But, one might ask, what of the person’s inability to believe? After all, one is saved when one believes. However, Jesus tells us that if a person truly believes then that person truly loves.
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 41 “I do not receive glory from men; 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? (John 5:39-44).
Jesus is teaching in this text that men are unwilling to come to Him in order to have life. (v. 40). He then tells them that He knows that they do not have the love of God in them (v. 42). He then asks them (v. 44) how they can believe when they receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that is from God? We seek the glory from and for the one that we have a supreme love for. If we seek our own glory, it is because we love ourselves supremely. If we truly seek the glory of God, it is because we love God supremely. One cannot believe in truth unless that person comes to Christ for life and that life is in seeking glory from and for God. In fact, Christ is saying one does not have the ability to believe apart from seeking glory from God. One will only seek the glory of God in truth if one loves God and seeks His glory rather than loving and seeking the glory of self.
John 17:3 sets the same truth out in a slightly different way, but also in a way that is instructive of John 5: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” We know that a person must believe to receive eternal life as the following verses set out:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44).
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).
Knowing God is surely connected with faith and belief. Knowing God is also more than a cognitive knowledge, but it is more of an intimate knowledge and that of union with another. Eternal life, then, is to be in communion with God. “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life–2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us–3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:1-3). In fact, these verses show that Christ Himself is the eternal life and it is only in communion with the Father that one has eternal life.
I John goes on to teach us that the love of God is seen in keeping His word and that is how one knows that he or she is in Him: “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him” (I John 2:5). The text then goes on a few verses later to say this: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death” (I John 3:14). The person that has eternal life is the person who loves believers. The person who does not love is a person who abides in death. Then I John 4:8 sets the matter in concrete for us: “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” The clarity these verses bring us can hardly be denied. On the one hand we must believe in order to have eternal life. Yet Christ Himself is eternal life. Eternal life is defined in John 17:3 as knowing God and Christ, yet we are told that a person who does not love does not know God. 1 John 5:20 almost completes the picture for us: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” Knowing God and having eternal life is far more than just an intellectual knowledge, but it is to be in Christ and it is to be in fellowship with the Father through Christ. I John 1:1-8 tied in with I John 5:20 simply explode with meaning for our subject at hand. Eternal life is not a matter of an intellectual belief; it is a matter of being in Christ and being in communion with the Father in love.
Galatians 5:6 also shows this in terms of what true salvation is: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” All of these verses (and many more not listed) bring a fuller understanding to what eternal life really is and what it means to truly believe. It also shows why humanity is indeed described in Scripture as having inability. The inability of humanity is not a weakness or defect in any part of man whether inward or outward, it is a moral issue of man being at enmity with God. As long as man hates God, man will not believe or love God. When the truth of God is set out before human beings, it is resisted. The more truth that is set out about who God is, the more it is resisted. Man’s inability is directly linked and inextricably intertwined with his animosity and hatred of God. That is why he is morally inexcusable for what he does and that is why we must teach the true nature of faith.
Man must know that he is dependent on God for love for God as there is no source of love in man or anywhere else in the universe but God. It is not until God pours out the love of Himself in man (Romans 5:5-8) that man will love God. It is not just a matter of a man working up some form of belief; it is a matter of man believing in such a way that he loves God. That is not possible apart from the work of God. No free-will can ever love God apart from the true source of love, which is God Himself. No man or woman can ever work up love from a heart that hates God. Man’s inability is his absence of love and the presence of hatred for God. An intellectual belief will not overcome that and only the presence of eternal life in the heart who is Christ Himself will enable a person to believe. Eternal life is defined as knowing God. One must believe and love God in order to know Him. Man is unable to believe of himself and must be enabled to do so. Inability is at the heart of the Gospel because if man sees that he cannot, it is good news that Christ can.
God Loves... Himself 
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