Know that ye have eternal life

Sometimes, when health breaks down, or when serious family problems or unemployment overtakes us, doubts begin to arise in the mind. Under the Spirit’s guidance John has written that our faith should not be shaken, that we might know that we have eternal life, v. 13. He wrote his Gospel that we might ‘believe . . . and . . . have life through his name’, John 20. 31. This Epistle is written to saints, who in the first century may have been facing persecution fierce enough for questions to arise in the mind. John is reminding them of what they know.

John reminds his readers that the great fundamentals of the faith will support them; they knew the Lord Jesus came into the world ‘by water and blood’, 1John5. 6. Among the pressures then troubling Christians were attacks on the Person of Christ, denying both His incarnation and His vicarious death. What a change faith in Christ had made to those to whom John wrote! John also draws attention to the witness of the Holy Spirit to these great facts, v. 6. When beset with problems, let us remember in particular that God, who so loved the world, has given us this record concerning His Son, John 3. 16; 1 John 5. 10.

Secondly, evidence in a life proves the reality of the new birth: a Christian loves other Christians, those who have also been born of God, v. 1; a Christian keeps God’s commandments, vv. 2, 3; and Christians don’t habitually sin, v. 18. If these traits are evident in his life, a Christian should not have doubts, says John; he has eternal life.

John points again to evidence that they already knew, or should have known. The Christian’s prayer-life should be reassuring. He knows that God hears him when he prays. He knows that his God is not an impersonal influence but a real Person with a will, within which the Christian must live. He also knows that God answers prayer and will have experience of the joy of answered prayer, vv. 14, 15.

John would approve of RICHARD KEEN’s words about victorious Christian faith under pressure:

‘That soul though all hell should endeavour to shake, I’ll never - no, never - no, never forsake!’