PRACTICAL CONCERNS AND CHRISTIAN CERTAINTIES
I John 4:20 - 5:21
As taught by Dave Lindstrom
I. Now that the Apostle John has finished the main body of his letter in I John 4:19,
he now discusses three practical issues the churches need to know about in
I John 4:20 - 5:17.
A. The practical issue of who Christians are and why we as Christians should love
them (I John 4:20 - 5:3a).
One of my professors, Fred Chay of Phoenix Seminary, said it this way:
1. Love does not mean that I trust them or like being with them.
2. Love does mean desiring what God wants for them.
3. Love does mean doing for them what God wants for them.
4. We are to pray for them Matt. 5:44 and James 5:16; encourage
them I Thes. 5:11; and forgive them Eph. 4:32.
B. The practical issue of how we as Christians overcome the world (I John 5:3b - 15).
1. The fact that Jesus overcame the world gives Christians the power to have
overcome and to overcome through Him (I John 5:3b-5; John 16:33).
2. The fact that God has given us a reliable, historical record as to the human
Jesus being the Christ (prophesied Anointed One) and the Son of God (second
person of the Trinity, God in the flesh), gives Christians overcoming power
(I John 5:6 - 13).
a. The testimony of the Spirit includes the descent from heaven upon Jesus
(John 1:32), the descent upon and in the believers (Acts 2; I Cor. 12:13),
the written testimony of the apostles and those who knew the apostles
(John 14:15-26; the New Testament), and the Resurrection of Christ
(John 16:6-16; Acts 1:1-11).
b. The testimony of water was the baptism of Christ along with the voice
from heaven (John 1:32-34; Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22).
c. The testimony of blood was the crucifixion of Christ (John 19:28-37;
Matt. 27:32-54; Mark 15:21-41; Luke 23:26-49).
d. The Old Testament testimony was established by two or three witnesses
(Deut. 17:6; 19:15) and this idea was carried over in this and other New
Testament contexts (Matt. 18:16; John 8:17-18).
e. The heretic Cerinthus taught that the divine Christ descended on the human
Jesus at his baptism and ascended before his crucifixion. John’s writing
shows the error of this thinking and shows the reliable record Christians
have of overcoming false prophets of any kind!
f. The “these things” in verse 13 relates to I John 5:6-12 rather than to the
whole letter as already discussed (see I John 1:4, 2:1, and 2:26).
3. The fact that God lives in His believers, lives by His Holy Spirit in their new
natures, gives Christians overcoming power as they pray according to His
will (I John 5:14,15).
C. The practical issue of praying for other Christians as we see them sin
( I John 5:16, 17).
1. Christians can and still do sin in their total person or mortal body while living
out their faith (I John 1:5 - 2:2; I Peter 2:1; Gal. 6:1).
2. God has taken some Christians home early through physical death
(Acts 5:1-11; I Cor. 11:27-32) but because of God’s graciousness, only
suddenly on infrequent occasions.
3. By praying for our fellow believers, who are caught in sin, things according
to Gods will, and being willing to help bring them back to the truth, we can
add time and blessings to their physical life (James 5:19,20; Rom. 6:16-23;
Prov. 10:2, 11:4, 19; 12:28).
II. Final Closing: Three certainties and an admonition (I John 5:18-21).
A. We know that: A Christians new nature is free from sin and Satan (vs 18).
B. We know that: A Christian is on God’s side and the world is on Satan’s side
(vs 19).
C. We know that: A Christian has been given spiritual intelligence about the Son of
God and is in the Son of God (vs 20).
D. Christians should guard themselves from opposite ideas (vs 21).
