DO YOU REMEMBER the television game show The $10,000 Pyramid? Contestants would play in pairs, and one partner would give the other a list of specific items, and the clue recipient had to guess what they all had in common. For example, the clues might be “a boat, a buoy, an empty plastic bottle, etc.,” and the answer would be “things that float.” In these verses John gives us a specific list of six items that he discusses, three in verses 13–15 and three in verses 18–21: eternal life, confidence, answered prayer (vv. 13–15); right attitude toward sin, divine spiritual origin, and Jesus the true God (vv. 18–21). What do all these items have in common? What if I were to say, “You have eternal life, God hears your prayers always, and God answers your prayers even before you know the answer.” What category would fit that list? The answer is “things every Christian knows and possesses.”
Notice that the word “have” occurs in each verse in verses 13–15. In each case it is associated with one of these three things: “you have eternal life,” “this is the confidence that we have,” and “we know that we have the requests . . .” Notice again how in verses 13–15 the word “know” is associated with each of these three things: “that you may know that you have eternal life,” “if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask,” and “we know that we have the request that we have asked of him.” Verses 13–15 speak of three things we “have” and three things we “know.”
Assurance of Eternal Life (v. 13)
The first thing John desires that we “know” is that we “have eternal life” (v. 13). Did you know that you can know that you have eternal life? You can know that you are saved. You don’t have to doubt it, guess about it, or wonder about it. I’m glad I don’t have to live in the fog on this one! Verse 13 is a strategic verse in this entire letter because it gives us the purpose for John’s writing. When we receive a letter, we want to know who wrote it and why he or she wrote it. Some people today believe that you cannot know with certainty that you are a Christian. According to them, you just have to wait until you die to find out if you get into Heaven or not. Muslims believe they cannot know in this life whether they are acceptable to Allah or not. John explodes all this doubt into the limbo of nonsense.1 But God does not want his children to worry, doubt, or lack assurance about whether they are Christians or not. In this letter John provides some tests to determine if you are a believer or not. We have already seen some of those tests in earlier chapters. There is the test of love for the brethren. Do you love other Christians? There is the test of righteousness. Do you desire to live correctly and in a way that pleases God? There is the test of right believing. Have you believed that Jesus is the Son of God? If you pass those three tests, mark it down, you are a Christian.
Verse 13 implies that it is possible to be truly saved and yet not have assurance of your salvation. I have met many people like that and have counseled many people about this issue throughout my ministry. People often have doubts about their salvation. There are many reasons why Christians doubt. Sometimes it is because they are not living in a right way before the Lord. Another reason why Christians doubt is that God is calling them to a higher plane of Christian service, but they are not responding. Still another reason why Christians doubt is that the devil knows that he cannot get at some Christians unless he gets them in this way. If he can keep them in a state of doubt, they will not be able to serve God because they are always introspective. Such lack of assurance robs you of your joy in the Christian life. It arrests your spiritual growth. It also cripples your usefulness in the Lord’s service. Your assurance of salvation is a very important thing to know. Spurgeon is correct to point out that it is our duty to obtain full assurance. “We should not have been commanded to give diligence to make our calling and election sure if it were not right for us to be sure. I am sure it is right for a child of God to know that God is his Father, and never to have a question in his heart as to his sonship.”2
Compare 1 John 5:13 with John 20:31. Both are purpose statements for writing. John’s purpose in his Gospel was evangelistic: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.” Now he writes in his letter with a purpose of assurance of salvation: “that you might know that you have eternal life.” John’s Gospel was written to help us come to know Christ, and his letter was written to help us know that we have come to know Christ. People differ in many ways around the world with respect to culture, diet, skin color, and many other things. But some things are true about human beings no matter where they live. Every human being breathes, eats, sleeps, and drinks water. The same is true in the spiritual realm. Christians might fly under the banner of a particular denomination, but all genuine believers have some things in common, no matter what. This is a major point John makes in his letter. Every true Christian has had an experience of the saving grace of God and has been born of God.
