faith is confirmed: if we believe the testimony of God that Jesus is his Son, we have that testimony within ourselves. If we do not believe, then we call God a liar because we do not believe the one who has testified. There is another term for believe in this passage. In the Greek the word can also mean “trust.” To trust someone is to give your full belief in them that what they say or do is going to be true. To trust in the testimony of God is to say that we put our wholehearted faith in God that what God has said and done is true. Pretty straight forward don’t you think? We may say that we like the spiritual Jesus but have trouble with the human one like those who split from the church. In other words, spiritual but not religious. But one cannot have it both ways. Either Jesus of Nazareth, a man of flesh and blood, is the Son of God on whom the Spirit descended to show that the Father was pleased with him, or he is not. There is no middle ground. And this is what the writer of 1 John is saying. In 9-11, each verse ends with God testifying that Jesus is God’s Son. Humans and the water and the blood can give testimony, but they can only go so far. Only God and God alone can directly prove that Jesus was, and is, God’s Son.

So, what now? The writer effectively ends 1 John with verse 13. The writer is writing to those who believe that they may have eternal life. But what is eternal life? For most of us, it is the belief that when we die, we will be with God, the Three in One for time without end. We sing about it all the time in songs such as What a Day That Will Be and In the Sweet By and By. This is known as “fire insurance” according to writer Dallas Willard. But is that what Jesus came to bring and what the writer of this letter is telling his listeners? That if they just believe and hang on for now, that all will be right in the sweet by and by? This was what was told to slaves here in the American South, that sure, things are tough now, you may be treated as property and be degraded as humans, but just wait and you will see it is all better in heaven. Is that what God wants from us? A hope and a prayer? No. Jesus said that he came to bring us life and life abundantly. Steven Curtis Chapman says that Jesus came to bring us life in the here and now. Eternal life is not to begin when we die, but when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”[1] Eternal life that begins only when we die is a half-life. When we have life, we will live as those who have the testimony about the Son of God within. This what Jesus was speaking of in the Gospel of John when he was speaking of those who would have life.

Remember this letter is written to those who are struggling against a group who do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God in the flesh. Therefore, they are trying to keep the faith and stay the course against those who seem to have it all together and were most likely very persuasive with their arguments. But it is the testimony of God that allowed believers to know and have eternal life. The same testimony is there for us today. We have the same issues that the church of 1 John had, there are those who would make the sacrifice of Jesus superfluous, who would say that he is one of many ways to God and eternal life. Those who say this are sometimes in the church and they can be very persuasive. But the writer wants us to know that those who state that Jesus did not really die, that he was not human and therefore the sacrifice he made was not valid are antichrists. So, who are you going to trust with the faith? God who knows you or someone who calls God a liar? Will we live a half-life or have life? Listen to, examine the testimony, and decide. The jury is out. What will be the verdict?

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.