1st John 2:23-24
23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; —When people deny the Son, they show that they do not have the Father. Hebrews 10:28-31 tells us that if it’s the case that 28 Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. According to the word of the law, then 29 How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? Yes, someone may, Lord forbid, deny Christ when they are asked, but more often there is a denial of Him in the way that people live their lives, no matter what they call themselves. It is a person’s relationship with Jesus that determines their relationship with the Father. See John 5:22-3 John 15:23 , etc.
Relationship with God- In 2 John 9 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. This lets us know that to have a relationship with God, then we need to have a relationship with Christ. And the only relationship with Christ that is available, the only way that we can come to Jesus is on the basis of Him being our Lord and Savior. And if He is our Lord and Savior, then we will remain, abide in His teaching, the true Word of God.
Adopted as sons and daughters
The only way that we can be brought into God’s family is by being born again, by understanding that there is no way that we can come to God on our own merits, by our own works, and accepting God’s free offer of Grace to do what we cannot. Admitting that we have fallen short, sinned against a Holy God, and repenting, turning away from our sins, accepting Jesus’ payment for them.
Abba, Father
There is the tendency to over-emphasize God’s Fatherly love and under-emphasize the respect and obedience due to God as Father. Understanding how the phrase Abba, Father is used in the Bible helps us understand that a right relationship with God is based in following Jesus.
It can be used as Dad or Father by children asking something of their father, but it’s also used of teachers, rabbi, and those in authority to show respect, and submission to authority. You’re letting them know that you trust that they want what’s best for you. And, of course this child-like faith and trust is best put in God!
The word Abba first comes into the Bible in the story of Isaac and Abraham. 7 Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. Notice that the correct translation of Abba is “My Father, which is a little different than Dad or Daddy.
We see this combination of intimacy and respect again when David is praying for a blessing for the collection that he has taken up to build the Temple in 1 Chron 29:19. We see submission and respect, as in Isaiah 64:8 But now, Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter, And all of us are the work of Your hand. And, in many places, God describes Himself as a loving Father to Israel, but one that demands obedience, saying in Jer 3:19, Jer 31:9, etc. When we come to the New Testament, we see both of these elements in Jesus’ use of the word at the Garden of Gethsemene in Mark 14:35-36 35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began praying that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. 36 And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” Jesus is suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood, and He knows that this suffering will only increase over the next day. And so, His heartfelt cry to the father is filled with an expression of His intimate relationship with the Father as He cries out to Him in prayer. But it is also an expression of submission to God’s authority “Yet not what I will but what You will”. And, it’s an example: If Jesus could remain strong in carrying the sins of the world and dying on the cross for us, and still call God Abba, then so can we when we’re in a trial.
In Gal 4:4-7 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” This adoption as sons and daughters of God is through Jesus’ dying for our sins on the cross, our redemption. It is only through the Holy Spirit, described here as the Spirit of Jesus, that allows us to cry out “Abba! Father! A correct understanding of Jesus as both our Lord and Savior enables us to have a correct understanding of God as Both Father, and The Great I AM, personal provider, and yet also King of the Universe!? And it is following Jesus in walking with God in Him that allows us to truly cry out Abba! Father! From the bottom of our hearts in sincerity.
Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father. ‘” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Notice what motivates this prayer: It’s the “Spirit of sonship” which stands in opposition to “the spirit of bondage to fear,”. And again Paul emphasizes that it is through the Spirit, that we cry out from an obedient, submissive heart to God
the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
It’s critical that we understand that our relationship with God is made possible by Jesus and is In Jesus. “In Him” means remaining in an abiding relationship with God through Jesus. And so, the one who confesses the Son is the one who has a personal relationship with the Father also. Those who reject Jesus, even if they want to have a legalistic relationship with God, will end up being a self-righteous son of the devil, who ends up serving the enemy instead of God. There’s no other way to have a relationship with God, but through Jesus.
24 As for you, see that what you heard from the beginning remains in you.
The acknowledgement that Jesus was fully 100% human, and fully 100% God the Son was part of the message that these believers received when they first believed. The fact that it was Jesus, qualified by His humanity as a kinsman-redeemer, and qualified by His deity as the perfect lamb of God, without spot or blemish, who died on the cross as Messiah and redeemer, and was raised from the dead as proof that God accepted His sacrifice. The centrality of this needed to remain in them, because this Truth was the center of the gospel (see also 1st Cor 15:1-4). Receiving and walking out the true teaching of the Word is how we keep walking with God in Jesus; to “continue acting according to” the word of God that we have received in obedience (see John 15:7. 7 If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. Continuing to walk with God involves a choice, John emphasizes that the personal nature of Scripture’s influence in the life of the believer, the influence it has is contingent on each person’s willful choices. And those who yield to God in obedience, walking out His Word, “then you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” We will continue to have a close walk with the Lord, as we abide with Him in obedience. It is an active abiding on the part of the Christian and a wanting of a “continuing relationship” with God as we deny the flesh, and instead walk by the Spirit. We have to do our part in nurturing our relationship with God, by maintaining an active prayer life, listening to the urging of the Holy Spirit, staying in the Word, just as human relationships need to be nurtured. The impact of these choices will be profound on your relationship with God. This continued vital, abiding, close relationship with God results in greater understanding of Him, a fellowship with Him, a leaning on Jesus as our advocate who we can trust, the continued anointing by the Holy Spirit as we walk with God, a walking in hope during this life, a greater experience of God’s love, and finally the assurance of eternal life.