Having an assurance of your salvation is crucial to your spiritual health and growth. It is possible for a person to be saved and not have assurance of salvation. J. C. Ryle has strikingly said, “Faith is the root, and assurance the flower. Doubtless you can never have the flower without the root; but it is no less certain you may have the root, and not the flower.”3 What are the things John is referring to when he says, “I write these things that you might know . . .” Up to this point three things have continually recurred in the letter to help us know that we are truly believers. Robert Law, in one of the most famous commentaries on the book of 1 John entitled The Tests of Life,4 takes these three themes and uses them to show that John was pointing out that we can test the genuineness of our salvation by means of faith, obedience, and love.
Many times we have heard John talk about the subject of faith in Jesus Christ. That’s the initiation of our Christian life. Unless we believe in Jesus we cannot be saved. If we have genuinely believed, we have salvation. Faith is the threshold to the Christian life. Secondly, John says there’s another evidence of the true believer, obedience. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If you are a child of God, one of the evidences will be an obedient life. The third test of the Christian life is love. Do you have love for fellow believers? Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). John takes these three things and continually comes back to them throughout the letter to bring us to an assurance of salvation.
Confidence of Answered Prayer (vv. 14, 15)
Assurance of salvation is important because, as John says in verse 14, we cannot have a strong prayer life without it. That’s why he states, “And this is the confidence . . .” Verses 13, 14 are tied together. John is trying to point out to us that assurance and confidence in our salvation leads to confidence that God answers prayer. If anyone were to say they had known a person who was trustworthy for thirty years and yet doubted him, it would not be very creditable. When we have known God for a considerable time, does it not reflect on his veracity if we doubt him?5 When I read about the early Christians in Acts, I am amazed at how they prayed boldly and confidently. The Christians of the early church were men and women who knew how to pray. I fear some of us don’t know how to pray with confidence.
Notice that John says in verse 14 that we have confidence “toward him.” This confidence is built on our access to God. The Bible says that in prayer we approach God with confidence. It also means we have immediate contact with God. The lines between us and Heaven are never jammed. I remember the old days before cell phones when once on Christmas day I picked up my telephone to call my parents in another state, and a recording came on that said, “I’m sorry but all of our lines are busy at this time.” I got that same recording for three hours! That never happens when we pray to God. Wherever we are we can have immediate contact with God by prayer. Though Heaven’s lines are never jammed, when we sin and refuse to confess it, we block God’s calls and delete his contact number.6
There are many things about prayer that we don’t know or understand. Some of us are still in the kindergarten or elementary school of prayer. Nobody ever graduates from the University of Prayer. Notice again the word “confidence” in verse 14. We have seen this word before in John’s letter. The Greek word literally means “all speech” and hence “boldness.” God wants you to have boldness before God. Remember Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” When it comes to prayer, we should have confidence that if we pray and ask for something in God’s will, he hears us. Here are some questions to think about. Did Jesus help hurting people during his earthly ministry? Yes, he did. Did he heal people who were sick? Yes, he did. Did he correct people who were wrong in their thinking? Yes, he did. Do you think that all of that and much more that Jesus did in his earthy life he desires to do today? Do you believe that he desires to help you in your time of need? Does he desire to guide you when you need direction? Does he want to help you when you are hurting? Of course he does. Unlike his earthly ministry, Jesus is not physically with us now, so how does he go about doing these things? He does so through the wonderful blessing of answered prayer. This is God’s promise to us. Prayer is the God-ordained way we get what we need. Prayer is not positive thinking, spiritual self-hypnosis, or any such thing. Prayer is a spiritually real and vibrant activity by which we bring real needs to a real God who has real love for us and real answers to give us.
