1 John 4.15b-Confessing Jesus is the Son of God is not a Public Confession
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 18, 2018
First John: 1 John 4:15b-Confessing Jesus is the Son of God is Not a Public Confession
Lesson # 180
1 John 4:15 If anyone has confessed that Jesus is God’s one and only Son, then God (the Father) is living in fellowship with him. Correspondingly, he himself is living in fellowship with God (the Father). (Author’s translation)
1 John 4:15 is a fifth class conditional statement which presents a spiritual axiom or an eternal spiritual truth which is designed to reassure the recipients of First John that they were in fact experiencing fellowship with the Father and that correspondingly, the Father was living in fellowship with them.
The sinner who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God which is equivalent to believing or trusting in Him as one’s Savior enters into this relationship and fellowship with the Father.
Now, many expositors believe the confession mentioned in 1 John 2:23, 1 John 4:2 and here in 1 John 4:15 is echoing the Lord’s teaching in Matthew 10:32 and Luke 12:8 and Paul’s teaching in Romans 10:9-10 and thus, John would be speaking of a public confession of faith in Jesus.
However, as we will note, John is by no means speaking of public confession but rather he is actually speaking of what takes place in the soul of the person who accepts by faith the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostles that Jesus is the Son of God, which is indicated by John’s assertions in 1 John 3:23.
The acknowledgement therefore is directed toward the Holy Spirit who communicates through the communication of the gospel that Jesus is the Christ (cf. John 16:5-11).
Now, this confession by the sinner that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s one and only Son here in 1 John 4:15 speaks of the sinner obeying the first command mentioned in 1 John 3:23 to believe in the name of God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 3:23 Specifically, this is His command: First, that each and every one of us believed in the name, that is His Son, who is Jesus who is the Christ. Secondly that each one of us continue making it our habit of divinely loving one another just as He gave to each one of us this command. (Author’s translation)
Therefore, if we compare these two verses, John is teaching that confessing that Jesus is God’s one and only Son is synonymous with believing in the name of God’s one and only Son Jesus Christ or in other words, they are one and the same.
To say that public confession must accompany this faith in Jesus is to create two conditions that a sinner must meet in order to be declared justified.
The Scriptures emphatically refute the idea that there are two conditions: faith followed by a public confession.
In Romans 10:9, the apostle Paul teaches that if the Jew acknowledges with his mouth to the Father that Jesus is Lord, which is equivalent to believing in his heart that the Father raised him from the dead, then the Jew will receive eternal salvation.
This passage teaches that to acknowledge with one’s mouth to the Father that Jesus is Lord, i.e. God is the same as believing in one’s heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead since the resurrection demonstrated the deity of Christ and faith alone in Christ alone is the only way to receive eternal life.
A person can only be saved if he or she acknowledges the deity of Christ and to do so one must believe in the resurrection since Romans 1:4 teaches that the resurrection demonstrates the deity of Christ.
Romans 10:Because, if you acknowledge with your mouth Jesus is Lord in other words, exercising absolute confidence with your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead ones, then you will be delivered. 10 For you see, with the heart, one, as an eternal spiritual truth, does exercise absolute confidence resulting in righteousness on the other hand with the mouth, one, as an eternal spiritual truth, does acknowledge resulting in deliverance. (Author’s translation)
To acknowledge with one’s mouth to the Father that Jesus is Lord is the same as believing in one’s heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead since the resurrection demonstrated the deity of Christ and faith alone in Christ alone is the only way to receive eternal salvation.
The question arises, “to whom does the unbeliever have to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord in order to be saved?”
Is a public affirmation to men required or is this an acknowledgement to oneself or to God?
Some interpret homologeo in Romans 10:9 as a “public affirmation” to men and use Luke 12:8 to support this interpretation.
However, Jesus is speaking to believers in Luke 12:8-9 and in Romans 10:9 he is writing concerning unsaved Jews.
That Jesus is speaking to believers in Luke 12:8-9 is clearly indicated by the context since Luke 12:1 reveals that He is addressing His disciples and in Luke 12:4, He calls those whom He addresses “My friends” and in Luke 12:4-7, He teaches those whom He addresses regarding the Father’s care for them.
