The Dogmatics of John
How the apostle John grounds the saving truths of the faith in the Trinity—Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
– 1 John 5:13-14
Vladimir Borovikovsky, “Saint John the Evangelist” (c.1804–1809). Oil on cardboard.
The central theme of John’s Gospel is to believe into the supernatural atoning work of Jesus Christ who is truly God incarnate, and in doing he masterfully unveils divine parallels between the Father and the Son, from whom created all things and through whom all things were made: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-2,14; cf. John 17:1-5) He is the only Gospel writer to record Jesus’ most famous declaration that He, a man of flesh and blood, is the one true God, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), which everyone knew referred to God’s name revealed by the Angel of the Lord to Moses in the burning bush, “I am that I am” who then proceeds to tell Moses to “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14-16). But John doesn’t stop there. He also records the famous seven self-proclaimed “I am” titles of Christ—I am the bread of life (John 6:35,41,48,51); I am the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5); I am the door (John 10:7-9); I am the good shepherd (John 10:11-18); I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25); I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6); I am the true vine (John 15:1-5)—all of which otherwise would be utterly blasphemous declarations for a mere human, angel, or creature to make claim. Unlike Moses, Jesus was not pointing to a Law external of Himself, He was pointing to Himself as the Law. He was directing all the attributes of worship toward Himself, the degree of which explicitly refers to His full divinity, yet was couched in His full humanity, the extent of which caused uproar and confusion among Hellenistic and Hebraic Jews (John 6:42; Matthew 13:55; Luke 4:22). John’s Gospel, more than any other, reinforces the vital fact that Christ used every opportunity to push His divine nature and parentage, so much so that people tried to kill Him for blasphemy—making Himself equal to God: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30; cf. 5:18, 8:59).
Alongside the ‘I am’ repetition, John also consistently recapitulates the Trinitarian relationship that Christ is the Son of God, who is one with the Father and one with the Holy Spirit (John 10:14-18,29-30,37-38, 15:26; 1 John 4:2). In fact, he regularly breaks Greek grammar by referring to the pneuma (Spirit) as a masculine pronoun, contrary to normal grammatical convention that demands that pneuma be neuter, in order to vividly emphasize the Trinitarian personhood of the Godhead, “But the Counselor [Advocate], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26) And elsewhere he says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26; also see John 16:7, 13-14; 1 John 5:7-8[1]).
John’s Gospel is Father-centred as much as it is Son-centred as much as it is Spirit-centred because God is salvation, the Spirit of Christ is salvation, and His Holy Spirit must live within you to have eternal life (John 6:63, 7:38-39, 14:16; cf. Romans 8:9-14; Ephesians 1:13-14). That born-again life begins with belief into Christ, which is the same as belief into the one true God. John records the need for belief into Christ in nearly every single chapter, roughly ten times more than any other Gospel (John 1:7,12-13, 3:14-18,36, 4:41, 5:24, 6:29,35,40,47, 7:38-39, 8:24, 9:38, 10:38, 11:25-27, 12:36,44-46, 13:19, 14:1, 16:27, 17:20-21, 19:35, 20:31). John even contrasts those who believe against those who do not believe in nearly every chapter, which is also, then, typified by the apostle Thomas’ doubt of the resurrected Christ (John 20:25-29), making it abundantly clear what is meant by unbelief: “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (vv.27-29) Abiding belief into the incarnate Christ’s life and death—His crucifixion, descension, resurrection, and ascension—all in all, His full divinity and full humanity, is salvation. Eternal life begins and ends with Christ—His will, His ways, His words, His works through us.
Implications of John’s Gospel
Near the end of the John’s Gospel, he whimsically inserts a shocking statement to the reader; that even though Jesus did other things not recorded in his book, which conceivably include teachings for those who “stand firm and hold to the traditions” privately handed down to them, the seed of salvation was ultimately still possible by following through on the teachings within his Gospel alone. Not just Scripture alone, but John’s Gospel alone provides sufficient criteria to begin life in Christ:
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written [in this book] that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
– John 20:30-31
The implications are very clear: Eternal life in Christ can be found in the dogmatics—saving truths—of John’s Gospel alone. By belief into the living Son of God, one can begin eternal life now. Not that John’s written work is all that’s required for all things or that the rest of Scripture is unnecessary or irrelevant—far from it! But that John’s work contains the seed by which the Word can be implanted to bear eternal life (John 3:8,34-36; cf. James 1:21). It is the cornerstone of the faith. For instance, John does not even mention repentance, a vital confession for salvation. Why not? Well, before you can repent of your sins, you must believe Jesus can cleanse you of your sins (cf. Romans 10:8-13). Before you can receive the Holy Spirit, you must believe that Christ is one with the Spirit of God (John 20:21-22; cf. Genesis 2:7). It is in this vein that John teaches fundamental spiritual truths of the faith from which other truths spring and flourish. By belief into Christ incarnate does the Spirit indwell (John 7:39). The Holy Spirit of Christ is the seed of salvation, He is the Word of God that implants and dwells within you (John 20:21-22; cf. Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 3:2-3; James 1:21). This seed grows by the light of God through love into new creation (1 John 1:5-7, 2:8-11; John 1:4). Such is there a mysterious spiritual happening when you believe into Christ, the Holy Trinity.
