Significance of Divine Testimony

1 John 5:9-12

John has stated in verses six through eight of chapter five of his first epistle that those who overcome the world are those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He then gives three triads of witnesses which testify to the deity of Jesus. First, there is the testimony of the water, blood, and the Spirit. Next, he points out the three who testify from Heaven: The Father, The Word, and the Holy Spirit. Finally, he lists the witness of those that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

Now John is going to explain the significance of this divine testimony. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:9-12).

• Superiority of God’s Testimony

After mentioning a list of three witnesses, listed three times, John moves on to discuss how the saints are to respond to this testimony about Jesus by these. First, he indicates the superiority of the testimony from God. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater” (5:9a). Every day of our lives we accept the testimony and trust the witness of a myriad of men and women with whom we interact. We trust the weatherman with the report. The banker who witnesses to us how much money is available in our checking account. Consider how much faith we put into a pharmacist, when they tell us, “These are the pills you are to take” and then inform us when and how often and how many to take.

Men and women can be ignorant, but God knows everything. They can lie, yet God never lies (Tit. 1:2; 1 Sam. 15:29). Although human testimony can be inaccurate, God is perfect. The expert in the universe as to who this Jesus of Nazareth really is, can be none other than God.

• Subject of God’s Testimony

Not only is it important to see the superiority of the testimony from God, but what God is testifying about is important: “for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son” (5:9b). Surely the Father knows His own Son. If you were to be identified in court, who better to point out who you are than you parents. A jury is going to give great credence to a father who witnesses, “Yes, there is Joe Smith. …He’s my son;” more so than a clerk at the dry cleaners where Joe drops of his shirts once every two weeks.

• Saints Provide Secondary Witness to God’s Testimony

Those who accept God’s testimony and act upon it by believing “in the Son of God” (5:10a) have “the witness in himself” (5:10b). Those who examine the evidence and become Christians by acting upon their faith that Jesus truly is the Son of God, have in a sense become a witness for themselves. As members on the jury, we can bear witness to the testimony seen and heard. As a result, your minds can inform us either to accept or reject the witness and/or the testimony. Today, the testimony is recorded by the witnesses for us to consider when we read the Gospel accounts.

What this passage is not saying – the Holy Spirit is within the individual and is bearing witness directly to the heart of the believer. According to this view, faith does not come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Instead, faith is the work or indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:15,16). John is not saying the Holy Spirit is the witness. He is saying the witness is the testimony from God.

• Significance of Rejecting God’s Testimony

To reject the testimony of God on behalf of Jesus is to make “Him a liar” (5:10c). The reason: “because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son” (5:10d). If you cannot believe the Father’s witness concerning His own Son, is there any witness you can believe? Furthermore, since the testimony is recorded in the Bible, God’s Word is rejected. In effect, the record found in the New Testament is deemed a lie.

• Significance of Receiving God’s Testimony: Eternal Life

The general Greek term for “life” is zoe. The life we share comes from God who is the source of all life. He never dies. Only in Him is eternal life through faith in His Son.  If Christians believe the testimony about Jesus being the Son of God, then they can accept Him as a witness “that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (5:11a). Eternal life is something the believer currently has beginning with his baptism into Christ. As long a one is in God’s Son, eternal life is a present possession.

To reinforce the significance of man’s reaction to God’s witness concerning Jesus, John gives only two possible outcomes. First, “he who has the Son has life” (5:12a). Second, “he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (5:12).

– Daniel R. Vess