SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE (5)
SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE (5)
JT There are two confessions spoken of in this epistle; the confession of Jesus Christ come in flesh, and the confession of Jesus as the Son of God, and a third confession is involved in believing “that Jesus is the Christ”, as in verse 1 of our chapter.
There is a certain Jewish background to the epistle: the observing of this helps us to better understand certain expressions in it. While it is incumbent on everyone, including the Jew, to believe that Jesus is the Christ, and involves being born of God, yet this feature has Jewish opposition in view primarily. The expression ‘every one’ means everyone universally, and ignores Jewish claims. Being born of God is the root of this belief and not anything in the natural man. It was necessary for Jew and gentile, and placed both on the same footing. Those who believe that Jesus is the Christ do so because they are born of God. The Lord indeed came with sufficient outward evidence that He was the Christ, but John’s ministry shews that apart from a work of God in the soul no one will really believe this. In John 2 we are told that some believed because of the signs, but the Lord did not commit Himself to them, knowing what was in man. The Lord Jesus came in a spirit of such lowliness and grace that the natural man could not recognise such a one as the Christ; the woman of Samaria, for example, did; the divine generation is thus made manifest. Only those born of God appreciate those meek and lowly features; man as such could not appreciate them at all. As it is said, “when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him ... He is despised and rejected of men”, (Isaiah 53:2,3). Men look for some self-exalting distinction rather than for these traits. But they will receive one who comes “in his own name”, (John 5:43), and God will allow this.
[p. 272] It is so today: people speak of a man who does things — this is man’s ideal of a man. The antichrist will incite the admiration of mankind; he will be a super-man, but all he does will be for his own glory. The idea of “the Christ” is that He does things, but then He does them for God. In John 4 the Samaritan woman says to the men of the city, “Is not this the Christ?” He had done great things for her.
Philip in Samaria preached that He was the Christ; his preaching implied that it was He who was anointed to do things for God as recorded in Isaiah 61 and Luke 4: “To preach the gospel to the poor ... to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”. Also the gospel of John shews that all He did was for the Father. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ you believe He is that kind of Man, the only Man able to accomplish the will of God. And you are entitled to look for that spirit also in the brethren, for they also have the anointing of the Spirit to do the works of God. “Jesus Christ come in flesh”, (1 John 4:2), gives the order of man. “Jesus is the Christ” gives the anointed Man. I think that was what Philip had in mind; he did not go to Samaria with the thought that he himself could do anything. And so it should be today, but there are those who stand up as popular preachers who have not that spirit; they work on the principle that they themselves are doing great things, that they convert and heal people, etc., and so make names for themselves. But it was not so with Philip, he preached that Jesus was the Christ. He said, in effect, He is the Man who does things for God. Then Philip was removed from Samaria to speak to one soul in the desert and so could not be installed in a popular way at Samaria; and finally the Spirit caught him away from that scene of successful labour, as one who had received the Lord’s [p. 273] entire approval of his service. You can understand that a man like the eunuch might have cast a longing eye at him; with a view to his taking him to Ethiopia. Prominent men often have such desires in respect of the Lord’s servants. But the Holy Spirit says, in effect, I want him; he is to be entirely in My hands. Hence it is the Christ who does things; we shall be saved from all human assumption if we believe that Jesus is the Christ. Referring again to Samaria, Simon Magus who resided there gave out that he was “some great one”, (Acts 8:9). He was just the opposite of Philip. Men would like to have the power to give the Spirit by the laying on of their hands — that would be a very great acquisition. But Peter says to him that he was “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity”, (Acts 8:23). It is all very solemn. The one who believes that Jesus is the Christ turns his back on the world of exploits and human glory; this is the true basis of all activity in connection with the service of God.
The first five verses of this chapter link us on with what we have already had; they present the saints in victory over the world. Then from verse 6 and on we are taken out of the world altogether. But it is not a question of going out of the world because we are too weak to stay in it! The going out is in victory, and not because christianity is not equal to holding its own in the world. It had already been said that “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”, (chapter 4:4); so that christians are fully equal to being in it and overcoming it; they are in positive victory over the whole world system. This is far greater than the triumphal march of any so-called world conqueror. None of the great world conquerors ever gained the victory over the whole world. But Jesus had done this, and the christian’s faith also does it. Thus God sets us up in power here superior to that of the whole world, even as He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt with a high hand.
[p. 274] They did not steal out of that country. Indeed, it is said that coming out “they spoiled the Egyptians”, (Exodus 12:36); they came out victoriously, and “in the sight of all the Egyptians”, (Numbers 33:3).
