1 John
1Jo 5:4-5 - Victorious Faith
by Joe Holder
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1Jo 5:4-5)
Too often you will observe Christians licking their wounds in defeat and claiming strength from their superior faith. Granted, faith at times comforts us in defeat, but this may represent more the exception than the rule. John assures us of a pattern of victory through faith. We learn powerful lessons from some of the defeats recorded in Scripture. For example, Paul preached a memorable sermon on Mars Hill (Ac 17:1-34), but almost all the audience rejected his message! Did he complain and go away in the doldrums? No, he went away excited and moving forward with his ministry. You see, in Acts the apostles and preachers never worried over the results of their ministry. The Holy Spirit called them to be faithful witnesses of Christ. They labored to present credible and factual testimony to their faith, to live up to their calling to be faithful and communicative witnesses. They left results in the hands of the Holy Spirit. We should learn from them! Defeat or victory, thousands responding or none, they celebrated the opportunity to present their testimony, and they presented it well.
Sometimes we may attempt to split theological hairs too finely in an attempt to identify the "what" of this lesson. One verse identifies what overcomes the world and the other identifies who overcomes. The context explains this distinction to us. What overcomes the world? Our faith. Who overcomes the world? He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. The word translated faith is the noun form of the same word translated believeth. Believeth simply appears in the verb form, but it is the same word. Faith always overcomes, even when we from a superficial perspective think it failed. And the believer who lives by his faith, who truly applies his Christian ethic to every aspect of his life, making Christ and Biblical truth the centerpiece of his life, gains the victory over difficulties in his life through that faith.
By taking us through this process in two steps, John helps us understand that we should expect victory only as we walk and stand in our faith. As John presents it, faith is something specific and concrete. If you try to impose the "faith-not-sight" concept to this lesson, you miss the main point John makes. For John and us, the walk of faith does not equate to a blind leap into the darkness. It stands on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ and His unquestioned deity, His godhood. As we translate the clear principle of faith into a daily walk, we cannot always predict or second-guess God, so we should avoid trying. That is the correct focus of walking by faith, not by sight. But the principle of faith stands on very distinct and identifiable reality in Christ. 1Ti 4:6 distinctly unites faith and our familiarity with "good doctrine," good teaching. We should not view faith as a mystical thing, but as a clear and quantifiable trait that grows as we increase our knowledge and practice of the gospel. It actually grows out of our knowledge.
While God does not add revelation to Scripture, He does progressively reveal more and more truth as you trace His revelation through various eras of Scripture. For example, the Old Testament reveals many of the same truths we discover in the New. However, in the Old they appear with less detail and clarity. Even within the New Testament this same principle seems to apply. Think of the disciples' plea to Christ, "Increase our faith." (Lu 17:5) Then move ahead in time and in the New Testament text to A. D. 65 or 66 when Paul wrote to Timothy. Rather than leaving us with an uncertain and mystical plea for more faith, the final chapter of Biblical revelation actually answers the disciples' plea for increased faith. Do you want more faith? Follow God's program for more faith. Grow in your knowledge of God's Word and the good teaching that builds on it. Don't pray for more faith and ignore Scripture or think to yourself that you know as much as you need to know about the Bible. Your faith will grow in direct proportion to your investment of both study and living practice in the good teaching that builds on Scripture. And if you decide you know as much about the Bible as you need to know, accept the reality of Paul's teaching that you just arrested your faith in its tracks. So long as you hold to this view, your faith will never grow beyond where it stands today.
John's victory promise to us translates overcoming faith from a principle, what is born of God, to a living reality, who overcomes...the believer.
Compare this thrilling truth that creates a personal and intimate corollary between God and us with the mystical gnostic faith. They could never hope to see or enjoy any kind of personal relationship with their god. He would never reveal himself to them. Their one hope was that they might become a little god. But what is the value of becoming a little god who never quite knows where he fits into the grand scheme of the greater and unknowable god? What value could one see in becoming a god among a countless throng of gods, all forever held back from access to the chief deity in their worldview?
John's revelation opens up the canopy of heaven and escorts us into God's personal presence. He gives birth to our faith and then allows us to develop that faith into an increasingly intimate relationship with Him. We manifest that faith every day by facing difficulties with an unflappable confidence in God's sustaining presence. We overcome insurmountable odds through that faith. Thus it becomes far more than a private esoteric mystery. It becomes apparent for all to see through our active practice of it. We need not search for hidden mystical knowledge at the hands of gnostic masters. We need not wander in doubt as to why we can't have more of it. God gives it to us in principle. Then we develop it in direct proportion to our growth in the knowledge and practice of the gospel.
The personal priesthood of each believer shines at its brightest and best in this truth. God does not stand at a shadowy distance. He gives us all the tools to access Him and to learn His will. He provides all the materials to promote growth of that faith principle as far as we are willing to grow it. He even tells us exactly how to grow it; grow in our knowledge of good doctrine, of Biblical truth absorbed into our life and lived out in our daily practice of the gospel.
John takes us an additional step in our pursuit of faith. The overcoming believer believes that Jesus is the Son of God. A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, offers an insightful comment on this point. "Here there is sharp antithesis between "Jesus" (humanity) and "the Son of God" (deity) united in the one personality." Thus we find significant truth that forms the foundation of our faith. Not a mystical faith in a remote deity, but specific belief in the God who revealed Himself by becoming a man, that forms the substance of Biblical faith. John has now taken his readers full circle in his expose of Docetic gnosticism. He saved the best for last. The major point they rejected now appears as the central theme of Christian faith. They rejected that God could possibly become man. John makes the incarnation the crucial meeting point between God and man. They said it was impossible. John says it is the only way for man to grasp the reality of God. They said their god despised all things material. John says the true God Himself created the whole universe and takes great pleasure in it. In all its parts it reveals his fingerprints and beauty. At every point John has rejected this gnostic ancient version of New Age philosophy and given us in its stead a superior way of thinking and living. The unknowable inapproachable god of the gnostic falls before the incarnate God of Christianity. The inferior mistake of creation takes on the personality of its Creator God and shines forth His glory. The secret and confused knowledge of an unknowable (We must not overlook the irony of this point.) deity melts before the clear revelation of the intimate and knowable God of the Bible. Rather than worship a remote shadowy deity whom we will never approach, we worship a God who became man, a God whom we touched with human hands, whose words we heard with human ears, whom we saw with human eyes. Rather than leave us to wallow in our self-absorbed pursuit of inferior deity, our God invades our life and makes us His own child. We receive at His merciful hands the position of beloved children. Confident and secure in His family, we reach out with compassion to help those in need around us with no fear that giving away of ourselves will in any way deplete us. We received freely, so we may freely give. What a God!