John says in verse 14, “if we ask anything . . .” I suppose if I were to ask you to define prayer, you might say, “Prayer is asking God for something.” That would be true. Of course we know that prayer is many things (thanksgiving, praise, petition on behalf of others), but prayer is also asking God for specific things. You’re not going to receive if you do not ask. It is here that some of us are confused about prayer. Some view prayer as trying to get God to give us something that we want. Prayer for some is like coercing or wrangling God to get him to do what we want him to do. “Maybe if I can pray with fancy words God will give me what I want.” But prayer is not like that at all. Prayer is not trying to get what you want, but what God wants for us. There is a world of difference between those two. True prayer is when we come to God and ask what he wants for our lives. C. H. Dodd said, “Prayer rightly considered is not a device of imploring the sources of God to fulfill our desires, but a means by which our desires may be redirected according to the mind of God and made into the channels for his will.”7
Not only do we have confidence in prayer, but John says there is a condition of prayer. Don’t miss those four crucial words in verse 14: “according to his will.” God is not going to give you a blank check for your prayers any more than you would give your children a blank check for all of the requests they have for you. If you are a parent, would you give your children everything they asked for at Christmastime? There are many things I would like to have. I’ve always wanted to drive a Ferrari. But God has not seen fit to give me one, and I suspect that if I were to ask for one in prayer, the Lord would probably chuckle at that prayer request. Though I would like to own a Ferrari, I need one about as much as I need a hole in my head. God is not going to answer all our wants and greeds, but he does promise he will answer all of our needs, according to his will. Learning the importance of praying in the will of God may be the single most important principle of prayer. Jesus taught us to pray “Your will be done,” not “your will be changed.”8
Of course, this raises the six million dollar question: how do we know what the will of God is? Before we answer that question, we need to consider an even more fundamental question: do we desire his will to be lived out in our lives today? Stop and think about that before you answer. Jesus prayed to the Father, “not my will but yours be done.” He taught the disciples in Matthew 6 to pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done.” Many people think not “your will be done” but “your will be changed.” Jesus prayed, “your will be done.” Is that true of our lives today? Are we praying that God’s will be done? We can’t pray that way until we desire God’s will in our lives. We can’t desire God’s will in our lives until we are willing to do God’s will before we know what it is. I have to constantly ask myself, Lord, is this what you want or what I want?
To pray in the will of God, we have to discern the will of God. It is one thing to be willing to do God’s will, but we need to discern God’s will in our lives. Many people think discerning the will of God is one of the most difficult things to do. But God gives us two great helps to assist us. First, the place to begin is the Bible, the written Word of God. In the Bible God has given us much of his will for our life. There are things that we can read and know that this is what God wants us to do and not to do. Clear directives, positive and negative, are found in the Bible. We don’t have to pray about these or consult anyone. God says “do this” or “don’t do that,” end of subject. God’s will for our lives will never contradict his Word. His will is always in conformity with his Word.
When God gives very clear direction on a host of issues as he does in his Word, that knowledge narrows the scope of our praying. For example, suppose a young Christian lady falls in love with someone who is not a Christian. She wants to get married. But the problem is, Paul says that it is not the will of God for a Christian to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14–18), which in context can legitimately be applied to marriage. Should she pray and ask God if it is his will for her to marry the man? No, because God has already made his will in that situation explicit for every Christian. There are some things you don’t need to pray for—God has already made it clear. The first place to go to determine what is and what is not God’s will is the Bible. We should immerse ourselves in Scripture, learn what God desires and what he despises, then pray accordingly and confidently, as John says.
Periodically I have had the experience of people coming to my office for counseling. Sometimes within minutes I can tell that they are there not to do God’s will but to have my blessings on their actions. They want someone who represents the church to be able to say, “Sure, go right ahead and do that,” despite what God’s Word says. Sometimes people come for counseling, and their minds are already made up. Rather, we should seek to discern God’s will and then be willing to do his will without having our mind made up on what we want.
Second, in addition to having the Bible as a source for knowledge of God’s will, we have the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. Let’s face it—God’s Word doesn’t answer every question we have about what we should do. I don’t imagine, when you began praying about marrying your future spouse, that you began looking for a verse in the Bible that said, “You shalt marry so and so.” We won’t find those kinds of things in the Bible. We can rest assured that God the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray in God’s will. As Paul says in Romans 8, the Holy Spirit guides us in our prayers. Sometimes we don’t even know how to pray or for what we should pray. Although I catch myself sometimes thinking I know what God should do, the fact of the matter is, we don’t know what God’s will is in many situations. Romans 8 says when we are in that condition and we can’t even formulate the right words, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf. Prayer that gets answered is prayer that originates with God, not with us.
Third, to pray in the will of God we have to be willing to do the will of God. We can’t just desire it, discern it, but then not do it. We have to put it into practice. If God should reveal his will to us point-blank right this very moment with no question as to what it is and no question that it is from God, would we do it? They key to doing the will of God is being willing to do it before we know what it is.
