1 John 5.11-The Content of God's Testimony Concerning His Son
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 4, 2018
First John: 1 John 5:11-The Content of God’s Testimony Concerning His Son
Lesson # 196
1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (ESV)
1 John 5:11 Now, this is the testimony, specifically that, God (the Father) graciously bestowed upon each one of us eternal life as a gift. Indeed, this life is located in His Son. (My translation)
1 John 5:11 contains two assertions.
The first identifies the content of the Father’s testimony concerning His Son and asserts that the Father graciously bestowed upon each of His children eternal life as a gift.
The second states that eternal life is located in the person of the Father’s Son.
The first assertion in this verse is completing the thought from 1 John 5:9, which does not identify the content of the Father’s testimony but rather simply identifies the Father’s Son as the subject of this testimony.
1 John 5:9 If and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that we accept the content of the testimony provided by human beings and we do, then we can infer that the content of God’s (the Father) testimony is superior because this is God’s testimony, specifically that which He is testifying concerning His Son. (Author’s translation)
1 John 5:10 also does not provide the content of the Father’s testimony concerning His Son.
However, it does assert that the person who does believe in God’s Son possesses this testimony within himself.
On other hand, those who does not believe God are making Him out to be a liar because they have never believed in this testimony which God is testifying concerning His Son.
1 John 5:10 The one who at any time does believe in God’s Son does possess this testimony within himself. The who at any time does not believe God is making Him out to be a liar because he has never believed in this testimony which God (the Father) is testifying concerning His Son. (My translation)
Therefore, the apostle John is teaching in 1 John 5:9 and 11 that the Father’s testimony concerning His Son is superior to the testimony of human beings because God’s testimony is that He has given His children eternal life and this life is resident in the character and nature of His Son.
The implication of this assertion is that John and the recipients of First John must continue to accept God’s testimony concerning His Son because He has given them eternal life and this life is resident in the character and nature of His Son.
In other words, because the recipients of First John and all of God’s children for that matter have received eternal life as a gift at the moment of their justification through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone who is eternal life incarnate, they can testify that this is God’s testimony concerning His Son.
In fact, John asserts this in 1 John 5:10 by stating that whoever does believe in the Son of God does possess this testimony in himself and the one who does not believe God’s testimony concerning His Son makes Him out to be a liar because he has never believed in this testimony which God is testifying concerning His Son.
Therefore, 1 John 5:9-11 teaches that the child of God can testify that Jesus is the Father’s one and only Son and is eternal life incarnate because they received the gift of eternal life from the Father by the Spirit through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Thus, at the moment of justification, the child of God entered into being a witness and they continue to be a witness after justification that the Father’s testimony concerning His Son is that the Father has given them eternal life and this life is resident in His Son.
In other words, the child of God can testify that this is in fact the Father’s testimony concerning His Son since they received eternal life from the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ who is eternal life incarnate.
Consequently, the child of God can always testify that Jesus Christ is eternal life incarnate.
In fact, the Spirit, who permanently indwells the child of God (cf. 1 John 2:20 and 27) testifies to the child of God that Jesus of Nazareth is eternal life incarnate and thus the Son of God and Savior of the world.
Thus, every child of God has the Father’s testimony within them.
Consequently, John as well as the recipients of First John could testify that the unregenerate “antichrists” or “false prophets” who John condemns in this epistle were telling lies about Jesus Christ and were thus being used by the devil and his fallen angels.
Now, it is essential for the recipients of First John and all God’s children for that matter that they continue to accept this testimony of God because if they continue to do so, they would continue to maintain their fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If they don’t continue to accept this testimony after their justification, then they will not experience fellowship with God since fellowship with God is based upon experiencing eternal life and fellowship with God is based upon accepting this testimony.
The child of God’s eternal relationship and fellowship with God is based upon the fact that Jesus Christ is eternal life incarnate and thus the incarnate Son of God.
1 John 5:9 and 11 make clear that this is the Father’s testimony concerning His Son.
Therefore, if an unregenerate sinner rejects this testimony, then they can never be declared justified by the Father and are under His wrath.
If a child of God rejects this testimony after justification, then they can never experience fellowship with God.
To solve this problem, they must confess this sin of rejecting this testimony in order to be restored to fellowship (cf. 1 John 1:9).
However, this fellowship is maintained by accepting God’s testimony that Jesus Christ is His Son and eternal life incarnate and thus the incarnate Son of God.
A comparison of 1 John 2:20, 27, 4:1-6, 1 John 5:6-11 indicate that the Father employs the Holy Spirit as His instrument to testify to members of sinful human race that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s one and only Son.
Therefore, a comparison of these passages would indicate that the second assertion in 1 John 5:11 is implying that the Father has decreed that only those sinners who exercise faith in His one and only Son, who is eternal life incarnate, can possess and eternal life.
In other words, only those sinners who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior can experience fellowship with the Father in the sense of personally encountering the Father through learning and obeying His Word.
1 John 5:12 brings out the implications of this second assertion in 1 John 5:11.
1 John 5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (ESV)
This second assertion in 1 John 5:11 echoes 1 John 1:1-2 since both passages are asserting that Jesus Christ is eternal life incarnate.