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Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:14-17
In this message we shall consider 5:14-17.
Verse 14 says, “And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” The word “and” at the beginning of this verse is important. Without this word, we may think that 5:14-17 is a section separate from the foregoing section and having nothing to do with it. We may also think that what the writer covers in verse 14 comes in suddenly. Actually, however, according to spiritual facts, what John speaks of in verse 14 is not a surprise. Rather, it is a spontaneous outflow from the preceding verses.
First John 5:4-13 shows us that we have received eternal life, as mentioned in 1:1-2. Then verses 14 through 17 tell us how we pray in the fellowship of eternal life, as mentioned in 1:3-7. The first seven verses of chapter one indicate that we have received eternal life, and out of this eternal life we have fellowship with the apostles and also with the Father and the Son. The principle is the same in 5:4-17. In 5:4-13 we have received eternal life, and in 5:14-17 we are in the fellowship of this life. Of course, the word “fellowship” is not here. These verses speak of prayer. When we pray by the divine life, we are in the fellowship of the divine life. Therefore, these verses in fact refer to the divine fellowship.
The word “and” at the beginning of verse 14 connects the life in 5:4-13 to the fellowship in 5:14-17. In the former section we have received eternal life, and we have the written word as the assurance of this. Now John uses what he has written in 5:4-13 as a basis to show us that this eternal life can overcome death. We have received eternal life, and this life has been testified, proved, and pledged within us. Now John intends to point out that eternal life overcomes death.
Perhaps you regarded 5:14-17 as verses concerning our prayer and God’s answer to our prayer. Actually, John’s intention in these verses is to show us that the eternal life within us can overcome death both in ourselves and in other members of the church. Eternal life swallows up death within us and death within other members.
In the church life we do not live alone. Because the church is the Body, we live with the fellow members of the Body. Since we are in the Body, we are members with the other fellow members. Eternal life not only takes care of our own need; it also takes care of the need of the fellow members around us. It overcomes death within us, and it overcomes death within our brothers. Especially, it overcomes death in those who are weak or who have problems.
Weakness is related to death, and problems come from death. As long as there are problems in the church life, this is an indicator that there is death among those in the church. Therefore, we need eternal life to overcome, to swallow up, this death. If you are stronger and a fellow member is weaker, then you may become the one to supply the life from within you to the weaker one in order to swallow up the death within him.
Now we can understand why verse 14 begins with “and.” Let us read verses 13 and 14a again: “I write these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. And this is the boldness which we have toward Him.” Apparently, the first part of verse 14 is not fitting or logical. But if we touch the burden in the writer’s spirit, we shall see that his intention is to show us not only that we have eternal life, but also that this eternal life within us overcomes death and swallows it up.
In verse 14 John says, “This is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Here “boldness” refers to the boldness we have for our prayer in fellowship with God. Based upon the fact that we have received eternal life through the divine birth by believing in the Son of God, we can pray, in the fellowship of eternal life, by contacting God, in the boldness of a conscience void of offense (Acts 24:16), according to His will, with the assurance that He will hear us.
This verse speaks of asking according to God’s will, not according to our desire, preference, or way. But how can we know that the thing we are asking is according to His will? A person who asks according to God’s will is one who has been regenerated, who has the divine life, and who is in the fellowship of the divine life. As we saw in chapter three, such a person will have a conscience void of offense. This means that his heart does not blame him, for while he is in the fellowship of the divine life, he has a conscience without offense. As long as we abide in the fellowship of the divine life, our conscience will surely be without offense. Then we shall be able to pray, to ask, according to God’s will. By this we see that a person who prays in the fellowship of the divine life is truly one with the Lord. It is in this way that we know God’s will: by being one with Him, by abiding in Him, and by remaining in the fellowship of the divine life.
The prayer that is according to the will of God indicates that the praying one is abiding in the fellowship of the divine life and is also abiding in the Lord Himself. Such a believer is one with the Lord. This makes it possible to have boldness toward God. When we are in the fellowship of the divine life and our conscience is without offense, we have peace with God, and we also have boldness to pray, not according to our feeling, but according to His will. Because we pray according to His will, He hears us.
