Salvation Summaries

I am going through each book in the New Testament (again) and writing bullet point comments about how a person becomes a Christian and how a Christian should live.  The following notes are from 1 John.

Summary

Like other New Testament books I’ve recently reviewed, this one contains relatively little information on how a person becomes a Christian, but a lot on how a Christian should live.

A person becomes saved when they believe in Jesus and confess their sins. John does not elaborate on what believing in Jesus means, but we know from other New Testament books that there is more to belief than what most people may believe.  To confess your sins, you must realize that you sin, that sin is a problem, and that Jesus is the only One who can forgive you of them. A person who “has” Jesus has eternal life. “Has” appears to mean someone who has received Jesus from believing in Him. It might also mean someone who clings to and/or is united with Him.

A Christian is someone whose sins have been forgiven and who has received the Holy Spirit.  Upon being saved, a Christian becomes a child of God, born of God, and will live forever (on earth and then in heaven/on a new earth).

John is critical of people who claim to be a Christian but don’t act like one. Below is a short list of how a true Christian should live:

• “Walk in the Light” (live in a blameless way) in order to have fellowship with God the Father, Jesus, and other believers. I believe too many Christians stop short of receiving the blessings that are otherwise available to them by not pursuing fellowship with God the Father and Jesus (I know I have been guilty of this), and by remaining too caught up in “the world.” True fellowship (an enjoyable relationship) requires that you walk in the Light; this takes determination and effort.

• Take sin seriously and try hard not to sin (for this impacts your ability to have fellowship with God, Jesus and other believers). Although all people sin, a Christian’s lifestyle is not to be one of ongoing sin (if it is, it’s a sign that you’re not a Christian). When you do sin, confess your sins in order to be cleansed from them, and to restore fellowship with God.  I just started to do this, and was both surprised and disappointed and how often I found myself sinning.

• Obey the commands of the Father and Son to show that you love God. To obey God’s commands requires that you know them; to know them you must read or hear about them. This also takes effort.

• Love other believers and be willing to help any brother or sister in need. If you hate a fellow believer, or refuse to help them when they are in need, you are not a Christian according to John. Faith for salvation and love are similar in that both reside in the mind and heart but are evidenced in actions.

How a person is saved (and other verses relating to salvation)

• Realize that you sin.
  • Sin is lawlessness; it is breaking the law (one of God’s laws) (1 John 3:4).
• Realize that sin is a problem.
  • Jesus appeared so that He might take away our sins.
    • There is no sin in Jesus (1 John 3:5).
• Believe in Jesus (1 John 5:13)
  • Believe that He is the Son of God (1 John 4:15) and that He is the Christ (1 John 5:1)
    • He who “has the Son” has life (1 John 5:12)
    • “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…” (1 John 5:1)
    • “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.” (1 John 5:13)
• Confess your sins.
  • If you do, God will forgive you and cleanse you (free you from guilt) from every wrong (1 John 1:9)
• God commands His people to: 1) believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and 2) to love one another. Those who obey His commands live in Him and He in them, and receive the Holy Spirit (1 John 3:22-24).

Relationship between faith/salvation and deeds

• “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:17)
• Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6)
• “…I write this to you so that you will not sin.” (1 John 2:1)
• “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are; Anyone who does not do what is right and is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:9-10. Also see 1 John 5:18)
• “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands.” (1 John 2:3)
• “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
• “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15b)
• “…you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.” (1 John 2:29)

Characteristics of a non-Christian

• Loves the world (1 John 2:15-16)
  • The world is under the control of Satan (1 John 5:19).  The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life come from the world (1 John 2:16)
• Has a sinful lifestyle; continues to sin (1 John 3:6)
• Does not practice or live in righteous (1 John 3:10)
• May hate one or more Christians (1 John 3:15)
  • Anyone who hates a believer is a murder. No murder has eternal life (1 John 3:15)
• Unable to have fellowship with God, Jesus or other believers, since this only applies to Christians (1 John 1:3)

Characteristics of a Christian

• Sins have been forgiven (1 John 2:12).
  • Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4)
• Has been anointed – by the Holy Spirit – which remains in the Christian and teaches them (1 John 2:20-27)
• A child of God (1 John 3:1,2), born of God (1 John 5:1, 4)
• Loves God (1 John 4:7)
• Has a love for other Christian “brothers” and “sisters”; this love is a sign that a person has become a believer. (1 John 3:14)
• Does not continue to follow a sinful lifestyle or habitually sin (1 John 3:6,9; 5:18)
• Should be willing to help another brother or sister in need if the Christian has more than sufficient resources to do so (1 John 3:17)
• Should be willing to die for another believer (1 John 3:16)
• Has assurance of salvation (1 John 5:13)
  • “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.”
• Lives forever (1 John 2:17)

