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Book: 1 John 3:1-13

3 posts

Hidden & Revealed

Christ's resurrection & the believer's identity
When John finally concludes his first epistle, he leaves the reader with an unparalleled certainty: The believer knows he has eternal life (1 John 5:12-13). This is the knowledge that is offered up against presumption, and it is the hope that stands against speculation. The modern reader is not without his own spiritual aspirations, but John writes of what the believer may know. Likewise, the ancient reader was not without his eternal ambitions, and John’s epistle associates this kind of knowledge with the Son of God.
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Things Just as they Are

Hidden things are manifest by the Son
The Christian is not merely one who strives to be what he ought to be, but he strives to act as he already is. And he is what he is because of who is Savior is, the Son of God. Consequently then, believers also possess their rightful title as sons of God. Happily, the believer’s present identity will eventually unfold into a future and fuller expression of this fact, whenever the Savior appears.
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Not as Things Appear

The believer's identity is confirmed in Christ
When the believer devotes himself to Jesus by the act of faith, he is consequently joined to God in a new relation that far supersedes that of a mere religious party or affiliation; there is a change in his actual identity. The believer in Jesus appears as much as he ever did, but what is difficult to discern with the physical eye nevertheless is established as fact: He is a son of God, and he was not this before he believed.
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