Commentary on "Believing in the Son of God"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 7: Friday, August 28, 2009

 

Overview

“ ‘In him was life; and the life was the light of men’ (John 1:4). It is not physical life that is here specified, but immortality, the life which is exclusively the property of God. The Word, who was with God, and who was God, had this life. Physical life is something which each individual receives. It is not eternal or immortal; for God, the Life-giver, takes it again. Man has no control over his life. But the life of Christ was unborrowed. No one can take this life from Him. ‘I lay it down of myself’ (John 10:18), He said. In Him was life, original, unborrowed, underived. This life is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift if he will believe in Christ as His personal Saviour. ‘This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent’ (John 17:3). This is the open fountain of life for the world.” (Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 296, 297.)

 

Problems

If we start at the beginning of John Chapter One, we see that Ellen's statement, " It is not physical life", is not completely correct when we come to verse four. All that was created, whether it be physical or spiritual and without regard to if it is plant life, animal life or that of the human race, have life that comes from him, the source of all life.

The statement, " Man has no control over his life.", is also incomplete and misleading:

"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Gen. 2:17 ESV)

Death and the loss of life became part of our lives because Adam chose to disobeyed God and sin. The sin of Adam is the reason or cause of our death. Yes, God is our life giver but sin is our death giver. The spiritual death of Adam and Eve was immediate. Their physical deaths came a few years later. Since then, we have been born spiritually dead and need to be 'born again' with spiritual life. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again.

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5 ESV)

The statement, " This life is not inherent in man." is also not technically correct. Before Adam and Eve sinned eternal life was their original created condition and was, at that time, 'inherent' in mankind.

One has to wonder what Ellen means by quoting John 17:3 where it speaks of "eternal life" when she insists that no person can know they are saved until the results of the Investigative Judgment are in.

"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3 ESV)

 

Summary

1. The moral here is that if you want "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth", turn to Scripture. Invite Jesus into your life and the Holy Spirit will indwell you as the Seal of his salvation. The Holy Spirit will then lead you into all truth.
2. Otherwise, you error in the same way Eve did when the Serpent was speaking to her in the garden. Remember, Satan's 'little lie' was the deadly precursor that introduced sin and death into our world. Ellen's words, quoted at the beginning of today's lesson, perpetuate this same classic lie and will lead to the same tragic result.

 

 

Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised August 16, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

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