Born of God

1 John 5:1-6New International Version (NIV)

Faith in the Incarnate Son of God

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

1 John is a personal letter written by a person who is concerned about the person or people the letter is intended for.  To better understand the letter itself, we first must have a little background.  By the year 100, about the time this letter was written and roughly 70 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the church was in crisis.  Most of the church leaders had believed Christ would have already made his return by now.  As the years ticked by and Christ had not made his triumphant return yet, the church had to reorganize its theology.  In doing so, detractors only pointed at the flaws of Christianity and many who had come to the faith were walking away from it.  The doubts about God, Christ and faith were running rampant, only 70 years removed from the time Christ walked the earth.  It will do us well to remember that today 70 years in not even quite one generation but back then it would have nearly been two generations.  Two generations had come and went, Jerusalem had been destroyed and still no return of Christ.  Church leaders and Christian thinkers then had to reinterpret the teachings of Christ.  

Up until this point, many Christians had their eyes looking towards the heavens.  They felt like their earthly responsibilities were little because Christ would return at any moment making what we do on earth pretty irrelevant.  Some Christian sects still believe this today.  This paradigm shift caused the Christian leaders to re-evaluate the importance of what we do here on earth.  Not that deeds or words can get us to heaven, but they had to rethink the role of Christianity in its everyday practices.  Christianity had to become more focused on what was going on around it or it would parish.  This does not mean that we forget the promises of Jesus and his second coming.  This does not mean we forget about the eternal promises of God.  It just meant that Christianity had to remember Christ’s commandment to love one another to be as important as the promises of Christ’s triumphant return.  Christianity had to find that balance.

This balance was difficult.  The commandment to love one another was a difficult one to follow for Christians, especially in times of persecution.  The moral and ethical high ground in which God now called Christians was a difficult one to maintain.  The call to be holy, moral, ethical, and loving meant living differently than most other people.  By the year 100, many Christians had lost the desire to be this way.  Here is a quote about First John that I think still echos so true today: “The trouble which First John seeks to combat did not come from men out to destroy the Christian faith but from men who thought they were improving it.  It came from men whose aim was to make Christianity intellectually respectable.  They knew the intellectual tendencies and currents of the day and felt the time had come for Christianity to come to terms with secular philosophy and contemporary thought.”  This is the exact issue Christianity faces today.  The same issue it faced yesterday and the same issue it will face tomorrow.  The balance of being in the world but not of the world is a difficult one to find.  The balance of loving one another without your beliefs getting trampled is difficult to find.  The balance of life and faith is difficult.

It is in that balance that we find the strength, courage, love and forgiveness of the women God has placed in our lives.  I know that not everyone has a mother or wife or mother-in-law like I am fortunate enough to have.  But for me, I learned that balance from the strong women in my life.  I am amazed each day at the ability of my wife who is up at or before 5 each day and is immediately taking care of someone or preparing to, who gets ready with kids surrounding her in the bathroom making their own demands of her.  I am amazed at my mother and mother-in-law who go out of their way to love their children and grandchildren in unique ways as to make each one of them feel special.  I am amazed at the African American woman and mom in Baltimore who put her teenage son in his place.  I am amazed at the women who have fought for their rights and those who have stood beside their loved ones.  We must achieve the balance of looking towards God as well as looking towards our responsibilities of this life.  My belief is that the best way to achieve this is to look towards the Godly women in our lives.

Verse six says that Jesus came by water and by blood.  The water is of course referring to Jesus’ baptism in the spirit. In other words, the spiritual aspect of Christ.  Jesus also came by the blood.  In other words, the earthly aspect of Christ.  Verse six goes onto to say that Jesus did not come by water only, but by water and blood.  It is the spirit, the water, who testifies because the spirit is truth.  Jesus is the truth, the way, the light but it is because he understand the balance between blood and water.  He understood the balance between heaven and earth.  He understood.  In our effort to become more Christ-like, it is my prayer that we too find the balance between blood and water, between spirit and earthly responsibilities, between our love for God and our love for one another.  Amen.