This morning I
had to look at these two Scriptures side-by-side.
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I John
1:3-4
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I
John 5:13
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3 that which we have seen and heard we
proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed
our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are
writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
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13 I write these things to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
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The
first Scripture is John’s stated purpose at the beginning of his letter, and
the second is his stated purpose at the end of his letter. Knowing these two
things helps us understand everything in-between, especially the eleven “by this” statements he uses to assure
us of our place in God’s work.[1]
John
begins his letter by telling his readers that he wants us to have fellowship
with “us”, which I believe refers to the apostles, those who are the foundation
of the church,[2] given the responsibility to lay down the hope of the gospel, and
the life of the church in living true to this gospel.
However,
John clarifies that “our” fellowship,
is also “with the Father and with his Son
Jesus Christ.” This means that John writes in order to nurture the
fellowship of the one body of Christ to our head, to promote and encourage fellowship
between God and his people.
The
distinctive quality of this fellowship is that “our joy may be complete.” If John is proclaiming this good news to
these people, to all who read this letter, in order to bring people into
fellowship with God and his church, and these things are to complete the
readers’ joy, then we have to put these together so that the message is
singular: fellowship with God and his people completes our joy.
Now,
when John concludes his letter, after giving us these eleven “by this” statements to show us how we
can know that we are part of this fellowship, his stated purpose is “that you may know that you have eternal
life.” This is rather delightful in itself, but all the more so when we
consider the significance of “knowing”
in relation to “eternal life.”
On
the night of Jesus’ arrest, he prepared his disciples for what was taking place
by teaching them many things about his ministry, their relationship to him, and
the Holy Spirit who would take over as the divine presence with the people of
God. At some point, he changed from addressing the disciples directly, to
addressing his Father.
At
the beginning of this prayer, Jesus includes this description of eternal life: “And this is eternal life, that they know
you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”[3]
Eternal
life is to know God the Father, and to know Jesus Christ whom the Father had
sent. Since the gospels, and the church, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, are
all about bringing people into this eternal life, it is central to everything that
eternal life is about knowing God the Father and God the Son.
When
John begins his letter to the church, and announces his purpose of leading God’s
children to have fellowship with one another, and with the Father and the Son, he
is showing his fellowship with the purpose of God that he bring people into
this eternal life that is all about knowing the Triune.
So,
when John concludes his letter by stating his purpose as, that those “who believe in the name of the Son of God”
may “know that you have eternal life,”
he is doubling up the emphasis on knowing. He wants us to know that we know the
Father and the Son.
John
also wants us to know that we have the Holy Spirit working in us so that we can
know that we have the Father and the Son. As he stated in the middle of his
letter, “And by this we know that he
abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”[4] If John’s purpose for us is that we have fellowship with the Father
and Son because that is eternal life, and he wants us to know that we have eternal
life, then we must have the Holy Spirit who is the ultimate evidence that God
abides in us.
This
is quite remarkable when we consider what the church had been taught about the
ministry of the Holy Spirit. This issue of us knowing that we abide in the
Father, and that the Father abides in us, “by
the Spirit whom he has given us,”[5]is central to our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God
are sons of God.”[6]No “Spirit of God” no “sons of God,” period.
However,
this is not simply about whether we have the Holy Spirit as evidence of our abiding
relationship with God the Father and God the Son. This is also about the fact
that it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to assure us of our relationship
with the Father and the Son. Paul describes it like this, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba!
Father!’”[7]
Paul
describes the Spirit as “the Spirit of
adoption as sons,” assuring us that this is the very identity of the Holy
Spirit in relation to the believer in Jesus Christ. If we have the Spirit, we
have adoption as the sons of God. If we are the sons of God, as assured by the
presence of the Spirit of our adoption, then we know that the Father abides in
us, and us in him.
