Assurance of our eternal life with Jesus
Seeing Jesus ● Tests of fellowship: Obedience, Love, Faith ● Tests for Deceivers ● *Assurance of Eternal Life | Edition 2
Passage Summary
Previous passages:
1 John 1:1–2:2 Seeing Jesus - Picture Frames □□
1 John 2:3-27 Tests of fellowship: obedience, love, faith - Is It a Duck? ꙭ
1 John 2:28–4:6 Tests to expose deceivers - Purifying Gold Ꙩ
August 28th passage:
1 John 4:7—5:21 Assurance of our eternal life with Jesus - Clouds ∞
4.0 Assurance of our eternal life with Jesus - symphony, third movement and finale
Links to full Bible text in outline: 1 John 4:7-21 and 1 John 5:1-21
[4.1] Let us love one another, for God is love, and if we love we are born of God, 1 John 4:7-12
God’s essential character, and grace in sending his Son to die in our place, is love — and we must practice this self-sacrificial love to one another
The world’s “love” fails because of sin and rejection of God’s grace
[4.2] God’s Spirit in us is evidence we abide in him and he in us, so we must love one another, 1 John 4:13-21
4.2.1 God indwells us by his Spirit if we confess his Son, 1 John 4:13-16
4.2.2 If we abide in him, love is perfected in us, and we have confidence (again, Gk. parresia) for the day of judgment, 1 John 4:17-21
[4.3] Crescendo of the Three Tests of Fellowship - Obedience, love, and faith, 1 John 5:1-5
A review and musical crescendo of the three tests of fellowship — obedience in life, love for one another, and faith in Jesus Christ revealed in the word of God.
[4.4] Three Witnesses concerning the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and our assurance of eternal life, 1 John 5:6-17
4.4.1 The Three Witnesses of the Son of God - Spirit, water, and the blood, 1 John 5:6-12
Spirit - testifies of Jesus Christ, come in flesh, the Son of God
Water - the baptism of Jesus Christ to initiate and empower his mission of salvation
Blood - the culmination of Jesus’ mission of salvation, his death on the cross
4.4.2 Our assurance of eternal life is a confident certainty because of Jesus’ incarnation, his baptism for the mission of salvation, and his perfect sacrifice for sin, 1 John 5:13-17
[4.5] Three affirmations of the faith and John’s concluding exhortation, 1 John 5:18-21
4.5.1 [#1] Anyone born of God does not practice sin, and God’s Son keeps us, 1 John 5:18
4.5.2 [#2] Because we are born of God, we are not in the grip of Satan, the evil one, 1 John 5:19
4.5.3 [#3] God’s Son has come in the flesh, and he has given us understanding to know the true God, 1 John 5:20
4.5.4 Keep (guard) yourselves from idols, God-substitutes, 1 John 5:21
END PASSAGE SUMMARY
Text and Exposition
4.0 Assurance of our eternal life with Jesus - symphony, third movement and finale
At every step in John’s epistle, he provides succinct application statements for his line of argument. John’s declarations are always surrounded by application to the lives of his readers. If you live in the 21st century, you are included among John’s readers.
Remember from the opening in 1 John 1:1-10, John has a focus on eyewitness testimony of Jesus Christ incarnate — the life witnessed by the apostles and the message of eternal life in him. The message is proclaimed so hearers may, by faith, have fellowship with God, with the apostles, and the growing church.
John also introduces a light vs. darkness theme — walking in the light is practicing the truth, but claiming to have fellowship with him but walking in darkness is self-deceit — there is no truth in that person. So obedience to God is necessary.
John’s first purpose statement of the letter is 1 John 2:1-2: “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” — but if anyone sins, God restores us through his Son who is both our advocate and once-for-all, substitutionary sin offering to satisfy God’s righteous requirements to atone (Leviticus 17:11) for sin.
In 1 John 2:3-4, John argues that our ongoing obedience confirms our genuine relationship with God, “but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected”. This concept is a segue to the entire section 4.0, Assurance of our eternal life with Jesus.
Below, the opening section 4.1 in 1 John 4:7-12 looks back to the beginning of the letter, builds on the theme of love in section 4.2, crescendos on the three part tests of fellowship (obedience, love, faith) in section 4.3, then applies this major theme of the letter to our assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ in section 4.4.