In verse 4 we have the nature of that which overcomes: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world”. The whole work of God is, in principle, victorious; but it is connected with ‘our faith’. The history of faith in Hebrews 11 shews that it was victorious from the outset. This victory is greatly emphasised here: “This is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith”. Faith itself is victory, and it gets the victory over the world; it has thus a dual feature. Faith is always triumphant, it is never defeated; and includes the substance and system of teaching which christians have. Intelligent christians have no creeds or articles of religion, but they have faith, as it is said, “Our faith”. It is what is imbedded in the soul, the truth held there by the Spirit, and it is identical with the person himself. Look at the great list of martyrs: it was impossible to destroy their faith, though they were physically destroyed. So it says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life”, (Revelation 2:10). Christians can overcome as Christ overcame, but christianity can never be overcome. How establishing to our souls all this is!
Verse 3 shews that the love of God is not mere sentiment; we see here what it is concretely. In verse 1 we learn that if we love Him that begat we love those begotten of Him; and then in verse 3 it says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous”. It is remarkable how loving and keeping the commandments are bound together in John’s writings. Then in verse 4 we come to the victory; I think we should especially notice the victory. Many people are afraid they will never be able to get through; they shrink from making a confession,
[p. 275] and do not want to give up this and that. They say they cannot see their way; but look at what they come into as having faith, the victory which has gotten the victory over the world! It is already a winning thing, and it is very stimulating.
Note that in verse 4 it is “our faith”, not the faith. Jude gives “the faith”, (Jude 3), and Paul the “unity of the faith”, (Ephesians 4:13). Here it is the faith that is actually in existence in christians. It is very encouraging to see how in the gospels the Lord often says, “Thy faith”, for instance Luke 7:50, “Thy faith hath saved thee”. The Lord gives you credit for what you have got. Think of the value of the thing! It is indestructible, and is victorious in itself. In Romans we have the principle of faith in a general way worked out, but when the Lord would specially encourage a soul He says, “Thy faith”.
Then we must note the two expressions, ‘has gotten’ and ‘gets’. These present both the past and the present. The thing has been already demonstrated, its past history is established, but it also continues. One who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is always victorious. If faith has in the past gotten the victory over the world, why not now? Jesus as the Son of God has been entirely victorious; He did not die as a weakling; if we die, it is because we cannot help it. But it was not so with Christ; He died in power as a Victor. He delivered up His own Spirit, and in so doing cried with a loud voice; so that the centurion said, “Truly this was the Son of God”, (Matthew 27:54). On man’s side dying is the full expression of his weakness; it is not an act at all; but with Christ it was an act of power. He died as Victor over death and was marked out thus as Son of God with power. We must distinguish between this and the announcement from the opened heavens at His baptism that He was God’s Son. In Romans “our faith” is built up on what was in Him inherently, and what was demonstrated in Him as “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”, (Romans 1:4); that is, by His own resurrection and that of others, for He raises the dead. So He cried to Lazarus with a loud voice, “Come forth”, (John 11:43). It was the same voice that cried when He died, the full power of which should be proved in His resurrection. Peter says, “it was not possible that he should be held by its power”, (Acts 2:24).
Faith has been victorious from the outset, even from Abel. Anticipatively the power of the Son of God was apprehended. The ark illustrates this, it was the power and glory of God (Psalm 78:61). It was always victorious. As it moved forward Moses said, “Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee”, (Numbers 10:35). To consider this is very helpful for young christians especially. Many hesitate, but christianity has been a winning thing from the beginning. It is very encouraging to consider this as starting in the faith, that we are coming into something which is already victorious over the world. Young believers ought to see that from the outset christianity is a victorious thing, and the more I enter into it the more victorious I am. The victory was complete in Christ, and now it is maintained by the Spirit in the saints. God gives it to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Corinthians 15:57). The Lord and the disciples in Luke 8 entered into a boat and cross over to the other side of the lake. As they sailed, He fell asleep; a storm arose and the ship was filled with water and they were in danger; the disciples woke Him up, being afraid, saying, “Master, master, we perish”, but the storm could not sink the ship because the Lord was there. Rising up He rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and there was a calm; so that the victory was through Him. Thus it is always, even where there is little faith. As He gives us victory, how often He has [p. 277] to ask us, as He did the disciples, ‘Where is your faith?’ The Lord Jesus personally overcame the world in its stronghold in the person of Satan who had the power of it and of death. The conflict of the Lord was with Satan personally. It says that the whole world lies in the wicked one, but He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world, so we may have the victory over it. The young men (chapter 2) had overcome the wicked one, but were in danger of the world; this shews the power of it, especially over young believers; hence the urgency of faith in the Son of God, as knowing Him. The Lord puts weapons into our hands to be used against the world, so that we come out victorious. When David took the sword of Goliath he said there is none like it (1 Samuel 21). Death is ours; we accept it, applying it to ourselves and to the world. If the worst comes you are not afraid even of death, because you know that it takes you literally out of the world to Christ. As put into our hands by Christ, there is no weapon more effective than death.
