First John 4:14-15 goes on to say, “We have beheld and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.” As in verse 9 and John 3:16, world here denotes fallen mankind. The Father’s sending of the Son to be our Savior is an external act, so that through our confessing of the Son He can abide in us and we in Him (1 John 4:15). The apostles have beheld and testify this. This is the outward testimony. In addition to this, God’s internal act toward us is the sending of His Spirit to dwell in us as inward evidence that we abide in Him and He in us (v. 13).
In 1 John 4:9, 10, and 14 the apostle John says three times that God has sent His Son. God sent the Son that we might live through Him, He sent the Son as a propitiation concerning our sins, and He sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
God the Father sent His Son as the Savior of the world (v. 14) that men may believe in Him by confessing that Jesus is the Son of God, so that God may abide in them and they in God. But the heretical Cerinthians did not confess this; hence, they did not have God abiding in them, nor did they abide in God. Whoever confesses this, God abides in him and he in God. He becomes one with God in the divine life and nature.
We may have expected John to say that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God has the forgiveness of sins or has eternal life. However, here John says that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. We should use this verse in preaching the gospel. We should tell people that if they believe in the Lord and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, they will be forgiven of their sins and will be saved. We should also tell them that if they confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God will come into them and abide in them, and they will be able to abide in God. This is the highest preaching of the gospel.
This matter of dwelling in God and God dwelling in us is repeated several times in 1 John. Again and again, the New Testament points out that God dwells in us. We are even called God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19) and His dwelling place, His house (Eph. 2:22; 1 Tim. 3:15). God houses Himself in us. Ephesians 3:17 indicates that Christ is making His home in our hearts.
First John 2:12 says, “I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you because of His name.” The forgiveness of sins is the basic element of God’s gospel (Luke 24:47; Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38). Through this, the believers who receive Christ are regenerated and become the children of God (John 1:12-13).
John realized that forgiveness of sins is a basic factor in our becoming God’s children. In 1 John 2:12 John tells the little children that their sins have been forgiven because of the Lord’s name. They have believed in this precious name and have received the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins is the first basic element in the gospel. If we believe in the name of the Lord and call on His name, the first blessing that we receive is the forgiveness of sins. Through forgiveness, we have been justified and have become the children of God. Regeneration, therefore, is based on the forgiveness of sins. This is the reason that the apostle John regards forgiveness of sins as the basic factor in addressing the recipients of this Epistle as little children.
According to verse 12, our sins have been forgiven because of His name. This verse does not say that our sins will be forgiven but that they have been forgiven because of His name, not because of our works or anything of ourselves. If forgiveness was dependent on our works or anything of ourselves, we would need to wait until we worked it out before the matter could be decided. But this is not the case. Instead, forgiveness is because of His name. Once we believe in and confess the Lord’s name, we participate in His name and become related to His name; therefore, because of His name our sins have been forgiven. When we confess the Lord’s name and possess His name, our sins are forgiven at that time because of His name. Thus, God has forgiven all our sins. We do not need to wait for them to be forgiven in the future. At the time that we believed, He forgave us. Moreover, He has forgiven all our sins and all our evil, not just a certain portion of our sins. Thus, once we believe, all our sins are forgiven, and we are saved.
In 1 John 2:23 we are told that “everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.” Since the Son and the Father are one (John 10:30; Isa. 9:6), to deny the Son is to be without the Father, and to confess the Son is to have the Father. Here to deny the Son is to deny the deity of Christ, to deny that the man Jesus is God. This is a great heresy.
In 1 John 2:23 John first says that anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. If the Son and the Father were not one, how could those who deny the Son not have the Father? In this verse John goes on to say that he who confesses the Son has the Father also. Whoever denies the Son has neither the Son nor the Father. But whoever confesses the Son has both the Son and the Father. Both the negative side and the positive side of this verse indicate that the Son and the Father are inseparable. Because the Father and the Son are one, we cannot separate the Son from the Father nor the Father from the Son.
We need to pay attention to the words either and also in verse 23. John says that whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. Then he says that whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. These words indicate that the Father and the Son are one and inseparable. Therefore, to deny the Son is to deny both the Son and the Father, and to confess the Son is to confess both the Son and the Father.