1 John 5:13-15

1 John 5:13-15

I write this to you all in order that you all should have known that you all have eternal life – the ones who believe into the name of the Son of God.  And this is the confidence that we have before Him: that if we should ask for anything according to His will He hears us.  And if we have know that He hears us in whatever we should ask, we have known that we have the requests that we have asked from Him.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Once again we hear the description of those who have eternal life: the ones who believe.  Once more John uses the Greek word pistis (πίστις), although here it is in its verb cognate form.  Even as the letter closes we have a return to one of John’s themes.  Belief – pistis – is both having faith and responding obediently.  And belief – faith and its response – is tied to eternal life.  Those who believe have eternal life.  This is why John wrote the letter.  This is the basic fundamental truth of Christianity.  Anyone can have eternal life by the grace of God.  We are just expected to have faith and respond obediently.

Do you have eternal life?  Are you among the ones who believe in the name of the Son of God?  How do you know?

Second Thought:

John then uses another interesting word in the Greek.  The Greek word that I and many English versions translate as “confidence” is the Greek word parresia (παρρησία).  Those of us in America are very familiar with its full meaning: freedom of speech.  The Greek word parresia means the ability to be free to say what is on one’s mind – often in difficult or intimidating circumstances.  In short, confidence to speak.  John says that we can have confidence to speak in the presence of God.  Mind you, John qualifies this a bit in this circumstance.  John specifies that it is important to speak according to God’s will.  So this is John’s point about our freedom of speech before God.  So long as we are speaking according to the will of God, we have the freedom to speak in spite of our circumstances.  Even when things seem impossible we can still speak before God according to His will.

Do you have confidence before God?  How do you know whether you are speaking according to His will or not?

Third Thought:

A few days ago I discovered a man named C. H. Dodd and I listed a quote from him that I found in William Barclay’s commentary on 1 John.  Today, again through Barclay, I found another neat quote from C. H. Dodd.  “Prayer rightly considered is not a device for employing the resources of omnipotence to fulfil our own desires, but a means by which our desires may be redirected according to the mind of God, and made into channels for the forces of his will.”  When we pray, it is not an opportunity to convince God that we are right and He needs to use His omnipotent power to accomplish our desires.  Rather, prayer is an opportunity to allow our will to be bent to His.  Prayer is an opportunity to listen first, not talk first.  In fact, some of my favorite prayers have included absolutely zero words consciously coming from my mind.  Some of my favorite times of prayer is when I empty my mind and allow it to be filled with God.  Far too often we come to God with an agenda and a list of things we need to tell Him.  Far too seldom do we come to God and allow Him to speak first.

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 John 5:16-17