“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:12-13
Many Christians go through life feeling they oscillate back and forth between a state of being saved and lost day-by-day. While we know we certainly can fall from grace if we return to and persist in sin (Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 2 Peter 2:20-22, etc.), we need not live in this state of uncertainty. Jesus did not die for us to live in fear and worry over our relationship with Him. To the contrary, He died to grant us confident access to the throne of grace to get the help we need in times of temptation, knowing we have peace with God through the faith His death delivered (Hebrews 4:14-16; Romans 5:1ff).
1 John offers much to help us understand the difference between rebellion that separates us from God (1 John 1:5-6; Isaiah 59:1-2) and the day-to-day missteps we all struggle to overcome. The distinction throughout is the pattern of one’s life, whether it is given to continuing in sin or to walking in His will and ways. In this, we have assurance that as long as we walk in His light, confessing our sins as we go, His blood continually cleanses our sins (1 John 1:7-10). Armed with these truths, we may consider several causes for confidence in the child of God.
First, the bedrock of faith in and faithfulness to God is confidence in His love. So intense is His love for humanity that He sent His only Son as a sacrifice to fulfill His intentions for humanity (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10). Those intentions include His desire to withhold His wrath from former enemies (Romans 5:5-10; James 4:4), raise the spiritually dead in His rich mercy and grace (Ephesians 2:4-7), and extend the offer of salvation to all (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:4-5; 2 Peter 3:9).
Second, we have confidence in His promise and power. Biblical hope involves the desire to obtain some blessing coupled with the realistic expectation of obtaining it. His promise provides us with a realistic hope of salvation (Genesis 3:15; 12:3; 22:15-18; Hebrews 6:13-20). His power ensures that He is able to keep the promises He has given (Genesis 18:14; Job 42:2; Isaiah 43:13; Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Luke 1:37; 18:27).
Finally, we have confidence in God’s assurance that we have said promises in hand (1 John 5:13). In 1 John, we find several measures by which we may have this assurance. Adding them all up we learn that if we persist in walking in His light and confessing our faults, (1:7-10), making it our custom to keep His commandments, by which we abide in Him and He in us (1 John 2:3-5; 3:24; John 15:1-11), in imitation of Him in His earthly life (1 John 2:5-6), loving our brethren as He loved us (1 John 2:9-11; 3:14-16; 4:7-9; 5:2-3), all as the manifestation of righteousness (1 John 2:28-29; 3:6-10), we are assured forgiveness and cleansing as those who are born of Him.
When we examine our lives honestly, and we find that we are in fact given to a life in pursuit of His righteousness, we may rest assured that we have eternal life in our hands right now. May we spend our days in pursuit of this manner of life, so that we may enjoy the blessed assurance Jesus died to give us.