This episode explores the danger of this world, eternal life in the knowledge of the Son of God, assurance of salvation, and access in prayer.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This is Part 2 of Episode 8 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast entitled, Faith in the Son of God Gives Eternal Life, where we’ll discuss 1 John 5:14-21. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, we’re coming to the end of 1 John, and so what an incredible study that is. And we’re going to talk about these verses that you just listed here. And some unifying themes of this section is the great danger that we’re in in Satan’s world. The whole world lies under the power of the evil one, but we have remedies such as the knowledge of the Son of God that we have through sound doctrinal instruction. And the assurance we have of salvation that we’ve been talking a lot about throughout the epistle. And then the access we have in prayer, that we have confidence that if we pray according to God’s will, he hears us and will give us whatever we ask. But it’s specifically applied immediately to sinning brothers and sisters, people that we care about, and that we have a role to play to pray for them.
And there are other verses in the New Testament, that say we do more than pray, we go after them and try to turn them from the pattern of their ways and win them over as James 5 talks about. So, the responsibility we have there is also a bit of a mysterious reference to a sin that leads to death, and it’s hard to know what that is. We’ll talk about that. And then finally, the danger of idolatry. “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” So, we’re going to look at the dangers that we’re in here and the beautiful remedies that God’s given us here at the end of the epistle.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 14-21 in 1 John 5.
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 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. 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. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 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. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 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. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Andy, what do verses 14-15 teach us about prayer?
Andy
Well, we have so many commands to pray, encouragements to pray, promises connected with prayer, and examples of faithful prayers offered by godly men and women throughout the Scripture. So, it’s a big theme. And then we even see within the Trinity how the Son asks the Father, “Ask of me, and I’ll make the nations your inheritance.” And he says, “I’ll go to heaven, and I’ll ask the Father, and he’ll give you another counselor,” et cetera. So, Jesus praying, he’s always living at the right hand of God and interceding for it. So, it’s a massive issue, but for us, we have to be persuaded and convinced because it’s mysterious. We know that we don’t get everything we ask for, but this command specifically here gives us a mysterious, somewhat of a blank check, but it’s also connected to the will of God. We can ask anything that we want, and he’s going to hear us – anything at all as long as it’s according to his will.
And that’s important. We don’t want to pray contrary to God’s will, and he’s certainly not going to act contrary to his will. So, we want to pray lined up with his will. And I think the more we learn of scripture, immerse ourselves in the word of God and see what God is doing in the world, the more that we’re going to be praying according to his will. And we know we have that confidence that if we ask according to his will, not only will he hear us, but he will give us what we have asked of him.
Wes
Now, why is it vital to have this kind of assurance in prayer?
Andy
We have to be completely 100% convinced that God is able and capable of doing the thing we’re asking for.
Well, it’s very dishonoring to God to pray filled with doubts. James 1:6-7 says, “Anyone who doubts is like a wave of the sea tossed back and forth, that man should not think he’ll receive anything from God. He’s a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” That’s an insult to God. We have to be completely 100% convinced that God is able and capable of doing the thing we’re asking for. And that the thing we’re asking for lines up with biblical teaching. It’s the kind of thing that he would want us to pray for. But there’s other categories of experiences that we have such as let’s say the healing of a brother or sister from a serious illness. Or certain specifics connected with the mission that we’re on, that we would have this happen or this door would be open, or this opportunity would come. And those things are not granted. Even though they do seem to line up with the will of God, they aren’t exactly his particular will. And yet we keep praying because the Lord has led us. And so, it is vital for us when we pray to have full confidence in the character of God, the power of God, the promises of God, and that is the kind of prayer he answers. So, we have to have confidence when we draw into his presence and we have to drive away any conception of doubt, but we also know that we have to pray according to His will. And we have to be honest that sometimes we don’t know what that is.
Wes
What does it mean that he hears us concerning our prayers to God? And why is that comforting for us as we pray according to God’s will?
Andy
Well, he links if we know that he hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him. So, this isn’t just any hearing. So, here’s the thing, if we say it’s just like in an anthropomorphic that God doesn’t have ears, but if your eardrums are vibrating with the sound, it doesn’t mean you’re listening. It’s like you’ve heard but you’ve not listened. This is more than a listening thing. It’s like God is turning his mind and his will toward it in order to do it. So, it’s like the difference, let’s say in a crowded playground when your kids are playing with a bunch of other kids. And then someone falls and starts to cry with certain pain, and you recognize that the cry is from your son or daughter or isn’t. There’s a different connection. We are children of God, and if he hears us, if we pray according to his will, he’ll do what we’ve asked. So that’s the link here. John is giving an efficacy to the hearing here.
Wes
What do verses 16-17 teach us about our responsibility to other Christians, especially when we see them sinning? And how does that connect with that James passage that you mentioned at the beginning in James 5?
Andy
Right. So, first of all, I think it gives a sense of vigilance, a sense of mutual shepherding. We say in our church covenant we will watch over one another in brotherly love. So, it begins with seeing, if anyone sees a brother committing a sin, et cetera. So, we need to be vigilant. This is especially entrusted to the elders of the church. We have the Greek word episkopos (ἐπίσκοπος) which literally is translated overseers. The old English gives us bishop, which is almost exactly, bishop is overseeing. And the idea there is a shepherd’s going to get himself up on a high hill and able to look at (using Jesus’ language) his hundred sheep. Because they’re kind of moving all around, following their noses and eating grass and you’re just watching over them in that way. And so also spiritual shepherding, you are in a perspective where you understand the word of God, you understand the church, et cetera, and you also are able to see in a big picture what’s going on, what the societal challenges are, what kinds of things you need to watch out for.
