In the book of 1 John, there are a number of tests. The purpose of these tests is to determine if one is a genuine convert, thereby proving one's salvation, or a false convert. John declares, "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" (5:13). It is important that we test ourselves in order to see if we are truly in the faith. Our profession means absolutely nothing! Just look at Matthew 7:21-23. Paul tells the Corinthian church to "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Cor. 13:5). In other words, if you fail the test, it is quite evident that Christ is not in you and that you are not a part of Him. Jesus clearly said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27-28). Here are some of the tests that John puts forth for us:
- "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1:6).
- "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1:8).
- "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments" (2:3).
- "The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked" (2:6).
- "The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now" (2:9).
- "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (2:15).
- "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us" (2:19).
- "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son" (2:22).
- "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him" (2:29).
The entire book of 1 John comprises an extended contrast between vain profession versus true faith. It demonstrates that disingenuous faith often manifests its true nature in open defection (apostasy). In the first three chapters of 1 John, John discusses the problem of those within the local church who claim to know God, but their lives evidenced a different reality. While the opening verses seem to indicate that the church to which this letter was addressed had become infected with Gnosticism (an early heresy that denied any linkage between God, who is Spirit, and flesh, thus denying the incarnation), it is uncertain if complete Gnosticism was present in the church. We know that regardless of whether these individuals were connected with Gnostic belief or not, they are clearly identified as those who deny that God came in the flesh (4:2); they professed to be in right relation to God but were characterized by corrupt living (1:5; 3:4-10), denial of sin (1:8-10), disobedience to the commands of God (2:3-4), hatred—or at least a lack of love—toward the brethren (2:9-11; 3:11-18; 4:20), love of the world (2:15-17), in some cases open defection (2:18-19), denial that Jesus was the Messiah (2:22-23; 3:14-15), and denial of the Hypostatic Union of the divine and human natures of Christ (4:1-6). John makes the point early on that such individuals are excluded from the fellowship of God. he makes this point by way of contrast, stating that it is those who "walk in the light" (the present continual action indicates a general lifestyle—not the total absence of sin). It is those who “walk in the light”—not those who pretend but are filled with sin, hatred, and denial—that have fellowship with God.
It is a tragedy that the concept of “fellowship” is almost universally misconstrued today. Perhaps the most prevalent view of fellowship is this: Christians who obey God and “walk in the light” are in fellowship with God, and those Christians who sin and do not confess their sins are “out of fellowship;” hence, the notion that confession “restores” broken fellowship. However, such a view is completely at odds with this book. John clearly contrasts two kinds of people: the children of God (true believers, whose life is characterized by walking in light), and children of the Devil (whose lives are characterized by walking in darkness and denying the faith). True believers have fellowship with God; everyone else is in darkness. This does not mean that believers do not sin—they do. But when they sin, truly saved people confess their sin and move forward. In fact, verse 7 clearly demonstrates than sin does not interrupt a believer’s fellowship with God. In this verse John says “…but if we walk in the light (peripateo, περιπατεω—present continual action) as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship (koinonia, κοινωνια—present continual action) with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (katharizo, καθαριζω—present continual action).” Notice that these three actions occur simultaneously: walking in the light, having fellowship, and being cleansed from all sin. He doesn’t say that if we walk in the light, but we fall into sin and lose our fellowship, that when we confess our sin fellowship will be restored and we will return to the light. He says this: If we are walking in the light (i.e. we are God’s children), we are (at the very same time as we walk in the light) experiencing fellowship with God, and being cleansed from all sin. It should be obvious that John is not teaching that sin breaks fellowship, or that confession restores it. (This is not intended to minimize the importance of confession, which is a necessary component in experiential sanctification.) The fact is that Christians can no more lose their fellowship with God than they can lose their salvation. While this discussion may seem to be unrelated to the topic at hand, it is important to understand the subject with which John is dealing. According to John, there are two basic categories of people associated with the church: those who claim to be in right relation to God—and are, and those who claim to be in right relation to God—and are not. Those who claim to be in right relation to God, but who do not know Him, are the same people we have seen from the previous texts that ultimately (if they persist in their unbelief) fall beyond hope (cf. 2:18-19).
Partly borrowed and revised from Sam A. Smith's The Biblical Doctrine of Apostasy.
To be continued...