Congregational BIble Experience Day #78: 1 John 1-5

Introduction

Congregational Bible Experience Day #78
Bible Reading: 1 John 1-5

So, 1 Peter - that you might SHOW the true grace of God; 2 Peter – that you might GROW in the true grace of God; and now 1 John, written – that you might KNOW the true grace of God.

How do you recognise what is an authentic Christian life? What are the marks of true Christian experience? Or, perhaps more personally and down to earth: how do I really know that - through faith in Jesus - I belong to God, that I really am converted, that I truly am possessed by God's eternal life? These are questions that genuinely and worry a lot of believers. Some even say that assurance of salvation is not possible because the risk of falling away from Jesus always remains. John disagrees.
While not wishing to encourage complacency or a lax attitude to Christian obedience - for real Christians cannot do that indefinitely - John wants his converted readers to enjoy a sense of peace that they belong to God because of their living and persistent faith in Christ. His letter is written, he tells them, that those "who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). As you read this letter may you too be encouraged by such assurance. And if you haven't yet come to Christ, may you, in faith, respond to His offer of grace in the Gospel - today (John 20:31).

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John's Gospel was written, you may remember, that those reading it "may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31).  John's first letter - same person, same style of writing, same themes emerging - was written to those "who believe in the name of the Son of God [in other words - who have taken that step of faith of believing commitment 'into' Jesus that he commends in his Gospel] that you may know you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).  First John is about assurance: giving assurance to those who have trusted in Christ but who may not be sure that they really are converted, that they really are saved.  During the course of his letter, John holds up three 'tests of faith' against which struggling, genuine believers - or indeed, presumptive, nominal believers -  may test themselves as to the reality (or otherwise) of their trust in Jesus, and so of their salvation - which we will return to in a moment... 

This is very much a personal “letter”, even though the addressees remain unknown. Reading it, we sense John writes with genuine feeling, out of deep, loving pastoral concern to people he knows and cares for, and for whose spiritual welfare and encouragement he is deeply troubled. And the cause of his concern? was not surprisingly, false teachers with the false gospel. 

What was destabilising John's true Christian friends was a super/hyper- spirituality, that was being promoted by a group of breakaway “Christians” (which probably included a number of the church leaders) who claimed their new understanding of Gospel far superior to familiar (traditional) version. They were saying things like:  If you really want to know God, if you really want to get close to the spirit of Christ, then we’re “in the know” about how to go about getting closer to God. Don’t get too worked up about sin in your life because sin belongs to the lower levels of life, physical levels, the level of the flesh… True knowledge of God is achieved in the spiritual, non-material realm.    

Again, as in 2 Peter, these false believers sounded genuine and helpful, and they used familiar spiritual language. But just poke under the surface a little and - if you knew the true Gospel well enough - you could spot the differences and their 'fake good news' easily. They had, however, enough conviction, enthusiasm and persuasion to unsettle many. These Christians were experiencing pressure to conform and join the 'inner ring' of this spiritual elite. If they did not join, the temptation was in feeling threatened and spiritually inferior to everybody else, because rejected. Such an atmosphere breeds division and pride within the church fellowship and a failure to show inclusive love.

So John writes to help the believers recognise authentic Christian spirituality in themselves, and in others. He cites three tests to foster Christian assurance and that we truly know God and weaves these throughout his letter. First, the Doctrinal test or truth test, which focuses on Jesus (2:1-2,22-24; 4:2-3,10, 14-15; 5:1,5-6), and asks – what do you believe? Secondly, the Moral or obedience test, which focuses on obeying Jesus (1:7; 2:4,9-11; 3:7-10; 5:3), and asks – how do you live? And finally, the Social or love test, which focuses on our loving relationship with Jesus and among the fellowship (1:3,6; 2:6,10, 13; 3:1-2,11-17,23; 4:7,11,20-21), and asks – how do you love? These tests surface one after the other in each of John’s letters again and again.

Unlike the false teachers, John writes not so much to draw a line between two different groups within church and to write certain people off; but rather - more positively - to offer hope and reassurance to genuine but struggling Christians about the reality of their faith, and to show that their lives are demonstrating authentic Christian experience, despite what others are saying.  John will eventually argue (5:1-6) that all three tests hang together, because they are dependent on - and evidence of - God’s activity of ‘regeneration’ in believers' lives, as His Spirit brings new life into our hearts, bringing us all the way back round to John 20:31 and 1 John 5:13 - where we began.