1 John 5:12 (ESV) -- Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Every person is born into the world spiritually dead. Both Ephesians 2:1 and Colossians 2:13 explicitly state this condition humanity finds itself in. Human beings are dead spiritually because we are born from the seed of Adam. We inherit his guilt and sin nature. This deadness means that we cannot discern the things of God as we ought, and it means we cannot live for God as we ought. Our hearts are cold to His gospel. We chase after selfish desires and sinful impulses instead of submitting our lives to God and His Word. We’re dead. 

But John tells us in our passage today where life is found. In 1 John 5:12, John writes, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” This “life” that John speaks of has layers of meaning. First, we do not have spiritual life. We are dead. If we do not have the Son, Jesus, we do not have life. This is really simple. Apart from Christ, we remain dead in our trespasses and sins. The good news though, and implication of this, is that spiritual life is found in the Son of God alone. If you have Christ, you have life. The second thing we see is this “life” is eternal life in God’s Kingdom. If we do not have the Son, we will perish eternally in our sins. Hell is the eternal destiny of those dead in their sins. But if we are in Christ, there is life in Him. Eternal life is the inheritance of all Christians who have the Son.

So the question this raises for our own hearts is this: do you have the Son? Are you in Christ? This question is the most important question we can answer. Only through faith in Jesus do we see our dead hearts come to life. Only through the Son will we have eternal life in Heaven.

If you are in the Son, praise God for His kindness to you. It is a gift of God to have life in the Son. We don’t deserve it. We’re not owed it. So if you enjoy this gift, praise Him for the grace that came into your life through Jesus.

Reflection & Journal:
- What are some evidences of being dead spiritually?
- Where does John say life is found? How do we become recipients of this life?
- How should life in the Son affect our lives in this world? What promises does it offer us in the life to come?

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