How to Discern Biblical Christianity: Part 3
The book of 1 John gives clear evidence, and thus assurance, of what a true follower of Christ looks like. In part 1 of this series, we learned that this assurance is rooted in God’s unchanging character which forms in people that are truly saved by Him. In part 2, we looked at how that character changes the hearts of Christians and separates them from the World, further confirming true salvation. In this third and final part, I’ll discuss the assurance 1 John points to in a Christian’s righteousness, understanding of Christ, and identity as an overcomer.
Christians practice righteousness
In 1 John chapter 3, John gives us a closer look into what it means for a Christian to walk in holiness. He sums up the last 2 chapters in the first few verses of chapter 3, expressing astonishment for the kind of love God gives to us. God adopted us, making us His children. And since we are His children and have been born again, or been made new with a new nature, our lifestyles should display the character of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. This makes us alien to the world, therefore the world does not know us (1 John 3:1). Our nature is foreign to non-Christians, and by this, both they and we should be distinguishable.
Jonathan Edwards calls the pursuit of righteousness “holy affections,” or the God-given desire to live a life pleasing to God through conformity to His Son. This idea isn’t foreign to Scripture either. John says that “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil” (1 John 3:9-10). In His sermon on the mount, Jesus utters these words: “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). And in Matthew 5:20, He says “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus here corrects a misunderstanding of perfection: that it isn’t outward practice of the Law as the Pharisees lived but inward conformity to the righteousness of God.
“Perfection isn’t outward practice of the Law but inward conformity to the righteousness of God.”
If you’re wondering how sinful people conform to perfect righteousness, I have a simple answer: Jesus Christ! The truth is that no matter how hard we try or what type of effort we put into it, we can never be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We can never love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we can never love our neighbors as ourselves. We have a sin problem and a sin nature that radically affects us to our core. No matter how good we try to be, we will never attain the perfect, holy standards of God (Isaiah 64:6). Jesus on the other hand came into the flesh and lived a perfect life in full obedience to the Law of God in thought, word, and deed. The righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us, or attributed to us through our belief in Him. This is why we are seen as sinless to God, because our sin was put on Christ at the cross, and His righteousness was given to us. So, although we still sin, we are declared righteous and have a righteous standing before God (Romans 3:21-22, 2 Corinthians 5:21).
It's important to understand how God sees us as righteous through Jesus to understand John's next point. In John 3:9, it says “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” I understand many Christians (myself included) reading this passage for the first time and get instantly confused because we all sin and it seems that we make a practice of sinning as well. John’s language is to lead the reader to understand once again, that God’s character is completely different from that of the devil, and that of sin. If the consistent pattern of your life is characterized by sin, you cannot claim to have the righteousness of Christ imputed to you, for by this reason Christ died (1 John 3:8). Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. He came as God in the flesh to destroy the power, influence, and connection of sin by living a sinless life in complete obedience to the Law of God and by willfully giving Himself to death on the cross. This is why John is so black and white in saying “You know that he appeared in order to take away sin, and in him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). So although Christians sin and will continue to sin, our lifestyles shouldn’t be characterized by our sin; they should be characterized by a pursuit of righteousness.
Inwardly, God has done a work in the heart of all Christians. We no longer love sin as we once did, but because of the Holy Spirit now living within us, we hate it. So there’s guilt and Godly sorrow in our hearts for the sin that we commit that leads to repentance. Our hearts have been transformed, and our minds have now been conformed to the image of Christ, so just as Jesus obeyed the Law of God perfectly in works, words, and thoughts, so do we now desire these things. We now seek to live lives pleasing to a good God and it genuinely hurts us when we fall short of this, so much so that we live a life of repentance, not celebrating or giving excuses about our sin. This is what Jonathan Edwards meant when he said “holy affections.”
“Just as Jesus obeyed the law of God perfectly in works, words, and thoughts, so do we now desire these things.”
John then says that “In this, the children of God are made manifest, and the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:10). Today, just as during the Great Awakening, people show themselves to be children of God or children of Satan by the way their lives are characterized. Do we walk in the light just as our Heavenly Father is light? Do we acknowledge our sins and confess them before God? Do we earnestly seek to obey the commandments of God? Do we love our brothers, not because we are loved by our brothers, but because the love of the Father is in us? Do we fight to keep away from the world's lies and characterization of what we know to be true? Do we believe God will provide for us when we are without? Do we live a life characterized by holiness and a pursuit of righteousness? If the answer to these questions is yes, then there should be an assurance of salvation.
“These are not merely optional duties for someone claiming to be a Christian but proof that one has truly been born again”
Christians have the right Christology
Not only are there character tests of saving faith, but as I stated before, there are also doctrinal tests. Christians are encouraged not to believe every spirit but to test each spirit because many false prophets have gone into the world (1 John 4:1). False prophets are people who do not believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh or that He came from God (1 John 4:2). But Christians believe that Jesus has come in the flesh and that He came from God, and that matters. In 1 John 4:2-3, John explains how all Christians, teachers or not, must align themselves with these truths. John here tells us not to believe every person who claims to be a teacher, but to test their understanding and knowledge of who Jesus is. Christians are assured of their salvation when they seek after right biblical teaching.