And then specifically, individuals that are straying, they’re starting to wander. There are some habit patterns that are coming in. And so, you oversee them in that sense. But we also do that for one another. This isn’t just spoken to elders or to pastors, this is anybody. So, if anyone should see this. And so first of all, it speaks of just being attentive. To as we say about local church ministry to know and be known to get immersed in each other’s lives, to ask questions like how are you doing? Even if you have no indication there’s any problem, you’re just asking regular diagnostic questions. Hey, how are your quiet times going? How’s your prayer life? What’s going on in your marriage? How are things going? We specifically have people in our lives, men with men and women with women, where we have partners that’ll hold us accountable and will pray for us.
And then small groups also that will do that in the church itself. And so, we are engaged and energetic and watchful over each other, and we’re going to speak more in a few moments about why, and it’s because of how dangerous this world really is. So, we’re going to see and notice that somebody is going off into sin and we’re concerned about it. Now the remedy here is prayer. That’s what John gives us here. He should pray, and God will give him life. I’m going to pray to God about this wandering. It’s very much in my opinion like what Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. But I’ve prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32). That’s almost exactly what I think is going on here.
We’re praying for individuals that their faith will not fail. God will give them spiritual life in the midst of that tempting situation. Now James says we should go after them and persuade them and turn them from the error of their ways. And so, there’s a persuasion aspect, there’s a conviction aspect. And it’s like, look, we’re seeing this in your life, and you need to stop.
And so, it’s here, it’s just prayer. But in James, there’s a persuasion, a going after the person and turning them from sin and rescuing them in the same way from death. So that’s a very important aspect of our spiritual protection in this world.
Wes
Now you mentioned some of the challenges related to understanding the distinction John makes concerning kinds of sin in verse 16 but help us at least frame the discussion and think well as well as we can about this verse and its challenges.
Andy
Alright, well there’s a long history connected with this verse. And the medieval Roman Catholic church divided sins into two types, which were mortal and venial. Mortal almost directly from this passage I would think, mortal, meaning it will kill you, it’ll lead to death. And so, they had seven mortal sins. I won’t list them all, but lust and gluttony and other things, et cetera. And then the venial sins are of lesser importance.
Now for me as a Protestant, as an evangelical, I think it’s important that we see the danger of every sin. There really aren’t in some sense any small sins, but I know that that’s actually not true because Jesus talked about the scribes and Pharisees that gave a 10th of their spices, mint, dill, cumin, but neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness. “You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former; you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:23-24, paraphrase). Or he said to Pontius Pilate, “The one who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin” (John 19:11).
So, sins are not all equally weighty. Every sin is dangerous, but there’s some sins that are very seriously serious in their danger. So, I guess for me, I want to start with that truth that any sin can condemn you to hell. God is holy and he can’t look at any evil, but there are some sins that are especially weighty and significant. Now, this particular passage is troublesome because it says not talking about a sin that leads to death. If you see a brother commit a sin that leads to death, don’t pray about that. I’m not saying you should pray about that and there is sin that leads to death. So, I’m not saying to pray about that. Well, it leads me wondering, all right, obviously, well what is that? And that’s where I start having problems. I don’t know what that is. If we go to the nth degree saying we’re talking about apostasy, somebody who at one point claimed to be a Christian and now is speaking blasphemous statements, I would think that would be a leading candidate here for a sin that leads to death. But I still don’t feel because of this passage, I’m exempt from trying to win the person back.
I feel like I’m going to try to go talk to that person in the James style and try to win them back and say What’s happened to you? And what’s going on? And I would well imagine before I went, I would pray and get people to pray for the effort. So, for me, I actually don’t find any actual application of this verse. I think it’s good to know, it’s here, but I don’t feel exempt. However, I do think, however, having said that, I want to say if repeated efforts have been made, there’s a limit to what we’re supposed to do in the “shake the dust off your feet” kind of thing, or do not give pearls to pigs or if somebody’s vicious and angry, et cetera, I get it. And so it could be that somebody is in such a pattern of apostasy that they have done damage to the local church. They’ve slandered or physically attacked or whatever, they’re acting like an animal. I think at that point you’ve done what you can. So, it’s a complex verse and it has a history. But I think in general, the idea here is despite this interesting topic of “the sin that leads to death, and I’m not saying you should pray for that,” the big picture here is we need to watch over one another in brotherly love, pray for each other and do everything we can to help people grow in their walk with Christ.
Wes
Now, we’ve mentioned the way John has a tendency throughout this letter to repeat himself on important issues, to bring them up again and to raise them so that his readers would be reminded of them. Why does John do that here in verse 18, repeating the earlier teaching from 1 John 3:4-6?
Andy
Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of themes here, but the overall theme is one of assurance of salvation, and how can I know that I am a child of God? And it seems like one of the main reasons, and we’ll walk through all the reasons at the end of this podcast today but it’s just sin. I mean, if you are enslaved to sin and you are making no effort to slay that sin by the power of the Spirit, and you’re just immersed in it and have no pangs of conscience about it and all that, probably not born again. Fundamentally, the Holy Spirit comes in and fights all sin across the board in your life, anything you’re aware of, anything whatsoever that the Spirit has illumined in your mind through scripture, “This is a sin. You need to do this.” A true Christian will fight it.
anyone that’s born of God does not live as though they’re enslaved to sin. They are free from that
Now, this is not teaching perfectionism because we saw in 1 John 2:1, he says, “Dear children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate…” So apparently, he’s not teaching a pure sinlessness among Christians, but that we’re not slaves to sin. We’re not just giving ourselves over to sin categorically, big picture or any specific sin at all. We’re going to fight it. And so, he’s saying anyone that’s born of God does not live as though they’re enslaved to sin. They are free from that, and they have a general pattern of righteousness and holiness in their lives. So, I think that’s what he’s saying. And the reason he repeats it is this very important theme. We’re living, as he’s about to say, in Satan’s dark world. And we’re constantly assaulted by the world, the flesh and the devil, and we need to be constantly vigilant about the issue of sin.