Not only do we have confidence in prayer if we meet the condition of prayer, but John says something about the certainty of this kind of praying. In verse 15 we not only have confidence but a conscious certainty of answered prayer before it comes. Notice the word “have.” It is in the perfect tense in Greek. The picture in the verse is this: I have some requests, and I have taken these to the Lord in prayer and put them before him, and God does not ignore them or forget them. Has someone ever asked you something and you had every good intention of responding, but then two months later you realized that you had forgotten to get back to the person and answer the request? Do you think God gets so many prayer requests that they get lost at his feet? Do you think he forgets? John says that is not how it works at all. We know God hears us because “we have the requests that we have asked of him.” When we have prayed in faith in the will of God, John is saying, the check is in the mail. God’s answer is coming. Look at the first use of “have” in verse 15. It is in the present tense in Greek. You may not have the answer immediately, but God has already answered, and in his timing he will send it to you. That is confidence! But most of us don’t pray that way. Most of us are too timid and afraid. Have you ever thanked God for an answer to prayer before you got it? Thank God in advance for his answer before you see it physically manifested or spiritually accomplished. That is what John is telling us here. If we know he hears us, then we also know that we have already received the requests we have asked and have confidence even though we have not received it from him yet.
Twice in verse 15 John uses the word “know.” John said, “if we know that he hears us . . . we know we have the requests that we have asked of him.” The word “if” here actually conveys the notion of “since.” John is not questioning whether or not God hears us. God does. A twofold assurance is given in this verse. First, there is an assurance that God hears our prayers. Second, there is the assurance that God answers our prayers. How does God answer prayer? In one of four ways. Either he will answer with a direct yes or a direct no, or he may delay the answer, or he may answer your prayer differently than you asked. The early church in Acts prayed for Peter’s release from prison, and God answered with a miraculous deliverance. Paul prayed to enter Asia on his missionary journeys, but God said no and redirected him. Mary and Martha prayed for Jesus to come and heal their brother Lazarus, and the Lord delayed his coming for two days. Lazarus died, and Mary and Martha did not understand why the Lord tarried. Jesus answered their prayer by raising Lazarus from the dead, but it was after a delay. Paul prayed that his thorn in the flesh be removed, but God did not answer his prayer for removal. Instead he answered Paul’s prayer by adding something to the thorn: his sufficient grace. God declined to answer Paul’s prayer with what Paul asked in order to give him what he really needed.
Martin Luther had a good friend named Frederick Myconius who was a great helper to him during the days of the Reformation. In 1540 Myconius became so ill that he was on his deathbed, and the doctors said he was going to die. Lying there he wrote a last letter with trembling hand to Luther telling him how much he appreciated him and that he was about to die. Immediately Luther dispatched a reply to his friend. “I command you in the name of God to live because I still have need of you in the work of reforming the Church. . . . The Lord will never let me hear while I live that you are dead, but will permit you to survive me. For this I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because I seek only to glorify the name of God.” Those words are shocking to many of us today. When Myconius received Luther’s reply, he was so far gone that he had lost his ability to speak, but remarkably in a few days he completely recovered. He lived six more years to assist in the Reformation and outlived Luther by two months.9 God answered the believing prayer of Martin Luther for his friend Myconius. Though I would not recommend using such language with God in our prayers, Luther was clearly willing to state in his letter to his friend, “this is my will, and may my will be done.” Of course, Luther believed he was praying in the will of God, as his last statement indicates. As Christians we need to know that God answers prayers! Sometimes we pray with tentativeness when we should have confidence in the will of God.
The Sin That Leads to Death (vv. 16, 17)
In verses 16, 17 John issues a call to intercessory prayer. There are many kinds of prayer. Prayer sometimes is focused on praising God. Sometimes prayer is thanksgiving. Sometimes prayer is petition. This is what we normally think of when we pray. Prayer is asking God for something. But there is another type of prayer that the Bible often talks about called intercession. This is prayer for other people. If we are not careful, we can get caught up in self-centered praying in which we constantly ask for our own needs but never come to God on behalf of others. There is certainly a time to pray for our needs, but the Bible has much to say about prayer as intercession for others. John singles out a specific example of how we can pray for others: we should pray for Christians who get involved in sin. John has already affirmed in his letter that Christians can and do sin. He has already addressed the issue for the sinning believer in 1 John 1:8–10. Now he is addressing the issue of our praying for fellow Christians who have sinned.
