By Spencer Clark
The letter of 1 John is about, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13, NKJV). Notice that this is a letter written “to those who believe” and not a manual for non-Christians on how to become saved.
The Christians of 1 John were dealing with the departure of some from their assembly, whom John calls “antichrists” (1 John 2:18-19). These people denied the Father and the Son by rejecting that Jesus was the Christ (1 John 2:22) and could no longer remain harmonious with the faithful. Consequently, these events seem to have shaken the confidence of the remaining faithful Christians.
In his letter, John lays out a series of assessments to evaluate our salvation and build confidence in our standing before God. Some of these assessments include: (1) do we walk in the light as he is in the light (1:6-7)? (2) do we confess/acknowledge our sins (1:8-10)? (3) do we keep his commandments (2:3-4)? This continues throughout the book, with at least ten or more total.
If you are struggling to have confidence in your salvation, I encourage you to take the time this week and read through 1 John. List the faith assessments that John provides and answer the questions for yourselves: Do you really walk in the light? Do you confess your sins? Do you have love for God? Answering these questions should help us assess whether we are walking faithfully with God. If we find that we are, then we can indeed have confidence before God. But if we don’t line up with the standard, then perhaps we need to make some changes. Either way, I hope that you will spend some time this week in 1 John and assess your confidence and faith before God.