The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 151

Is ever this: "God hath given to ns eternal life, and this life is in his Son." They se.y: 1. Here is One who, by the dignity of his nature, is the Son of God, though through the lowliness of his form you see him only as the Son of man. 2. He, the Son of God, the Lord of man, bas taken hnman flesh and blood, that, coming into the race, he might bear its liabilities on himself, and, by bearing their burden on him, might throw it off for ever, 3. In stepping into the stream, and numbering himself with the transgressors, he publicly assumed the sinner's place, as if laden with the sinner's guilt. 4. 'l'hus laden with the guilt of the race, through having voluntarily trtken it on himself, he bore the burden to the cross, there atoned for sin, cried out, "It is finished I" and the burden was flung off for ever. 5. The validity of his work was sealed by his resurrec,-tion and his ascension to heaven. 6. The Gift of the Holy Ghost was his own promised proof of his having received all power in heaven an<l. on Earth ; and now he reigns Head over all, having received gifts for men, to bestow on us the gift of eternal life, having atoned for the sin which forfeited the life, and having received authority and power to give and to sustain the life. This is "the testirMny of God." Vers. 9-12.-The Divine witness s1t'bfectively verified. Connecting link: The main topic is now the witness of God. In the preceding sketch we dwelt upon the witness of God objectively given. Now we have for our topic-Tf.e witness of God verified in the individ'IJ,(],l experience. The apostle gives us this in two forms-the positive and the negative. (1) Negative: "He that hath not the Son of God hath not the life." 1 (2) Positive: "He that bath the Son hath the life." We deal now only with the positive statement (save as in the footnote). In so doing, we join with it the corresponding one: "He that believeth on the Son of God bath the witness in himself" (ver. 10). There are two well-known laws concerning testimony. (1) That it is appropriate and even obligatory to receive adequate testimony objectively given. (2) That it is impossible to question such testimony when it is subjectively verified. It is the latter of these two laws the operation of which we are now to consider. L LET UB INQUIBE WHAT THIS INWABD WITNESS IS. "The witness in himself." So far as the expression is .concerned, apart from the context, the apostle's words might bear either of two meanings: (1) "He that believeth on the Son of God bath the witness in himself that he believes ; " or (2) "He that believeth on the Son of God bath the witness in himself that God's testimony concerning his Son is true." The context decides for the latter, and it is set by the apostle in form most exactly logical Firnt step: "This is the witness-that God hath given to us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son." Second step: "He that hath the Son lw.th the life." Conclusion: "He has the witness in himself of the truth of God's testimony." Had we time to elaborate this part of our theme, we would do so in four clistinct st:iges. 1. God gives man life through Christ, and promises it to all that believe. 2. Man believes unfeignedly in the testimony God bas given of his Son. 3. Believing in Jesus, he already enjoys the life which God has promised to bestow. 4. Therefore he has within him an actual verification of God's own faithful Word, He believed the testimony was true, and now he knows it to be so. II. WHAT 18 THE SPECIAL VALUE OF THIS INWARD EVIDENCE? Jt has a sevenfold value. 1. It is a distinctively personal verification of the truth of God's Word concern- ing bis Son. It is emphatically the believer's own, which may be paralleled in the experi- ence of others, but cannot be sbared by them. There is first of all a firm and unwavering certitude that he has a life above and beyond that of nature. Then there is the knowledge gained by continuous experience that only by and through Christ has such a life been initiated, nourished, and sustained. 2. It is an evidence that attends him everywhere. It is always with him. He affirms," The life I now live in the flesh, 1 live by the faith of the Son of God." 'l'his is what Dr. Chalmers used to call '' the 1 On this negative expression it seems appropriate to note that the absence of "life" ui the scriptural sense by no means denotes the loss of being. Men may have all their rational faculties and moral responsibi!Hies, and yet be without " the life." We clo not wonder at Dr. Edersheim's remark that the annihilation theory seems to be based on "bRd p~ilosophy and worse exegesis" (sEe Dr. Edersheim's 'Life o.nd Tim€s of Jesus the }les~tab,' vol. ii. p. 791 ).  