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In this message we shall continue to give an introductory word concerning the writings of John. In the previous message we saw that John’s writings are a revelation of divine things and that these writings are supplementary to the revelations of the other holy writings and complementary to the entire divine revelation. As we go on, we shall see that John’s writings are mysterious to human understanding and all-inclusive concerning the Person of Christ.
The writings of John are mysterious. Matters such as the divine life and the divine fellowship (1 John 1:2-3), the anointing (1 John 2:27), and the divine birth (1 John 3:9) certainly are mysterious. Such things are mysterious because they are divine.
Have you ever realized that from the day you received the Lord Jesus, you have been a mysterious person? If a person is not mysterious, I doubt whether that one has been saved. Instead of asking others if they have been saved, we may want to check to see if they are mysterious.
We Christians are mysterious because we have the mysterious divine life with the mysterious divine nature. The divine life with the divine nature makes us mysterious beings. Do you know what a Christian is? A Christian is a person who is mysterious. Because we are mysterious, others should not be able to understand us so easily. Furthermore, because we are mysterious, sometimes we shall be misunderstood. In the church life and in our family life, there should also be an element of mystery. We are mysterious persons with the mysterious life of God.
Toward the end of the first century, when the apostle John was writing his Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation, there were already heresies concerning the Person of Christ. One heretical teaching was that Christ was God but not man, and another heresy was that Christ was man but not God. Other heretics denied that Jesus was the Christ. Because of such a situation, John was burdened to write concerning the Person of Christ in an all-inclusive way.
In John’s writings we see that Jesus is the Christ and that the Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man. As we shall see, in chapter two of 1 John, the apostle John deals with the heresy of the Cerinthians, those who separate Christ from Jesus and thus deny that Jesus is the Christ. When we come to chapter four, we shall see that John deals with the heresy of the Docetists, those who deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. The writings of John reveal that Christ is all-inclusive, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is both God and man.
In his writings the apostle John was polemical, not against the law, circumcision, or Judaism, but against the heresies of the Gnostics, Cerinthians, and Docetists. The word “polemical” or “polemic” refers to the fighting for the truth by debating or disputing. A person who is polemical will debate strongly and sharply on behalf of the truth. He will fight for the truth and wage war for it. We need to follow John to be polemical against heresy.
We have pointed out that John was polemical against the heresies of the Gnostics, Cerinthians, and the Docetists. One source of these heresies was Greek philosophy. As Paul was polemical in his writings against such matters as the law, circumcision, and Judaism, John was polemical against philosophical concepts that led to heresy.
John’s writings not only are all-inclusive concerning the Person of Christ and polemical against heresy, but they also inoculate the believers against all heretical doctrines (philosophies) concerning God and Christ. Such writings were needed not only for the first century but have also been needed throughout all the centuries. Even today in the twentieth century, we still need them. In the coming days they will still be a great help in keeping the truth concerning the Person of Christ and in preserving His believers in all the divine realities. We hope that these Life-studies may serve the same purpose.
If we do not see the revelation of the divine things contained in John’s writings, we cannot be complete, mysterious, all-inclusive, or polemical. Furthermore, we shall not be properly inoculated against heresy. But if we see this revelation, we shall be mysterious, all-inclusive, and polemical, and we shall be inoculated against all heresies.
Here I would like to point out that the Trinity of the Godhead is revealed more fully in the Gospel of John than any other place in the Bible. We know from the Gospel of John that Christ was the very God in eternity (John 1:1) and that He became a man in time (John 1:14). His deity is complete, and His humanity is perfect. Hence, He is both God and man (John 20:28; 19:5), possessing both divinity and humanity.
As a man He was anointed by God with the Spirit (John 1:32-33; Matt. 3:16) to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. Hence, He is the Christ, the anointed One (John 20:31).
Christ is the Son of God (John 20:31), who is the image of God (Col. 1:15), the effulgence of God’s glory and the express image of His substance (Heb. 1:3), subsisting in the form of God and equal with God (Phil. 2:6; John 5:18). As the Son of God He came in the flesh with (Gk., para, from with) the Father (John 6:46) and in the name of the Father (John 5:43). Hence, He is called the Father (Isa. 9:6). He was with God, and He was God in eternity past (John 1:1-2), not only coexisting but also coinhering with the Father all the time (John 14:10a, John 14:11a; John 17:21). Even while He was in the flesh on the earth, the Father was with Him (John 16:32). Hence, Christ was one with the Father (John 10:30), working in the Father’s name and with the Father (John 10:25; 14:10b), doing the Father’s will (John 6:38; 5:30), speaking the Father’s word (John 3:34a; John 14:24), seeking the Father’s glory (John 7:18), and expressing the Father (John 14:7-9).
As the eternal God, Christ is the Creator of all things (John 1:3), and as a man who came in the flesh (1 John 4:2) with the physical blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14), He is a creature, the Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15b). Hence, He is both the Creator and the creature.
As the Sender and the Giver of the Spirit (John 15:26; 16:7; 3:34b), whom the Father sent in His name (the Son’s name, John 14:26), the Son, being the last Adam in the flesh, became the life-giving Spirit through death and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45b; John 14:16-20), who received all that is of the Son (John 16:14-15) to testify concerning the Son and glorify the Son (John 15:26; 16:14), and who is the breath of the Son (John 20:22). Hence, He is also the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) to abide coexistingly and coinheringly with the Son and the Father in the believers (John 14:17, 23) to be the Triune God who is Spirit (John 4:24) mingled with the believers as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17) in their spirit (Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22). Eventually, He became the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 1:4; 4:5), who are the seven eyes of the Son, the Lamb (Rev. 5:6).
