“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.” I John 5:1.
Nearly anyone you meet will say that they believe in Jesus Christ; yet that is not what is meant here, mere knowledge of Christ is not saving faith.
As seen in earlier posts, even false religions will confess Christ as a great prophet, teacher, or perhaps even King of the Jews, but when pushed, not God or savior of the world.
Even demons know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and have confessed it to Him.
“And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.” Luke 4:41.
That this is not saving faith is seen in the book of James.
“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!” James 2:19.
“For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.” Hebrews 2:16.
The angels made their choice when Satan rebelled against God and those who followed him are fallen angels who are reserved to be thrown into the lake of fire. Jesus will, some day, say this to those who reject Him as savior.
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’” Matthew 25:41.
The irony is that not one human being need be in the lake of fire; it was prepared for the devil and his angels. Men have to reject God’s provision for salvation to go there.
To sum this up, saving faith does not just believe in Jesus like you would, George Washington, Wyatt Earp, or the Loch Ness Monster, for that matter.
It is a matter of placing your eternal soul in the hands of the living Son of God with the real belief that He is able to carry you to heaven.
“…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek [Gentile], for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” Romans 10:9-13.
“Jesus is the Christ”, why is “the Christ” so important to this belief? The term Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew Messiah, which means anointed.
And rather than being the Lord’s last name, it is His title; Jesus the King, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Messiah, depending on who you are talking to.
Most important though, is that He was not crowned or anointed king by men, but rather by God Himself. Suddenly He is not just a king, rather He is, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelation 19:16b.
“And [Jesus Christ] being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:8-11.
But this anointing was not just something that happened when the Lord was crucified, nor was it some sort of end game plan to foil the devil, He was anointed for this before the world existed.
“He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” 1 Peter 1:20-21.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6-7.
“And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him [God] who begot also loves him [his brother] who is begotten of Him [God].” 1 John 4:21-5:1.
The last verse in 1 John 4 has been added to maintain context and to help clarify 1 John 5:1. Begot is to generate or procreate offspring (to father), also beget, begotten, believers are born again as God’s own children. Jesus, God the Son, is God’s only begotten Son.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16.
Since God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son for our salvation, and through Jesus we become children of God we might rephrase 1 John 5:1b in this manner, “…and everyone who loves God the Father who begot us through Jesus will also love our brother who is also born of God.”
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:2-3.
In this, we have a kind of flip flop from knowing we are in Christ by our love for the brethren, we now see the other side of the coin, and by loving God we know we love the brethren, children of God.
Just as loving the brethren should be automatic to the Christian, so obeying God’s commandments will be automatic too.
“And His commandments are not burdensome.” And we have already established that God’s commandments are only two which are as follows.
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” I John 3:23.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12.
Plainly, we are no longer under law but under grace. The law is not just the Ten Commandments, there are many other things that Israel was commanded to do; still the Ten Commandments sum it all up.
Look briefly at these commandments from Exodus chapter 20.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Jesus is God the Son; to reject Him is to turn to another god, whether it is another religion, ideology, or just worship of a man, or yourself.
“You shall not make for yourself any carved image…you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” If the Christian loves God they will not serve another.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain…” How can one misuse the name of those whom they love? Does one curse in the name of their mother, their wife, or their children?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Christian worship was moved to Sunday because the Lord arose from the dead on that day. Even with this change though, we are told to gather together to remember Him.
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25.
“Honor your father and your mother…” One of the characteristics of the last days mentioned in 2 Timothy 3 will be disobedience to parents.
“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy…” 2 Timothy 3:2.
Not all parents are honorable, but it does not say “if” here does it, the Christian cannot love without at least showing respect to parents.
“You shall not murder.” This, by the way, is murder, not self-defense, or the death that occurs in warfare. There is a murderous intent here, something which the Christian who loves his brother must not have.
“You shall not commit adultery.” If the Christian is to love their neighbor as themselves, they will not humiliate them by taking their spouse in adultery; nor will they defile the spouse to satisfy their own lust. A person cannot help wanting something like this at times, but when they do it is best to flee from the source of the temptation.
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his [or her] own body.” 1 Corinthians 6:18.
“You shall not steal.” You cannot love someone and rob them at the same time.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This is everything from gossip to lying under oath to just flat out telling a lie about them. You do not do such things to those you love.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife… nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” This is tough, we look at the things others have and want them.
“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’”Hebrews 13:5-6.
When we covet things, we become dissatisfied with what we have, and focus on what we do not have. Ironically, at the same time others may be coveting our things. How can a person possibly enjoy life while continually desiring things they cannot have?
This is just one of the many reasons God wants us to put away such thinking. If one really loves someone they would be glad that their neighbor has been blessed in such a way.
The intent here is to show how the entire law is fulfilled in just two commandments. Still, the Apostle Paul sums it up better and with much more authority in Romans 13.
“For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:9-10.
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5.
The person who accepts Christ as his savior is born of God.
“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as may as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:11-13.
“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever…” 1 Peter 1:22-23.
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:15-17.
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26.
The victory that overcomes the world is our faith, our faith in Christ. It is Christ who has overcome the world.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Hebrews 12:1-3.
Those who have put their faith in Christ have overcome the world, yet as can be seen above, this does not mean we will skate through life, for we are confronted by an enemy, this present evil world system, and demonic forces.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12.
However we have already overcome them by coming to the truth which is in Jesus and rejecting an evil system which He has already triumphed over.
“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians 2:15.
And in time it is said.
“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” Romans 16:20.
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and off the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.” Revelation 22:1-5.
This is the destiny of the overcomer.
Have You Overcome? 1 John 5:1-5 Taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-9-12, updated on 7-17-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.