Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20050116.htm

1 JOHN: DEFEATING MISLEADING SPIRITUAL ERROR TRULY TO COMMUNE WITH GOD
Part VI: Blessings The Mature "Father" Has In His Walk With God
J. The Blessing Of The EXPERIENTIAL Assurance Of Personal Salvation
(1 John 5:6-13)
  1. Introduction
    1. True fellowship with God produces a tremendous, multifaceted, spiritually fulfilling lifestyle even on this earth, something John briefly stated in 1 John 1:3-4.
    2. So, having revealed the basic levels of growth, John gave insight into the blessings mature "fathers" enjoy for overcoming a reliance on others (along with the world's lusts) as a "little child" and of overcoming reliance on the world system and its lusts as a "young man". The tenth blessing noted is that of the experiential assurance of personal salvation as described in 1 John 5:6-13 as follows:
  2. The Blessing Of The EXPERIENTIAL Assurance Of Personal Salvation, 1 John 5:6-13.
    1. After addressing the three levels of maturity in 1 John 2:12-27, John began an extensive treatment of the blessings that spiritual "fathers" experience as motivation for his readers to mature into fatherhood.
    2. The tenth blessing is the experiential assurance of personal salvation as described in 1 John 5:6-13:
      1. One of the heresies John's readers faced was that taught by Cerinthus who held that "the divine Christ descended on the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before His crucifixion. Thus he denied that one Person, Jesus Christ, came by both water [at His baptism] and blood [at the cross where His blood was spilt, cf. John 19:33-37]," Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 901 (brackets ours).
      2. John countered this error to highlight to true believers who read his epistle the experiential assurance of their own salvation status, for true believers would RESIST Cerinthus' heresy as they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit Who upholds the full and hence permanent God-man Incarnation of Christ, cf. 1 John 4:1-3; thus, we see how John develops this encouraging revelation in 1 John 5:6-13 as follows:
        1. Jesus Christ Whom John upheld to be the object of the believer's faith was asserted by John to have come by water, i.e., His baptism, as well as by blood, i.e., His death on the cross, cf. 1 John 5:6a.
        2. Thus, in contrast to Cerinthus' error, John claimed Jesus was God incarnate, or God-in-the-flesh at BOTH His water baptism AND LATER at the cross where He died!
        3. [Later Latin (and thus less credible) manuscripts include the words " . . . in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, . . ." in verses 7b-8a KJV (Ryr. St. Bib., KJV, ftn. to 1 Jn. 5:7-8. Verses 7-8 should read: "For there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water and the blood: and these three agree in one."]
        4. Accordingly, opposite Cerinthus' heresy, the Holy Spirit bears witness that Jesus Christ was God Incarnate not only at His baptism (the water), but also at His death (the blood), 1 John 5:6, 7a, 8b.
        5. Now, this witness by the indwelling Holy Spirit is more sure than even the witness of the human eyewitnesses who saw these historical events, so this witness is perfectly trustworthy, 5:9 & 4:1-3.
        6. Indeed, faith in this One who is now forever God incarnate leads to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that a true believer has this assured witness of Christ's Person abiding WITHIN him, 1 Jn. 5:10a.
        7. Thus, the inner presence of the persuasion that Christ is now forever fully God incarnate shows the one with this persuasion HAS the Holy Spirit and is SAVED; on the contrary, the absence of this persuasion reveals one is without the Holy Spirit and so is unsaved , 5:10-12 with 1 Cor. 12:3.
        8. John revealed he supplied this insight so his saved readers might have experiential assurance of their OWN, PERSONAL salvation STATUS, and that they might enjoy fulness of joy by way of their continued dependence on Christ in faith for victory in living, 1 John 5:13 with 5:4 and 1:3-4.
Lesson: Spiritually mature "fathers" have the JOYFUL and very PRACTICAL, EXPERIENTIAL ASSURANCE they are TRULY SAVED by observing their RESISTANCE to the Cerinthus heresy that Jesus was God in the flesh only for a period of time and NOT from His human conception ON for EVER and EVER! Such RESISTANCE shows they have the Holy Spirit and are thus truly SAVED!

Application: (1) If we INWARDLY RESIST belief in the TEMPORAL incarnation status of Jesus Christ, may we REJOICE as this RESISTANCE indicates we TRULY HAVE the Holy Spirit and are thus SAVED! (2) If we do NOT have such INTOLERANCE, we must BELIEVE to BECOME saved!