1 John 5:13-21

(1 John 5:13-21)

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.  If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.  All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.  We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.  And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

 

『These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 』 Believing in the name of the Son of God became a family of Jesus Christ. When a family calls a father, it is called a father. It is awkward when someone outside of the family calls you a father. Being a family of Jesus Christ is only a family member of the New Covenant. It will be foster children. If you say that you are a family only in words without participating in the new covenant, Jesus will say that I do not know you. In order to be a family of Jesus, they are participating in the new covenant of blood. So the words of Romans 6:4 apply.『Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 』 New life is eternal life.

 

『And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.』 Being in Christ is united with Christ. Soon in Christ we sit at the right hand of God. Eternal life is in Jesus Christ. Eternal life is to have an all-powerful God, to live with, walk with, and deepen fellowship with Him.

 

The reason the apostle John speaks of what eternal life is is because he faced great religious challenges to the Saints at that time. That's the challenge of Gnosticism. Gnostics, who had been devoted to the problems of spiritual enlightenment and knowing, reached the stage of denying the body and everything derived from it, denying the incarnation of the incarnation of Jesus, the Son of God. Also, Gnosticism could never accept the fact that God took the cross with an unclean body. Because spiritual enlightenment is important, reality is neglected and all matters of reality are regarded as inferior and inferior matters, and their teachings at that time shook the foundations of the church and the saints. The apostle John wrote a letter to correct this. But today people think about eternal life too easily. Church people say that if you accept Jesus and believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life. That will not happen unless you repent and die with Jesus Christ. John testifies of Jesus through John 1:14: 『And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 』


Jesus, the son of God experienced by John, was never a spiritual being or an ideological thought. Jesus is actually the Son of God who came to this world. Jesus' mission to John was not a noble spiritual task that was independent of the work of the flesh. The self-denying life is not easy. It is important to save the dead spirit, not spiritual enlightenment. That's why fresh's body dies. The body itself is not evil, but the greed contaminated in the body is evil. Oh, say greed is the body. In Colossians, greed is an idol.『Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen』

 

It is to abandon greed and act to keep the spirit alive. Idol is to follow desire and to serve virtual images. The words of the apostle John stir up to the end the illusions, gnostics buried in spiritual enlightenment, and Christians deceived in teaching to the end. A young man came to Jesus and asked. “Lord, how can I achieve eternal life? I have kept all religious offers.”The Lord said, “Sell your possessions and distribute them to the poor.” The Bible says that the rich young man was grieved and went to his home. The rich young man's enthusiasm was nothing more than idolatry, following religious fiction, without discovering its true meaning and purpose.

 

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