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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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1 John 5:9
Comments
This point made about the witness of men is a general point, for John is not suggesting that we may receive the witness of the apostles to the gospel and yet reject the witness of God. The witness of the Spirit, the water and the blood is the witness of God. The witness of men is strikingly inferior to the witness of God and yet we receive it on a daily basis. Life would become impossible if we were to treat every human being as mistaken or a liar, since there are many occasions when we have to rely on others for information. Nevertheless we set limits on what we are prepared to believe; we may judge that a person will not deceive us in the affairs of this life, yet not trust them in matters of the soul. But the witness of God can always be trusted. He is the God who is truth, and who always speaks the truth, and who is incapable of lying. Unlike human pronouncements, God’s words are never ill informed and never need to be corrected in the light of further information, for he knows all things and speaks with perfect understanding. His witness is greater because it is more deserving of belief. It is also the testimony of God the Father concerning God the Son. Who knows better than a father what is true of his son? The truths about the Son are the most important truths that God has to communicate to mankind, and who is so foolish as to disregard them?
Application
If we see our slowness to trust him, how can we increase our trust? By reflecting on his integrity, on the fact that he has never broken his word, and that he will never do so. A man who hesitates to cross a bridge may reassure himself by considering the understanding of the one who designed it, the skill of those who built it, the number of those who have crossed it safely, and what great weight that bridge has already been able to bear. The change that is needed is in his heart, not in the bridge. We must reflect on the wisdom of God’s plan, the perfect way the Son of God has executed it, the abundance of the assurance given to those who come for pardon and life.
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