January 19, 2000

EXPLORE THE BIBLE:
Proclaim without doubt
that Jesus is the Christ
___ 1 John 5:1-12
___By Ellis Orozco
___Calvary Baptist Church, McAllen
___Carnegie Simpson wrote about Jesus: "Instinctively we do not class him with others. ... He is not the Great; he is the Only. He is simply Jesus. Nothing could add to that. ... He is beyond our analyses."
___Charles Lamb in a conversation with Robert Browning said, "If Shakespeare was to come into this room, we should all rise up to meet him, but if that person (Jesus) was to come into it, we should all fall down and try to kiss the hem of his garment."
___Who is Jesus? It's an ancient question. Before John concludes his letter, he wants to answer that question and make crystal clear what our faith is all about.
___ Victorious faith in Jesus Christ (1 John 5:1-5). John begins with the most basic statement of our faith. "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). John seems to be drawing from his recollection of that now-famous conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in which Jesus says, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3). Spiritual birth is just as much a reality for the Christian as is physical birth.
___John also warns us that our love for God is inextricably tied to our love for each other, and especially our love for young Christians (1 John 5:1b). We know that we love the children of God when we follow God's commands.
___And what are God's greatest commands? Love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39).
___Victorious faith is forged in the crucible of our everyday relationships. We cannot have a faith that will overcome unless our relationship with God is the kind of relationship that is strengthening all our other relationships.
___This is the kind of faith that overcomes all things (1 John 5:3-5).
___ Testimony of the Spirit, water, and blood (1 John 5:6-8). John seems to be battling against a false teaching that is circulating in the early Christian church. A man named Cerinthus taught that Jesus and the Christ were two different people. According to the heresy, Christ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him shortly before his death on the cross.
___John seeks to refute this heresy (or one similar to it) by emphasizing that Jesus was the Christ at his baptism (with water) and at his crucifixion (with blood). The Holy Spirit testifies to the truth about Jesus (John 1:32).
___John points to the three that bear witness--the Holy Spirit, who lives in every believer and enables us to witness; baptism by immersion in water; and the Lord's Supper, symbolizing the broken body and poured out blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 5:7-8).
___ Testimony of the Father (1 John 5:9-12). It is God himself who ultimately testifies to the veracity of all John has preached. Jesus is the Christ and the Savior of the world, ultimately, because God said so. And anyone who has enough faith to hear God will know this to be true in their hearts (1 John 5:10).
___John spells out God's testimony: If you have Jesus in your heart, then you know it to be true. If you don't, then you don't. I guess that's why they call it faith.

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