Assurance Blogpost
Last year I had a dear Christian friend call me on her cell phone in tears. She was a young woman who had attended church all her life, graduated from a Christian university, and spent the last decade as a worship minister with her husband at a very large church. She loved God and loved the church, but her life had suddenly come crashing down. She had just been served divorce papers from her husband, who announced that he was a homosexual. The young lady dealt with all the sadness and grief that would normally come from such a tragic situation. However, a few weeks ago, I received another call. She had one simple question, “How will I know.” I asked for clarification. My friend felt deceived. She felt like her marriage had been a sham. She felt duped. The question she was asking was how she would ever be able to know if any future relationship was real. She wanted assurance that she would never be duped again. She wanted assurance that next time, the relationship would be real. I wanted to help. I wanted to provide assurance to my sister in Christ that would put her at ease.
When reading John’s first letter, one gets the sense that his heart also aches for his readers. He loves these fellow Christians, but some of them appear to have been duped. John knows that these brothers and sisters in Christ need assurance. A group of supposed Christians had infiltrated the congregation of believers. Some have called the group schismatics, while others have identified the group as secessionists because they ultimately left the community, just as my friend’s husband left the marriage. John appears to refer to the schismatics as types of anti-Christs or false prophets (1 John 2:18; 4:1). John associates these schismatics or anti-Christs with the one “who denies that Jesus is the Christ” (1 John 2:22, English Standard Version). John also appears to suggest that the schismatics did not believe that Jesus had come in the flesh (1 John 4:2). As Brandon Crowe explains, the schismatics may have “posited a distinction between the historical person named Jesus and the spirit of the Messiah (that is, the Christ) that they saw as a separate entity empowering this man.”[1] In other words, these false teachers appear to have denied that Jesus was fully human (1 John 5:6-7). Furthermore, the schismatics were not living lives patterned after the life of Jesus, but instead, they were living sinful lives (1 John 1:6; 2:6). Ultimately, the false teachers left the community (1 John 2:19).
The ramifications of the false teachings were significant. If either the humanity or the divinity of Christ is denied, then, as John explains, Jesus is no longer a propitiation for the believer’s sin, which means that sins could not be forgiven (1 John 2:2). As fully human, Jesus represented mankind on the Cross. As fully divine, Jesus saved mankind on the cross. The way in which salvation occurs is through a fancy term called propitiation, which means something like satisfying God’s wrath. At first, the idea of God’s wrath may sound ominous, but, upon further reflection, God’s wrath powerfully reveals God’s love. Imagine yourself as an eight-year-old child. You are inquisitive and curious. You are playing with sticks and leaves next to a tree stump. You are having a good time. Then you look up, and you see your grandma running straight toward you. She is flailing her arms and yelling. Her eyes are full of anger. You can feel her wrath. You do not really know what is happening, but then, all at once, she picks you up and swats the swarm of bumble bees away from you. Just like grandma, God hates the things that can hurt his children. God absolutely hates sin. Bees need to be tamed. Sin needs to be absolved.
Without question, the false teachers attempted to lead some of John’s friends astray. Some of them probably had been somewhat bamboozled by the schismatics. They were shaken. They had lost confidence. Like my friend, the worship minister, they wanted assurance. Accordingly, John writes a letter to his friends for the purpose of providing assurance, and thus he explicitly states, “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” (1 John 5:13, ESV, italics mine). Unfortunately, since the time that John first wrote his letter, the concluding passage of assurance, which consists of 1 John 5:13-21, has, at times, caused more doubt than assurance for modern believers. However, when the passage is understood in light of the historical context of the false teachers, John accomplishes his purpose of assurance. Before getting ahead of ourselves, let us take a look at a few of the specific verses that have caused doubt.
To assist in providing assurance, John initially addresses the topic of prayer. Earlier in his letter, John has already asserted that “whatever we ask we receive from him” (1 John 3:22). John now explains that, when we pray, God will hear our prayers, and the implication is that God will respond to our prayers and increase our confidence. Unfortunately, we have all prayed prayers that have not been answered or certainly not answered in the way we would want them answered. A couple of days ago my son’s young Bernese Mountain dog got into some anti-seizure medication. My son took his dog to the veterinarian and called me, “Dad, the doctor says Leelo is in heart failure, and they need me to decide whether to put her down. I don’t know what to do.” I prayed. I prayed knowing that the prayer may not be answered to my liking. However, I had confidence that my prayer would absolutely be answered if I was asking “according to His will” (1 John 5:14-15). Almost unbelievably, Leelo made it. It was God’s will. However, if what God wills is going to be accomplished whether I pray or not, then how does prayer offer any assurance? Howard Marshall assists by explaining that God’s will is not static, but instead, it is a confluence of individual freedom, a personal relationship, and a submission of a believer’s will to God’s whereby, in a very real sense, “the accomplishment of God’s will in the world does depend on our prayers.”[2] When believers partner with God in prayer, there is no doubt that their confidence increases.