First John 5:16, 17 has engendered much discussion about what John means by “sin that leads to death.” This is one of those passages for which we have lost the key. When you lose a key to your car or your house, you can’t get in. Apparently John’s readers knew what he was talking about, but we are left somewhat in the dark about it. John does not explain what he means by the phrase “sin that leads to death.” It is therefore best to consider all the various possible interpretations.10 There are four major views as to what John means. The first view is that this is some heinous sin such as murder. Yet there are many murderers whom God has forgiven. Paul comes immediately to mind. This interpretation is unlikely. The second view is that this means apostasy. Here is a person who was truly saved and then rejected Jesus, thus committing apostasy. The problem with this view is that genuine believers do not apostatize. This interpretation is held by many but is only possible if John is referring to someone in the church who is not a genuine believer. The third view is that John is talking about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the unpardonable sin. When I was a pastor, people periodically came into my office worried sick whether they had committed the unpardonable sin. The only people who can commit the unpardonable sin are unsaved people. If you are worried you may have committed the unpardonable sin, you haven’t committed it. The unpardonable sin is ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ. That’s the only sin you can commit in this life that God cannot and will not forgive. I think it is unlikely John is here talking about the unpardonable sin.11
The fourth view understands “sin that leads to death” to be a reference to some sin committed by a Christian that leads to physical death as a result of God’s discipline. In the Bible death can be either physical or eternal. John calls the one who commits “sin leading to death” a “brother.” In almost every usage of the word “brother” in 1 John, John refers to believers. Apparently John is talking about the possibility that a Christian can sin in such a way that God may choose to take that Christian out of this world prematurely by physical death. Are there any examples of this in the New Testament? Yes, in Acts 5, we read the account of Ananias and Sapphira, who sold a piece of property and pretended to give all of the proceeds to the church when in reality they kept back part of the money for themselves. They pretended what they gave to the church was all. They lied to God and to the church, and God struck each of them dead on the spot. The early church was so pure that a lie could not live in its midst. Though some interpreters suggest Ananias and Sapphira were not genuine believers, there is no evidence in the text of Acts that such was the case. Another example is found in 1 Corinthians 11:28–30. Some of the Corinthian believers were partaking of the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner. As a result, some of them were “weak and ill,” and some had died prematurely as a result of God’s discipline. You might say that John’s “sin that leads to death” in the life of a believer is something like a dishonorable discharge. It has nothing to do with eternal salvation. But John does not tell us what the “sin that leads to death” is.
John says that God will give “life” to those who have not sinned a “sin that leads to death.” There are two possible ways to interpret “life” here. It could be a reference to eternal life. It could also be a reference to physical life. Since the sin is one that leads to “death,” it is likely that the word “life” means the opposite of “death.” If the death referred to is spiritual, then so is the life. If the death referred to is physical, then so is the life.
Most likely John is not talking about a specific sin but has to do with ongoing, willful sin that remains unconfessed to the point that God takes drastic action. John’s desire is that we not focus on the specifics of the “sin that leads to death,” but rather focus on the notion of “sin not leading to death.” That is what we are to pray about. God desires to forgive sins, and he desires intercessors to pray for Christians when they sin. Remember what Samuel said to the people of Israel: “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23). In the church we need to be praying for one another. Peter, in Luke 22:33, in essence told Jesus at the Last Supper, “All these other disciples will forsake you, but I never will. I will stand with you even if I have to die for you, Jesus.” Jesus said to him, “The rooster will not crow this day, until you deny me three times that you know me.” When Jesus was arrested, Peter was lurking around the place where Jesus was being tried, and what did Peter do? Not once but three times he denied with cursing that he ever knew Jesus. Then the rooster crowed. Do you remember what else Jesus told Peter? In essence he said, “Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you like wheat. But, Peter, I have prayed for you. So when you repent of your sin of denying me, and I know you will because I have prayed for you, then you will help other people through their failures too.” Peter did repent, and Jesus restored him. He went out and lived a life of spiritual victory, preaching the gospel, writing two books of the Bible, and dying as a martyr—all because Jesus prayed for him.
