Having the Son Is Not a Label. It Is Life or It Is Nothing

I am going to teach this the same way I would teach it to my own people, plainly, carefully, and seriously, because this is not a small issue. This is one of the most misunderstood and eternally dangerous areas in modern Christianity.

I want to be very clear from the beginning. This is not about judging people. This is about clarity. Scripture gives us clarity because eternity is at stake.

What Jesus meant by “having” Him

When the Bible says you either have the Son or you do not, that language is intentional. John is not talking about opinions, labels, or church attendance. He is talking about possession in the sense of relationship and union.

Having the Son means Christ has taken up residence in you. Not symbolically. Not emotionally. Spiritually real.

It means your life is no longer your own. You belong to Him.

This is why knowing about Jesus is not the same thing as having Him.

You can know facts about someone without belonging to them.
You can believe someone existed without trusting them.
You can agree with ideas without submitting your life.

Millions of people do exactly that with Jesus.

They believe He existed.
They believe He taught good things.
They believe Christianity has value.
They believe the Bible has wisdom.

But belief at that level does not save. It never has.

Jesus exposed the difference Himself

Jesus never allowed people to hide behind religious language.

He said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

That one sentence cuts straight through surface Christianity.

Jesus is saying this very plainly. Calling Him Lord does not make Him Lord. Obedience reveals who actually rules your life.

Many people say Lord with their mouth, but they still make the final decisions. They still decide what sin they will keep. They still decide what parts of Scripture they will obey. They still decide what truth they will accept.

Jesus does not recognize that as belonging to Him.

Believing is not the same as belonging

This part shocks people when they actually read it slowly.

In John 8, Scripture says many believed in Jesus. These were not atheists. These were not mockers. These were believers.

And yet Jesus says to them, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.”

Then He goes on to tell them they do not belong to God.

So here is the reality. You can believe something about Jesus and still not be His.

Believing, in the way modern culture uses the word, is mental agreement. Saving faith is submission and trust.

Holding to His teaching means His words govern you. They do not sit beside your opinions. They overrule them.

That is what having the Son looks like in real life.

Fruit reveals the root

Jesus constantly used fruit because fruit cannot be faked long term.

He said a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

He was not teaching perfection. He was teaching direction and nature.

A person who has the Son has a new root. Over time, that root produces repentance, humility, obedience, and a growing hatred for sin.

A person who does not have the Son may look religious, but their life remains self centered, defensive about sin, and unchanged at the core.

Religious activity is not fruit.
Bible knowledge is not fruit.
Church attendance is not fruit.

Fruit is internal change that shows up externally.

Relationship, not religious work

This is one of the most sobering warnings Jesus ever gave.

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name…’ and I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.’”

Notice what Jesus does not say.

He does not say, I knew you and then rejected you.
He says, I never knew you.

These people did things in His name. Powerful things. Public things. Impressive things.

But they were never His.

This proves something very important. Ministry activity does not equal relationship. Doing Christian things does not mean you belong to Christ.

Having the Son means being known by Him. That is relational language. That is covenant language.

Love and obedience are inseparable

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Love, in Scripture, is not a feeling. It is loyalty.

When you love Christ, His words matter.
When you love Christ, disobedience troubles you.
When you love Christ, you cannot live comfortably in rebellion.

You may stumble. You may struggle. You may fail. But you cannot make peace with sin.

That is one of the clearest signs of having the Son.

A person who does not have the Son can live in contradiction while feeling justified.
A person who has the Son feels conviction even when no one else sees.

Being born again is not a metaphor

When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, a deeply religious man, He did not say you need more study or better theology.

He said, “You must be born again.”

That means a new source of life.

Christianity is not behavior modification. It is life replacement.

You do not clean up your old life and call it Christian. God gives you new life in Christ.

That new life produces new desires, new priorities, and new convictions.

This is exactly what John means when he says whoever has the Son has life.

How John ties this all together

John is not inventing new theology. He is echoing Jesus.

When John says whoever has the Son has life, he is saying exactly what Jesus said in different words.

Life is not in religion.
Life is not in morality.
Life is not in sincerity.
Life is not in belief alone.

Life is in Christ.

And if Christ lives in you, your life will change. Not instantly. Not perfectly. But undeniably.

Why this matters so much today

We live in a culture where Christianity has been reduced to identity instead of surrender.

People call themselves Christian because they grew up that way.
Because they agree with certain values.
Because they attend church.
Because they read Scripture.
Because they dislike certain sins more than others.

None of that means you have the Son.

This is why so many people are shocked by the condition of the church. The problem is not that Christianity does not work. The problem is that many people practicing it do not possess Christ.

John writes so that people can know where they truly stand.

Not to condemn.
To awaken.

Because eternity is not decided by what you call yourself. It is decided by whether you belong to the Son.

That is why this is serious.
That is why this matters.
And that is why Scripture speaks so clearly.