Those who don't confess that Jesus is from God are not of God but are of the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 4:1). The Greek word for antichrist is “antichristos,” meaning an adversary of Christ. From the beginning, Satan has sought out to destroy God’s word (Genesis 3:1-5) and to counterfeit His truth. He is the ultimate demonic source behind all false teachers and false doctrine. Contrary to popular belief, Christians want to keep from being "open minded" but instead, have a healthy, biblical skepticism when hearing what’s presented as truth. Not only should teachers who claim to speak for God confess that Jesus has come on the earth, but they should also present the full and proper deity of Jesus. They must acknowledge His humanity, along with His Sonship, along with His death and resurrection, and the benefits to be derived from those truths. The fullness of the Triune God should be presented out of the mouth of a teacher who professes to be a prophet of God and those who have truly been saved should desire to sit under this teaching.
Christians are overcomers
God also has protected His people from the deceitful tongue of Satan in that Jesus our Lord has overcome the world (1 John 4:4). Christians shouldn’t be afraid of false teachers because we have the Holy Spirit, the One who leads us to sound doctrine and protects us from being forever led astray by the devil (Matthew 24:24). The implication in Matthew 24:24 is that it is not possible to lead astray God’s elect. Although Christians may at times doubt truth, or be led astray for a season, true believers will never entirely be led away from their Savior (John 10:4-5, John 10:28,29). False teachers do not have the right understanding of God’s Word, therefore they either reject it or try to add to it (2 Corinthians 4:2; Revelation 22:18-19). This is how we are to discern truth from error: “They are of the world; therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them” (1 John 4:5). The distinction between false teachers and teachers that are of God is that false teachers speak like the world does. These teachers speak the philosophy of the world, sprinkling it with theological words. The world hears these things and accepts them because they are also of the world, but the world rejects the true word of God and the teachers who proclaim it (1 John 4:4-6).
The world is at enmity with God therefore it rejects God’s wisdom. The people of this world have been consumed with the deception and wickedness Satan offers, but true followers of Christ overcome the world (James 4:4, 1 John 5:4). In many ways, Christians are surrounded by the lies of this world, so although it may seem impossible to overcome this world and the lies that come with it, it's important to remember the words of our Lord Jesus in John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” The word overcome is “nikao” in Greek meaning to conquer, or to come off victorious. By Jesus overcoming this world, Christians can be assured that there's victory for those of us who endure tribulation and persecution to the end and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Christ (Matthew 16:17-29). There is an internal witness to the deity of Christ within every believer’s heart. This should give us confident evidence that our salvation is real. John’s purpose in writing his first letter is that we may know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13). Believers should approach the book of first John as a way God has provided to discern salvation and spiritual health in themselves and others.
“There is an internal witness to the deity of Christ within every believer’s heart.”
Summary
John’s first letter is used as a test to discern truth from error, good fruit from bad fruit. His repeated theme throughout the book is that Christians’ love simply looks different from what it did before they were born again. I don't want readers of this article to dismiss the underlying message in 1 John or believe it to be superfluous, but to understand it as highly important to comprehend and to use as a discerning tool, especially at a time when Christianity is misunderstood. God has given us His Word but specifically the epistle of 1 John for us to use as a guide to know what a true follower of Christ looks like.
God is defined by His holiness and love, therefore we as followers of His Son Jesus should display these same traits. We too should be primarily defined by our holy affections. Now that our lives have been changed, we see how sin affects our relationship with God and that should move us to repentance. Why? Because we love God. We now seek to obey Him and understand Him, and our day-to-day lives should look different from those of the world. We not only love God by habitually seeking to obey Him, but we also now love other people differently. We as Christians have been adopted into the household of God, so our affections for one another demonstrate a changed life as well. We don't simply love others because they are lovable, but we willingly love others because God first loved us. Love is an act of the will changed by God! 1 John is clear that the mark of a true disciple of Christ is characterized by our love for the Father and our love for our brothers.
Salvation is a supernatural event that takes place by God, and within this supernatural event the Holy Spirit changes our hearts. 1 John provides characteristics of this change that happen in a Christian's life and helps him to identify those changes and be assured of salvation as a result. Yes, Christians sin and will continue to sin, but the difference is that we are deeply bothered by it and that no comfort takes place in the heart that has been truly transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no rest, no peace, no relaxed posture, but there is sorrow, and hate, and torment of the conscience when we sin. This is because God is Holy, and we have His spirit within us that convicts us of all sin. The book of 1 John provides Christians with a guide to help see all the changes mentioned in this article. My hope and prayer is that you see that God has clear, distinguishable attributes from the world and from Satan himself, and that God in His sovereignty has provided His people with His Spirit, therefore Christians, should be able to discern biblical Christianity.