To Love the Word of Life | Part 1

Except A Man Be Born Again

Jul 07, 2024

Introduction

John was the most beloved disciple of Jesus.1 In His dying hour, moments before bowing His head and commending His spirit into His Father’s hands,2 Jesus, whose thoughts dwelt tenderly upon His mother, in a final divine lesson of compassion entrusted her into the care of the beloved disciple.3 John understood Christ’s words when He said unto him, “Behold thy mother!”4—and from that very hour John honoured the sacred trust which his Master had given to him.

John’s gospel, which presents the divine life of Christ, is written with exceptional detail concerning the words of Jesus. There is no denying that the distinct ink of John’s pen drips the pure words of the Saviour’s lips. The well known ‘double-verily’s’ that precede His sayings is one way in which John’s gospel is distinct from the others; Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s gospels only record ‘verily’ in the singular.

John was inspired by the Word of life in a special sense. John completed his gospel with the sentimental truth that if every one of the things which Jesus did should have been recorded, “I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”5 While such books are longed for deeply in the heart of the true Christian, John’s epistles echo from eternity the words and lessons of the Word of life—which may just be the next best thing to additional books concerning the life of Jesus.

In this short commentary (segmented into five parts), we will compare the words contained in 1 John with those of Jesus as recorded in John’s gospel. My prayer for this devotional study is that each and every one of us may learn to love the words of our blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, as did His most beloved disciple. Thus without further ado, let us delve into Scripture and learn from John himself what it means to love the Word of life.

Chapter 1

Except A Man Be Born Again

John 3:3
Jesus
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
1 John 3:9
John
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

1 John 3:9 profoundly illuminates that which has inadvertently (and intentionally) been shrouded in mystery: the biblical doctrine of regeneration. The teachings of men, such as ‘once saved always saved,’ which contribute to the mass phenomenon of what some would (not unjustly) call ‘easy-believism,’ have distorted what it means to be born again; that is, to be born of God. Jesus gave us the precondition for the kingdom of God to be unveiled and set within our purview: “Ye must be born again.”6 So what does it mean to be born again? To be born again is to be (spiritually) “begotten of God,”7 and in order to be begotten of God, one must indeed “believeth that Jesus is the Christ.”8

John likewise tells us that the evidence of regeneration in the believer is that he “doth not commit sin;” in fact, “he cannot sin.” How? “For His [Christ’s] seed remaineth in him.” Why? “Because he is born of God.” Thus we are to understand that it is Christ’s seed in us, even the Root of David,9 that works (spiritual) begetting in the soul; for it is through receiving Christ as He has been revealed: as Lord and Saviour of the world; through accepting His words, and accepting His sacrifice, that we receive the Spirit of adoption of sons10 (and whereby we are grafted into the family and commonwealth of the Israel of God). “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God!”11

Chapter 2

For God So Loved The World

John 3:16-17; 5:23
Jesus
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved;
He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
1 John 4:9,14; 2:23; 3:14
John
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world; Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also; We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

No single verse throughout the entire Bible so succinctly encapsulates the message of the Gospel than that which is given in John 3:16. Secondarily, however, 1 John 4:9 accompanies it, for it is like unto it; a concise concentration of the Gospel message. The latter mentioned is clearly predicated upon the former, for the former not only preceded the latter in time but proceeded direct from the Saviours lips, by whom the proclamation of the ages issued forth and thereby impressed the heart of Nicodemus. John, in reiterating the words of Jesus, testifies that the Father, who “so loved the world,” manifested His infinite love to us-ward in that He “gave His only begotten Son” to be the Saviour of the world.

Oh, what love incomprehensible! What joy is anchored into our hearts in pondering the illimitable depths of the Father’s love, into which our meditation only so far permits us to venture! This is the revelation of the beauty of God’s love: “that whosoever believeth in Him [Jesus] should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We, who dead in trespasses had not a glimmer of hope in and of ourselves to become partakers of the Lord’s table, have been given freely of that same without which was impossible for us to attain: but now, by God’s grace has become possible for everyone who honours the One whom the Father has sent to dine with Him.

A stark warning, however, is given just a few verses later: “He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” On this matter John elaborates, equating dishonour with denial: “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also.”

