Commentary on "Jesus and the Johannine Letters"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 5: Wednesday, July 1, 2009

This lesson focusses on passages that state who Jesus is, for example, His eternality, His role as Creator, and His incarnation. It states that John maintains "it is impossible to separate Father and Son" and states that even today, some people feel they can have a relationship with the Father "without caring about Jesus." The author states that one cannot have a saving relationship with God the Father without accepting Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. The thought questions for the day ask, "How central is Jesus in your own understanding of truth? That is, might you be too occupied with dates, charts, and doctrines as opposed to knowing Jesus and His forgiveness and grace for you? If so, how can you change? Why must you change?"

 

Problems

This day's lesson states some powerful truths. The questions at the end of the lesson, however, betray the lack of understanding of how one actually comes to know Jesus so that He becomes central to one's existence. The question every Adventist must face is not, Is Jesus central in your understanding of truth? If not, what changes must you make?

The real question every Adventist must face is this: Have you placed your faith in the Lord Jesus and repented before Him of your intractable sin? Do you know you are saved?

We cannot "change" if we find ourselves more concerned with doctrine, lifestyle, culture, and comfort than with Jesus. We do not become Jesus-focussed by self-discipline. We only become changed by surrendering all our rights, pride, shame, and guilt to the Lord Jesus and admitting we are hopeless and helpless and in need of saving. We change only by acknowledging Jesus as our substitute who keeps the covenant with the Father for us. We change only by giving up our notion that God is faithful to us if we obey.

God is faithful to the Lord Jesus because He alone was perfect and holy, and He is faithful to us only when we are in Him by virtue of His own life being imputed to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We can do nothing to make Christ central. We can only submit to Him and accept Him as our all-in-all.

 

Summary

• We cannot have a saving relationship with the Father without accepting Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God and also as our own personal Savior.
• We cannot "change" in order to make Christ more central to our existence.
• Christ becomes central when we give up our rights and our self-defense and admit our helpless guilt, accepting Jesus' blood as complete payment for our sin and accepting His substitutionary obedience as the guarantee of God's faithfulness to us.

 

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