Possessing “assurance of salvation” should be the norm for Christian believers. Surely God does not want His children to be wondering if they actually are His children!
Conversely, surely God does not want those who are not His children to be deceived into thinking that they are His children.
All of this being so, it should not surprise us that the New Testament includes an entire book primarily written to help us know if we’re truly born again or not. It is the book of 1 John. Near the end of that short book, John wrote, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13; emphasis added).
So, what are “these things” that John wrote? Obviously, they are everything he wrote in 1 John. So, a good paraphrase of 1 John 5:13 would be, “I wrote this letter so that those of you who believe in Jesus would have assurance of eternal life.”
For that reason, it would be wise for us to read John’s entire epistle to see what it says. When we do, we discover that John repeatedly affirms the fact that genuinely born-again people are always characterized by three things: faith, love and obedience. Born-again people believe in Jesus; they love His family; and they obey His commandments. Very simple.
So, as you read 1 John and compare it with your life, it will either fill you with assurance of your salvation, or it will cause you to doubt it. And if reading 1 John fills you with doubt, that is actually a good thing, as it could lead you to repentance and a genuine spiritual rebirth.
Tragically, 1 John 5:13 is often quoted by professing Christians without regard to its context, and they make it effectively say, “If you say you believe in Jesus, then there is no doubt that you possess eternal life. So don’t doubt it.” But that is not what John said. On the contrary. Just claiming to believe in Jesus is not enough to give anyone valid assurance of salvation.
Some go even further in distorting John’s clear message, making it say: “If you say you believe in Jesus, then there is no doubt you have eternal life. It is ‘faith plus nothing else.’ Anyone who says that any obedience is necessary to possess assurance is a legalist who is preaching a false gospel of works.”
But if that were true, then John was a legalist, because he repeatedly cited obedience, as well as love, as being essential for the assurance of salvation. Genuine faith always manifests itself in love and obedience. And that is why John repeatedly mentions them both as the evidence of the new birth:
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother (1 John 3:10, emphasis added).
How much plainer could it be? Those who are truly born again are characterized by righteousness and love. Those who are not characterized by righteousness and love are not God’s children.
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:1-5, emphasis added).
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3-4, emphasis added).
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things” (1 John 3:14-20, emphasis added).
There is no getting around the fact that, in what we just read, John declared that we can gain assurance that we are “of the truth” (as opposed to being “of a lie”) by sharing our earthly wealth with suffering believers, a manifestation of “loving the brethren.” If we, however, “close our hearts,” we should doubt that God’s love is actually in us. It is by our love for each other that we prove we are Jesus’ disciples (John 13:35). Jesus taught that His sheep love suffering sheep, whereas goats don’t care (see Matt. 25:31-46).
All of this is very simple stuff about the assurance of salvation, yet ignored in so many “Christian” quarters. There is a vast difference between trusting in your works to save you and gaining assurance of the work God had done in you by looking at the evidence.
What is tragic is the length that some are willing to go to contradict these obvious, simple truths, either by “logic,” scripture-twisting, or drawn-out sympathy stories. Yet nothing surprises my any more that is concocted in the sub-biblical world of “hyper-grace” teaching. They have “turned the grace of our God into licentiousness” (Jude 4). “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). May God open their eyes!
