Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
To confess that Jesus is the Son of God is to believe on Him with all the heart as personal Saviour, not mere speculative belief. It is to acknowledge the Son whom the Father sent to save the world, expressing a real relationship with God whose love is shown in sending His Son.
Whoever so confesses receives mutual indwelling, God dwelling in him and he dwelling in God. This is dwelling in love, because love is of God and God is love. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, while he who loves not does not know God. This indwelling faith means Christ abides within, so that those in whom He abides will confess Him.
The promise rests on God's love manifested in sending His only begotten Son into the world that sinners might live through Him. He came to be a propitiation for sins, taking human nature and binding divinity to humanity so that humanity can stand on vantage ground with God. Through grace those who confess may thus become partakers of the divine nature.
The indwelling is known because God has given of His Spirit, and because of seen testimony that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, and by knowing and believing the love God has. It is Christ's likeness in the believer as a grand practical truth. To dwell in God and have God dwell in him is to have purity like God's purity and love like God's love as a living principle in the heart, walking in God's light and love. It is to accept forgiveness of sins by faith, to be changed by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit in the moral affections, to be made complete in Christ and stand in the moral excellence of His character.
Indwelling love is perfected in loving one another, proving love for the unseen God by love for a seen brother. It gives boldness in the day of judgment because as He is so are believers in the world, casting out fear. It is expressed in keeping God's commandments. It is expressed in manifesting lovingkindness of heart, judgment, and righteousness to all, in cooperating with Christ in sanctified association until He lives and works within, and in reaching Christian perfection by beholding Jesus, appreciating the virtues of His character, and becoming one with Him in spirit from glory to glory into His likeness. It awakens a zeal that urges and constrains to good works, so that grace does not leave people free to continue in sin. So the believer represents Jesus, with Christ working in and through him to reveal His character in words and actions.
Applied to life, if Christ abides in physicians and helpers in health institutions they will confess Him and serve in right relation to God. The one who confesses is not left to Satan's temptations but is a child of God, begotten to a living hope big with immortality and full of glory, with all the treasures of heaven at command because redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Those entrusted with responsibility are on test and trial by this standard to show whether they are wise men in positions of trust, for God will punish all acting in His stead who misrepresent Christ in character, words, and attitude by hurting, bruising, discouraging, or crippling His children for whom He gave His precious life.
To confess that Jesus is the Son of God is to believe on Him with all the heart as personal Saviour, not mere speculative belief. It is to acknowledge the Son whom the Father sent to save the world, expressing a real relationship with God whose love is shown in sending His Son.
Whoever so confesses receives mutual indwelling, God dwelling in him and he dwelling in God. This is dwelling in love, because love is of God and God is love. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, while he who loves not does not know God. This indwelling faith means Christ abides within, so that those in whom He abides will confess Him.
The promise rests on God's love manifested in sending His only begotten Son into the world that sinners might live through Him. He came to be a propitiation for sins, taking human nature and binding divinity to humanity so that humanity can stand on vantage ground with God. Through grace those who confess may thus become partakers of the divine nature.
The indwelling is known because God has given of His Spirit, and because of seen testimony that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, and by knowing and believing the love God has. It is Christ's likeness in the believer as a grand practical truth. To dwell in God and have God dwell in him is to have purity like God's purity and love like God's love as a living principle in the heart, walking in God's light and love. It is to accept forgiveness of sins by faith, to be changed by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit in the moral affections, to be made complete in Christ and stand in the moral excellence of His character.
Indwelling love is perfected in loving one another, proving love for the unseen God by love for a seen brother. It gives boldness in the day of judgment because as He is so are believers in the world, casting out fear. It is expressed in keeping God's commandments. It is expressed in manifesting lovingkindness of heart, judgment, and righteousness to all, in cooperating with Christ in sanctified association until He lives and works within, and in reaching Christian perfection by beholding Jesus, appreciating the virtues of His character, and becoming one with Him in spirit from glory to glory into His likeness. It awakens a zeal that urges and constrains to good works, so that grace does not leave people free to continue in sin. So the believer represents Jesus, with Christ working in and through him to reveal His character in words and actions.
Applied to life, if Christ abides in physicians and helpers in health institutions they will confess Him and serve in right relation to God. The one who confesses is not left to Satan's temptations but is a child of God, begotten to a living hope big with immortality and full of glory, with all the treasures of heaven at command because redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Those entrusted with responsibility are on test and trial by this standard to show whether they are wise men in positions of trust, for God will punish all acting in His stead who misrepresent Christ in character, words, and attitude by hurting, bruising, discouraging, or crippling His children for whom He gave His precious life.