Abiding Belief in Love is Our Assurance
Now, what is often misunderstood by many Protestants is that John and Jesus do not render a single moment or the inward expression of belief in Christ alone as the only ascent by which eternal life is given. John is overtly referring to an abiding belief in Christ. We have eternal life so long as we believe, for if we truly believe, then we will keep his commandments. John makes this abundantly clear in his Gospel and letters through his overuse of the word menō in Greek, which is often translated “abide” and can also be understood to mean “remain” or “endure” or even “obey” (John 3:36), in which he and Jesus both underscore eternal life is abiding in God (John 6:56-57, 8:31-32, 15:9-16; 1 John 2:17,24, 3:24, 4:16) and that there are damnable consequences for not abiding in Christ’s teachings (John 3:36, 15:4-7; 1 John 2:10, 28, 3:9,14; 2 John 1:9). The weight of these verses cannot be understated.
To abide in Christ is to abide in His love, to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and to love our neighbour as ourselves, a loving relationship that necessarily includes Christ’s intercession between us and God, as Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:12-15) And in John’s letter he says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.... And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:3,14-15) All of which is semantically paralleled by “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.... This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:7-10,12-13; cf. Mark 12:29-31) Even so far as to say, “Whoever does not love abides in death.” (1 John 3:14b) Abiding belief is obedience to the commandments of Christ. Obedience is love. Love is intercession. Intercession is salvation.
It is precisely His loving intercession that helps us abide, to do His works. In fact, the beloved John not only recapitulates the necessity of outwardly expressing love “in deed and in truth” more than any other apostle, he reinforces the necessity of Christ’s love for believers first and that our love for Christ and His fellow believers is the ground by which we have assurance of our salvation:
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him…. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us…. Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
– 1 John 3:18-19,23-24, 5:1-5
Our assurance in salvation is grounded in a belief that follows through in Christ’s commands to love one another just as Christ loved His Church (John 13:34-35,14:15-21,15:9-12; 1 John 4:16-21; cf. Ephesians 3:14-19). It is Christ-centric “so that we might live through him” (4:9). For Christ is the head of His body, and the head cannot hate His body just as the body cannot hate other members of the same body lest the head not work through them (1 John 4:20-21).
At the end of John’s First Epistle he reassures fellow believers on abiding belief into the incarnate Word for His intercession and assurance in salvation, and because of they know they are saved, then they can speak with God directly:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.... And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
– 1 John 5:13-15,20
True obedient belief in Christ alone is abiding in His love and His commands, the eternal love of which leads to eternal life. Christ’s loving intercession through His Spirit in us is integral to our assurance. God is triune love, and abiding in His self-sacrificial love, is saving truth.
In Deed and In Truth
Belief inextricably entails behaviour. John does not advocate “easy believism” or mere Christianity, neither does he belittle a lifetime of sanctification, nor does he downplay the weight or cost of what comes with believing in Christ. John is very practical as much as he is spiritual: What is the point of belief if not to use it? (cf. James 2:14-16,20) It is, as John says, to do the commands of Christ, otherwise you do not truly believe (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-4). Just as the Spirit precedes the creation of man, the Spirit precedes the new creation of man, just as faith precedes works and belief precedes behaviour. In the same way, the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father, just as the spiritual fruit of salvation proceeds from the Spirit of God, just as the works proceed from faith and behaviour proceeds from belief. The invisible precedes the visible just as the visible proceeds from the invisible, for the Spirit redeems the flesh and not the other way around so that God may have glory in and through all things (cf. Romans 11:36). Therefore, for our sake, the invisible is for the visible (cf. 2 John 1:6; Ephesians 2:8-10). The invisible is not for the invisible only. The invisible, that which is veiled or darkened, is made visible by the light of God, which gives new life by the implanted Word—I am the way, and the truth, and the life in and through you.
Matlock Bobechko | April 27, 2023 – 10:00 AM EST
[1] Verses 7 and 8 of the King James and late manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate say, “testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water and the blood, and these three agree in one.” While this rendering is not found in any Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century, it is not theologically wrong.