DAILY DEVOTION: 1 JOHN 5:10: What it means to be born again from above

By Stan Brown

I John 5:10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.

In this letter John has spent a great deal of space speaking to believers about fellowship with the Father and the Son, about knowing God, about walking in the light, about obeying God’s commandments, about loving one another. In essence, he has been exhorting believers to live in a manner that expresses who they are as God’s message of love to the world. 
 
Now he gets down to the basics as he describes what it means to be born again from above.  In describing this he uses the same phrase that he used more than thirty times in his Gospel as he writes the one who believes in the Son of God.  In the Gospel he begins in John 1:12 as he describes the children of God with the words even those who believe in His name.  He concludes in John 20:31 as he says but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.  In between, he repeats the phrase over thirty times including the precious statement in John 3:16 where he simply says whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  So. How do we know that we have eternal life?  It is because we are included in those who believe in the Son of God (Nothing more and nothing less).  And when we begin to doubt, He has placed the witness of the Holy Spirit within us.  Ah yes, John wants us to deeply experience fellowship with God and here is where it begins with the one who believes in the Son of God.
 
We have another choice.  We can refuse to believe God.  In doing so we call Him a liar.  God Himself has given testimony concerning His Son.  This testimony is sourced in God, Himself.  That testimony was made BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES (the Spirit, the water and the blood).  In the previous verse, John has written the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God that He has testified of His Son.  It may be easy to call God a liar now because people do not stand in His physical presence as they deny the truth of what He says.  One day those who fail to believe will stand in His presence and admit that they have made Him a liar through their failure to believe what He has said concerning His Son.  In a sense all stand in His presence right now as He is visible in His creation.  Just as His presence in creation is denied so His testimony concerning His Son is denied.  God always speaks the truth.  We must be included in the words the one who believes in the Son of God.
 
Here is where the rubber meets the road.  If we believe in the Son of God, we possess life.  If we fail to believe we are saying to the One who possesses all power, “You Lie”.