The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
1 John, Part 11a – “We Know”
Throughout 1 John, we are told in various ways what we need to know for both our assurance of salvation and our firm understanding regarding Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But there are also places in 1 John that cite that “we know” specific information.
The first one is 1 John 2:3, “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” We’ve met this verse several times in this series on 1 John. Keeping His commandments, to love the Lord your God with all your being and to love your neighbor as yourself, is a key concept to assurance of salvation. It is not the means of salvation, but the demonstration of salvation that has already occurred.
The next “we know”, which is actually a “ye know”, is in 1 John 2:13, “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.” The Apostle John did not write this epistle to people who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Instead, his writing was tenderly addressed to “my little children”, Christians who were at different stages of their walk with God from beginners to elders and everyone in between. No matter how long our relationship with God has been, all Christians know God the Father at least a little through the presence of the Holy Spirit in them.
The “we know” in 1 John 3:2 speaks of our future: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.” The Bible does not give us a whole lot of information about Heaven, but it does make clear that when we die, we as Christians will be with Jesus. The on-going earthly process of becoming more and more like Jesus, “seeing” Jesus by faith through the Bible, will be complete. Like Jesus we will no longer be bound to the sin, sorrow, and sickness of earth. To see Him is to be like Him.
The “we know” of 1 John 5:2 is what we are responsible for now: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” Again keeping the commandments is not how we are saved. Salvation is a free gift of God, by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We know that we are saved because of our love of God and of His people, the love that complies with the commandments for which we are answerable to God. As I inferred last week, we are responsible for keeping the commandments, but, without God’s enabling, we are incapable of keeping the commandments. The demonstration of these traits of salvation come only from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which happens at the point of salvation. Our part is to not stray from the center of God’s will with unconfessed sin which hinders His work and enabling in us. Even prayer can be hindered by unconfessed sin in our lives. As Psalm 66:18 maintains, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
Next week we’ll explore the other four “we know” statements. Please understand that this series on 1 John is not an exhaustive study of the themes and doctrines found in this little book. More than any other, this particular piece of the series has shown me that. The series is only superficially skimming the surface of the first epistle of John. I think the study of each “we know” statement could take up many pages of corroborating biblical references and supporting information.
Update/Prayer Request: Our doctor reminded us this week that soft tissue damage, like what we experienced during our collision, takes a long time to heal. After three weeks we recognize that the pain is becoming less and that we are healing. One contributing factor for Dan is that his lungs are remaining clear with his current meds and so he is able to sleep more deeply and for longer periods of time. We praise God for the encouragement of all this. Please continue to pray for us, especially Carolyn as she deals with broken ribs. On the cancer front, we are awaiting Dan’s PET/CT results from earlier this week.
