Bible Studies for Life Sunday School Commentary for the week of June 28, 2009
Confidently Victorious 1 John 5:12-21
Confidence is a good thing; but it can be misplaced. We can be overly confident in something we perceive is concrete and reliable, only to be disappointed when cracks begin to form. In the photo above, both Thomas Dewey and Harry Truman were confident of victory. But only one could win the 1948 presidential election. Misplaced confidence spurred the Chicago Daily Tribune to print the next morning’s edition proclaiming victory for Dewey, even before all the votes were in. The next day it was clear that Truman had won the popular vote, the most states, and the Electoral College by a comfortable margin.
Confidence is only as solid as its object. My great confidence is useless if it is in something or someone unreliable. So what is reliable these days? The daily newspaper reveals new mergers, bankruptcies, closures, reorganizations, and outright failures. Some of the strongest corporations in American history are tottering on the brink of failure and extinction. Many are questioning the merits of a communist form of government in the greatest democracy on earth.
Many even recoil from confidence in biblical truth. What we once steadfastly affirmed we now waffle about and give ground. Can we be confident of our faith and its object? Most importantly, can we know that we possess eternal life as a secure possession? YES WE CAN!
Our text for this week stands as a strong tower of assurance in a sea of wavering opinions. “The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life.” No more confident declaration can or need be made. Jesus is the source of eternal life. The only source. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 (HCSB) “…everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (HCSB)
The Apostle John writes these words to give us confidence. Our confidence is solid because its object is secure and everlasting – it is the Word of God Himself, Jesus Christ!
Such assurance naturally leads to confident praying. Knowing our eternal destination is secure and our daily life is wrapped up in Jesus spurs us to pray with power and faith. The one who is submitted to God will seek His will over their own in prayer. We will recognize His sovereignty and His purposes are our greatest goal and pray to that end. Prayer is more about submitting our will to God than bending His will to ours. We can be confident that the God of the universe will fulfill His plans for His world; we can pray His will with settled confidence that it will be carried out exactly.
When we are submitted to God’s will and purposes we will be very aware of sin and its devastating effects. Sin thwarts God’s plans and robs people of His best for their lives. Sin always replaces God’s best with a flashy counterfeit that hides ruin and pain. God’s will is that we avoid sin ourselves, and that we also work on behalf of others we see wrapped up in sin.
Some have attempted to categorize the sins mentioned in 1 John 5:16-17 as differing degrees of sin that bring differing punishments. Some lead to death and some do not. I cannot agree on this basis: what are the sins that bring death? What are the lesser ones? Surely if certain acts of sin brought about death it would be important to list them so we may avoid them at all costs. John indicates that the one sinning is a brother (5:16), so this “sin that brings death” cannot be eternal separation from God for eternity. He just affirmed that if we have the Son we have life!
It seems clearer to see these verses as a simple warning: SIN IS DANGEROUS – AVOID AT ALL COSTS!! Those who are born of God, born again, SAVED, are continually being transformed and bent away from habitual sinful tendencies and practices. The one born of God does not regularly, habitually, volitionally choose to live in continual sin. His nature has been changed. We may stumble at temptation and sin, but we will not deliberately defy God and go looking for sin. Those who turn away and do so have never had the new nature within through faith in Jesus Christ.
Most who lack confidence in their personal salvation do so because of sin. Mostly sins of omission. We neglect the reading and study of God’s Word; we neglect to practice spiritual disciplines that promote spiritual growth and vitality. We are weak and flabby in the faith, and we are easily swayed. Confidence comes from knowing the object of our confidence and its validity.
