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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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1 John 4:15
Comments
Just as the Spirit in us unfailingly produces this testimony, so the presence of this testimony or confession proves infallibly that God dwells in us by his Spirit as the apostle stated in 1 John 4:2. We confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the man Jesus of Nazareth was the long prophesied Messiah of the Old Testament so that in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. If God dwells in us, then we also dwell in him, for we welcome the Spirit and the truths which he has shown us and never wish him to depart from us.
Application
John has in mind more than a mere verbal confession, for he later warns us that the tongue can speak insincerely and be disconnected from the heart. To believe intellectually is not truly to be convinced by this wonderful doctrine, for we are so constructed that what we believe affects the outcome of our whole lives. Faith properly resides in the heart and the heart governs and affects the entire life.
Questions
The word ‘confess’ means literally to ‘say the same thing’ and therefore ‘to consent’, ‘to acknowledge publicly’, and ‘to make a solemn statement of belief’. We are never at liberty to hide our faith, and certainly not as a way of avoiding hardship. Confession is therefore costly at times, but it is a matter of ultimate loyalty.
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