"...for whosoever is born of God overcometh the world..."

The Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
Easter I, April 15, 2012

“…For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world .”

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be alway acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.

1 John 5:4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

John the beloved Disciple begins our Epistle selection for the day with a bold statement, a strong statement of victory and achievement. It is fitting that he should say so in this blessed season of Easter, for this is the time of Christ’s, and thus our, exultation over death, despair and perdition. This is our time of victory. In the big, big, scheme of things, Good has won. Evil is defeated.

John goes on to tell us these bold and stirring words, that we who believe in the Son of God, that is, those of us born anew into Him through the waters of Holy Baptism, are able to overcome the world. In fact, in Christ, we the church, through faith, has overcome the world.

This is a statement worthy of examination. While on the surface it seems unlikely, when one surveys the relative powerlessness of many Christians around the world. We are speaking of those who are persecuted for the faith. Although we in this country are blessed to be free from persecution, in many places it is not so. In China, in the Middle East and in parts of Africa, persecution is very real and very active. There are people, even today, who are suffering and dying for the faith of Christ.

Thus, one might be tempted to look upon these martyrs and say, “Overcome the World? Rather the world has overcome them…” Yes, that would be the obvious conclusion and it would be patently wrong.

Consider this. As the disciple is not above his master, nor is the servant above his lord, so are these blessed saints in relation to Christ. As Jesus told those women who bewailed him on his way Golgotha, “For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” In other words, if the powers that be dared to strike the Head, what will happen to those that follow Him? Good question. Yes, the World shall strike them, just as it did their Master. They too shall suffer persecution, perhaps deprivation, and even death. Just as those in the early Church did, many will become as the “offscouring of all things”, in St. Paul’s words. Yet, just as the World poured all its hate and maliciousness on Christ, thinking it had defeated Him by depriving Him of earthly life, it was totally wrong. Christ overcame the hate of the World through Love. He asserted His Lordship over death and despair by rising from the dead. Hate and evil were totally frustrated and totally defeated. Christ’s victory was complete.

Because the faithful disciple is like his master, those suffering for the faith, through faith, will be glorified like their Master. They too will experience the glorious overcoming of the world, just as Christ their Lord and Master did. Perhaps they are cast down for a while, as was Christ, but their glory will forever outshine the malignancy of those that put them to their glorious, but somber fate. They too, have overcome the world through faith.

Yet, sometimes, when we see the vicissitudes of the Church in the World, we ponder St. Paul’s word in 1Cor. 1:26: 1 Corinthians 1:26 ”For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.”

Of course, St. Paul was referring to the origins of the early church. We know that it grew, not from an endorsement from the rich and powerful, but rather despite a benign indifference from the rich and powerful. This point of view changed into an active persecution of Christianity by the time of the Emperor Diocletian. Thus, how can it be that we Christians overcome the world, especially when we consider what our Lord Himself said about the unjust steward in KJG Luke 16:8: “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.”

John answers this internal inquiry we might have when he says, “5 And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? In believing this, there is a sense that many Christians have “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” To use a well-worn but truthful phrase, that although we are in the world, we are not of the world. In other words, while we honor the Earth and our earthly existence as good and holy things, they are not ultimate. Earthly life does not, or should not, hold complete sway over us. We have seen its glitter and its illusory enticements, yet we are above them.

This is not to say that we Christians despise the good things in life, or earthly success, or worthy material possessions. Far be it from us to think that way! We recognize all these things as gifts from a loving Father in return for our labor and dedication. Most of us are not called to be poor holy hermits, huddled in a cave over our prayers. No, but our point is this: we overcome the world through our faith, our love and our charity. We acquire certain material things, sometimes in great abundance, but yet we do not give them power over us. We do not, or should not, let the material overwhelm the spiritual. If we do, we are in danger. Rather than overcome the world, we have consented to the world’s overcoming us. For the Christian, this should never be.

The Apostle John reinforces our faith that Christ is the One that Overcame as he presents to us Christ’s “credentials.” That is, there are witnesses to Christ’s existence, His glory and his Victory.
First, there is the Spirit of God, who bears witness to Christ constantly in our hearts, through our worship and ingestion of the Blessed Sacrament, and through our reading of the Word of God. All of this confirmation comes to through grace by the Holy Spirit. He is truth, according to the words of St. John.

Continuing, John tells us: “7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” Only in the Gospel and writings of John is Christ constantly referred to as the “the Word”. The most familiar reference being in John 1:1, where we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Divine Son of God in the Glory that he had at the beginning before the Worlds certainly bears witness to his human nature as well as his divine nature. We know that the Father bore witness to His Son directly, first at his Baptism, when God the Father spoke:
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Father spoke again at the Transfiguration, when Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah, becoming glistening white. He said, Luke 9:35 “And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.” The Holy Ghost also witnessed directly to Jesus at His Baptism, descending bodily upon Him in the form of a dove. We as Christians know that the Holy Spirit witnesses to us daily in our private meditations and prayers, as well as our weekly worship.

The importance of this little section of Scripture cannot be understated: it is proof text for the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Just as these three bear witness to Christ, they witness to us about the nature of God. He is One God in Three Persons, not three Gods, three Fathers, three Sons or three Spirits. The Holy Trinity is probably the most baffling, yet most powerful truths of Christianity. These three all bear witness to Christ.

John echoes this, as he says, “And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one”. Thus, we have a wonderful parallel of witness, both in heaven and on earth to Christ. As many Church fathers have taught us, and even modern writers like C.S. Lewis, things on earth are a faint reflection of things in heaven.

St John begins to close this discussion by stating that the witness of men of important, but the witness of God is greater. When we see the Scriptures through new eyes, spiritual eyes, and see the overwhelming evidence for the work and victory of Jesus Christ, we receive the witness in ourselves. Thus, we have this witness that Jesus Christ is Lord. To God’s eternal glory, we can only confess that Jesus Christ is Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we have the grace to confess this, it is well with us. In so doing, we are beginning to overcome the world.

The record God has given us is quite simple: it is the sum of the Gospel: “ And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 2 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

We give thanks to God that He has seen fit to call us into the fellowship of His Son… We give thanks the we, through Christ, have overcome the World. For this,we are indeed blessed, we are indeed fortunate; we are indeed the most thankful.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

AMEN
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.