In the previous program we saw that the existence and quality of our faith in Jesus Christ is tested by moral power. Before that, we also saw that our faith is tested by our expression of love. Now God, through Christ’s Apostle John tells us a third way in which our faith is tested. It is tested by our witness for Christ. The apostle wrote, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he hath borne witness concerning his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar: because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son. And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.” (1 John 5:9-12 ASV)
When this passage says, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him:” Are we to understand the words, “hath the witness in him” to refer to some intuitive testimony which God gives to the believer? Remember that this witness is about the identity of Christ. This is not witness about a believer’s standing with God. God does reassure the follower of Christ about his standing. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:16 NIV) Similarly, “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Galatians 4:6 NIV) But in this passage the Apostle John is not pointing to that internal witness which gives the follower of Christ reassurance of his acceptance by God. Rather, it is witness about who Jesus really is. Do believers in Christ need or do they receive some witness about the identity of Christ, in addition to the scriptural witness, to strengthen their faith or to be assured of their faith in Christ? That can hardly be the case because Scripture in Romans 10:17 tells us that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (NIV)
When John says, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him:” (1 John 5:10), what does he mean? He means that when the believer in Christ has received the witness which God has given concerning Jesus, that witness is now in the believer’s memory, in the believer’s understanding and in the believer’s heart. In this way, the believer has internalized the witness. It is no longer a witness coming only from outside by hearing or by reading, it is now a witness which the believer has ‘in him.’ “The human mind is made for truth, and so rests in truth, as it cannot rest in falsehood.”
This refers not only to a witness which the believer has received but also to a witness which also emanates from within the believer. That is how we know the witness is in a person. The believer does not keep it hidden in himself. He expresses it. Therefore, we know it is ‘in him.’ As the Apostle Paul pointed out, there is an inevitable relationship between faith and life. Paul calls our attention to this relationship when he explained the dynamics of his own ministry. He says, “But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak;” (2 Corinthians 4:13 RV). Thus, if one really believes the witness which God has given concerning Christ, he cannot keep the fact of who Jesus is in secret. He will give witness of the great truth that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
Every follower of Christ believes that the statement, “…that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners: is a trustworthy saying.” Therefore, he will inevitably, say, also, that this truth is “…worthy of all acceptation…” (cf. 1 Timothy 1:15). Once a person says that, he will then do all he can to help others accept it. It is only natural, therefore, that such a one will witness to others, because he “…hath the witness in him:…” (1 John 5:10 RV). This organic and spontaneous witness which inevitably springs from faith, is the broader meaning of the Apostle Paul’s affirmation that “…with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10 RV).
But what does the follower of Christ say when he gives witness? The Apostle John tells us what the believer’s witness is. He says, “And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life” (1 John 5:11-12 RV).
This touches the root of the problem of evangelism. If we who claim to be followers of Christ do not speak about him to others, it is because we do not believe. When we do speak from unbelief our words are hollow and powerless. Only the existence of faith, that faith which God is pleased to accept, will bring fruitful evangelism. When that faith flourishes the followers of Christ will not only manifest a love for each other through their obedience to God, but also God’s power in them through moral victory in a sinful world, and a love for the lost of the world by witnessing to them of the life that God has given us in Christ.
The facts about Jesus and the truth about Jesus are so overwhelmingly certain that those who do not accept them when God gives them the opportunity to know them are guilty of insulting and defaming God! The apostle John tells us, “He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son.” (1 John 5:10 ASV)
The greater the evidence, the greater the guilt one incurs who rejects that evidence! God became a witness that Jesus Christ was sent by him as the Savior. God gave this witness at Christ’s baptism, through the miracles which Christ performed and through Christ’s death and resurrection. To deny all this is to charge God who bore the testimony with falsehood. To charge God with falsehood is a sin. It is a crime. It will be punished. However, God does not want any to be punished but all to be saved.
“Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed ye be reprobate” (2 Corinthians 13:5 RV).