Next, John attempts to provide additional assurance to his readers by stating, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life” (1 John 5:16). At first glance, the promise of obtaining life is assuring. However, if there is a sin that does not lead to death, then there must be a sin that leads to death, and if I commit that sin, then I will not have life, which is not reassuring at all. What is the sin that leads to death? Some believe that the sin that leads to death is a mortal sin or a specific type of sin that cannot be forgiven. Others suggest that the sin that leads to death is deliberate sin, while sin that does not lead to death is unintentional or unwitting sin.[3]
The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude
Unfortunately, all of us have committed deliberate sin, and it is highly unlikely (impossible) that we will be able to abstain completely from deliberate sin in the future. Peter committed a deliberate sin when he denied Christ three times. Did Peter’s sin disqualify him? Certainly not. In sum, if forgiveness did not cover deliberate sins, we would all be in trouble and ultimately condemned by God. Colin Kruse provides another option. Kruse suggests that the sin that does not lead to death is the believer’s forgiven sin that is covered by the cross, while the sin that leads to death is the unbeliever’s sin that has no forgiveness.[4] Since the schismatics were regarded as unbelievers who denied that Jesus came in the flesh and died to save humanity, it seems likely that John is referring to the sins committed by the unbelieving false teachers when discussing the sin that leads to death.[5] Accordingly, John’s language is quite assuring. When believers commit sin, it does not lead to death because the sin is forgiven by Christ’s work on the cross.
John attempts to provide a final message of assurance in 1 John 5:18. Once again, John’s words could provide more doubt than assurance. I have even had pastors discuss the possibility of leaving the ministry due to this verse where John states, “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning” (1 John 5:18a). It appears John is saying that if you keep sinning, then you will go to hell. I do not know anyone who believes that they will be completely free of sin during the next year, month, week, or even day. I know that I will keep sinning. In fact, if I believe that I have no sin or that I will never sin in the future, then I would end up in the heretical camp of the schismatics.[6] Kruse highlights the popular scholarly opinion that the term “to sin” in verse 18 is in the present tense and thus emphasizes not just sinning but also the process of continuing to sin.[7] Although Kruse is correct, the present tense provides little solace for those of us that recognize that sin will arise in our lives and continue into the future. However, like many verses in Scripture, it is easy to read a phrase without considering the entire sentence, paragraph, or chapter. In this case, John begins the sentence by stating, “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning,” but then John completes his thought, “but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him” (1 John 5:18). At this point, the emphasis shifts from behavior (the imperative) to the power source behind overcoming sin (the indicative). John contends that it is Jesus who was born of God and is the one who protects believers from the evil one and empowers His children to overcome sin (1 John 5:18-19).[8] In other words, believers continue to advance in holiness, not because of human effort, but because Jesus protects believers from the lies of the enemy. As believers advance in holiness, they become more confident in their assurance of salvation and the power of God’s work and life in them. Without question, John once again provides a strong message of assurance to his readers.
Finally, John concludes with a message of assurance that lands his readers comfortably in the arms of their Savior. John explains that Jesus has come to provide understanding and eternal life (1 John 5:20). In other words, regarding salvation, Brandon Crowe asserts, “The life to which we aspire comes not from within, but from without.”[9] Crowe is correct, but not completely correct. John provides a powerful conclusion to his letter by explaining that eternal assurance ultimately comes from the fact that “we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 5:20, italics mine). In sum, a believer’s assurance does not initially come from within; it comes from without, but, once we believe, He is within us, and we are within Him. As believers participate in the reality of being in Christ, they can have complete assurance of God’s grace, love, and eternal life. Without question, believers can be completely comforted in John’s words of assurance “that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
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[1] Brandon D. Crowe, The Message of the General Epistles in the History of Redemption: Wisdom from James, Peter, John, and Jude (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2015), 123.
[2] For an exploration of the options, see I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John, The New International Commentary on the- New Testament (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans, 1978), 245.
[3] See Ibid., 246–48.
[4] Colin G. Kruse, The Letters of John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 194.
[5] Marshall suggests that Kruse’s perspective is doubtful because believers can still commit apostacy. However, committing apostacy by blatantly denying Christ or His efficacious work on the cross would simply move the believer into the status of an unbeliever and thereby not negate Kruse’s argument. See Marshall, The Epistles of John, 249–50.
[6] Brandon Crowe claims that one of the chief errors of the schismatics is their assertion that they did not sin. See Crowe, The Message of the General Epistles in the History of Redemption, 139-40.
[7] Kruse, The Letters of John, 194–95.
[8] Kruse, The Letters of John, 195. A debate exists around the identification of the one born of God, but Kruse makes a compelling case that the one born of God is Jesus.
[9] Crowe, The Message of the General Epistles in the History of Redemption, 128.
Bibliography
- Crowe, Brandon D. The Message of the General Epistles in the History of Redemption: Wisdom from James, Peter, John, and Jude. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2015.
- Kruse, Colin G. The Letters of John. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
- Marshall, I. Howard. The Epistles of John. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans, 1978.
