That You May Be Encouraged

Illusion or Reality?

1 John 5: 6-21

The Letters of John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Max A Forsythe

Introduction: Every so often, a popular magician by the name of David Copperfield performs a magical extravaganza specialized for national television. Now, we have to admire the careful craft of these illusions. It isn't every magician who would be trusted by the National Park Service to make the Statue of Liberty disappear and then return. I believe that I read a few years ago that one brand of magical terrorists were caught in the very act of unloading enough explosives to make the Washington monument disappear. The crime that they supposedly were charged with was the fact that they had no plans to bring it back in its original shape and form.

And so it is with theology as well. There are very many magical ministers around today dealing with illusion instead of reality. John was faced with one of these bands of theological terrorists who if they had had their way, would have destroyed the faith once given to the saints and substituted their own gospel instead.

Development: The whole purpose of John's first letter is to deal with this issue of reality and illusion. Thus, his topic is worthy of our study so that we may be assured that the basic formulations of the Gospel message are indeed real and that your faith is not an illusion after all, as the world would have you believe.

Now, “The Assurance of Faith in the Son of God” as this chapter is entitled in the New International Version is established by John's reasoning on the testimony and reliability of three particular witnesses. These three witnesses according to John are: the Spirit, the water and the blood in agreement. Now, to our modern mind, we may stumble here and wonder in awe at what he means.

Very many sincere commentators wrestle with the implications of meaning here. All you have to do is look at the footnotes in most modern Bibles where you may learn that we may have here in verse seven some additional words added to the text of Scripture which many believe do not belong. These extra words tie the example here in with the Trinity and were common in the Latin text from the fourth century and in the Greek text common at the time of the Reformation. As you consider the various versions of scripture in your possession, the common translations we use divide on this according to their acquiescence towards the received text concept very popular within evangelical and reformed studies.

So this would explain the confusion in imagery read by many biblical interpreters. Of three possible explanations, we have to go back to one of the early Church Fathers by the name of Tertullian as my evangelical commentator, John R.W. Stott leads us. Tertullian explains that the water refers us back to the baptism of Jesus Christ where the Father and the Spirit confirm the divine status of Jesus the Son. The blood refers us back to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross when His work was finished.

Irenaeus further supports this interpretation because he recorded the exact nature of the Corinthian Gnostics who troubled the Ephesian congregation addressed here by John the Apostle. These heretics taught that Jesus and Christ were separate entities. Christ came down and inhabited Jesus at the baptism and left before the crucifixion. It is to specifically refute these heretical critics that John describes our Lord in the terms of one who came through both the water of baptism and the blood shed on the cross.

Now this is what the implications of the text are. The very foundation of the gospel could be undermined and our very salvation turned to an illusion if the reality of who Jesus Christ was and did is not supported by the water and the blood. If the Son of God did not take to Himself our nature in His birth and our sins in His death, He cannot reconcile us to God. In other words He cannot make our sins disappear if the theology of John, the Apostles and the Church is wrong. The heretics believed it was all an illusion, so they denied the reality of the biblical witness.

Of course, we know that heretics have not the Spirit of God, otherwise they would indeed affirm the orthodox teachings of Scripture that in Jesus Christ, God Himself came down from heaven, was born, baptized and died on the cross to affirm His long standing Covenant to cover the sins of Adam's sons and daughters, you and I. Is the gospel message and illusion or a reality for you today? If it is an illusion you need to be praying for the presence of the Spirit in your heart and mind so that you can know beyond a shadow of doubt that this doctrine is real indeed.

In verses thirteen to seventeen John tells us why he has written of these things. Look carefully at verse thirteen: that you may know that you have eternal life" Have you ever had something that you were unsure of its value or purpose? One of my friends bought a World War One German helmet for $5.00. When I offered him $50.00 he asked me to find out what it was really worth. I called him within two weeks with the news that it was out of my price range. Since it was so rare, it was valued at over $1,600 twenty-some years ago. Again, one of my students once told me about a letter that his grandmother guarded with her life; it was from some great, great uncle by the name of Aaron Burr. I tried for three years to get just a Xerox copy of that letter because there are so many questions about what Aaron Burr was up to late in life. Evidently, hey didn't appreciate what they had because they did not know its value.

In the same way some people have argued with me over the Reformed teachings about salvation and the great gift that God has given to each of us through the water and blood of His only Son Jesus Christ. Yes, salvation is more common than rare German helmets, and fortunately John's letter has been more widely published than Aaron Burr's single copy.

Unfortunately, so many people do not fully appreciate what it is they really have. Well you need to know. By water and blood Jesus takes to Himself our very own sins and delivers us from death so that we might know Him and live in and with Him for eternity. This is the great gift that comes into our hearts and minds by the ministry of God's Holy Spirit. Knowing the reality of Jesus, who is the Christ, should give us great confidence as John explains in the closing verses of this letter.

Conclusion: First, we find in verses fourteen and fifteen, the great Christian doctrine of assurance. Calvin observes that the use of the doctrine is, not only to initiate the ignorant in the knowledge of Christ, but also to confirm those more and more who have been already taught.

Second, in verse eighteen, we learn that while we continue to sin in this life (1 John 1: 8, 10), we are not prisoners of sin. A Pastor Barnes writes in the Welwyn Commentary Series: A person who entrenches himself in serious sin is outside the kingdom of God. The new birth results in new behaviour. Sin cannot be habitual for the Christian.

However, even as John assures us earlier in the text that all wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. We should certainly take account of our continuing tendency in this regard, and to regularly confess our fallen nature and to petition the Lord for forgiveness.

A third lesson is to be found in verse nineteen. There we can know where we stand: We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Thus, we may realize our true inheritance is in the Father, through Christ, by the witness and power of the Holy Spirit.

And finally, in verse twenty John would have us focus on the saving work of Jesus Christ our Lord. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we my know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

If we know Him we ought to have confidence, we ought to strive to pray within His will and we ought to confront one another about issues of sin. Yes, as John observes, we live in a world under the control of the evil one. Yet, by God's grace, we know the reality of the true God who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. And knowing Him, we must listen to John's exhortation in the final verse to avoid the worldly illusions of manmade idolatry and rest alone in the comforting assurance of the reality of Jesus Christ who came, obeyed the Father and died on the cross for you and for me. May the assurance of the reality of Christ comfort you in the midst of a magical world of illusion. Amen.

Resources Used: Barnes, Peter. Welwyn Commentary Series: Knowing Where We Stand.

Stott, John. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Epistles of John.

Calvin, John. The Comprehensive John Calvin Collection (Ages Software).

Good News Publishers. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

25 August 2002 Box 13926 - Columbus, Ohio 43213-8049 m4syth@tulip.org

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