Every believer who comes to Christ has an initial deposit of
faith. It is exercising that faith that the believer will prevail over his
circumstances and obstacles presented by the world. In other words, to continue
to overcome the world, a believer must live by that faith. John emphasized that
in believing that Jesus is the Son of God is what would enable the believers to
prevail. This Jesus, whom believers trust, is the One who came by water and the
blood.
How to interpret the two elements - the water and the blood? Water
would refer to John’s baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood would refer
to His death on the Cross. This would refute the heretical teaching that the
divinity of Christ only came upon the human Jesus at His baptism, and left Him
before His crucifixion. John wanted them to know the historical Jesus not only
came in human flesh, but was also baptized by John, and was finally crucified.
Verse 6 also tells us that the Holy Spirit testified to the identity
of Jesus at His baptism. In this we are reminded that this testimonial was
given by the Spirit of Truth. The three things that testify of Jesus are (1)
the Spirit, Who spoke through the prophets and taught through the apostles; (2)
the water baptism of Jesus; and (3) the Blood of His crucifixion. John’s
implication in verse 9 is this: if, by the witness of three we accept a human
testimony, how much more should the great testimony of God be accepted. And He
had testified that Jesus is His Son. A person who believes in the Son of God
has the testimony in him. What is the “testimony”? From verses 11-12, we conclude that the
testimony is this: the truth that eternal life and the Person of the Lord Jesus
Christ are inseparable.
In
verse 13, John sought to assure believers that what he had written was to let
them know that they have eternal life because of their belief in the
Son of God. At the same time we are told that prayer is another avenue to
demonstrate our trust in Jesus Christ, and confidence in God. John’s point here
is this: should we need help, particularly to obey God, we can confidently
approach Him in prayer. He will surely hear us. Because we are confident that
he hears our prayers, we can be assured that the answer will come.
No wonder we
are exhorted by the author to the Hebrews to come boldly to the throne of God.
For in Christ, we have a high priest that can feel our needs. He walked where
we are walking and felt what we feel, hence He knows exactly what we need for
the path of victory. We shouldn’t forget this!
No comments:
Post a Comment