Everything leading to section 4.4 is evidence that we are “born of God” and thus may have confident assurance of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
The letter concludes with three affirmations of the faith in section 4.5 with a very brief but pertinent exhortation.
4.1 Let us love one another, for God is love, and if we love we are born of God, 1 John 4:7-12
John’s concern is to help his readers to understand the evidences that they are “born of God”:
1 John 2:29 “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”
1 John 3:9 “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”
1 John 4:7 (this section) “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
1 John 5:1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”
1 John 5:4 “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
1 John 5:18 “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
The results of this brief search are a remarkable summary of John’s line of argument in the letter. His aim is to assure his readers they may know they have eternal life.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation (see 1 John 2:2) for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 4:7–12). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
The evidence we are born of God and know (intimately, spiritually, and experientially) is if we “love one another” — see also John 13:34 “a new commandment I give you“ and Romans 13:8 “the one who loves another has fulfilled the law”.
God is the source of love — love is from God, v. 7 — and God has authority to define love — God is love, v. 8 — a gracious, self-sacrificial love always seeking the good of another, expressed in sending his own Son into the world “so that we might live through him”, v. 9.
For John, love is not defined in human terms or by human relationships. The one who does not love does not know God, v. 8. Biblical love is fundamentally ethical and moral because to know God by faith is to obey his word and to believe the message about the Son of God sent to die on our behalf to take away sin.
Purely human concepts of love fail because God’s authority or existence is rejected and/or sin is sanctioned. John does not say “love is God” thus “we are Gods” (as many cults teach). The world says “love is love”, justifying sinful relationships, or “love transcends [BLANK]”, where BLANK is filled by nebulous words “all”, “time”, or, more recently, “gender”.
God’s love is without sin and always self-sacrificially seeks the highest good for another.
This foundation for Christian ethics and morality — “love one another”— is unparalleled in world religions. God has authority to define love because love originated in him. The prime example for the commandment to “love one another” is found in God’s gracious act to send his Son, Jesus Christ, to fulfill the mission of the cross, and to offer eternal life by faith in his Son, both risen from the dead and serving at the right hand of God (Romans 8:34).
God is love, and he always acts in love. It is a simple concept but believers struggle to accept it. Love is found in his grace, mercy, and justice. It is the merciful and gracious act of God in Jesus Christ that obligates Christians to love one another with the same sacrificial, self-giving love.
“No one has ever seen God”, v. 12a. But certainly Jesus Christ has revealed God in his grace, glory, power, and majesty.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (John 1:17–18). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
“If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us”, v. 12b. The word perfected is “made whole or complete” (1 John 2:5). Remember, the abiding is always complementary — we abide in him and he in us (1 John 3:24). Love is made complete because those “born of God” by his love initiative obey his word, walk in the light, and so love one another. It is the completeness of this mutual fellowship that is “love perfected in us”.
4.2 God’s Spirit in us is evidence we abide in him and he in us, so we must love one another, 1 John 4:13-21
Another evidence we abide in God and he in us is the indwelling Spirit of God given to us at the moment of faith in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 8:9).
The Spirit of God is a divine person, one of the Trinity, and of the same essence (substance) as the Father and the Son.
4.2.1 God indwells us by his Spirit if we confess his Son, 1 John 4:13-16
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 4:13–16). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
The indwelling Spirit of God is unmistakable evidence of a mutual abiding — we abide in him and he in us. We received witness of the Spirit by his word, believed that word, and by faith testify to the apostolic message of Jesus Christ, the gospel — confessing both the message and the truth that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God”.
In this way, we both know and believe “the love that God has for us”. The gospel message is the essence of this love, God graciously acting on our behalf in his grace and mercy in our helplessness, that is, stranded in sin and separated from God (Ephesians 2:1-10).
John restates “God is love”, v. 16. Whoever abides in this love abides in God, and God in him. We are powerless to love apart from abiding in Jesus Christ.
