If you’ve ever shared doubts with a Christian friend about whether you can know that you’ve received eternal life or will go to heaven one day, it’s likely they’ve read to you 1 John 5:13. That’s the verse which says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” It’s a great verse of assurance that promises us that we can know that we have eternal life. There’s no need to be left guessing. The promise is made to those who believe in Jesus and it has calmed the fears of countless believers. I think it’s a great verse and it’s not wrong to share it with people who have doubts. The problem is that it can be read and applied too simplistically. That’s because it’s a summary statement that comes at the end of a 5-chapter book that has given a series of tests of true and false faith. And so 1 John 5:13 needs to be understood alongside those other tests. The book of 1 John gives at least four tests, alongside our faith in Jesus, that are given to reassure us of our salvation. Let me share them with you.
Christianity makes the remarkable claim that God completely pardons sinners solely on the basis of their faith, not as a result of anything they have done to deserve it. But doesn’t God care how a person lives? Two equations help explain Christianity’s most misunderstood truth.
Many people assume that because they believe in God, attend church, or try to live a decent life, their faith must be genuine. But throughout the Gospels, Jesus regularly challenged people who looked spiritually healthy on the outside while holding fatal blind spots under the surface. Considering them helps us evaluate the condition of our own faith.
Plenty of people say they believe in Jesus, but there’s something missing. Jesus pictures them in Matthew 7:21-23 as those pleading to get into heaven but being denied entrance. It seems that they come close to salvation, but not close enough. They lack what so many “almost Christians” lack today: repentance and relationship.
When someone begins to understand what the Bible calls “good news,” the first reaction is often hesitation. The message that Jesus bore the consequences of our sins at the cross sounds like good news, but almost too good to be true. Part of the reason is that they don’t hear or fully understand what it means to confess, “Jesus is Lord.”
