The heart of the gospel

1 John 4:14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. We are encouraged today by the testimony of John on behalf of his fellow apostles. They are firsthand, eye-witnesses that God, the Father, sent Jesus to be the only Savior of humans in this world. These verses, according to C.H. Dodd, Weld h New Testament theologian and scholar, is “the high-water mark of the thought of the epistle.” One cannot separate the deity of Christ, the love of God, and our love for God and man. Any theology that denies that Jesus is God in the flesh “robs God of the glory of His love, and robs man of the one belief that generates a perfect love within him” (John Stott, Tyndale NT commentary on the Epistles of John). Our faith in Christ and love for Him are grounded in the testimony of the apostles. In vs. 6, John wrote, “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us.” In this verse, we have the heart of the gospel and the primary mission of the apostles, namely, to testify to, proclaim, and declare who Jesus is, the reason for His coming, and the hope of salvation to all who believe. He was the Son of God, sent to be the Savior of the world. He came to save us from our sin and from living for ourselves. Paul said it this way to the Galatians in Galatians 1:3-5, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.” This gospel is the power of salvation to all who believe (Rom. 1:16). It is the foundation given us by the great apostles, one of whom was John, and who penned this wonderful verse of hope. May we be encouraged today to live to love with Jesus as we anchor our lives into the gospel of God given to us by His chosen apostles.