Wes
Well, let’s talk about that. Verse 19 teaches us some important things about the world and Satan’s control over it.
Andy
Yeah, I’m going to start at verse 18 because there’s this issue of safety and protection. The one who was born of God keeps him safe. This is an interesting phrase, and as we went through it in men’s Bible study it’s like, is this another Christian? Where you have a brother that is born of God who then comes and looks after you? But I think absolutely not. I think it’s verse 20. He says, “We also know that the Son of God has come.” He is the one born of God. And so, Jesus is the one who keeps us safe. And he openly says that in his high priestly prayer in John 17, “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the word you gave me”(paraphrase). So, there’s a sense of tremendous danger. We are in tremendous danger. And I think if you look at Revelation 12 where Satan, that ancient dragon, wages war against God in heaven and loses and gets thrown to the earth. And he sweeps a third of the stars with his tail in that apocalyptic image representing angels that fall with him that are demons. And they’ve come to earth, and they deceive Adam and Eve, and they lie to them and lead them into joining the rebellion against God.
We are in Satan’s world. And Satan himself said to Jesus, this whole world has been given to me. And I think that by Adam, not by God. And it was the keys were given over to me, and he runs it. We are in great danger. And in Jesus, in John 17, Jesus seems to almost be pleading with his Father, keep them safe. I’m going to be leaving. I’m going back to you, and they’re still in the world. So, I have that same feeling here in this passage. We are in great danger. We need to be kept safe. The whole world we’re told here lies under the control of the power of the evil one. So that goes back to the temptation in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 is that the entire world, he said, has been given to me and I can do anything I want with it. I can give it to anyone I want to, and Jesus doesn’t deny it. And we see this in the Book of Daniel. We see it in Daniel 7 with the four great beasts that come up out of the sea, and Revelation 13 as well. He’s controlling the governments of the earth. And so not only that, he’s controlling media, entertainment, economic systems. And we’re assaulted. Our souls are assaulted all the time. And we’re tempted always as the last verse of this epistle gives us to lurch over into idols, idolatry, whether it’s sexual idols or materialistic, covetous, greed, idols, things like that. And so, we’re in danger, we’re in great danger, and we need to be aware of that. I just think about what Jesus said, especially to Peter, but also James and John and Gethsemane. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. We are in great danger. And so, we’re children of God, we’re in enemy territory. We’re in Satan’s world. He’s controlling it, and we know that we’re going to be assaulted. And so, we need protection. We need to pray for each other and care for each other.
Wes
I’m struck by the way that verses 18, 19 and 20 all begin with this, “We know,” language. We know, we know. Verse 20 says, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding,” and he goes on from there to tell us what specifically he’s given us understanding of: how does Jesus, the Son of God, really rescue us from Satan’s power in this area of our knowledge of our minds?
Andy
Right. Well, I’m glad you pointed that out this we know aspect. And so, everything begins with the word of God. God has given to his word the primary place. God’s word is the creative force in the universe. It is by the word of the Lord that the heavens and the earth were made, and it is by the word of God that children of God are made. It is by the word that we’re born again, and it is by the word that we know these things. So, let’s go back to that issue of the fact that we’re in great danger. We’re in a dark world controlled by Satan and demons. The average unbeliever doesn’t believe that. They don’t know that they’re dead in their transgressions and sins while they live, and that they’re enslaved to Satan and doing his will. They don’t know that, but we do. We know that. We’ve been told that by the word of God. And so, we’re aware and that information is vital. It’s important that we understand what’s happening to us.
God’s word is the creative force in the universe.
It reminds me very much of Rebekah (Genesis 23). And she had the twins, Jacob and Esau inside her, and they weren’t getting along. They are already not getting along. And the Lord revealed to her what was happening, and she said, what is happening to me? And he said, two nations are inside your womb and the older will serve the younger. It’s a very important theological statement, but he’s also explaining practically the kind of turmoil that’s going on inside her body.
Well, how much more than Galatians 5:17, which says the Spirit wages war against the flesh and the flesh wages were against the Spirit. They are at odds with each other so that you do not do what you want. It’s like, oh, that’s why the very thing I hate I do and the thing I want to do, I don’t do. That’s why I am so messed up. Why I have so much trouble with besetting sins. This is why I struggle with wandering thoughts in prayer, and why I get bored during sermons or why I struggle with this sin or that sin, et cetera. It’s that information we know. It’s like, all right, this is what’s happening. Is there a remedy? Yes, the Son of God has come, and he has come to destroy the works of the devil. It doesn’t say that here, but it says in Hebrews 2, and it says also in 1 John as well in chapter 4. So, he’s come to destroy the works of the devil. And he’s giving us understanding so that he says, we may know him who is true, and that’s God. Jesus came to bring us to God. That was his mission. We were wandering. He came to pay the penalty for our sins, to reconcile us to God and to bring us to God. And he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He’s bringing us to God. And so, we know him who is true, that is God.