When we sin, we need some intercessors who will pray for us. Christians need people in the church who will love them enough to pray them through their spiritual downtimes. Christians in such a condition need to be prayed back to the point of spiritual health and vitality. So don’t just stand around, pray for somebody!
John is not saying that some sin is worse than others. All sin is sin. That’s why he says in verse 17, “All wrongdoing is sin.” Notice also that John says, “if anyone sees his brother,” not if anyone hears. Rumors don’t count. The sin must be evident and confirmed. There are three things you can do every time you become aware of sin in a fellow believer’s life. First, make sure you are confessing sin in your own life. The moment you become aware of sin in your life, you should confess it and forsake it, no matter how small it may appear to be. Second, determine before God that you are going to pray for other Christians when you see sin in their lives. Don’t criticize or condemn, but rather pray. Some Christians have a tendency to be critical of sin in other peoples’ lives but to ignore the sin in their own life. They develop an attitude of condemnation. Third, ask God to use you to help them overcome the sin in their lives and to be involved in the ministry of restoration. The forgotten ministry of the church is restoring one another when we’ve sinned. We need to be reminded of what Paul says in Galatians 6:1 concerning a brother who sins: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
Our Threefold Knowledge (vv. 18–20)
In 5:18–21 John reverts to a familiar theme of certainty and assurance. With the exception of verse 21, these closing verses all begin with the little phrase, “we know.” We know the certainty of God’s power to overcome sin in our daily life (v. 18). As John stated previously in the letter, he again reemphasizes the fact that a truly born-again believer does not practice sin. “. . . he who was born of God protects him.” Here it is vital to understand the antecedents of “he” and “him.” Who is the one who has been born of God? At first it may appear John is speaking of a believer. After all, he has already made the point that Christians have been born of God. But it seems better to understand John’s reference to the one born of God as Jesus. John speaks of Jesus elsewhere as “the only Son.” It is a term used to describe the deity of our Lord. So it is probable that John is here not talking about our guarding ourselves, although that is something we should do in our Christian life, but rather that Jesus himself guards us.12 The referent of “him” is a believer. It is Jesus himself who makes available to us the power to gain victory over sin. Notice that last statement in verse 18: “the evil one does not touch him.” The word for “touch” in Greek indicates something more than a superficial touch; it rather means “to lay hold of.” It was used in papyri for setting fire to something. Satan cannot “set you on fire”; that is, he cannot harm you eternally or otherwise, because Jesus has made sure your wood is wet! Satan cannot undo your salvation. You are eternally secure in Christ. If Satan cannot drag you to Hell, the next thing he wants to do to you is to mar your Christian testimony. I like what Paul says in Romans 16:20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Notice that it is God who defeats Satan. John is talking about a certainty of Christian power, the ability to live a successful Christian life and overcome the sin problem day by day as you walk with Jesus and serve him.
Not only is there a certainty of God’s power, but there is a certainty of our position (v. 19). Again this is nothing new. John is revisiting what he has already written. He has already told us in 1 John 3:10 that everyone lives in one of two spiritual families: Christ or Satan. Take marriage as an example. You are either married or you are not. You are not married until you both say “I do” and the preacher says “You did!” Until that takes place, you’re not married. In the same way you are either in the family of God or you are not. Notice the contrast in verse 19 between “we” and “the whole world.” We have our spiritual origin in God. The rest of the world lies in the power of Satan. The language John uses here is interesting. The implication is that those who live under the power of Satan are lulled to sleep in that condition. They are spiritually apathetic, asleep, blind, and dead.
It is important to notice how John makes use of the word “world” in verse 19. Here John contrasts believers (“we”) with all living unbelievers (“the whole world.”) John indicates that his readers who were once unbelievers were a part of “the world,” but no longer is that the case. First John 5:19 makes the point that “the whole world,” all living unbelievers, is under the sway of the devil.