No
wonder Paul would describe it in another letter in this way, “In him you also, when you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire
possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”[8]
So,
how is it that we know that God abides in us “by the Spirit whom he has given us”?[9]It is that when we received the gospel, when our hearing of the “word of truth” causes us to “believe in him,” we received the “adoption as sons” that God predestined
us to experience before the beginning of time,[10] and we are “sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit,” whom Paul calls, “the
Spirit of adoption as sons.”[11]
Once
we are the sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ, fulfilling God’s pre-time
determination that he would adopt us as his sons, our adoption is “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”[12] The Holy Spirit is now the “guarantee
of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,”[13] which means that everything to do with our inheritance, what is still
unfinished in bringing us into the new home that Jesus is preparing for us,[14]is assured to us by the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives and
churches. If we have the Spirit, we have the adoption; if we have the adoption,
then the Father and the Son abide in us, and we abide in them.
To
assure us that we have this fellowship with the Father and the Son, John writes
his letter so that we can know that we have this eternal life. And, if we have
this eternal life, then we know God. Period. Forever.
Adding
another delightful facet of our Father’s assurances to our souls, Paul
describes what the Holy Spirit does within us. He writes, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children
of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”[15]
When
we understand that the Holy Spirit is “the
Spirit of adoption as sons,”[16]we can look to him as the presence of God who “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”[17] He is all about our adoption as sons, and so he ministers to us,
bearing witness to us by his presence, that we truly are the children of God. This
is why John would say that having the Holy Spirit is one of the assurances by
which we know that the Father abides in us.
Now,
Paul who wrote that the Holy Spirit “is
the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,”[18]speaks here of the fact that, when the Holy Spirit convicts us, and
convinces us, and assures us, that we are the children of God, it is so that we
would understand that, “if children, then
heirs.” If we are children at all, we are the heirs of God, the children
waiting for that inheritance we have not yet acquired.[19]
And,
when we know that we are heirs, we know that we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” As sons of God, we are
heirs of what the Father has provided for our inheritance. This gives us the
distinctive fellowship with the Son, that we are “fellow heirs” with him. There is not one inheritance for Jesus,
and a different one for us. Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son; our
eternal life is to know the Father and the Son; John has written his letter so
that we would know that we know the Father and the Son, and this involves the
fellowship with the Father as his heir, and the fellowship with the Son as his
fellow heir.
While
these thoughts fill the heart with wonder, as slowly turning a multi-faceted
diamond in hand causes brand new expressions of the glorious light within, there
is this over-riding gift of grace, that God has done everything for us to have
the eternal life of knowing him, and to know that we have this eternal life.
Of
course, I cannot forget the new context that Father has given to me, that he is
responsible for everything to do with our salvation. Therefore, I can receive
the gospel as an expression of his responsibility to restore me to the image
and likeness of his Son. And I can read the apostolic letters to the churches
as the beautiful gift of grace that tells me over and over again that God is
responsible for me knowing what I have in Jesus Christ my Lord.
It
seems that, since God has already given us such assurances as this, along with
the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit to assure us we already abide in the Father
and the Son, that we ought to listen to Jesus’ words all the more readily.
After all, “faith comes from hearing, and
hearing through the word of Christ.”[20]The more we hear Jesus’ words, the more we build up our faith.
Jesus
also said, “These things I have spoken to
you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”[21]If God has given so much to fill us with his joy, so our joy can be
full, we might as well honor him by soaking up all the joy the Spirit would
give us today. Or, as Paul put it, “Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”[22]
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, Canada, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
See: The ‘By This’ of
Ultimate assurance:
http://in2freedom.blogspot.ca/2014/09/pastoral-ponderings-by-this-of-ultimate.html; Eleven Assurances from Older
Brother John: http://in2freedom.blogspot.ca/2014/09/considerations-eleven-assurances-from.html
[2]
Ephesians 2:20
[3]
John 17:3
[4]
I John 3:24
[5]
I John 3:24
[6]
Romans 8:14
[7]
Romans 8:15
[8]
Ephesians 1:13-14
[9]
I John 3:24
[10]
Ephesians 1:4-6
[11]
Romans 8:15
[12]
Ephesians 1:13
[13]
Ephesians 1:14
[14]
John 14:1-3
[15]
Romans 8:16-17
[16]
Romans 8:15
[17]
Romans 8:16
[18]
Ephesians 1:13-14
[19]
I Peter 1:3-5
[20]
Romans 10:17
[21]
John 15:11
[22]
Philippians 4:4
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