Wes
And it’s amazing because it seems that John is saying, we know that the Son of God has come and given us the understanding that John himself is trying to convey to his listeners, that we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. And that he is the true God and eternal life. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel constantly battled idolatry in the form of pagan worship. I wonder, especially as we come to verse 21 here, how you might define idolatry and help us understand how idolatry is still a major threat to modern Christians.
Andy
Yeah, this is a massive topic. And in men’s Bible study on Thursdays, we spent two full weeks on it. And so, I know that we’re just at the end of a podcast here, but it’s really fascinating. First of all, it’s very clear that at the end of an epistle in the New Testament, it’s still a threat. We would not do well to say, well, I thank you God that I’m not like the Israelites and I don’t struggle with idolatry. No, idolatry is clearly here in the New Testament, still an issue.
So, what is it? Well, I think it comes down to the complexity and the beauty and the intricacy of the human being, of the human heart, of the way we were made to understand things rationally and to love them or hate them, to be drawn to them or repulsed from them. And that delicate, perfect, beautiful mechanism of the heart was meant for God. That capacity was meant to be God-centered, that we would love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, alright? An idol is something that isn’t God that takes that place. And so fundamentally, it’s a created thing, a creature that we put in the place of God in our hearts and our minds, alright? To, “worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” That’s in Romans 1:25.
I also think about certain functions in life. Okay, what gives you the most pleasure? What gives you the central driving purpose of your life? And what therefore elicits from you the highest level of energy, work, and sacrifice? Alright, what do you rely on when assaulted by fears and concerns and the troubles of this life? God should be all of those things. Anything that is not God that does that, that gives you greatest pleasure is not God. It’s an idol then.
What gives you overriding purpose in life? If it’s not God, it’s an idol. What gives you confidence when facing danger? If it’s not God, ultimately, it’s an idol. What is it that captivates your mind and heart and is the overriding purpose of your life and the love of your life? If it’s not God, it’s an idol.
Wes
Andy, we have covered a lot of ground in this book. I wonder if you might briefly remind us where we’ve been, and why this letter from John is so helpful for us to study and to seek to understand?
Andy
Yeah, so this is an epistle of assurance, I think. We get this from 1 John 5:11-13, “This is the testimony, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life.” So, it’s assurance of salvation. How can I know that I have eternal life? How can I know that I am a Christian? And so, we got this repeated phrase, this is how we know. 1 John 2:5-6, “This is how we know we’re in him.” 1 John 3:10, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are.” 1 John 5:2-4, “This is how we know that we love the children of God, by loving God and carrying out his commands.”
And so, there are key arenas, some people call them tests. Okay? This is a way you can test yourself. I think that’s fine. Test yourself. “Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith,” it says in 2 Corinthians 13:5. So how would I do? On what basis will I test myself? Well, these are key arenas.
First, are you holy? Are you holy? All right.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus purifies his us from all sin (1 John 1:5-7).
So, the issue of holiness, that we are living the right way, we are doing the right things. Our works testify that we are holy, we are righteous, we are law-abiding, we are doing his will. Also, it’s an issue of the world. “Do not love the world or anything in the world,” 1 John 2:15-17, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life – are not from the Father, but from the world. And the world in its ways is passing away.” And so, the issue is, look at your life. Are you holy? Are you walking in the light? Are you hating the wickedness and evil of the world? And are you fighting it? That’s the first test or arena.
The second is, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe in the incarnation? This is the test. This is fundamentally the issue, that Jesus has come in the flesh. And so, he says, 1 John 2:20-23, he says, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you knows the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist.” So denying that Jesus is the Christ. In 1 John 3:23, “This is his command, to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.” 1 John 4:2-3, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” So that fundamental doctrinal test based on the incarnation. And again, as we just quoted 1 John 5:11, “This is the testimony, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” So, are you holy? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Do you believe that he’s come in the flesh?
Third, do you love Christian brothers and sisters? Do you love the brothers? Alright, 1 John 3:14-18, not just do you love them or have an emotional feeling toward them, but are you living a sacrificial life of service to them? “We know that we have passed from death to life,” 1 John 3:14-18,
Because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life in him. And this is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Do you see a pattern of sacrificial love toward the brothers and sisters? Again, 1 John 4:7-8, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Next, do you obey God’s commandments? It’s related to the issue of walking in the light and holiness because we need a definition of it, but I think it’s worth its own separate heading. Do you follow God’s commandments? Are you living an obedient life? 1 John 2:3-6,
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commandments. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we’re in him: whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did in the pattern of God’s commands.
Again, 1 John 3:24, “those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us,” he says, “By the Spirit that he gave us.”
And now this brings us to the final one. Do you have the testimony of the Holy Spirit? Do you have the Holy Spirit? Alright, we just said it a moment ago. This is how we know that he lives in us, we know it by the Spirit he gave us. And by the way, the Spirit works all these things. It is by the Spirit that we walk in the light as he is in the light. It’s by the Spirit that we believe that Jesus is the Christ. It is by the Spirit that we love the brothers and we obey God’s commands. All of this comes by the work of the Spirit, but the Spirit also has a secret ability to testify directly to our spirits that we are God’s children. And that’s in Romans 8. But here 1 John 4:2, this is how you can recognize the Spirit of God, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” So, the Spirit’s telling us Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And again, 1 John 4:6, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” And so, the Spirit comes and testifies with our spirits. Again, 1 John 5:6, it says, “And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”
So, these are the headings: You are holy, you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you love the brothers, you obey God’s commands, and you have the testimony of the Spirit. That’s how you can know you’re a Christian.
