SeniorSeeker
Active member
Read 1 John 5:13. What can we be sure of, according to this text?
1 John 5:13 (New International Version) Concluding Remarks: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."
Verse 13 provides an important reason John wrote his letter. He wanted his audience to have assurance of salvation. His hearers and readers should know that they already have eternal life. Everlasting life is a present reality. John made a similar statement at the end of his Gospel (John 20:30, 31).
First John 5:13 surpasses the other texts in the New Testament that deal with everlasting life. They mention a condition and contain a promise, but 1 John 5:13 states that children of God should know that they have eternal life. It is not an option, something that can be added to a Christian life or can be left out. God wants us to have assurance of salvation. Moses, Peter, Paul, the Christians in Ephesus and the believers in Colossae had this certainty.
How, though, can we be protected from taking assurance and turning it into presumption? See Matt. 10:22, 1 Cor. 9:27, Rev. 3:11.
Some folk have taken this "confidence" of salvation and turned it into an "unconditional guarantee," the idea of "once saved, always saved." If this were true, what would stop us from forgetting all about God and living an immoral and unethical life
1 John 5:13 (New International Version) Concluding Remarks: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."
Verse 13 provides an important reason John wrote his letter. He wanted his audience to have assurance of salvation. His hearers and readers should know that they already have eternal life. Everlasting life is a present reality. John made a similar statement at the end of his Gospel (John 20:30, 31).
First John 5:13 surpasses the other texts in the New Testament that deal with everlasting life. They mention a condition and contain a promise, but 1 John 5:13 states that children of God should know that they have eternal life. It is not an option, something that can be added to a Christian life or can be left out. God wants us to have assurance of salvation. Moses, Peter, Paul, the Christians in Ephesus and the believers in Colossae had this certainty.
How, though, can we be protected from taking assurance and turning it into presumption? See Matt. 10:22, 1 Cor. 9:27, Rev. 3:11.
Some folk have taken this "confidence" of salvation and turned it into an "unconditional guarantee," the idea of "once saved, always saved." If this were true, what would stop us from forgetting all about God and living an immoral and unethical life
God Bless! Betty