How a Christian should live

• Walk in the light to have fellowship with the Father and Jesus. (1 John 1:7).
  • According to Bible commentator Arno Gaebelien, walk in the light “means to walk daily in His presence, with our will and conscience in the light and presence of God, judging everything that does not answer to that light. Whatever is not right is brought at once in His presence, exposed to the light, confessed, judged and put away. Such is the walk in the light which fellowship with God demands.”
  • To abide in, or have fellowship with Jesus, you must “walk in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:3-6; 3:24)
    • Seek to live in fellowship with Jesus, so that if He were to return today, you would not feel ashamed in how you’ve been living (1 John 2:28)
  • You cannot have fellowship with God the Father or the Son if you are walking in darkness/sin (1 John 1:6)
  • I believe too many Christians either do not believe, or are unaware of the fact, that we can have fellowship – an enjoyable relationship – with God the Father and Jesus.  This should be the earnest desire of every believer. However, fellowship takes a concerted effort – you must walk in the light!
• Walk in the light to have fellowship with other believers (1 John 1:7).
  • If two people are Christians, they can have fellowship with each other (1 John 1:3).  Non-Christians can have friends and relationships, but not fellowship.
    • There is something special about fellowship that non-Christians may not understand. I can have fellowship with a person on a different continent, who speaks a different language, lives in an entirely different culture, and attends a different church. But despite these differences, we have something in common – our faith in the One who saved us. This creates a special, spiritual bond between us.
• Walk in the Light in order to be cleansed from your sins (1 John 1:7).
  • It appears that confession of one’s sins (even as a believer) is also required for cleansing (1 John 1:9)
• Take sin seriously.
  • John tells his audience to not sin (1 John 2:1). Why?
    • Sinful living weakens or prevents our fellowship with God, Jesus and believers.
    • Jesus must plead with God, on our behalf, when we do so (1 John 2:1).  Because of your love for Him, you should make every effort to not sin so that He does not need to continually plead for you.
    • You cannot live a lifestyle of sin and live in Christ at the same time (1 John 3:6)

• Daily confess your sins for cleansing (1 John 1:7)
• Love one another (this is a command) (1 John 2:7)
• Do not hate anyone.
  • You cannot hate another Christian brother or sister and call yourself a Christian (1 John 2:9-11; 4:20).
  • Those in the media/ESPN who expressed hatred for Christians such as George Bush, Sarah Palin and Tim Tebow cannot be a Christian according to John.
• Do not love the world or anything in the world
  • Lust, boasting and the cravings of sinful man come from the world (1 John 2:15)
  • The love of God is not in you if you love the world, for the world is darkness
    • I believe far too many Christians continue to love too much of the world
• Do not walk in darkness.
  • This is the opposite of walking in the light. It is living in and practicing sin. Living a sinful lifestyle, whether one of adultery, homosexuality, pornography etc., prevents true fellowship with God and other believers.
• If you want to be sure that you belong to God, you must obey His commands (1 John 2:3).
• If you love God, you will obey Him (1 John 2:3-5; 5:3)
• IF you obey God and do what pleases Him, you will receive anything that you ask for in prayer (1 John 3:22)
• Live your life through Jesus (1 John 4:9)

Who God is and what He is like

• He is Light (spotless, holy); no darkness is in Him (1 John 1:5)
• He is love (1 John 4:8, 16).
  • He showed us this by sending Jesus into this world as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and so that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9-10)
• Greatly loves those who become a child of God (1 John 3:1)
• Sent Jesus to be savior of the world (1 John 4:14)
• Commands His people to believe in God’s Son, Jesus, and to love others (1 John 3:23)
• Has given us eternal life, which is in His Son (1 John 5:11-12)

Who Jesus is and what He is like

• The Word of Life (1 John 1:1)
• Always existed, but at some point manifested or appeared in human form (on earth) (1 John 1:1-2) in order to deal with sin
  • Jesus’ willingness to become a human and then suffer and die as a human show His tremendous love for God’s people. No one would have given up and sacrificed so much if it were not for incredible love.
• Was with the Father, thus separate from Him (1 John 1:2)
• Eternal life (1 John 1:2)
• Savior of the world (1 John 4:14)
• God’s Son (1 John 1:3)
• Proclaimed that God is light; in Him there is no darkness or sin (1 John 1:5)
• Righteous (1 John 2:1, 29)
• Atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 2:2)
• is the Christ (1 John 2:22)
• Has promised Christians eternal life (1 John 2:25)
• Came to take away the sins of God’s people (1 John 3:5)
• Is our advocate to the Father (1 John 2:1) (if we are believers in Jesus)
• Does not sin (1 John 3:5)
• Came to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8)
• Loves us, and He showed us this by dying for us (1 John 3:16)