According to 1 John 5:20, we not only experience and enjoy the Triune God, but we are in Him: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” We have pointed out that a better translation of “Him who is true” would be “the true One.” Actually, the Greek simply says “the true.” Only our Triune God is true; everything and everyone else is false. John tells us that we are in the True, in His Son Jesus Christ. No longer are we outside the True, and no longer are we outside His Son Jesus Christ.
In the second part of 1 John 5:20, John goes on to say, “This is the true God and eternal life.” The true God becomes our experience as eternal life. This is the basic factor of John’s first Epistle.
In 1 John we have the enjoyment of the Triune God as eternal life. Because we are in the true God, He contains us. When we are in the true God, He becomes eternal life to us.
In 1 John 5:20 we have the true One, Jesus Christ, the true God, and eternal life. In John’s concept all these are one. However, in doctrine they are four: the true One, His Son Jesus Christ, the true God, and eternal life. But in our experience they are one. When we are in the true One, we are in His Son Jesus Christ. Then the true One becomes our God, and His Son Jesus Christ becomes eternal life to us. This eternal life is actually the true God. Furthermore, because the true God is real to us, in our experience He becomes our eternal life. This is the true God and eternal life.
John’s second Epistle is based upon the truth revealed in his first Epistle. Second John 1 says, “The elder to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth.” In the foregoing message we pointed out that the first instance of “truth” in this verse denotes the revealed divine reality—the Triune God dispensed into man in the Son Jesus Christ—becoming man’s genuineness and sincerity. This sincerity is the issue of the enjoyment of the divine reality. Hence, when John says that he loves in truth, he is saying that he loves in a sincerity that is the issue of the divine reality. We have also seen that the second usage of truth in this verse denotes the divine reality of the gospel, especially concerning the Person of Christ. This is “the truth which abides in us and shall be with us forever” (v. 2). These verses are simple, but their implication is profound. The entire first Epistle of John is needed for the explanation of the first two verses of his second Epistle.
After speaking concerning truth in verses 1 through 3, John goes on to tell us in verses 4 through 6 that we need to walk in truth and love. Truth is the reality of the Trinity, and love is the expression of this reality. When we walk in truth, we walk in the divine reality we enjoy daily. Love is the expression of this reality. As we walk in the divine reality, spontaneously we love others. This love is the expression of the divine reality we enjoy day by day. Because of this reality and love, grace, mercy, and peace are with us (v. 3). Praise the Lord that we may walk in the divine reality and in the divine expression!