According to my previous argument,[1] no one is able to come to Jesus, unless the Father draws him (John 6:44-45), because mankind is in a state of rebellion against God (Genesis 3). He has chosen to understand for himself what good is and what evil is (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:6), and he rejects the testimony of God (cp. Romans 1:28). Therefore, it stands to reason that such a one wouldn’t look for God in anything, unless God asserted himself in the man’s life in some way. The Lord does this via the Gospel. The record of Jesus is God’s testimony to man about his Son, and that record draws all men to Jesus (John 12:32). Although the Gospel represents the record of God, it is the testimony of men. It represents an objective claim preached by men about the Son of God (1John 5:9).
Having said this, those who believe this record have the witness of God (i.e. the Spirit of God) in themselves (1John 5:10). Something occurs within rebellious man, when he is willing to consider what God claims about himself. He is given faith or the ability to believe the record of Jesus, which doesn’t come from his own ability (cp. 1Corinthians 2:11, 14) but must be given him by God (Ephesians 2:8; John 6:64-65). Nevertheless, if this is true, and the Scripture cannot lie (John 10:35), how can John’s argument be true that he who doesn’t believe God testifies that God is a liar. If a man cannot believe the Gospel, unless he is given faith to do so by God, how can such an ignorant soul be judged as one calling God a liar because he doesn’t believe, in that he doesn’t have the Spirit of God to help him understand?
Mankind’s guilt doesn’t lie in disbelief but in his lack of willingness to consider God is who he claims to be (cp. Romans 1:28; Acts 6:11-14). God testifies that, if a man is willing to listen, God will make himself known to that man (John 14:15-18; cp. John 6:37). Therefore, it can be logically claimed that, if a man doesn’t believe God, namely what he claimed about his Son (1John 5:9), that unbeliever testifies God is a liar (1John 5:10), because he rejects the Gospel out of hand (Romans 1:28; 1John 5:10). It is evident in the Gospel narratives that God considers the testimony of these four men to be sufficient for anyone to believe. Therefore, even though the natural man is unable to understand spiritual matters (cp. 1Corinthians 2:9-14), the Gospel narratives have sufficient evidence to compel a man to believe, if that man is willing to consider what God claims about himself (John 5:43; cp. Acts 6:11-14). And, what is it that God testifies through Jesus? It is that he offers man eternal life, but eternal life comes only through Jesus (1John 5:11; cp. 1Timothy 6:13-16; John 1:9-13).
Therefore, if a man believes Jesus is Savior of the World, the Spirit of God abides in him, and it logically follows, if this is true, the believer has eternal life. On the other hand, the unbeliever has rejected Jesus as Savior of the Word, and in doing so, continues in his rebellion against God, which is to prove to himself what good is and what evil is, thus rejecting the testimony of God, and accounting him a liar, and untrustworthy. How, then, and by any stretch of the imagination could the unbeliever have the Spirit of God dwelling in him? If he hasn’t the Spirit of God, he doesn’t have eternal life. There is no possible alternative.
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[1] See my previous study: The Witness of Men & the Witness of God.
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