In 5:15 John goes on to say, “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” This knowing is based upon the fact that after having received the divine life, we abide in the Lord and are one with Him in our prayer to God in His name (John 15:7, 16; 16:23-24). Based upon the fact that we have received the divine life through the divine birth, we may abide in the Lord and be one with Him in our prayer. Because we are one with the Lord in prayer, we pray in His name. By this we know that He hears us in whatever we ask. Our asking is not in ourselves according to our mind, but in the Lord according to God’s will. Therefore, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
In verse 16 John comes to his point in this section: “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him, to those sinning not unto death. There is sin unto death; I do not say that he should make request concerning that.” Literally, the Greek word rendered “unto” in this verse means toward. Here John is saying that if anyone sees his brother, someone close to him in the Lord, sinning a sin not unto death, he should ask concerning that one. The word “ask” here must refer to a prayer made when we are abiding in fellowship with God.
No doubt, “he shall ask” refers to the one who sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death. But to whom does “he will give life” refer? There is a problem with the second “he” in this verse. Some translations capitalize the second “he” and thereby make it refer to the Lord. Actually, in both cases “he” refers to the same person, that is, to the one who sees his brother sinning and who asks concerning him.
The subject of “will give life” is still he, the subject of the first predicate “shall ask.” This indicates that the asker will give life to the one asked for. This does not mean that the asker has life of himself and can give life by himself to others. It means such an asker, who is abiding in the Lord, who is one with the Lord, and who is asking in one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), becomes the means through which God’s life-giving Spirit can give life to the one he asks for. This is a matter of life-imparting in the fellowship of the divine life. To be one who can give life to others, we must abide in the divine life and walk, live, and have our being in the divine life. In James 5:14-16 the prayer is for healing; here the prayer is for life-imparting.
The vital point here is that if we would pray for a brother according to what is described in verse 16, we need to be one with the Lord. We must abide in the Lord and ask in one spirit with Him. Because we are so one with the Lord, we can become the means, the channel, through which God’s life-giving Spirit can impart life to the one for whom we ask. This imparting of life takes place in the fellowship of the divine life.
Undoubtedly, “life” in verse 16 refers to spiritual life imparted into the one asked for through the prayer of the asker. However, according to the context, this spiritual life will also rescue the physical body of the one asked for from the danger of suffering death because of his sinning (see James 5:15).
Concerning “sin unto death,” Bible teachers have different interpretations. Some say that it refers to the sin of the antichrists in denying that Jesus is the Christ (2:22), a sin which keeps them in death forever. But, according to the context of this verse, sin unto death is related to a sinning brother, not to an antichrist or any other unbeliever. Since this section, 5:14-17, is related to prayer in the fellowship of eternal life covered in 1:3—2:11, whatever it deals with must be related to the matter of the fellowship of the divine life. In the fellowship of the divine life there is the governmental dealing of God according to the spiritual condition of each of His children. In God’s governmental dealing, some of His children may be destined to physical death in this age due to a certain sin, and others may also be destined to physical death due to other sins. The situation is like that of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, who were dealt with by physical death because of their lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11). The situation also is like that of the Corinthian believers, who were dealt with by a similar judgment because of their not discerning the body (1 Cor. 11:29-30). This was typified by God’s dealing with the children of Israel in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5-11). All of them, except Caleb and Joshua, were judged by God with physical death due to certain sins. God’s governmental dealing is severe. Miriam, Aaron, and even Moses were not spared from this kind of dealing due to certain failures of theirs (Num. 12:1-15; 20:1, 12, 22-29; Deut. 1:37; 3:26-27; 32:48-52). The punishment of God’s governmental dealing with His children is not at all related to eternal perdition. Rather, it is a dispensational dealing according to the divine government, which is related to our fellowship with God and with one another. Whether a sin is unto death or not depends on God’s judgment according to each one’s position and condition in the house of God. In any case, for the children of God to sin is a serious matter. Sin may be judged by God with physical death in this age! Concerning such a sin unto death, the apostle does not say that we should make request.
In verse 17 John goes on to say, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not unto death.” Every wrongdoing, everything that is not just or righteous, is sin.
We have pointed out that in God’s governmental dealing, for some saints a particular sin may be unto death. But for other saints the same sin may not be unto death. In verse 16 John says, “There is sin unto death,” and in verse 17 he says, “There is sin not unto death.” Furthermore, John seems to imply in verse 16 that the praying one may know whether or not a brother is sinning a sin unto death, for we are to ask only concerning a sin that is not unto death. This raises the very important question of how we can know whether or not a certain sin is unto death. This is a deep matter, and we shall consider it in some detail in the next message.
