And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
The verse declares that God showed His love toward the world by sending His only begotten Son to save sinners so that people might live through Him. In sending Him the Father gave Him human nature to bind divinity with humanity and to bear the sins of the guilty as a propitiation, so that through faith in His blood believers are forgiven and justified and made partakers of the divine nature. He is the only hope for all people in every generation, not for one nation alone but for Gentiles as well as Jews without restriction of custom or nationality. The love shown in this sending obligates those so loved to love one another not in word only but in deed and truth, laying down their lives for the brethren and showing compassion to the needy. This is witnessed by a church united in truth and reflecting His love in unity, just and merciful character, and consecrated speech, for receiving Him is more than mental agreement and fills the heart emptied of self with the graces of the Holy Spirit and the abiding presence of Christ, and He must therefore be preached as the Saviour with His redeeming love and cross rather than by argument alone.
Father's Love in Sending
The verse declares God's love manifested toward the world in sending His only begotten Son to save sinners so that people might live through Him. The sending meant He took human nature and bound divinity with humanity, representing those who believe and taking their nature and responsibilities upon Himself. Through His grace human beings may thus be partakers of the divine nature and stand on vantage ground with God. He came as a propitiation for sin, and though innocent bore the sins of the guilty and suffered so that the world might be saved through faith in Him. His complete sacrifice reconciles believers to God, so that through faith in His blood they receive forgiveness and justification, not by penance or good works, while good works and obedience to God's commandments follow from faith and gratitude and acceptance with God rests on Christ's righteousness.
The helpless infant brought to the temple by Joseph and Mary as the law required was both the Saviour of the world sent by the Father and the High Priest of the heavenly temple. He was held in the arms of an earthly priest who saw only the child of simple working people and did not know who He was, though obedience to God's word would have taught him. Jesus became Redeemer of all mankind by being put to death by His enemies. As Joseph's sale as a slave into Egypt made him a saviour to his father's family, so murder by the jealous chief priests and elders, who feared He would draw the people away and become king, brought about what they sought to prevent and gave Him dominion over them as Saviour of everyone. God overruled their evil course for His own glory and the good of man, yet their guilt remains just as heinous as if His providential hand had not controlled events.
Saviour for All People
Jesus is the Saviour of the world and the only hope for all people in every generation, including Israel. All are to look to Him, to walk in the way He opened by the sacrifice of His own life, and to keep God's law and live. The apostles saw His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension and testified of them, with the Holy Spirit resting especially upon them as His witnesses. Angels guard this sacred and important truth with special care as an anchor for His disciples.
A halo of light and glory centers about the time of His death and resurrection, forever establishing and making immortal the fact that He is the Saviour of the world. In wisdom and goodness He gave the disciples power in His name over the works of Satan to carry on the same work for which He had been hated and slain. Through that name, though He had been despised and slain by wicked hands, they were to work signs and wonders. His saving work is not for one nation alone and is not restricted by custom or nationality, but extends to Gentiles as well as Jews.
His mercy to the woman of Canaan showed His disciples that the gospel mission was to reach Gentiles as well as Jews. His death broke down the partition and division between Jew and Gentile, and that breaking down opened the way for His representatives to work among all peoples. He showed Himself to people of every nation and social class, and His teaching and work made that mission known beyond those who heard Him directly. He is the Son of the Most High, the Saviour of the world, who like Jacob's ladder connects earth with heaven and finite man with the infinite God.
Patriarchs and prophets relied on Him as their support and consolation, and holy men in every century have witnessed to Him. Apostles facing bigotry and superstition, and martyrs on the rack, at the stake, in dungeons and in caves, all add their testimony. Their witness strengthens faith and gives assurance that He is able to save to the uttermost those who trust Him even unto death. Satan worked to keep the Jews from recognizing Christ as the promised Messiah and receiving Him as the Saviour.
Testimony in Love and Unity
With spiritual vision John saw Christ's glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and by beholding Jesus and appreciating the virtues of His character he became one with his Master in spirit and was changed from glory to glory into His likeness. To him was committed the work of telling of the Saviour's love and of the love His children should manifest for one another. That love, manifested in the Father's sending of the Son to be the Saviour of the world so that people might live through Him, obligates those so loved to love one another, not in word and tongue only but in deed and in truth. This means manifesting lovingkindness of heart, judgment, and righteousness, laying down lives for the brethren and not shutting up compassion from a needy brother while having this world's goods. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him, and through God's Spirit believers know that they dwell in Him and He in them. As members unite in sanctified association cooperating with Christ, He lives and works in them with power sufficient to reach the high standard of Christian perfection.