Wes
Well, it’s been a rich time in 1 John, and this has been Part 2 of Episode 8 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 9, where we’ll dive into 2 John together. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This is Part 2 of Episode 8 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast entitled, Faith in the Son of God Gives Eternal Life, where we’ll discuss 1 John 5:14-21. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, we’re coming to the end of 1 John, and so what an incredible study that is. And we’re going to talk about these verses that you just listed here. And some unifying themes of this section is the great danger that we’re in in Satan’s world. The whole world lies under the power of the evil one, but we have remedies such as the knowledge of the Son of God that we have through sound doctrinal instruction. And the assurance we have of salvation that we’ve been talking a lot about throughout the epistle. And then the access we have in prayer, that we have confidence that if we pray according to God’s will, he hears us and will give us whatever we ask. But it’s specifically applied immediately to sinning brothers and sisters, people that we care about, and that we have a role to play to pray for them.
And there are other verses in the New Testament, that say we do more than pray, we go after them and try to turn them from the pattern of their ways and win them over as James 5 talks about. So, the responsibility we have there is also a bit of a mysterious reference to a sin that leads to death, and it’s hard to know what that is. We’ll talk about that. And then finally, the danger of idolatry. “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” So, we’re going to look at the dangers that we’re in here and the beautiful remedies that God’s given us here at the end of the epistle.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 14-21 in 1 John 5.
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 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. 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. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 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. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 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. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Andy, what do verses 14-15 teach us about prayer?
Andy
Well, we have so many commands to pray, encouragements to pray, promises connected with prayer, and examples of faithful prayers offered by godly men and women throughout the Scripture. So, it’s a big theme. And then we even see within the Trinity how the Son asks the Father, “Ask of me, and I’ll make the nations your inheritance.” And he says, “I’ll go to heaven, and I’ll ask the Father, and he’ll give you another counselor,” et cetera. So, Jesus praying, he’s always living at the right hand of God and interceding for it. So, it’s a massive issue, but for us, we have to be persuaded and convinced because it’s mysterious. We know that we don’t get everything we ask for, but this command specifically here gives us a mysterious, somewhat of a blank check, but it’s also connected to the will of God. We can ask anything that we want, and he’s going to hear us – anything at all as long as it’s according to his will.
And that’s important. We don’t want to pray contrary to God’s will, and he’s certainly not going to act contrary to his will. So, we want to pray lined up with his will. And I think the more we learn of scripture, immerse ourselves in the word of God and see what God is doing in the world, the more that we’re going to be praying according to his will. And we know we have that confidence that if we ask according to his will, not only will he hear us, but he will give us what we have asked of him.
Wes
Now, why is it vital to have this kind of assurance in prayer?
Andy
We have to be completely 100% convinced that God is able and capable of doing the thing we’re asking for.
Well, it’s very dishonoring to God to pray filled with doubts. James 1:6-7 says, “Anyone who doubts is like a wave of the sea tossed back and forth, that man should not think he’ll receive anything from God. He’s a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” That’s an insult to God. We have to be completely 100% convinced that God is able and capable of doing the thing we’re asking for. And that the thing we’re asking for lines up with biblical teaching. It’s the kind of thing that he would want us to pray for. But there’s other categories of experiences that we have such as let’s say the healing of a brother or sister from a serious illness. Or certain specifics connected with the mission that we’re on, that we would have this happen or this door would be open, or this opportunity would come. And those things are not granted. Even though they do seem to line up with the will of God, they aren’t exactly his particular will. And yet we keep praying because the Lord has led us. And so, it is vital for us when we pray to have full confidence in the character of God, the power of God, the promises of God, and that is the kind of prayer he answers. So, we have to have confidence when we draw into his presence and we have to drive away any conception of doubt, but we also know that we have to pray according to His will. And we have to be honest that sometimes we don’t know what that is.
Wes
What does it mean that he hears us concerning our prayers to God? And why is that comforting for us as we pray according to God’s will?
Andy
Well, he links if we know that he hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him. So, this isn’t just any hearing. So, here’s the thing, if we say it’s just like in an anthropomorphic that God doesn’t have ears, but if your eardrums are vibrating with the sound, it doesn’t mean you’re listening. It’s like you’ve heard but you’ve not listened. This is more than a listening thing. It’s like God is turning his mind and his will toward it in order to do it. So, it’s like the difference, let’s say in a crowded playground when your kids are playing with a bunch of other kids. And then someone falls and starts to cry with certain pain, and you recognize that the cry is from your son or daughter or isn’t. There’s a different connection. We are children of God, and if he hears us, if we pray according to his will, he’ll do what we’ve asked. So that’s the link here. John is giving an efficacy to the hearing here.
Wes
What do verses 16-17 teach us about our responsibility to other Christians, especially when we see them sinning? And how does that connect with that James passage that you mentioned at the beginning in James 5?
Andy
Right. So, first of all, I think it gives a sense of vigilance, a sense of mutual shepherding. We say in our church covenant we will watch over one another in brotherly love. So, it begins with seeing, if anyone sees a brother committing a sin, et cetera. So, we need to be vigilant. This is especially entrusted to the elders of the church. We have the Greek word episkopos (ἐπίσκοπος) which literally is translated overseers. The old English gives us bishop, which is almost exactly, bishop is overseeing. And the idea there is a shepherd’s going to get himself up on a high hill and able to look at (using Jesus’ language) his hundred sheep. Because they’re kind of moving all around, following their noses and eating grass and you’re just watching over them in that way. And so also spiritual shepherding, you are in a perspective where you understand the word of God, you understand the church, et cetera, and you also are able to see in a big picture what’s going on, what the societal challenges are, what kinds of things you need to watch out for.