148 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENl<~RAL OF JOHN, toR. v. 1-21. -------------------------------·--- portable evidence of Christianity." It cl\n be Cl\rried n,bont with I\ man, go where he w_ill. It takes up_ no spae;e on the s~elves in his library, but ever tills a snug corner of his heart. 8. It 1s an e\'ldence which is independent of what man may say. At one time, when the only evidence he knew of was that which is external to the ml\n, he was dependent on _whnt this or that one might say, and his belief would he stronger or weaker according to the speaker's success or failure in argument. But his faith is no longer a traditional one. It is the result of the Spirit's work within him; and if no ot.her advocate for the Saviour should appear, what Christ bas done for him and in him would lead him to say from his own experience, " I know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." 4. It is an evidence which brings a joy along with it, with which a stranger intermeddleth not. Evidence which merely shows a. ml\n the glory of what he ought to believe, and that it is binding on him to believe, may but irritate, 1rnd will, if tbure, be a dislike to the truth. But when a man has God's witness within himself, then he knows whom he has believed, and the knowledge brings a joy unspeak- a bl~ and full of glory. His may be-yea, is-a lifo of calm resting in the promise, " \\ here I am there shall also my servant be." 6, Such an evidence gives him power as a pleader for God. With \\·hat zest can be tell to sinners round what a dear Saviour he has foun,i ! He can speak, not from hearsay, not merely out of a book, but of "what he bas tasted and bRndle<l and felt of the \Vord of life." 6. This evidence accumulates in strength with ad"ancing years. The longer bis experience of the power and grace of Christ to sustain in him the eternal life, the more he has received from the fulness of the Sa,iour, and the severer and the more frequent the trials which have thrown him on his Redeemer for sympathy and for strength,-the stronger will this inward evidence hecome. The value of the testimony, " Not one thing bath failed of all that the Lord bath ~poken," must needs increase with the number of the years that such testimony includes. 7. 'l'his is a.n evidence of which its possessor cannot be deprived. All evidences that a.re without a man-historical, philosophical, moral-may lose their hold on him, "when mind and memory flee." And besides, of any evidence for which he iM dependent on man, by man he can be deprived. An evidence of which man cannot rob us must be an evidence man cannot give us. And here it is: "The witness in himself" -the life within, which, when nature sinks, will rise the higher, and which will enable the believer even in death to shout, " Thanks be to God, which giveth us the ,-ictory ! " Note: 1. When we summon up before our imagination the thousands and millions of this and of past ages who have known and declared that life in Christ is their certain experience, we see bow great the problem which the destructive sceptic has to solve ere he can demolish the evidences of and for Christianity I He might as well try to put out the sun's light I If it were possible (which it is not) for an unbeliever to know all the evidence of Christianity, objective and subjective, he would give up bis puny attempts at disproof thereof. 2. Let tho~e W?O ~o not possess this inward witness look at the fact that, unless they a.re to d1sbeheve rn, or to regard as fools, the holiest of their friends who speak of the life in Obrist as theirs, this evidence, though inward to their friends, is outward to themselves, and as such must be taken into account by them as pertaining to human experience. For it is by no means allowable to claim experience as a basis of eviJeace, and at the same time to decide a priori what that experience ought to be. 3. If a man knows that some have an experimental and Jiving faith wiiich he himself Jacks, if he feels painfully that religion is as yet something entirely outside him, how great should be his desire to pass from a dead faith which is dependent on man, to a living one imparted and sustained by God I 4. Let us use the doctrioe of the text as the basis of an earnest and loving appeal; and say, "We know what Christ is, for he is our Saviour; we know how freely he forgives, for he has forgiven us; we • speak that we do know, and testify that ~e have seen,' we have tried his own words, and have found them true, • He that beheveth on me hnth the everlasting life.' " Vel"B. 9, 10.-HtJITTUim and Divine testimony compared. Connecting link: There is a topic suggested in these ver888 closely bee.ring on the themes of the two preceding homilies. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come into the world, bearing a meseage fr'lllll the eteme.1 throne. Of the contents and value of the mefJ88ge th'ere arll oh. v. 1-21.] TBE FIRST EPIS'fLE GENERAL OF JOHN.