No One Seeks God—the reality of being a finite creature and the shortfall of human religion

This piece comes from a reading of John 1:9-13.

Whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist or something else, there is something we all treasure immensely—life. People work to preserve their lives and give their lives meaning. Much of our human religion is the result of us simply trying to live fulfilling lives on this earth. Even the atheists have an idea about how to live a quality life. That is our most valued treasure. Life is so valuable that we even develop religion whereby we are made promises about the afterlife even thought no one has been there to see what that is actually like. We value life such that we have an insatiable need to prepare for life after the death of the body. Every society since the dawn of humanity has had that need. Muslims seek rewards in Paradise. Jews seek to avoid Sheol. Christians try to build up their treasures in Heaven. Life is something we all value. There’s the rub; No matter our religion, none of us naturally seeks after God. What we seek is value or longevity for our own lives. John wrote in his Gospel that life is the light of men.

John also referred to Jesus as the true light. People want life. Life is only found in Jesus. John claimed that by coming into the world, the Light, Jesus, enlightens every man. When John wrote that there was the true light, his statement is in the imperfect tense; it is a past reality that continues indefinitely. This light, having come into the world, enlightens all people—present tense. When John now describes Jesus, a person greater than the life we prize so much, he plays heavily on the word for light. Φως does φωτίζει. Light enlightens. In a major sense, John has taken this thing everyone wants and seeks, life, and claims that there is something greater all people need that no one seeks after. Everyone seeks life. No one know where to really find it. When the true light came, He began enlightening people.

We know God is unsearchable. We know all people are looking for something greater than the momentary pleasures of this life. John is claiming that Jesus existed in the beginning with God. Jesus was God in the beginning. Jesus, in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets, is God visiting His people. He is revealing God in true form. He is enlightening people. No mere human can do it because no mere human has that kind of access, no matter what cult leaders, gnostics, and so-called fathers worldwide claim. God is the only one who can reveal God. Science can’t do it. Human religion can’t do it. Preachers can’t do it. Only God can, and He came—the light of the world to enlighten all people.

John makes that fact known in the next verse. Jesus was in the world. The world was made through Jesus. Yet, the world did not recognize Him. Many well-meaning preachers and teachers read this shallowly in the English. They will teach as if Jesus was born and wasn’t recognized by the people. That may be true, but John is getting at something much more integral to his gospel account.

When he wrote that Jesus was in the world, he wrote in the imperfect tense. It is a past action that continues indefinitely. This sentence does not claim that Jesus came into the world. He simply was in the world. The way he was in the world is the same way His presence in the world continues. Since the creation, Jesus has always been in the world.

When John wrote that the world was made through Jesus, he wrote in the aorist tense. He didn’t write in the past-tense, which is interesting to me. His tense denoted a past but undefined action. He didn’t care to pinpoint an exact time this happened. He simply claimed, when it happened, it happened. Over however much time it took, it was all done through Jesus. John cared very little about the timing of it all. He cared much about honoring Jesus, the Word in the beginning.

In the same sort of undefined past tense, John claims that the world did not know Jesus. John is clearly not talking about people refusing to recognize Jesus after His incarnation. He is talking about all that time from the moment of creation onward, when Jesus was in the world but invisible and unsearchable. Even though Jesus was in the world, even though the world was created through Jesus, people could not see Him. No wonder people had to invent their own religions worldwide. No wonder people became godless people. All they had were stories passed down by their ancestors. They could not see God. Now, though, the light has come into the world to enlighten all people—of every tribe, nation, tongue, religious perspective, socio-economic status, and under every flag. John had a very high view of Jesus Christ. He is blatantly writing about how Jesus came to bring everyone together in spite of our ignorance concerning the divine. Any religious perspective that claims it has all the answers provided by people, the new scientific religion of atheism included, is delusional. No one has all the answers because we can’t observe everything. We weren’t there to observe beginnings. We aren’t there to observe the end. We certainly can’t see all the invisible stuff there seems to be. There is only one true light—the one who was in the beginning with God and was God in the beginning. He came to enlighten all people.

Now, we get to the incarnation. He came to His own, and they did not recognize Him. God chose a people and told them He was coming to visit. He gave them all the signs hundreds of years in advance, and they did not pay attention. When Jesus showed up in approximately 4 BC, they didn’t recognize Him even though He came to His own—the very people God told explicitly about His coming.

To everyone who received Him, He gave the right to be children of God. John was still using the aorist tense—past but undefined. John began with the Jews who witnessed Jesus during His incarnate life and ministry. Though many did not recognize Jesus, some did. To them, Jesus gave the right to be children of God. That’s not where Jesus’s salvific work ended. To everyone who believes in His name, present tense, Jesus gives the same right—to be children of God.

John took a bold step. The gospel is the power of salvation first for the Jew and then to the Gentile. First to those who saw Jesus and recognized Him, then to all those who believe in His name. The promise for both groups is the same. There is only one family of God. Those who recognized Jesus personally and those who simply believe in Jesus’s name are all equally children of God. There is no hierarchy except to say Jesus is Lord and everyone who is in Him is a child of God. The promise was for them. It is also for us. Today is the day of salvation. Repent and believe the gospel.

We finally get to the climax of this section.

…who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

If God is unsearchable, who can be saved? Is religion about our works or sacraments? Can we come to Jesus or add anything whatsoever to our salvation? John drops a line, and then drops the proverbial mic.

Those who recognized Jesus and who now believe in His name are not children of God because they were born of blood, will of the flesh, or will of man. They believe and are part of the kingdom simply because they were born of God.

To be born of blood is to be born physically from the womb. Our salvation is explicitly not based on our ancestry. The faith of our parents does not ensure our own salvation. It’s more personal.

To be born of the will of the flesh is to be saved based on our own wants or desires. No one wills to come to Christ and makes it so. For, to fulfill our own desires is the selfish religion of the world. No one can simply attain salvation by willing or working according to the flesh in any way. There is no prayer, sacrament, religious confession, or action that can save a person or add to his salvation. We are not the kings, here. Jesus is.

To be born of the will of man is to be saved based on others’ evangelistic work. I value evangelism greatly, but my practicing evangelism does not determine anyone else’s salvation. I believe God loves people more than I do. I believe He will win people to Himself regardless of my effort. I believe if we were silent, the very rocks would cry out. So, my motivation is not to keep people out of Hell. John says clearly here that it does not happen by the will of man. My motivation is simple faithfulness to Christ and participation with Him in His work because I want to be near Him doing what He is doing.

People recognize Jesus or believe in His name not by ancestry, their own wills, or the wills of other people. We believe because we have been born of God—and Jesus will talk much more about that when we get to John 3.

This truth keeps us humble in our faith. It helps us to understand why some people don’t seem to recognize Jesus like we do. They must be born again to even see the kingdom of heaven (cf. John 3). In response to this passage, I have to ask whether our religion is self-made or we have actually been born again. Did we confess our faith because we wanted to gain something? Or, were we confessing in response to God already working in our lives. False conversions are real; So are false religions. There are people who have a false sense of security in their faith from every religious perspective. If we made a confession or practice sacraments or religious works to gain something, yes even eternal life for ourselves, we have a vain religion. If we have been born of God, born again, and that has led to a selfless confession. That’s something real. We naturally seek life. There is something greater—Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only source of life for all people in this world and the one to come.