And then specifically, individuals that are straying, they’re starting to wander. There are some habit patterns that are coming in. And so, you oversee them in that sense. But we also do that for one another. This isn’t just spoken to elders or to pastors, this is anybody. So, if anyone should see this. And so first of all, it speaks of just being attentive. To as we say about local church ministry to know and be known to get immersed in each other’s lives, to ask questions like how are you doing? Even if you have no indication there’s any problem, you’re just asking regular diagnostic questions. Hey, how are your quiet times going? How’s your prayer life? What’s going on in your marriage? How are things going? We specifically have people in our lives, men with men and women with women, where we have partners that’ll hold us accountable and will pray for us.
And then small groups also that will do that in the church itself. And so, we are engaged and energetic and watchful over each other, and we’re going to speak more in a few moments about why, and it’s because of how dangerous this world really is. So, we’re going to see and notice that somebody is going off into sin and we’re concerned about it. Now the remedy here is prayer. That’s what John gives us here. He should pray, and God will give him life. I’m going to pray to God about this wandering. It’s very much in my opinion like what Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. But I’ve prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32). That’s almost exactly what I think is going on here.
We’re praying for individuals that their faith will not fail. God will give them spiritual life in the midst of that tempting situation. Now James says we should go after them and persuade them and turn them from the error of their ways. And so, there’s a persuasion aspect, there’s a conviction aspect. And it’s like, look, we’re seeing this in your life, and you need to stop.
And so, it’s here, it’s just prayer. But in James, there’s a persuasion, a going after the person and turning them from sin and rescuing them in the same way from death. So that’s a very important aspect of our spiritual protection in this world.
Wes
Now you mentioned some of the challenges related to understanding the distinction John makes concerning kinds of sin in verse 16 but help us at least frame the discussion and think well as well as we can about this verse and its challenges.
Andy
Alright, well there’s a long history connected with this verse. And the medieval Roman Catholic church divided sins into two types, which were mortal and venial. Mortal almost directly from this passage I would think, mortal, meaning it will kill you, it’ll lead to death. And so, they had seven mortal sins. I won’t list them all, but lust and gluttony and other things, et cetera. And then the venial sins are of lesser importance.
Now for me as a Protestant, as an evangelical, I think it’s important that we see the danger of every sin. There really aren’t in some sense any small sins, but I know that that’s actually not true because Jesus talked about the scribes and Pharisees that gave a 10th of their spices, mint, dill, cumin, but neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness. “You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former; you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:23-24, paraphrase). Or he said to Pontius Pilate, “The one who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin” (John 19:11).
So, sins are not all equally weighty. Every sin is dangerous, but there’s some sins that are very seriously serious in their danger. So, I guess for me, I want to start with that truth that any sin can condemn you to hell. God is holy and he can’t look at any evil, but there are some sins that are especially weighty and significant. Now, this particular passage is troublesome because it says not talking about a sin that leads to death. If you see a brother commit a sin that leads to death, don’t pray about that. I’m not saying you should pray about that and there is sin that leads to death. So, I’m not saying to pray about that. Well, it leads me wondering, all right, obviously, well what is that? And that’s where I start having problems. I don’t know what that is. If we go to the nth degree saying we’re talking about apostasy, somebody who at one point claimed to be a Christian and now is speaking blasphemous statements, I would think that would be a leading candidate here for a sin that leads to death. But I still don’t feel because of this passage, I’m exempt from trying to win the person back.
I feel like I’m going to try to go talk to that person in the James style and try to win them back and say What’s happened to you? And what’s going on? And I would well imagine before I went, I would pray and get people to pray for the effort. So, for me, I actually don’t find any actual application of this verse. I think it’s good to know, it’s here, but I don’t feel exempt. However, I do think, however, having said that, I want to say if repeated efforts have been made, there’s a limit to what we’re supposed to do in the “shake the dust off your feet” kind of thing, or do not give pearls to pigs or if somebody’s vicious and angry, et cetera, I get it. And so it could be that somebody is in such a pattern of apostasy that they have done damage to the local church. They’ve slandered or physically attacked or whatever, they’re acting like an animal. I think at that point you’ve done what you can. So, it’s a complex verse and it has a history. But I think in general, the idea here is despite this interesting topic of “the sin that leads to death, and I’m not saying you should pray for that,” the big picture here is we need to watch over one another in brotherly love, pray for each other and do everything we can to help people grow in their walk with Christ.
Wes
Now, we’ve mentioned the way John has a tendency throughout this letter to repeat himself on important issues, to bring them up again and to raise them so that his readers would be reminded of them. Why does John do that here in verse 18, repeating the earlier teaching from 1 John 3:4-6?
Andy
Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of themes here, but the overall theme is one of assurance of salvation, and how can I know that I am a child of God? And it seems like one of the main reasons, and we’ll walk through all the reasons at the end of this podcast today but it’s just sin. I mean, if you are enslaved to sin and you are making no effort to slay that sin by the power of the Spirit, and you’re just immersed in it and have no pangs of conscience about it and all that, probably not born again. Fundamentally, the Holy Spirit comes in and fights all sin across the board in your life, anything you’re aware of, anything whatsoever that the Spirit has illumined in your mind through scripture, “This is a sin. You need to do this.” A true Christian will fight it.
anyone that’s born of God does not live as though they’re enslaved to sin. They are free from that
Now, this is not teaching perfectionism because we saw in 1 John 2:1, he says, “Dear children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate…” So apparently, he’s not teaching a pure sinlessness among Christians, but that we’re not slaves to sin. We’re not just giving ourselves over to sin categorically, big picture or any specific sin at all. We’re going to fight it. And so, he’s saying anyone that’s born of God does not live as though they’re enslaved to sin. They are free from that, and they have a general pattern of righteousness and holiness in their lives. So, I think that’s what he’s saying. And the reason he repeats it is this very important theme. We’re living, as he’s about to say, in Satan’s dark world. And we’re constantly assaulted by the world, the flesh and the devil, and we need to be constantly vigilant about the issue of sin.