Here it is revealed the sad reality of those who refuse to acknowledge the divine Sonship of Christ, and who likewise transgress the doctrine of Christ: the same knows not God.12 These poignant words would have been shocking to the Jewish people who professed to know God. While Jesus did testify of His people, “we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews,”13 which was to say that the Jews worshipped the true Creator (in contrast to the Samaritans, who were Gentiles steeped in paganism), He also said of them: “If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me… Ye are of your father the devil; He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”14

It is the same today. Like the Jewish people, Christians profess to know God (the Father), but their works speak otherwise. “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham… Ye do the deeds of your father,”15 the devil. “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.”16 In similitude, the vast majority of professing Christians seek to put to death the true Jesus, the only begotten Son, substituting Him for another Jesus who was unbegotten. This exchange results in another gospel that the disciples did not preach. Hereby the meaning of 1 John 2:23 is explicated: whosoever denies the only begotten Son—who “proceeded forth and came from God;”17—the same knows not the Father: (but) he that verbally recognizes [the authority of] the only begotten Son of God and keeps His commandments, it is he that knows the Father.

Chapter 3

Passed From Death Unto Life

John 5:24
Jesus
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
1 John 3:14
John
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Herein this testimony is reflected: “He that is of God heareth God’s words; My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”18 Everyone that hears the words of the Divine Shepherd19 and follows Him “whithersoever He goeth”20 are the people of His pasture; these are the sheep of His hand.21 “He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out”22 of condemnation: “for they know His voice;23 and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd;”24 and these are they which are counted among the fold of God.

To hear the word of the Son; to give heed to His words and believe on the Father who sent Him, is to pass from death unto life. Even so has Christ promised us this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death;25 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day;26 I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”27

If only the disciples knew what Jesus, the Living Bread that came down from heaven,28 was foretelling them when he tore from Himself and gave them of this bread to eat in these words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”29 Concerning this greatest expression of love which our friend Jesus exemplified to us-ward, John writes: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”30

Chapter 4

The Witness of God Is Greater

John 5:32,36
Jesus
There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
1 John 5:6-9
John
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

Two witnesses were greater than the witness of John the Baptist:

the witness of Jesus’ own works, and
the witness of the Father,

Whose voice, like unto peals of thunder, descended from heaven at His baptism, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”31 Jesus never did anything solely on His own accord; the will and works of Jesus were wholly harmonious with the purposes of His Father, in which they are united and one.32 “The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me;33 “I and my Father are one.”34

John writes, “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.”35 The Spirit of the Father and the Son are one,36 not only because they share the same divinity (which Jesus inherited from His Father), but because they are united also in truth, “even the Spirit of truth.”37 When we are baptized into the Spirit, we become one in the Father and the Son.38 Thus their testimonies are one, and Jesus’ own works bear witness of Himself that the Father “sent Him into the world, that we might live through Him.”39 This is the same testimony of the Samaritan woman, and that of the other Samaritans who also came to believe on the Son of God because of her testimony.40

It is the same testimony as Martha, who said of Him “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”41 This is again that very same confession of Peter, who said of the divine personage of His Lord, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”42 In response, Jesus said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” The Father reveals the Son, and the Son declares the Father. Christ is the Door;43 the only way unto the Father:44 for He testifies of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,”45 and their Spirit bears the witness.

Chapter 5

No Man Hath Seen God

John 5:37-38
Jesus
And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not this word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
1 John 4:12-13
John
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

We close Part 1 with this most beautiful lesson. In John 14:9, Philip says to Jesus, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Oh how so many of us are like Philip! It is to us, and for us, that Jesus gently reproves our faithlessness: “O ye of little faith;”46 “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” It’s not by apparent sight, but by faith that we see the Father, and have our abode with Him. We know Him because “we dwell in Him,” and “know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” to dwell in us.

Yet it is a certain truth that we have not seen the Father (by sight) at any time, thus it is so that we may rest assured in Jesus that we know Him if we bear the fruit of His Spirit,47 and His fruit (which is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) is the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. These are the evidences of His Spirit dwelling in us, and it’s “hereby we know that we dwell in Him.” It is by these that we love one another, and “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us,” for “God is love,”48 and “love is of God.”49 “Blessed are they that have not seen” the Father, “and yet have believed”50 on Him who sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have the light of life. “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”51

Now hereby God’s love is perfected in us: if we love one another, as Jesus has loved us.52 The love of Father and the love of the Son is the epitome of love. With which love He has loved us, it is this same love by which He commands us to love one one another, which He imparts to us through His spirit, the Holy Spirit.53 This is the ultimate love, the same love with which God gave His only begotten Son; the same love with which Jesus volunteered to leave His heavenly abode to enter the world, and offer up Himself for the sins of all who believe on Him, and the One who sent Him. Let us be diligent, to keep Jesus’ commandments and abide in His love, even as He has kept His Father’s commandments and abided in His love.54