The third certainty concerns our perception (v. 20). Saved people have a spiritual understanding and discernment that unsaved people do not have. That’s why Paul said the unsaved man cannot understand the things of God because there are things that can only be spiritually known and discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). Our understanding is twofold. First, “we . . . know him that is true,” that is, Jesus. Here is sure footing. We don’t have to say “we think” or “we believe,” but “we know.” This is a tone of certainty, quite different from what many who, “influenced by currents of present opinions, feel as if what was rock to our fathers had become quagmire to us!”13
Second, “we are in him who is true.” The one “who is true” is God’s Son, Jesus Christ. In the fourth century of Christian history, a huge doctrinal controversy arose in the church. The key question was the nature of Jesus. Was he fully God or was he merely “like God”? Those who took the latter position were followers of Arius. The Arians conceded that Christ is God but not the true God. Although they sometimes called Christ “true,” their denial that he is consubstantial with the Father made it clear they acknowledged neither the Father nor the Son.14
Just as there is a certainty of Christian perception, there is also a certainty of spiritual illusion. Some time ago I was fascinated to visit a holography shop. Three-dimensional holography is amazing to observe. Light and mirrors create 3D images in amazing detail. But it is all unreal, an illusion. Some of the slickest, most creative commercials on television are beer commercials. I have noticed several things about them. First, no one over thirty drinks beer! Rarely do you see someone who is over thirty in a beer commercial. The advertiser is appealing to the younger generation. Second, if there is a car in a beer commercial, it is always brand spanking new. Third, you will never see a Volkswagen, Kia, Hundai, or your ordinary Ford or Chevy. They always use something like a Corvette or a Porsche. Fourth, did you ever notice the women in beer commercials? All of them look like they just walked out of a fashion catalog. They are all tall, thin, gorgeous. Most of the men are tall, thin, and handsome. You never see a guy with a beer belly. They all look like Ben Affleck or Tom Cruise. Fourth, there is usually a party setting with hip music. Everyone is having a great time, projecting the image that you too can have a great time if you will drink this brand of beer. But it is all an illusion. I have always thought that alcohol advertisements should be required to show the flip side of the coin: the seventeen and a half million alcoholics, the eighty thousand alcohol-related deaths annually, the hundreds of thousands injured or impaired because of alcohol-related accidents, or the six thousand teens who die every year because of alcohol.15 Our spiritual perception is based on the understanding that Christ himself has given us. We discern truth because “we . . . know him who is true.”
In verse 20 John uses a word three times that speaks of reality. It is the word “true.” In this context the word’s primary meaning is that which is real, not illusory. It has substance, permanence, and reality. In a world full of people longing for the real thing but grasping at illusions, John offers the truth: Jesus Christ and his gospel. It is as if John is saying, “This God of whom I have been affirming that Jesus Christ is his sole Revealer, and of whom I have been declaring that through him we may know God and dwell abidingly in him, this—and no one else—is the true God.”16 “We . . . know him who is true [real].” “We are in him who is true.” This is eternal life. John began this letter in 1:2, 3 talking about eternal life, and now he concludes where he began. What is eternal life? It is knowing him who is true and being in him who is true. That is eternal life: knowing God and being in Christ. And John says we better know that we know! “I have no confidence in my confidence. I place no reliance upon my own assurance. My assurance lies in the fact that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ and that ‘Whosoever believeth in Him hath everlasting life.’ I do believe in Him, and therefore I know I have eternal life.”17
In 1994 Northwest Airlines offered some unusual round-trip tickets. Fifty-nine dollars bought a Mystery Fare ticket that provided a one-day trip to an undisclosed American city. Buyers didn’t find out where they were heading until they arrived at the airport the day of the flight. Still, the airline had plenty of takers. In Indianapolis fifteen hundred people crowded the airline counter to buy the Mystery Fare tickets that were sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Not surprisingly, when buyers learned their destination, not all were thrilled. One buyer who was hoping for New Orleans but found he had a ticket for Minneapolis walked through the airport terminal yelling, “I have one ticket to the Mall of America. I’ll trade it for anything!” Mystery Fare tickets may be a fun surprise for a weekend vacation, but normally the last thing you want is a ticket to a mystery destination. And one time you never want a mystery ticket is on the day of your death. You don’t want to face eternity uncertain about whether you will go to Heaven or Hell.18 Be sure you are really sure.19