Wes
Well, let’s talk about that. Verse 19 teaches us some important things about the world and Satan’s control over it.
Andy
Yeah, I’m going to start at verse 18 because there’s this issue of safety and protection. The one who was born of God keeps him safe. This is an interesting phrase, and as we went through it in men’s Bible study it’s like, is this another Christian? Where you have a brother that is born of God who then comes and looks after you? But I think absolutely not. I think it’s verse 20. He says, “We also know that the Son of God has come.” He is the one born of God. And so, Jesus is the one who keeps us safe. And he openly says that in his high priestly prayer in John 17, “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the word you gave me”(paraphrase). So, there’s a sense of tremendous danger. We are in tremendous danger. And I think if you look at Revelation 12 where Satan, that ancient dragon, wages war against God in heaven and loses and gets thrown to the earth. And he sweeps a third of the stars with his tail in that apocalyptic image representing angels that fall with him that are demons. And they’ve come to earth, and they deceive Adam and Eve, and they lie to them and lead them into joining the rebellion against God.
We are in Satan’s world. And Satan himself said to Jesus, this whole world has been given to me. And I think that by Adam, not by God. And it was the keys were given over to me, and he runs it. We are in great danger. And in Jesus, in John 17, Jesus seems to almost be pleading with his Father, keep them safe. I’m going to be leaving. I’m going back to you, and they’re still in the world. So, I have that same feeling here in this passage. We are in great danger. We need to be kept safe. The whole world we’re told here lies under the control of the power of the evil one. So that goes back to the temptation in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 is that the entire world, he said, has been given to me and I can do anything I want with it. I can give it to anyone I want to, and Jesus doesn’t deny it. And we see this in the Book of Daniel. We see it in Daniel 7 with the four great beasts that come up out of the sea, and Revelation 13 as well. He’s controlling the governments of the earth. And so not only that, he’s controlling media, entertainment, economic systems. And we’re assaulted. Our souls are assaulted all the time. And we’re tempted always as the last verse of this epistle gives us to lurch over into idols, idolatry, whether it’s sexual idols or materialistic, covetous, greed, idols, things like that. And so, we’re in danger, we’re in great danger, and we need to be aware of that. I just think about what Jesus said, especially to Peter, but also James and John and Gethsemane. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. We are in great danger. And so, we’re children of God, we’re in enemy territory. We’re in Satan’s world. He’s controlling it, and we know that we’re going to be assaulted. And so, we need protection. We need to pray for each other and care for each other.
Wes
I’m struck by the way that verses 18, 19 and 20 all begin with this, “We know,” language. We know, we know. Verse 20 says, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding,” and he goes on from there to tell us what specifically he’s given us understanding of: how does Jesus, the Son of God, really rescue us from Satan’s power in this area of our knowledge of our minds?
Andy
Right. Well, I’m glad you pointed that out this we know aspect. And so, everything begins with the word of God. God has given to his word the primary place. God’s word is the creative force in the universe. It is by the word of the Lord that the heavens and the earth were made, and it is by the word of God that children of God are made. It is by the word that we’re born again, and it is by the word that we know these things. So, let’s go back to that issue of the fact that we’re in great danger. We’re in a dark world controlled by Satan and demons. The average unbeliever doesn’t believe that. They don’t know that they’re dead in their transgressions and sins while they live, and that they’re enslaved to Satan and doing his will. They don’t know that, but we do. We know that. We’ve been told that by the word of God. And so, we’re aware and that information is vital. It’s important that we understand what’s happening to us.
God’s word is the creative force in the universe.
It reminds me very much of Rebekah (Genesis 23). And she had the twins, Jacob and Esau inside her, and they weren’t getting along. They are already not getting along. And the Lord revealed to her what was happening, and she said, what is happening to me? And he said, two nations are inside your womb and the older will serve the younger. It’s a very important theological statement, but he’s also explaining practically the kind of turmoil that’s going on inside her body.
Well, how much more than Galatians 5:17, which says the Spirit wages war against the flesh and the flesh wages were against the Spirit. They are at odds with each other so that you do not do what you want. It’s like, oh, that’s why the very thing I hate I do and the thing I want to do, I don’t do. That’s why I am so messed up. Why I have so much trouble with besetting sins. This is why I struggle with wandering thoughts in prayer, and why I get bored during sermons or why I struggle with this sin or that sin, et cetera. It’s that information we know. It’s like, all right, this is what’s happening. Is there a remedy? Yes, the Son of God has come, and he has come to destroy the works of the devil. It doesn’t say that here, but it says in Hebrews 2, and it says also in 1 John as well in chapter 4. So, he’s come to destroy the works of the devil. And he’s giving us understanding so that he says, we may know him who is true, and that’s God. Jesus came to bring us to God. That was his mission. We were wandering. He came to pay the penalty for our sins, to reconcile us to God and to bring us to God. And he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He’s bringing us to God. And so, we know him who is true, that is God.