4.2.2 If we abide in him, love is perfected in us, and we have confidence (again, Gk. parresia) for the day of judgment, 1 John 4:17-21
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 4:17–21). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
The love of God perfected in us gives us bold, courageous, unhindered freedom of speech (confidence) to face Jesus Christ “for the day of judgment”, v. 17. Review 1 John 2:28 and 1 John 3:21-22.
Why? “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear”, v. 18. Because Jesus Christ paid the price for sin for us, we have no fear of judgment, eternal death, but rather eternal life.
“We love because he first loved us.”, v. 19. John agrees with Paul — humankind does not seek God, but rather God seeks men and women to respond to his gospel of grace. This puts to rest the Pelagian theories of salvation — humankind seeks God and chooses salvation because of the merit of his or her individual works.
John repeats, ‘If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar’, v. 20. Why express the negative? John emphatically rejects the testimony of anyone laying claim to God’s love in their actions but simultaneously hating his brother or sister whom he has seen. It is not only hypocrisy, it is evidence that the claimant cannot love God who he has not seen.
Conclusion? “…whoever loves God must also love his brother (or sister)”, v. 21.
4.3 Crescendo of the Three Tests of Fellowship - Obedience, love, and faith, 1 John 5:1-5
A review and musical crescendo of the three tests of fellowship — obedience in life, love for one another, and faith in Jesus Christ revealed in the word of God.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 5:1–5). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Notice the repeated phrases:
born of God
one who believes
obey (keep) his commandments
we love…God
overcomes the world
our faith
John skillfully weaves together the central concepts of his letter in the tripartite tests for fellowship with God, the apostles, and the growing church: obedience, love, and faith.
To walk away from John’s letter unchanged by his words is to miss Seeing Jesus The God-man, The Three Tests of Fellowship, The Tests for Deceivers, and Assurance of Eternal Life with Jesus.
Everything is designed to lead us to our obligations in the Christian life and to our assurance of eternal life with Jesus Christ.
4.4 Three Witnesses concerning the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and our assurance of eternal life, 1 John 5:6-17
4.4.1 The Three Witnesses of the Son of God - Spirit, water, and the blood, 1 John 5:6-12
6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 5:6–12). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
In case you missed it :), this section is all about testimony and looks back to the Prologue and Introduction to the letter, 1 John 1:1-10.
The spotlight is on Three Witnesses confirming the apostolic message concerning Jesus Christ:
Spirit - testifies of Jesus Christ, come in flesh, the Son of God
Water - the baptism of Jesus Christ to initiate and empower his mission of salvation
Blood - the culmination of Jesus’ mission of salvation, his death on the cross
All agree that the testimony borne by the apostles concerning the Son is true.
“If we receive the testimony of men” — self promoting teaching of false prophets and false teachers — the testimony of God is greater because is centers about the historical Jesus, come in human flesh, witnessed by the apostles, initiated into a mission of salvation at his baptism audibly by the Father and centered on Jerusalem, and witnessed by many at his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead (see also 1 Corinthians 15).
Appropriating the testimony is by faith, and a life rejecting the testimony accuses God of being a liar.
This is why the question, “What have you done with Jesus Christ?”, is so important. It is the single most important question anyone should consider and answer because it affects destiny.
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”, v. 11. This testimony is the curriculum for discipleship and is to travel to the entire world (Matthew 28).
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”, v. 12. John does not offer an [X] Opt-Out checkbox. Many believe their eternal destiny is a ToDo list item for end of life and so life up to that point may safely ignore the testimony of Jesus Christ. This is dangerous self-deceit. But God is patiently waiting for all to hear and respond to the testimony concerning his Son.
4.4.2 Our assurance of eternal life is a confident certainty because of Jesus’ incarnation, his baptism for the mission of salvation, and his perfect sacrifice for sin, 1 John 5:13-17
4.4.2.1 Trio of Assurance, Confidence, and Boldness in prayer
13 I write these things to you who believe (see 1 John 5:10) in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 5:13–15). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
All of the letter to this point gathers evidences both without — and within our lives — that we may know that we know we have eternal life with Jesus Christ. The expensive word for this is Christian epistemology — how we know that we know God and our eternal destiny.
John addresses believers in v. 13. “In the name of the Son of God” is the essential character and reputation of Jesus Christ: Jesus the Savior of the world and coming Messiah-king.
