Bible Truth #250 - 1 John 4:15

1 John 4:15

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. (KJV)

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (NASB)

Short and sweet. But it’s a hard Truth that many refuse to admit. Whoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him.

Please take another look at the structure of this verse. It is a simple matter of fact that the “cause and effect” of this passage is God dwelling in a man causes the effect of his confession of the Christ. The way to understand this verse is Whoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God IS saved, not WILL BE saved. Will there ever be a time when a lost man confesses Jesus is the Son of God? The answer is a resounding NO!! It is not because a lost man will not, nor will he ever of his own volition, confess Jesus is the Son of God. This is the Truth which the Bible states over and over again.

Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12, John 9:5) and in John 3:20 Jesus states that everyone who does evil (a lost man can do nothing BUT evil) hates the Light and WILL NOT come into the Light. That is why a lost man, a man whose every imagination and thought is ONLY evil, continually (Genesis 6:5), a man who can never please God because he does EVERYTHING in the flesh (Romans 8:8), that is why a lost man not only WILL never confess Jesus is the Son of God, but neither CAN he ever confess Jesus is the Son of God.

Please consider: wouldn’t a lost man making this confession please God? Of course he would which is why he won’t and can’t do it! The Bible says a lost man CAN’T PLEASE GOD (Romans 8:8). Hence a lost man will never confess Jesus is the Son of God. God must save him first! Only then can a man confess Jesus is the Son of God. It all adds up.

Bottom Line: Whoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God does so because God dwells in him.