Thus we have here two systems: one that is in Christ over against that which is in the wicked one. Verse 19 says, “The whole world lies in the wicked one” — the whole world, social, religious, commercial, educational, etc., and the way out is through death and resurrection.
In verse 6 the Holy Spirit directs our attention to the Lord as coming by water and blood; He came in connection with these two things; and as we are in the practical gain of them we are brought into accord with Him. The water, the blood, and the Spirit’s witness give the means whereby we are brought consciously into eternal life, a new life outside this world altogether.
Ques Why is the water mentioned first here?
JT Because that is the important point. The blood is absolutely essential as satisfying the claims of God and purifying the conscience but with christians generally the urgent need is the water. Many put great emphasis [p. 278] on the blood, but overlook the necessity of the water. The water removes me altogether as in the flesh. The blood conforms to the requirements of God, whilst the water is for practical cleansing from defiling inward thoughts and also from unholy associations. We must be relieved of all that for the enjoyment of eternal life. We are cleansed positionally by baptism, but practically by the water of the word. We are naturally polluted. The water is the word applied to me in the power of the Spirit; it is thus the application of the death of Christ. If we come under the influence of things that are defiling we need to apply the water.
In 2 Chronicles 4 the vessel called the sea in Solomon’s temple was very large, its capacity being three thousand baths, although apparently it usually contained but two thousand (compare 1 Kings 7:26 and 2 Chronicles 4:5). Then there were ten lavers of brass on bases provided with wheels, each holding forty baths. The sea was not said to be movable, but evidently the lavers were. The sea gives the great general thought of all sufficiency for cleansing. There is no reason that anyone should remain defiled; we can all have our bodies washed with pure water, as also our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. The water is pure, not polluted by stagnation; like “the word of God” in Hebrews 4, it is said to be “living and operative”. There is then a plenitude of water, as suggested by the brazen sea; but the lavers, being movable, express the excess of His consideration for us. Thus He may send persons to us in view of cleansing. The Lord Himself took a wash-hand basin (John 13) and came to Peter to cleanse him. Why then should we, with such provision, remain defiled? The cleansing in John 13 is that we should have part with Christ.
We should note that He came by water and blood. In Hebrews 9:11 He is presented as coming by a better and more perfect tabernacle. It means, In connection [p. 279] with; that is its force. This is most important, for without the water and blood His coming by birth would be entirely ineffective. His birth is not in view here, but His death. He came to die that we might be cleansed — how very touching this is! The point is that we might enter into eternal life, being cleansed by the washing and so taken out of the world. Many so-called christian leaders connect Christ with this world by applying the blood without the water. The meaning of the water is very little understood. It is the death of Christ applied in the power of the Spirit to my state — sin in the flesh — and my association with the world.
Ques But is it not also true that there is an effort in the present day to apply the water without the blood?
JT Quite so, to apply cleansing, according to man’s standard, to the natural man, ignoring the judgment of God on him. That is very deceptive and destructive. But it is also a source of great mischief and loss, as already remarked, that the water is generally left out.
And now we are put into the hands of the Spirit: it is not now the apostles who bear witness, but the Spirit Himself. It required that witness to apply all this, for “the Spirit is the truth”. The Spirit opens up for us and applies what is set forth in the water and the blood, so as to set us entirely free for eternal life and for the enjoyment of it. I think it is a great thing to see how the apostle ends here: “And this is the witness, that God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son”. That is the position of it, “in his Son”. We must have it where God has placed it, and should not wish for it to be anywhere else. It is outside this world, where there is no trace of evil or of any foreign element. We are brought thus into a new sphere and order of things, as has been said.
Then, “He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself”. That is important, for the believer so viewed has in himself the means of certainty.