This knowledge is not just intellectual assent, but an intimate, Spirit powered, and tangible, experiential knowledge of Jesus in us and we in him.
This, again, leads to a confidence (again, Gk. parresia) — open, bold, freedom of speech and freedom to approach — Jesus Christ and God the Father. This is not a disrespectful rushing-in to God’s presence and throne room. Instead, it is the understanding of the deep love God has for us and confidence in his presence.
And do we realize the outcome of this confidence?
if we ask anything according to his will he hears us, v. 14
if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him, v. 15
Many do not understand this confidence and so do not confidently experience the outcome of it. God loves us and saved us to live with him, not remain a cloistered, closet Christian. Act on this assurance in life, be bold in prayer and thanksgiving knowing his will revealed in the scriptures.
4.4.2.2 The sin leading to death
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 5:16–17). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
This section, of course, is a subject of much discussion among Christians ,and particularly in Christian scholarship. This author probably cannot shed more light on it than what has been penned over centuries. And I will most certainly rewrite this section of notes! :)
But two practical applications surface:
Believers should pray for another who has clearly fallen into sin not leading to death so God will give that one life, v. 16
There is a sin leading to death: it could be diminished blessing with severe consequences — legitimately per Hebrew word usage, especially in the Psalms; physical death; or eternal separation from God (see blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in Matthew 12:31-32 et al.) Anyone committing this sin is not a candidate for such intercession.
We should love one another, forgive one another in love, and pray for one another, especially those we witness struggling with sin. But beware self-righteousness. Remember the Pharisees (Pharisee=separated, that is, from sinners). Any confrontation of another ought to be done with grace and humility.
John reminds his readers that “all wrongdoing is sin” — and such sin “grieves the Spirit” (so Paul in Ephesians) — but God always offers restoration as we recognize sin and agree with him on (confess) it. God never turns his back on us because Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sin that otherwise we would have to pay through eternal separation from God.
4.5 Three affirmations of the faith and John’s concluding exhortation, 1 John 5:18-21
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 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. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 John 5:18–21). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
4.5.1 [#1] Anyone born of God does not practice sin, and God’s Son keeps us, 1 John 5:18
This is a review of John’s primary theme of obedience: practice righteousness. Jesus Christ has a keeping ministry for his children. We cannot be overcome by the evil one.
4.5.2 [#2] Because we are born of God, we are not in the grip of Satan, the evil one, 1 John 5:19
The new life in Jesus Christ moves us from the realm of darkness to the light of fellowship with God the Father and his Son. Satan not longer has a grip on our life, and so sin no longer need to keep us in chains (Paul in Romans 6—8).
4.5.3 [#3] God’s Son has come in the flesh, and he has given us understanding to know the true God, 1 John 5:20
This is true wisdom — the knowledge revealed to us by the Spirit of God by faith. Jesus Christ’s incarnation revealed the Father to us and his glory, grace, and mercy. This knowledge is not intellectual assent, though it is a part of it, but it is a intimate, spiritual, and experiential knowledge of God revealed in Jesus, and taught to us by his Spirit.
4.5.4 Keep (guard) yourselves from idols, God-substitutes, 1 John 5:21
The closing to the letter is, of course, subject to much discussion. But the Old Testament in the Torah, Prophets, and Writings have much to say about idolatry. Idolatry is always acceptance of a (lifeless) substitute for God. This is exactly what some in John’s flocks did going after the smooth tongues of false prophets and false teachers.
Guard yourself. Know Jesus intimately. Apply the three tests of fellowship to your life. Always test the spirits — voices of false teaching, philosophies, and false prophets — by the litmus test of Jesus, the God-man, come to earth on a mission of salvation, dying in our place for our sin, and rising from the dead to offer eternal life by faith.
Reject all false substitutes for knowing God the Father and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Appendix
NOTES
Underlined Scripture passages are links to full text at bible.com (YouVersion, ESV).
DEFINITIONS
BDAG - A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed.
ca. or circa, “about”
et al. - “and others”
Gk. or “Greek”
lit. - literally
n. - noun
Strong’s - Strong’s Concordance, URL https://strongsconcordance.org [link]
TNTC - Tyndale New Testament Commentary
vb. - verb
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