I believe that many of these points will be puzzling to those who hold to traditional systematic theology. For example, how can the seven Spirits, who are the Spirit of God, be the seven eyes of the Son, the Second of the Godhead? If the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are regarded as separate persons, how can the Third of the Godhead be the eyes of the Second?
Furthermore, in the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus said that He came in the Father’s name. This is the reason that, according to Isaiah 9:6, His name is called the Father. When the Lord Jesus came, He also came with the Father. Have you ever thought that when the Lord Jesus came down from the heavens, He came with the Father? Some Christians may have the concept that when He came, He left the Father. But when the Lord Jesus came, the Father came also.
Moreover, the Lord said that He came to work in the Father’s name. Who, then, was the One working, the Son or the Father? According to the Gospel of John, the Son came in the Father’s name, He came with the Father, He came to work in the name of the Father, and He came to work with the Father. The Son did not do anything of His own will. Instead, He did the will of the Father. Likewise, He did not speak anything from Himself, but He spoke the Father’s word. He also sought the Father’s glory and expressed the Father.
The Son in John’s Gospel is both the Sender and the Giver of the Spirit. But, eventually, He Himself became the Spirit. This Spirit is the seven Spirits of God, the seven eyes of the Lamb, the Son.
It certainly was foolish of Philip to say, “Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us” (John 14:8). To this request, the Lord Jesus replied, “Am I so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v. 9). Because the Lord Jesus came in the Father’s name and with the Father, worked in the name of the Father and with the Father, did the Father’s will, spoke the Father’s word, sought the Father’s glory, and expressed the Father, to see the Son was to see the Father.
If we see the revelation of the Trinity in the writings of John, we shall certainly become polemical. Those who are polemical cannot be political. However, even though we should be polemical in our fight for the truth, we still need to speak with others in a proper way.
The focus of John’s writings is the mysteries of the divine life. In his Gospel the focus is the mystery of the manifestation of the divine life in the Person of Jesus. Life is invisible. Nevertheless, according to the Gospel of John, the divine life was manifested solidly, bodily, in the Person of Jesus. This is a mystery.
In John’s Epistles, especially in the first one, the focus is the mystery of the fellowship of the manifested divine life among the believers with God and with one another. This fellowship is mysterious. Although we are of different races, colors, and nationalities, we enjoy the one fellowship in the manifested divine life. We have a wonderful oneness among us. This is the mystery of the fellowship of the divine life.
In the book of Revelation the focus is on Christ being the life supply to God’s children for His expression, and the center of the universal administration of the Triune God. In chapter two of Revelation we see that we may eat of Christ as the tree of life in God’s paradise and also as the hidden manna (vv. 7, 17). Furthermore, in Revelation 3:20 we see that we may feast with Him. The tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feasting with the Lord all indicate that Christ is our life supply. However, many Christians do not realize that Christ is our tree of life, our hidden manna, and our feast. But we have seen this revelation. We have seen in the book of Revelation that Christ is our life supply and that we may feed on Him as the hidden manna and as the tree of life and enjoy Him as our feast.
The purpose of enjoying Christ as our life supply is that we may be a lampstand shining Him forth. We in the churches are a lampstand constituted of the life supply of the Lord Jesus as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feast. This is mysterious, and it causes us to be mysterious.
Another mystery in the book of Revelation is that of Christ as the center of the universal administration of the Triune God. The people of the world may think that the world is under the rule of kings, presidents, and prime ministers. Actually, Christ is the King of kings, and the entire universe is under His administration. He is the real Administrator, and all earthly administrators are under His rule. The destiny of the world does not depend on human rulers. The world’s destiny is in the hands of Jesus Christ, the King of kings.
John’s writings cover an immense span reaching from eternity past to eternity future with the new heaven and the new earth and the New Jerusalem. In the first verse of his Gospel, John writes concerning eternity past, and in the last chapter of Revelation he speaks of the new heaven and the new earth, referring to eternity future. By this we see that John’s writings cover the span from eternity past to eternity future. At present we are on the bridge of time leading us toward our eternal destiny. This also is divine and mysterious.
I hope that in the coming messages we all shall have a clear vision concerning the extraordinary matter of eternal life. Not even the Gospel of John gives us as thorough a view of eternal life as does the Epistle of 1 John.
First John 1:1-2 say, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the Word of life; and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” Here we have a clear word regarding eternal life. The following chapters of this Epistle define what this eternal life is. As we shall see, 5:20 says, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” When we consider this verse in detail, we shall see that “this” refers to the true God and Jesus Christ in whom we are. This word includes the fact that we are in this One, the true One. This implies that, in a practical sense, eternal life is the very God in whom we are in our experience. This surely is an experiential matter, not a matter of doctrine or theology.
In between 1:1-2 and 5:20 we have the fellowship of the divine life, the teaching of the anointing concerning the Triune God, and the divine birth with the divine seed that brings in all the divine virtues. We all need to see clearly that eternal life is the Triune God whom we experience in the fellowship of the divine life, according to the anointing, and by the virtues of the divine birth with the divine seed. I am burdened that we all see this vision. If we do not have this basic and central view, we may see many other things in the Epistles of John, but we shall nevertheless miss the mark. Therefore, it is crucial that in these messages we see from the Epistles of John what eternal life really is.