Wes
And it’s amazing because it seems that John is saying, we know that the Son of God has come and given us the understanding that John himself is trying to convey to his listeners, that we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. And that he is the true God and eternal life. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel constantly battled idolatry in the form of pagan worship. I wonder, especially as we come to verse 21 here, how you might define idolatry and help us understand how idolatry is still a major threat to modern Christians.
Andy
Yeah, this is a massive topic. And in men’s Bible study on Thursdays, we spent two full weeks on it. And so, I know that we’re just at the end of a podcast here, but it’s really fascinating. First of all, it’s very clear that at the end of an epistle in the New Testament, it’s still a threat. We would not do well to say, well, I thank you God that I’m not like the Israelites and I don’t struggle with idolatry. No, idolatry is clearly here in the New Testament, still an issue.
So, what is it? Well, I think it comes down to the complexity and the beauty and the intricacy of the human being, of the human heart, of the way we were made to understand things rationally and to love them or hate them, to be drawn to them or repulsed from them. And that delicate, perfect, beautiful mechanism of the heart was meant for God. That capacity was meant to be God-centered, that we would love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, alright? An idol is something that isn’t God that takes that place. And so fundamentally, it’s a created thing, a creature that we put in the place of God in our hearts and our minds, alright? To, “worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” That’s in Romans 1:25.
I also think about certain functions in life. Okay, what gives you the most pleasure? What gives you the central driving purpose of your life? And what therefore elicits from you the highest level of energy, work, and sacrifice? Alright, what do you rely on when assaulted by fears and concerns and the troubles of this life? God should be all of those things. Anything that is not God that does that, that gives you greatest pleasure is not God. It’s an idol then.
What gives you overriding purpose in life? If it’s not God, it’s an idol. What gives you confidence when facing danger? If it’s not God, ultimately, it’s an idol. What is it that captivates your mind and heart and is the overriding purpose of your life and the love of your life? If it’s not God, it’s an idol.
Wes
Andy, we have covered a lot of ground in this book. I wonder if you might briefly remind us where we’ve been, and why this letter from John is so helpful for us to study and to seek to understand?
Andy
Yeah, so this is an epistle of assurance, I think. We get this from 1 John 5:11-13, “This is the testimony, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life.” So, it’s assurance of salvation. How can I know that I have eternal life? How can I know that I am a Christian? And so, we got this repeated phrase, this is how we know. 1 John 2:5-6, “This is how we know we’re in him.” 1 John 3:10, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are.” 1 John 5:2-4, “This is how we know that we love the children of God, by loving God and carrying out his commands.”
And so, there are key arenas, some people call them tests. Okay? This is a way you can test yourself. I think that’s fine. Test yourself. “Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith,” it says in 2 Corinthians 13:5. So how would I do? On what basis will I test myself? Well, these are key arenas.
First, are you holy? Are you holy? All right.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus purifies his us from all sin (1 John 1:5-7).
So, the issue of holiness, that we are living the right way, we are doing the right things. Our works testify that we are holy, we are righteous, we are law-abiding, we are doing his will. Also, it’s an issue of the world. “Do not love the world or anything in the world,” 1 John 2:15-17, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life – are not from the Father, but from the world. And the world in its ways is passing away.” And so, the issue is, look at your life. Are you holy? Are you walking in the light? Are you hating the wickedness and evil of the world? And are you fighting it? That’s the first test or arena.
The second is, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe in the incarnation? This is the test. This is fundamentally the issue, that Jesus has come in the flesh. And so, he says, 1 John 2:20-23, he says, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you knows the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist.” So denying that Jesus is the Christ. In 1 John 3:23, “This is his command, to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.” 1 John 4:2-3, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” So that fundamental doctrinal test based on the incarnation. And again, as we just quoted 1 John 5:11, “This is the testimony, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” So, are you holy? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Do you believe that he’s come in the flesh?
Third, do you love Christian brothers and sisters? Do you love the brothers? Alright, 1 John 3:14-18, not just do you love them or have an emotional feeling toward them, but are you living a sacrificial life of service to them? “We know that we have passed from death to life,” 1 John 3:14-18,
Because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life in him. And this is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Do you see a pattern of sacrificial love toward the brothers and sisters? Again, 1 John 4:7-8, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Next, do you obey God’s commandments? It’s related to the issue of walking in the light and holiness because we need a definition of it, but I think it’s worth its own separate heading. Do you follow God’s commandments? Are you living an obedient life? 1 John 2:3-6,
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commandments. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we’re in him: whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did in the pattern of God’s commands.
Again, 1 John 3:24, “those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us,” he says, “By the Spirit that he gave us.”
And now this brings us to the final one. Do you have the testimony of the Holy Spirit? Do you have the Holy Spirit? Alright, we just said it a moment ago. This is how we know that he lives in us, we know it by the Spirit he gave us. And by the way, the Spirit works all these things. It is by the Spirit that we walk in the light as he is in the light. It’s by the Spirit that we believe that Jesus is the Christ. It is by the Spirit that we love the brothers and we obey God’s commands. All of this comes by the work of the Spirit, but the Spirit also has a secret ability to testify directly to our spirits that we are God’s children. And that’s in Romans 8. But here 1 John 4:2, this is how you can recognize the Spirit of God, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” So, the Spirit’s telling us Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And again, 1 John 4:6, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” And so, the Spirit comes and testifies with our spirits. Again, 1 John 5:6, it says, “And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”
So, these are the headings: You are holy, you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you love the brothers, you obey God’s commands, and you have the testimony of the Spirit. That’s how you can know you’re a Christian.
Wes
Well, it’s been a rich time in 1 John, and this has been Part 2 of Episode 8 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 9, where we’ll dive into 2 John together. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
