There is, it would seem, an intimate relationship between Jesus and the Father God. Taken at face value and without much consideration it could be misconstrued to say either they are different or they are the same; both being misunderstandings of the nature of a God, it turns out. But as John points out, one cannot claim to know God or to abide in Him except for through Christ, and it is our relationship with Christ that defines and determines our relationship to God. This is one of those non-negotiables of Christianity that, if not understood, can lead to great theological deficiencies.
In truth, Christ forms the lynchpin, the cornerstone of all theology as He is the bridge between man and God, having condescended from heaven to take the form of man in order that He might take all sin upon His flesh so as to irradicate the severe barrier that obstructed man's relationship to the Father. This the Son did as a fulfillment to the promises made to Adam and to Abraham and to David. Thus whoever has the Son, because of who He is and what He did, also confesses the Father. You cannot have the one without the other for they are, ultimately One (and though more could be said about this, as well as the presence of the Holy Spirit, I'll choose to leave it there for now).
In the end, this verse, which is echoed all over John's writing, says all we need to know about Jesus' theological primacy in terms of how vital it is that we would confess Christ. Let us not forget this fundamental assertion of Christianity but let us form our lives around it!
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