The Epistle of 1 John – Part Seventeen

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

This is the seventeenth part of a series on the epistle of 1 John written by John the apostle. In this series we will cover the basic concerns John had for writing this letter to Christians. Included are the fourteen reasons he wrote these epistles of 1, 2 and 3 John as well as the eleven assurances we have that establish our salvation as a Christian.

 

1 John 5:18

“We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.”

 

As Christians we know that before we accepted Christ as our Savior we possessed all the characteristics of a non-believer. Non-believers are sinners from birth (Ps 51:5), slaves to sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:16), defiant, rebellious haters of God (Psalms 5:10, Romans 1:28-32; 5:10; 8:7) and under the dominion of Satan (Ephesians 2:2; Acts 26:18, Colossians 1:13). We were dead in our trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1).

 

Once we became a follower of Christ we are saved and reborn and cannot live in a continuous unbroken pattern of sin for many reasons:

 

1. Sin is incompatible with the law of God (1 John3:4) and a follower of Christ loves God’s law (Psalms 119:97, 113, 163, 165) and cannot habitually live in violation of it (1 John 2:3-4; 3:24; 5:3).

 

2. Sin is incompatible with the work of Christ that takes place in us. Christ “appeared in order to take away sins” (1 John 3:5, 8; Matthew 1:21; John 1:29)

 

3. Sin is incompatible with the work of the Holy Spirit, who in the new birth plants the principle of divine life in the Christian (1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 3:9).

 

But while a true Believer does not live in a habitual and continual state of sin, they will sin at times. John told us this in 1 John 1:8, 10.

 

Also in 1 John 2:1 we are told that we have an Advocate in heaven which implies that there is a need for an Advocate on our behalf because we will sin at times in our Christian walk.

 

Non-believers live in a pattern of sin and are trapped in it until they commit their lives to Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior. True followers of Jesus Christ will live a continuous pattern of righteousness and if they do stumble and sin at times they will be convicted of this and confess these sins to restore fellowship with their Heavenly Father.

 

There is a responsibility we have as followers of Christ to keep ourselves on the path of righteous living so that our witness as a Christian is reflective of God who lives in us. We are to:

 

1. Keep ourselves pure:

 

1Timothy 5:22 “Keep yourself pure.”

 

2. Keep the commandments of God:

 

1 John 3:22 “We obey his commands and do what pleases him.”

 

3. Keep the faith:

 

2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

 

4. Keep ourselves unstained by the world:

 

James 1:27 “Keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

 

5. Keep ourselves from worshipping idols:

 

1 John 5:21 “Keep yourselves from idols.”

 

6. Keep God’s Word:

 

1 John 2:3 “We obey his commands.”

 

7. Keep ourselves in the love of God:

 

Jude 21 “Keep yourselves in God’s love.”

 

But there is also a supernatural preserving of the life of a Christian that is God’s responsibility:

 

1. God promises to preserve our lives as Christians.

 

Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

 

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

 

2 Timothy 4:18 “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.”

 

2. God guarantees security of our salvation.

 

Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

 

3. God has an eternal and unchangeable purpose to save the elect.

 

Matthew 25:34-35 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

 

Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

 

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”

 

2 Timothy 1:8-9 “By the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,”

 

4. God preserves because of the prayer of Christ.

 

John 17:11-12 “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one.”

 

5. God preserves because of the believer’s inseparable union with Christ.

 

Romans 6:3-5 “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”

 

1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”

 

6. God preserves because of the high cost paid to redeem the elect.

 

Acts 20:28-29 “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”

 

Hebrews 9:12-13 “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”

 

1 John 5:19

“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

 

Here John once again contrasts the two spiritual systems in conflict today. Christians belong to God and are secure in Christ. The whole world on the other hand is under the power and influence of Satan. This includes politics, economics, education, entertainment and also false religions. The world system is hostile towards God and will be hostile towards followers of Christ. Our calling as Christians is to remain separate from the world while loving all people and sharing the gospel with non-believers so that they might be rescued from out of the world.

 

1 John 5:20

“We know also 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 — even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

 

John uses the present tense of the verb (heko) “come” here in this verse. He is indicating that Jesus has come and is still present. God gives us understanding so that we can come to know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. It’s a fact that without the ministry of God through the Holy Spirit no one would seek Christ as their Savior.

 

Luke 10:22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

 

Once again John verifies in this verse that Jesus is true, that He is the Son of God, the Christ, God in the flesh and in Him can be found eternal life.

 

1 John 5:21

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

 

John ends in a rather abrupt and different manner. He gives a short but concise warning for the Christians to keep themselves from any form or shape of an idol.

 

The danger of idolatry was great in Asia Minor, especially in Ephesus. The false goddess Artemis (Diana) was worshipped here and the pagan culture that surrounded the Christians had a strong influence in all aspects of their lives.

 

Paul also addressed this issue with the Christians in Corinth.

 

1 Corinthians 10:20-22

“I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.”

 

We face the same temptations today with the world system ruled by Satan who tempts us at every turn.

 

May we as Christians remember these instructions from John that were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Though we are in the world we are not to be “of the world.” We are called to be drastically different because of who we are in Christ. We are protected by God from evil that is in the world and can know that we are His child. Let us not associate with idols of any kind because we know anything that is more important to us than our God is an idol.