The church united in the truth is ordained of God to be a bright and shining light to the world by proving that salvation for the world comes through the Son sent by the Father. This witness is Christ's counter-plan to Satan's kingdom, whose strength lies in uniting evil forces to spread evil, while Jesus fills His human subjects with love and unity so that with sanctified hearts they build one another up, return His love, share heaven's goods, and bear His mark. The Saviour has all power in heaven and earth and commands and combines the sympathy and effort of the church in heaven with the church on earth. He gives angels their work of ministering to those who shall be heirs of salvation, and He Himself is present in the assemblies of believers in the power and demonstration of His Holy Spirit. The testimony is given by reflecting Christ's love through unity, kindness, pity, tenderness of heart, and zeal, and by strengthening and spreading what is good, with love woven like threads of gold through every action. When individual members love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves, close their ears to talebearing, refuse to take up a reproach against a neighbor, and cherish love and unity as one great family, their oneness in Christ witnesses that God has sent His Son. Nothing but the spirit of Christlike forbearance can perfect this unity, for Satan sows discord and Christ alone harmonizes disagreeing elements, so unity is not produced by labored effort but by love.
Believers bear this witness by the character of their words and actions, doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God and gently in Jesus Christ's footsteps. Speech is a precious talent to be consecrated to God, with lips and tongue sanctified and trained by Him for His service and praise, so that word and deed together testify that God sent His Son. Those who place entire dependence on God are kept as souls committed to His trust, imbued with His Spirit, and filled with unselfish love for one another, and that love enables them to testify to Christ's saving mission and a sanctified peace helps make this saving purpose known. Accepting the sent Saviour means more than forgiveness of sin alone, for acknowledging that the Father sent Jesus Christ as Saviour of the world is not saving faith by itself. A person may agree with it mentally yet fail to repent, accept Jesus as a personal Saviour, or let the truth sanctify the heart and transform the character. True reception takes away sins and fills the vacuum with the graces of the Holy Spirit, divine illumination, rejoicing in God, a heart emptied of self and blessed with the abiding presence of Christ, purity, freedom from sin, perfect peace, perfect love, and perfect assurance, with the glory, fullness and completeness of the gospel plan fulfilled in the life. When the beauty and fragrance of the character of Christ is revealed in the life, that life testifies to the sending. Christ is to be preached as the Saviour of the world together with the evidences and theory of the truth, not in sermons that are wholly argumentative. Evidence alone impresses minds with logic, but presenting Christ and His redeeming love and the cross causes the seed sown to spring up and bear fruit to the glory of God and wins hearers to His side. This proclamation is urgent because some hearers may be listening to the last sermon they will ever hear, and if the golden opportunity to present Christ is lost it is lost forever.
The verse declares that God showed His love toward the world by sending His only begotten Son to save sinners so that people might live through Him. In sending Him the Father gave Him human nature to bind divinity with humanity and to bear the sins of the guilty as a propitiation, so that through faith in His blood believers are forgiven and justified and made partakers of the divine nature. He is the only hope for all people in every generation, not for one nation alone but for Gentiles as well as Jews without restriction of custom or nationality. The love shown in this sending obligates those so loved to love one another not in word only but in deed and truth, laying down their lives for the brethren and showing compassion to the needy. This is witnessed by a church united in truth and reflecting His love in unity, just and merciful character, and consecrated speech, for receiving Him is more than mental agreement and fills the heart emptied of self with the graces of the Holy Spirit and the abiding presence of Christ, and He must therefore be preached as the Saviour with His redeeming love and cross rather than by argument alone.
Father's Love in Sending
The verse declares God's love manifested toward the world in sending His only begotten Son to save sinners so that people might live through Him.
The sending meant He took human nature and bound divinity with humanity, representing those who believe and taking their nature and responsibilities upon Himself.
Through His grace human beings may thus be partakers of the divine nature and stand on vantage ground with God.
He came as a propitiation for sin, and though innocent bore the sins of the guilty and suffered so that the world might be saved through faith in Him.
His complete sacrifice reconciles believers to God, so that through faith in His blood they receive forgiveness and justification, not by penance or good works, while good works and obedience to God's commandments follow from faith and gratitude and acceptance with God rests on Christ's righteousness.
The helpless infant brought to the temple by Joseph and Mary as the law required was both the Saviour of the world sent by the Father and the High Priest of the heavenly temple.
He was held in the arms of an earthly priest who saw only the child of simple working people and did not know who He was, though obedience to God's word would have taught him.
Jesus became Redeemer of all mankind by being put to death by His enemies.
As Joseph's sale as a slave into Egypt made him a saviour to his father's family, so murder by the jealous chief priests and elders, who feared He would draw the people away and become king, brought about what they sought to prevent and gave Him dominion over them as Saviour of everyone.
God overruled their evil course for His own glory and the good of man, yet their guilt remains just as heinous as if His providential hand had not controlled events.
Saviour for All People
Jesus is the Saviour of the world and the only hope for all people in every generation, including Israel. All are to look to Him, to walk in the way He opened by the sacrifice of His own life, and to keep God's law and live. The apostles saw His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension and testified of them, with the Holy Spirit resting especially upon them as His witnesses. Angels guard this sacred and important truth with special care as an anchor for His disciples.
A halo of light and glory centers about the time of His death and resurrection, forever establishing and making immortal the fact that He is the Saviour of the world. In wisdom and goodness He gave the disciples power in His name over the works of Satan to carry on the same work for which He had been hated and slain. Through that name, though He had been despised and slain by wicked hands, they were to work signs and wonders. His saving work is not for one nation alone and is not restricted by custom or nationality, but extends to Gentiles as well as Jews.
His mercy to the woman of Canaan showed His disciples that the gospel mission was to reach Gentiles as well as Jews. His death broke down the partition and division between Jew and Gentile, and that breaking down opened the way for His representatives to work among all peoples. He showed Himself to people of every nation and social class, and His teaching and work made that mission known beyond those who heard Him directly. He is the Son of the Most High, the Saviour of the world, who like Jacob's ladder connects earth with heaven and finite man with the infinite God.
Patriarchs and prophets relied on Him as their support and consolation, and holy men in every century have witnessed to Him. Apostles facing bigotry and superstition, and martyrs on the rack, at the stake, in dungeons and in caves, all add their testimony. Their witness strengthens faith and gives assurance that He is able to save to the uttermost those who trust Him even unto death. Satan worked to keep the Jews from recognizing Christ as the promised Messiah and receiving Him as the Saviour.
Testimony in Love and Unity
With spiritual vision John saw Christ's glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and by beholding Jesus and appreciating the virtues of His character he became one with his Master in spirit and was changed from glory to glory into His likeness. To him was committed the work of telling of the Saviour's love and of the love His children should manifest for one another. That love, manifested in the Father's sending of the Son to be the Saviour of the world so that people might live through Him, obligates those so loved to love one another, not in word and tongue only but in deed and in truth. This means manifesting lovingkindness of heart, judgment, and righteousness, laying down lives for the brethren and not shutting up compassion from a needy brother while having this world's goods. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him, and through God's Spirit believers know that they dwell in Him and He in them. As members unite in sanctified association cooperating with Christ, He lives and works in them with power sufficient to reach the high standard of Christian perfection.
The church united in the truth is ordained of God to be a bright and shining light to the world by proving that salvation for the world comes through the Son sent by the Father. This witness is Christ's counter-plan to Satan's kingdom, whose strength lies in uniting evil forces to spread evil, while Jesus fills His human subjects with love and unity so that with sanctified hearts they build one another up, return His love, share heaven's goods, and bear His mark. The Saviour has all power in heaven and earth and commands and combines the sympathy and effort of the church in heaven with the church on earth. He gives angels their work of ministering to those who shall be heirs of salvation, and He Himself is present in the assemblies of believers in the power and demonstration of His Holy Spirit. The testimony is given by reflecting Christ's love through unity, kindness, pity, tenderness of heart, and zeal, and by strengthening and spreading what is good, with love woven like threads of gold through every action. When individual members love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves, close their ears to talebearing, refuse to take up a reproach against a neighbor, and cherish love and unity as one great family, their oneness in Christ witnesses that God has sent His Son. Nothing but the spirit of Christlike forbearance can perfect this unity, for Satan sows discord and Christ alone harmonizes disagreeing elements, so unity is not produced by labored effort but by love.
Believers bear this witness by the character of their words and actions, doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God and gently in Jesus Christ's footsteps. Speech is a precious talent to be consecrated to God, with lips and tongue sanctified and trained by Him for His service and praise, so that word and deed together testify that God sent His Son. Those who place entire dependence on God are kept as souls committed to His trust, imbued with His Spirit, and filled with unselfish love for one another, and that love enables them to testify to Christ's saving mission and a sanctified peace helps make this saving purpose known. Accepting the sent Saviour means more than forgiveness of sin alone, for acknowledging that the Father sent Jesus Christ as Saviour of the world is not saving faith by itself. A person may agree with it mentally yet fail to repent, accept Jesus as a personal Saviour, or let the truth sanctify the heart and transform the character. True reception takes away sins and fills the vacuum with the graces of the Holy Spirit, divine illumination, rejoicing in God, a heart emptied of self and blessed with the abiding presence of Christ, purity, freedom from sin, perfect peace, perfect love, and perfect assurance, with the glory, fullness and completeness of the gospel plan fulfilled in the life. When the beauty and fragrance of the character of Christ is revealed in the life, that life testifies to the sending. Christ is to be preached as the Saviour of the world together with the evidences and theory of the truth, not in sermons that are wholly argumentative. Evidence alone impresses minds with logic, but presenting Christ and His redeeming love and the cross causes the seed sown to spring up and bear fruit to the glory of God and wins hearers to His side. This proclamation is urgent because some hearers may be listening to the last sermon they will ever hear, and if the golden opportunity to present Christ is lost it is lost forever.