Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Wednesday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: 1 John 5:1-3 (NKJV)

5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Devotion

The heavenly Father begot the Son of God before all worlds. The Christ is the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, not made. The Holy Spirit, who bears witness that Jesus is the Son of God, proceeds from the Father and the Son. There is only one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Those who love the Father also love His Only-Begotten Son, the Beloved in whom He is well-pleased. With verse 2, St. John shows that someone with true faith not only loves the Father and His Son, but also loves the children of God. 1 John 4:21 says, “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” In the believer, there is both love for God and love for fellow believers.

Before we go on, we need to clarify that the word “commandment(s)” in St. John’s writings do not always refer to law in the narrow sense (as in the Ten Commandments). Sometimes God’s commandments include when He commands us to believe or to trust. When verse 3 says, “And His commandments are not burdensome,” St. John is speaking of faith and the fruits of faith. 1 John 3:23-24 says, “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.” The command to believe in God (faith) and love one another (fruit of faith) is none other than the gift God works through the Word and His Spirit.

We pray: O Lord, lead us to rightly regard your witness to our salvation in Jesus, your Only-Begotten Son. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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