First John: 1 John 2:23b-The Person Who Acknowledges the Son Possesses a Relationship with the Father Lesson # 82
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No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. (ESV)
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 7, 2017
www.wenstrom.org
Lesson # 82
No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. (ESV)
“Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also” is composed of the following: (1) articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb homologeō (ὁμολογέω), “whoever confesses” (2) articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun huios (υἱός), “the Son” (3) conjunction kai (καί), “also” (4) articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun pater (πατήρ), “the Father” (5) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb echō (ἒχω), “has.”
The verb homologeō means “to acknowledge” since the word pertains to the acknowledgement that a particular thing is true or is fact.
Here it speaks of a person acknowledging that it is true that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, which is equivalent to acknowledging the Son since Jesus is the Son of God.
Specifically, it refers to a person acknowledging the Son by accepting by faith the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostles that Jesus is the Christ.
Once again, John uses the noun huios which again is used in relation to Jesus Christ and is employed here as a title for His deity describing the relationship between the Father and Jesus Christ.
The present tense of the verb homologeō is a gnomic present used to describe something that is true any time.
The gnomic present of the verb expresses the idea that any person who “does at any time” acknowledge the Son does possess a relationship with the Father.
The verb echō means “to possess” a relationship with a person and once again as was the case in the first assertion in this verse, its direct object is the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun patēr, which means “Father” referring to the first member of the Trinity.
It emphasizes the familial relationship between Jesus Christ and God.
It also emphasizes this same relationship between God and those who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Therefore, this verb echō expresses the idea that any person who acknowledges the Son by accepting by faith the Spirit’s testimony through the apostolic teaching that Jesus is the Christ possesses a personal relationship with the Father.
The present tense of the verb echō is a gnomic present which is used for a general, timeless fact or specifically, a spiritual axiom or an eternal spiritual truth.
It is expressing the idea that the person who does at any time acknowledge the Son “does as an eternal spiritual truth” possess a relationship with the Father as well.
Anyone who does at any time reject the Son, unequivocally does not possess a relationship with the Father. The person who does at any time acknowledge the Son, does possess a relationship with the Father also. (My translation)
The second assertion in verse 23 teaches that the person who does at any time acknowledge the Son, does possess a relationship with the Father also.
This statement echoes what Jesus Christ Himself taught in , and 14:6 and what Peter taught in and Paul taught in , , and 5:1-10.
In fact, John taught in that the Son of God became a human being in order to explain the Father to the human race or in other words, Jesus manifested the Father’s character and nature to the human race through His words and actions.
Paul taught in that Jesus is the only mediator between sinful humanity and God who is holy.
Therefore, the apostles taught that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to a relationship with the Father who is holy.
So therefore, John is addressing the means by which an unregenerate sinner can be declared justified before the Father.
He is not teaching how the child of God can enter into fellowship with God since he has been addressing the subject of the antichrists since who he describes as non-believers in .
In stark contrast with these antichrists, John teaches that in that the recipients of this epistle possessed the anointing from the Holy Spirit.
This refers to the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit which the justified sinner receives at the moment of justification which enables them to understand and apply the Word of God.
They departed from us but in fact they were never a part of our fellowship because if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument they had been a part of our fellowship, they would have in fact remained with us. On the contrary, this departure took place in order that they would demonstrate that each and every one of them are by no means a part of our fellowship. 20 However, each one of you possess an anointing from the Holy One. Consequently, each one of you possess knowledge (of the truth). (My translation)
Many expositors believe that this confession in is echoing the Lord’s teaching in and and Paul’s teaching in .
It would appear that could be used as support for this interpretation since John quotes these antichrists as saying that “Jesus is unequivocally not the Christ.”
However, these antichrists were proto-Gnostic teachers.
Thus, this declaration is a part of the content of their teaching which the recipients of this epistle were being exposed to and John was attempting to protect them from by the contents of First John.
Thus, John is not teaching a public confession of faith in Jesus in since nowhere in the context of is this public confession of the Son implied, inferred or made explicit.
Rather, John is actually speaking of what takes place in the soul of the person who accepts by faith the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostles that Jesus is the Christ.
In fact, there are many people throughout history who trusted in Jesus Christ as the Savior and did so in private and not in a public fashion.
The acknowledgement therefore is directed toward the Holy Spirit who communicates through the communication of the gospel that Jesus is the Christ (cf. ).
Let’s take a look at and which is paralleled in .
Because, if you acknowledge with your mouth Jesus is Lord in other words, exercising absolute confidence with your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead ones, then you will be delivered. 10 For you see, with the heart, one, as an eternal spiritual truth, does exercise absolute confidence resulting in righteousness on the other hand with the mouth, one, as an eternal spiritual truth, does acknowledge resulting in deliverance. (My translation)
Some interpret homologeo in as a “public affirmation” to men and use to support this interpretation.
However, Jesus is speaking to believers in and in he is writing concerning unsaved Jews.
That Jesus is speaking to believers in is clearly indicated by the context since reveals that He is addressing His disciples and in , He calls those whom He addresses “My friends” and in , He teaches those whom He addresses regarding the Father’s care for them.
Therefore, confessing or acknowledging Jesus before men is not a reference to getting saved since Jesus is teaching those who are already His disciples and thus already saved.
But rather the person who confesses the Lord before men in is a reference to the believer living an obedient life.
When Jesus says He will acknowledge the person who acknowledges Him, it refers to the public testimony by the Son of God to the faithful life of the obedient Christian who executes the Father’s will.
Thus, in this passage, when Jesus says He will deny the believer before men, it doesn’t mean that they are denied salvation since He is talking to those who are already believers.
Neither does it mean you will lose your salvation since that is obviously false doctrine and means that He will deny the believer rewards (cf. ).
Paul is writing rhetorically in indicating that when he speaks of righteousness and salvation, he is speaking of the justified sinner’s new relationship with God and not two different ideas that are not connected.
That Paul is writing rhetorically is indicated in that in he is following the same word order of in that in both verses he speaks of believing with one’s heart and acknowledging with one’s mouth.
However, in verse 10 believing with one’s heart precedes acknowledging with one’s mouth whereas in verse nine acknowledging with one’s mouth precedes believing with one’s heart.
That Paul is writing rhetorically not only suggests that righteousness and salvation are both speaking of the justified sinner’s new relationship with God and not different ideas that are not related but also it indicates that acknowledging with one’s mouth and believing with one’s heart are one in the same.
Believing in one’s heart that the Father raised Jesus from the dead is the same as acknowledging that Jesus is God since the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus is God and faith alone in Christ alone is the only way to receive eternal salvation.