1 John 5.20-God's Son Became A Man In Order That We Could Know God Experientially
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 20, 2018
First John: 1 John 5:20-God’s Son Became A Man In Order That We Could Know God Experientially
Lesson # 206
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (ESV)
1 John 5:20 But each and every one of us has confirmed that God’s one and only Son has come. Consequently, he has graciously given each of us understanding (of God’s love for us) in order that each one of us would know the one who is true experientially. Correspondingly, each of us are living in fellowship with the one who is true, in fellowship with His Son, who is Jesus Christ. This one is the true God as well as life which is eternal. (My translation)
1 John 5:20 contains four assertions.
Now, the first states that John and each and every one of the recipients of First have confirmed that God’s one and only Son has come, which is a reference to the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
When John says that they have confirmed that God’s one and only Son has come, he means that he and the recipients of First John were able to testify that the incarnation of the Son of God is an indisputable fact.
They could acknowledge with definite assurance that the Son of God became a human being and dwelt among members of the human race and could establish the truth, the validity or genuineness of, corroborate and verify that the Son of God became a human being and dwelt among members of the human race.
Now, even though the recipients of First John were not eyewitnesses to the incarnation of the Son of God like John, they could testify that the incarnation is an indisputable fact since they possessed the gift of the Spirit.
They received this gift of the Spirit because they had accepted by faith the Spirit’s testimony about Jesus of Nazareth that He is the incarnate Son of God and Savior of the world (cf. 1 John 5:6-12).
By obeying the command to love one another, they were manifesting God’s attribute of love which was manifested perfectly at the cross by Jesus Christ (cf. 1 John 4:7-5:3).
By obeying this command and thus manifesting God’s love when interacting with each other, they were testifying to the incarnation of the Son of God and in particular that He did in fact manifest God’s love at the cross to members of the human race.
So therefore, the recipients of First John and in fact all Christians could testify to the historicity of the incarnation and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth through the practice of God’s love in their lives when interacting with each other (cf. John 13:34-35).
This first declaration in 1 John 5:20 stands in contrast with the adversative clause which brings to an end 1 John 5:19 and asserts that the world, i.e. the human race permits itself to be completely united with the evil one, which is a reference of course to Satan.
Therefore, the contrast is between unregenerate humanity who does not know the Father experientially, i.e. they are not experiencing fellowship with Him and the child of God who does know the Father experientially.
The second declaration which appears in 1 John 5:20 presents the result of the first and asserts that He, God’s one and only Son has graciously given John and each of the recipients of First John understanding with regards to God’s attribute of love.
This means that the Son gave sinners the power to comprehend God’s love by manifesting His love at the cross and this interpretation is supported by John’s statements in 1 John 4:7-16.
Notice 1 John 4:7-16 teaches that knowing the Father experientially, which is equivalent to experiencing fellowship with Him, is made possible for members of the human race by the Father sending His Son into the world to die on the cross for the sins of the entire world, which manifested His attribute of love.
This pericope also teaches that if one confesses that Jesus is God’s one and only Son, then God is living in fellowship with them and vice versa and correspondingly, this person knows God experientially.
By confessing Jesus is God’s one and only Son they have believed that which constitutes God’s love, which the Father demonstrated for all people through the sacrifice of His Son.
When the child of God lives by means of this love by obeying the command to love one another, then they are living in fellowship with the Father and He with them.
Thus, in order for a person to know God experientially, or in other words to experience fellowship with Him, they must accept by faith God’s love for them as manifested through the Son at the cross and consequently, they must manifest this love by obeying the command to love one another.
Therefore, when John asserts in 1 John 5:20 that God’s Son has come with the result that He the Son has given the child of God understanding so that they would know experientially Him who is true, i.e. the Father, he is speaking of understanding with regards to God’s love.
This is indicated by the fact that knowing God experientially or in other words, experiencing fellowship with Him is dependent upon the sinner accepting by faith God’s love for them as manifested through the sacrifice of His Son at the cross for them.
It is also dependent upon the sinner, who has become a child of God through faith in the Son, manifesting God’s love by obeying His Spirit inspired command to love their fellow child of God as the Son loves them.
Now, when John asserts with this second declaration in 1 John 5:20 that God’s one and only Son has given John and the recipients of First John understanding with regards to God’s love for them, we must remember that it is the Holy Spirit who provides the child of God this understanding of God’s love for them.
This is indicated by 1 John 2:20-27 and 4:1-6.
Now, in 1 John 5:20, this second declaration that God’s one and only Son has given John and the recipients of First John understanding with regards to God’s love for them is followed by a purpose-result clause, which speaks of John and the recipients of First John knowing the one who is true experientially.
“The one who is true” refers to the Father and describes Him as being characterized by truth and also speaks of His being true in the sense of being authentic or genuine as opposed to a counterfeit or what is false.
When John speaks of knowing the Father experientially, he is referring to experiencing fellowship with the Father but from the perspective of personally encountering Him through obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command to love one another.
This command originates with the Father.
This experiential knowledge of the Father also involves being affected by this encounter with Him, which results in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
This second declaration in 1 John 5:20 clause presents both the purpose and the result of God’s one and only Son graciously giving the child of God understanding of God’s love for them.
It is expressing the idea that the child of God knowing the Father experientially or in other words, experiencing fellowship with Him accomplishes the Son’s purpose of giving them understanding of the Father’s love for them.
The third declaration in 1 John 5:20 corresponds to the second and asserts that John and each one of the recipients of First John were living in fellowship with the one who is true, in fellowship with His Son, who is Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the correspondence is between the child of God knowing the Father experientially or in other words experiencing fellowship with the Father and the child of God living in fellowship with Son or in other words, both ideas correspond to each other.
They are one in the same since if you are living in fellowship with the Son, then you are doing so with the Father as well.
In the third declaration, the phrase “the one who is true” is not a reference to the Father as was the case in the second declaration, but rather it is a reference to the Son, Jesus Christ.
This is indicated by the prepositional phrase en tō huiō autou Iēsou Christō (ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ), “in fellowship with His Son who is Jesus Christ,” which follows and defines this word.
The word “true” describes the Son as characterized by truth and also speaks of His being true in the sense of being authentic or genuine as opposed to a counterfeit or what is false.
The fourth and final declaration which appears in 1 John 5:20 asserts that Jesus Christ is the true God as well as life which is eternal.
Again, when John describes Jesus Christ as “the true God,” he is describing the Son as being characterized by truth or integrity and it also speaks of the Son being true in the sense of being authentic or genuine as opposed to a counterfeit or what is false.
Now, this description of the Father in the second declaration that He is “true” and this same description of the Son in the third and in the fourth is significant.
John uses this description in relation to his prohibition in 1 John 5:21 which required that the recipients of First John continue to keep themselves from the practice of idolatry.
The recipients of First John were once pagan Gentiles who were totally and completely immersed in the practice of idolatry which was the case with all Gentiles in the first century A.D.
Consequently, John describes the Father and the Son as “true” (alēthinos) in 1 John 5:20 and issues the prohibition in 1 John 5:21 which required that they continue to reject the practice of idolatry.
In this fourth and final declaration in 1 John 5:21, we noted that John ascribes the attribute of eternal life to Jesus Christ which corresponds to the apostle’s description of Him in the prologue.