by Lloyd T. Anderson, Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church, West Covina, California
STUDIES IN 1st JOHN
T he writer of these epistles is the same as the writer of John’s Gos pel. This man who was dear to the heart of Jesus, and is known as the beloved disciple, wrote possibly as much of the New Testament as Paul or Luke. We have not only the Gos pel which bears his name, but also three short letters and the Book of the Revelation. There are a number of points of similarity and contrast between the Gospel of John and John’s First Epistle. In the Gospel he says: “These are written, that ye might be lieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). In his First Epistle he says: “These things have I writ ten unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:13). In both of these passages Jesus Christ is de scribed as the Son of God, but the reason for presenting His deity dif fers. In the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ is presented as the Source and Means of eternal life through faith, and the message is therefore direct ed to unbelievers. The First Epistle, on the other hand, is addressed to be lievers — those persons who have accepted the Son of God as their Saviour, and thereby find assurance of their possession of eternal life in that fact. This epistle then is written so that we who are believers may know that we have eternal life. There is no glory to God if we doubt His Word. Without this assurance we are use less in our service to God. How can we effectively point others to Christ as the Saviour if we ourselves are not certain that we are saved?
Assurance of salvation does not give us license to sin. The whole emphasis of this short epistle is against that conclusion. This book deals with fellowship with Christ and with God the Father, and unless we have assurance of salvation, how can we have any fellowship? The whole walk with Christ is based on the knowledge of whether we have Jesus or not. There are some people who say that they will never know that they are saved until they get to Heaven and God tests all their works. This is not according to God’s Word. We should know the difference between God’s salvation provided for us, and the work that He does through us once we are saved. So then assur ance is not only a possibility to us but a necessity, if we are to provide the best kind of service for the Lord. In John’s Gospel we have eternal life unveiled and m an ifested in Christ the Son. There we learn what eternal life is and how we may re ceive it. In John’s First Epistle, on the other hand, we learn that eter nal life is resident in the children of God and is manifested to the world through them. In the Gospel of John we learn that the Lord Jesus came to dwell among us. He was the eternal Word made flesh who manifested the glory of the Father and was full of grace and truth. In I John, grace and truth are seen in the lives of believers be cause Christ indwells them. From this we learn how a Christian should act, and in addition, these evidences of the Christian life become tests whereby we can know whether we have eternal life or not. John tells us that the Christ-life within the be liever will express itself in a certain way, and this in turn becomes a
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter