Read with Me
1 John 5:13-15 (HCSB)
I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.
Listen with Me
John’s clearly stated purpose in writing this letter is to help people know that they have eternal life. This has not been a letter merely of encouragement, but of testing. John has set up several standards by which his readers can measure themselves to not just believe that they are saved, but to clearly asses themselves, to test themselves to see if they really are of the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). And, if they pass, they can be assured that they’re standing with God is solid.
The first standard is that they have confessed their sins, so that they can be forgiven (1:7-10). If they deny their sin or try to write their sin off as not a big deal, they fail the test.
The second standard is that they obey Jesus’ commandments (2:3-6, 3:21-24), especially the command to love their brother or sister in Christ with self-sacrificing agape love (2:9-11, 3:11-20, 4:7-21). If they are not obedient and do not love their brother and sister in Christ, they fail the test, and their salvation is proven false.
The next standard is turning away from love of the world and the things in it (2:15-17, 4:4-6). If they allow themselves to become lovers of the world and lovers of wealth, they fail the test.
The next standard is a solid belief in Jesus as the eternal Son of God made flesh (2:22-23, 4:1-3, 5:1, 15-12). To deny this, like the Gnostics and some of the intellectuals of John’s day were doing, is to fail the test.
The next standard is to live a genuinely holy life in the power of the Holy Spirit (3:4-10, 5:2-5). If anyone continues to live in sin and does not actively do what is righteous, it shows that they are children of the devil, not children of God. Thus, they fail the test.
In John’s estimation, with so much confusion in the world, with so many heresies arising, and with so many people of the kingdom being deceived, this kind of test of the legitimacy of one’s own faith (and John never intimates that these standards are to be used to evaluate the faith of others), is very valuable. Conscientiously applying this yardstick to one’s own faith and repenting and adjusting wherever necessary will allow the true believer to walk in confidence before God, and to know that his or her every legitimate need will be supplied.
Pray with Me
Father, I must admit that I have not read John’s letter as that kind of standard, that kind of self-examination, before. But, as John clearly points out here, that really is his purpose in writing this letter, and for writing it as he has. And this kind of self-examination is still valuable today. The confusion that existed in John’s day is resurging in ours, as are the heresies that plagued the believers then, deceiving and dragging off many of them. But, Lord, Your truth stands firm, and Your standards never change, because they are based in You and Your character. Help us to see ourselves clearly, as You see us, so that we can repent where necessary and make any needed corrections to our lives and beliefs, so that we can walk in confidence before You every day. Amen.