1 John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (ESV)
The Main Idea: Because the eternal life of the Son of God has been historically revealed, gloriously accomplished, and really given to sinners through faith in the crucified and risen Christ, the person who is truly born of God will show it by believing rightly about Jesus, walking obediently before God, and loving the brothers and sisters sincerely, and it is upon this Christ, confirmed by this fruit, that assurance of salvation rests, not upon the shifting sands of our feelings.
From last week, the three tests of genuine faith that John repeats throughout the letter:
• The doctrinal test: Do you believe rightly about Jesus?
“Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23).
• The moral test: Does your life show the direction of obedience?
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning” (1 John 3:9).
• The relational test: Do you love the brothers?
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers”
(1 John 3:14).
They rest upon three theological pillars:
• God is light (1 John 1:5), which demands truth and holiness.
• God is love (1 John 4:8), which both purchases our salvation and produces love in us.
• God is life (1 John 5:11), which is given freely in His Son.
We ended last week with point 4 of the summarizing message, so now we turn to point 5 in this second part.
5. The Warning Against False Teachers:
Discerning the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error
5.1 They went out from us: Apostasy Reveals Authenticity (1 John 2:19).
5.2 Test the Spirits: Doctrinal Discernment as Pastoral Love
5.3 The Spirit of the Antichrist: A Present Reality (1 John 4:3,4)
6. The Closing Charge:
Three Confident “We Know’s”:
6.1 We Know That Everyone Born of God Does Not Keep On Sinning:
The Security of the Saint
6.2 We Know That We Are from God:
Our Identity in a Hostile World
6.3 We Know That the Son of God Has Come:
True Knowledge Confidence
6.4 The Final Command:
Keep Yourselves from Idols