[p. 280] Thus he is free to have part in the new divine order of things which is in Christ. The point is that it is in Christ, and the believer is brought into that. But then it is most important, as said, to consider the witness which is in oneself. Mariners practise what is known as sounding, or taking the depth of the sea. It is in contrast to being guided by what is in the heavens. There are two principles in navigation: the one is objective, the being directed through objects which are in the heavens; that is the main guiding principle; they could not get on at all without it. But when nearing land, that is not enough; so they begin to take soundings. The witness in oneself is on the line of taking soundings; it is the principle of introspection, but not of self-occupation. It is that we might rightly understand what is within. What has God placed in me? Are there any affections or pure longings towards Himself? If so, where have they come from? God has placed them there, and it is very encouraging and confirming. You look within to see the witness in yourself. This is as much of God as what is of Him in the heavens. This is why the apostle says, “These things have I written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life”; that is, that you may be inwardly conscious of it. Nevertheless it is made very plain objectively that we have it in Christ. That is its position. We shall be entirely unbalanced if we think we have it in ourselves, and it would be to take it out of its setting. What is written from verse 6 is to take us out of all the various settings connected with this world into the realm where the blessing of eternal life is. John is greatly concerned to give the true position of things. We cannot take eternal life out of its setting. There is a fixedness in Christ, the believer being in it, which cannot be affected by the world or any opposing elements. God has placed eternal life in His Son, and we have the witness of it in ourselves by the Spirit. The blood sets us up in the presence of God, while the water [p. 281] disassociates us from what is evil, and the Spirit brings us positively into the realm of life in Christ. Thus we have the three-fold cord, a perfect witness from God, which cannot be broken. Any one who does not believe this makes God a liar.
Many speak of eternal life without any thought of the elevation on which it is set, without connecting it with the Son. It must be connected with Him and with Canaan and not with the wilderness. The Spirit is life in the wilderness, as in Romans 8:10, but God would keep eternal life in its own setting. It is confused often with forgiveness and salvation in the minds of many, whereas these things lead on to it. The work by the Spirit of God in me is the witness there, but He would direct me to Christ, in whom eternal life is — outside this world and beyond death. There is no distinction between life and eternal life here; they are interchangeable terms in this chapter. In other scriptures there may be a difference between them. As often remarked, eternal life is not said to be given to us in heaven, but is “in Christ”, or “in his Son”. That we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1) is true, but we must take things as God has presented them. Eternal life is connected with Israel first in Scripture, yet it is obviously an essential blessing for all.
Those forming the church possess and enjoy it in a far more exalted and spiritual way than Israel and the nations will; this is conclusive from the way it is presented in the New Testament.
It is very important to consider the witness of the Spirit; the witness of the apostles is presented in chapter 1; we are now in the Spirit’s realm, and must learn to be spiritual. The apostles were men. Peter said, “Look on us”, (Acts 3:5); meaning look on the men whom God sent as witnesses; but here we are in the spiritual realm, where the Spirit witnesses. Are we equal to listening to the Spirit?
[p. 282] Ques In Romans 8:10 we have “the Spirit is life”. What is involved in that?
JT There the Spirit is brought in in the sense of power, “on account of righteousness”. He is power in me, enabling me to bear fruit in the way of righteousness. It refers to the wilderness position as already stated.
Now, in the end of the chapter we come to the expression, “We know”. It occurs three times. “We know that every one begotten of God does not sin”. “We know that we are of God”. “We know that the Son of God has come;” this presents the certainty which marks the believer. It is a question in each instance, of conscious knowledge: we know the kind of man who does not sin, we know that we are of God and we know that the Son of God has come, thus we have a three-fold knowledge. It should be quite obvious that he that is born of God does not sin; what we derive from God has not in it the principle of sin, otherwise it would be possible for us to commit sin in heaven. We are entitled to view ourselves, as born of God, and not sinning; this is normal christianity, and it is such people, we know, who sin not. As often remarked, the truth is presented here abstractly.
Then we have that He “has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ”. This presents the fixedness of our position in which we should be intelligently; it is of all importance to understand where we are. What follows is, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one”. This implies that the world is quite restful there — it lies there, and makes no effort to leave its position. But on the other hand, eternal life presents an out-of-the-world order of things, into which we enter; and this even while we are literally here in the world. By the power of the Holy Spirit we may leave it and enter into, or ‘lay hold of’ eternal life. We are thus in life — have passed out of [p. 283] death into life. The believer can be said to be in life, because he loves the brethren. Such know “him that is true”, and are in “him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ”. That is our unique position. Then we have, “He is the true God and eternal life”. “The true God” is what He is towards me, whereas my being “in his Son Jesus Christ” is what I am towards God.
The world lies absolutely in the arms of the wicked one; nevertheless the government of God has a restraining effect. We should thank God for government, and pray for the authorities as seeing their value under God. Government as supported of God holds back the forces of evil, but if God withdraws His support, the government will be absolutely helpless. That is how antichrist will get control: men will throw off all restraint of God, and the dragon will give him his power and authority.
Speaking of “him that is true”, is placing Christ over against all untruth. He is the perfectly regulating principle of truth for us. Then He is also the true God. The antichrist will claim to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4), but Christ is the true God to us: “For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”, (Colossians 2:9).
Thus the epistle ends with the perfect resolution of everything. God and man meet in Christ. There is perfect stability in that blessed Person; and we are brought consciously into what is presented. This is indeed wonderful; summed up, it is God for man, and man for God.