Therefore, confessing or acknowledging Jesus before men is not a reference to getting saved since Jesus is teaching those who are already His disciples and thus already saved but rather the person who confesses the Lord before men in Luke 12:8 is a reference to the believer living an obedient life.
When Jesus says He will acknowledge the person who acknowledges Him, it refers to the public testimony by the Son of God to the faithful life of the obedient Christian who executes the Father’s will.
Thus, in this passage, when Jesus says He will deny the believer before men, it doesn’t mean that they are denied salvation since He is talking to those who are already believers and neither does it mean you will lose your salvation since that is obviously false doctrine but rather it means that He will deny the believer rewards (cf. 2 Tim. 2:12).
Therefore, those who interpret homologeo in Romans 10:9 as a “public affirmation” to men of the deity of Christ cannot use Luke 12:8 as support for this interpretation since in Luke 12:8 our Lord is addressing believers and Romans 10:9 is addressing how unsaved Israelites can get saved.
Remember Paul in Romans 9-10 is addressing the nation of Israel’s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah.
Now, in John 12:42, John writes that many of the Jewish rulers believed in Jesus but because of the Pharisees they were not acknowledging before the public that they believed Jesus to be the Messiah for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.
The Lord Jesus Christ taught Nicodemus that if he believes in Him that he will receive eternal life and be saved (cf. John 3:16, 36).
Paul also makes this clear throughout his writings that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone (Romans 3:22, 26, 30; 4:3, 5; 5:1; Galatians 2:16; 3:24, 26; Ephesians 2:8) and he also makes it clear to the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:31.
All of these passages make clear that no public affirmation is essential for salvation.
Therefore, in Romans 10:9, the verb homologeo does not refer to a “public affirmation” or “admitting to people” that one has faith in Jesus Christ as Savior since the Scriptures teach that the sinner can receive eternal life and thus eternal salvation only through faith alone in Christ alone.
Rather, the verb refers to the sinner acknowledging to the Father that Jesus is Lord and which acknowledgement is, in and of itself, exercising faith that the Father raised Jesus from the dead, which is clearly indicated in the Scriptures which teach that it is through faith alone in Christ alone that one is saved.
It is also indicated in that to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord is the equivalent to having faith that the Father raised Jesus from the dead since the Father’s act of raising His Son Jesus from the dead demonstrated that Jesus was in fact God.
Therefore, in Romans 10:9 when Paul teaches that if the Jew confesses with his mouth Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead he is referring back to what he taught in Romans 1:4, which teaches that the resurrection of Christ demonstrated the deity of Christ.
Thus, when Paul teaches in Romans 10:9 that if the Jew confesses with his mouth Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead he means that to believe in one’s heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead is in fact, an acknowledgment to the Father that Jesus is Lord, i.e. God.
To acknowledge to the Father that Jesus is Lord is to believe that the Father raised Him from the dead since by raising Him from the dead, the Father was demonstrating that Jesus was His Son and thus God.
Therefore, in Romans 10:9, Paul is giving only one condition for salvation when he teaches that the sinner must acknowledge with one’s mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in his heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
That there is only one condition being presented in Romans 10:9 and that faith alone in Christ is the only way to receive eternal salvation and be declared justified by God is further indicated in Romans 10:11.
Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” (NASB95)
Paul is writing rhetorically in Romans 10:9-10 indicating that when he speaks of righteousness and salvation, he is speaking of the justified sinner’s new relationship with God and not two different ideas that are not connected.
That Paul is writing rhetorically is indicated in that in Romans 10:10 he is following the same word order of Romans 10:9 in that in both verses he speaks of believing with one’s heart and acknowledging with one’s mouth.
However, in verse 10 believing with one’s heart precedes acknowledging with one’s mouth whereas in verse nine acknowledging with one’s mouth precedes believing with one’s heart.
That Paul is writing rhetorically not only suggests that righteousness and salvation are both speaking of the justified sinner’s new relationship with God and not different ideas that are not related but also it indicates that acknowledging with one’s mouth and believing with one’s heart are one in the same.
Believing in one’s heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead is the same as acknowledging that Jesus is God since the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus is God and faith alone in Christ alone is the only way to receive eternal salvation.