July 2011
Please note the following penetrating insights into a culture and society that has forsaken God and rejected His Word, written by John Stott nearly 50 years ago. What Stott writes here is every bit as applicable for today as it was for the 1960’s:
The mid-twentieth century is an epoch of fundamental insecurity. Everything is changing; nothing is stable. New nations are constantly coming to birth. New social and political patterns are continually evolving. The very survival of civilization is in doubt before the threat of a nuclear war. These external insecurities are reflected in the world of the mind and of the spirit. Even the Christian Church, which has received a “kingdom which cannot be moved” (Hebrews 12:28) and is charged to proclaim Him who is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) now speaks its message softly, shyly and without conviction. There is a widespread distrust of dogmatism and a preference for agnosticism or free thought. Many Christians are filled with uncertainty and confusion.
Against this background, to read the Epistles of John is to enter another world altogether, a world whose marks are assurance, knowledge, confidence and boldness. The predominant theme of these Epistles is Christian certainty. Their characteristic verbs are “to perceive” (15 times) and “to know” (25 times), while the characteristic noun is “confidence [of attitude]” or “boldness [of speech]”. The Christian’s certainty is twofold: Objective (that the Christian faith is true) and Subjective (that he himself has been born of God and possesses eternal life in Jesus Christ). Both are expounded by John, who takes it for granted that this double assurance is right and healthy in all Christian people. His teaching about these certainties, their nature and the grounds on which they are built, urgently needs to be heard and heeded today.
A fresh certainty about Christ and about eternal life, based upon the grounds which John gives, can still lead Christian people into that boldness of approach to God and of testimony to men, which is as sorely needed as it is sadly missing in the Church today. (Source: The Epistles of John: A Commentary by John R.W. Stott, pgs. 50, 54).
May God restore this ‘Biblical certainty’ in His people (through the study of passages like 1, 2, and 3 John), starting today in you and me!
David
