How to know if you are Christ's

How to know if you are Christ’s

It is possible for one to know that they have eternal life and that they belong to Christ? 1 John 5:9-13 states, “… for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself … And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has eternal life … These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”

According to this verse which is near the end of the book of 1 John, we are to “believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”

  • “Believe” is to continually and completely put one’s trust in Him

  • “The name of the Son of God” is to put our trust in who the Son of God is

  • “These things” includes all that is written in the book of 1 John

Believe continually andcompletely

Biblical belief is to trust in the Son of God for the forgiveness of sins. Genuine belief is characterized by not only by knowledge or intellectual consent, but by a continual and complete trust in the Son of God.

The trust is to be continual

  • Col 1:23, “Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach – if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away in the hope of the gospel that you have heard …”

  • Isaiah 26:2-4, “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, the one that remains faithful. The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee. Trust in the LORD forever, for in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.”

The trust is to be complete, it is to believe Him completely. Even those who have followed Him can stop believing in Him.

  • John 6:29-69, “… “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” … “But I have said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe … Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves … Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?” … “But there are some of you who do not believe” … As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You do not want to go away do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.””

Trust in the name ofthe Son of God

We are to trust in the being of the Son of God, that He is God, one with the Father, and in all of the roles that the Father gave the Son of God. 1 John 5 uses “Son of God” and not a title like “Christ” or “Son of Man”. The name of the Son of God is One who has compassion (Mark 9:36, 37) like the Father, authority and power (Mark 9:38, 39).

The Father, the Son and the Spirit are One.1 The Son of the Living God has always had the essence of God, before time began, after time began, during His incarnation and now at the right hand of God (Is 48:16, “From the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent Me”).2 The expression “Son of God” is an eternal and immanent relation of Christ to the Father.3 This also expresses His nature. His nature is that He is God as the Son of God, as He has always been and shall always be. The Son of God is equal in character and attributes as the Father, and He is also to be equally worshiped as the Father.4 Being equal to the Father, the Son of God has authority, and is the master and judge over all created things.

In addition to who He is – the Son of God5, He has been endowed with roles. “Jesus Christ performed and shall perform (during the millennial kingdom) three roles or functions - those of prophet (Deuteronomy 18:13-22), priest (Psalm 110:1-4), and king (Psalm 2).”6 He has been glorified in these roles in heaven as the Son of Man in the nature of God-man at the right hand of the throne of God.

The things written in 1John

The book of 1 John describes the characteristics of those who have fellowship with God and are Christ’s. Near the conclusion of the book, the author states, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.” The book describes the following characteristics about those who are Christ’s:

Believe that Jesus is the Son of God

  • 1 John 5:1-12, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him … And the witness of God is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”

Keep to the truth of God’s word to abide with God

  • 1 John 2:18-29, “… But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know … If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father … And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you, but His anointing teaches you about all things …”

  • 1 John 4:6, “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and of error.”

Obey God’s word

  • 1 John 2:3-5, “By this we have come to know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments … but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected …”

  • 1 John 2:17, “And the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.”

Personally sanctified according to God’s word

Practicing righteous

  • 1 John 3:7-10, “Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteousness, just as He is righteousness … No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him … By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

Confession of sin

  • 1 John 1:8-10, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

Love other Christians

  • 1 John 4:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

1 John states that those who are Christ’s are characterized by a belief in the Son of God that leads to a love for God by obeying His word. This brings about a personal sanctification so that there is a pattern of spiritual growth and purity in the individuals life. The Christian is also characterized by a love for others who are Christ’s. This is the Law of Christ, that we love one another.

Summary

Those who are Christians have been anointed with the Holy Spirit. The anointing is both positional (have been sealed by the Holy Spirit to be God the Father’s, baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation) and experiential (are led by God’s Spirit, are filled with the Spirit or producing the fruit of the Spirit). The experiential characteristics of those who have been anointed with the Holy Spirit includes continual and complete trust in the Son of God for the forgiveness of sins, keeping the teaching of God’s word in obedience to His commandments, personally sanctification according to God’s word and loving other believers. These things are the work and witness of the Holy Spirit of God. 1 John 5:7 states, “And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.” These things, the work and the witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives, is the evidence that we are Christ’s.

Those who are exhibiting these experiential characteristics have assurance that they are Christ’s. There could be periods of time, even large periods of time that a person is not exhibiting these characteristics, but is still Christ’s. Perhaps it could be that only early on in one’s life and late in one’s life that one exhibits these characteristics. However, the norm should be that one is regularly and continually exhibiting these characteristics, as they are indicative of fellowship with God. Those that never exhibit these experiential characteristic should question whether they are the Lord’s. 1 John seems to indicate that those who have never exhibited these characteristics and in the future do not exhibit these characteristics are not the Lord’s.

All of Christ’s have been sealed by the Holy Spirit to be God the Father’s, baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. Though these things are true of believers, not all believers exhibit the same spiritual growth. For some, they might only believe that Jesus is their Savior (the Christ) and confess significant transgressions without exhibiting much personal sanctification for a long period of time. These have not been baptized with God’s Spirit (are not being led by God’s Spirit, are not filled with the Spirit or producing the fruit of the Spirit), could still be Christ’s by virtue of the Spirit’s sealing, the Spirit putting them into the body Christ and the Spirits indwelling (that these believe that Jesus is their Savior and that they experience guilt for their sins is indicative that they are Christ’s).

Those who are Christ’s, know that they are His. But, it is not for a believer to judge whether others are Christ’s. We should examine our own lives. We can at best, pray for and warn others that they not deceive themselves, but we should not judge them, since only the Spirit of God knows who are Christ’s. We can warn others, that if they are not Christ’s, there is judgment, and if they are Christ’s but not in fellowship with God, there is God’s discipline and a loss of blessings here and in heaven.

Practicalapplication

Believe that Jesus isthe Son of God

This trust in Jesus is the belief that saves, it is saving faith. John Calvin stated that “faith is not simply the removal of all doubt or disturbance. Faith is not certainty. Saving faith has very little to do with the strength of our faith or our ability to conjure up mental images to remove all worries. But saving faith is “a steady and certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us.””7

  • “Faith is trusting that Christ will be faithful even in the times when we’re not faithful to Him.”8

  • “Faith is resting in the fact that God loves and enjoys us.”9

  • The faith is in the Son of God, not faith in our faith. “Faith is trusting in Christ instead of trusting in ourselves to trust in Christ. There is a huge difference between the two. One looks upward, the other looks inward.”10

Know the truth of God’sword, obedience to the word of God and personal sanctification

The word of God is central to the Christian life. In it is revealed the character of God, the love of God, the work of God and the commandments of God. The knowledge of and the obedience to the commandments of God are necessary for the practice of righteousness and personal sanctification. Obedience to the word leads to personal sanctification. The personal sanctification should reveal the life of Christ in us and through us. Obedience to the Law of Christ is that we love one another. This personal sanctification and love for one another cannot be imitated through legalism. It is all the work of His Spirit. His Spirit will manifest His people to each other and the world.

There should be a point in ones life that personal sanctification begins and it should continue throughout ones life, though there might be periods of regression or what appears to be little or no personal sanctification. This seems to be consistent with 2 Tim 2:19 which states, “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.””

It is my opinion, that in the taking of communion

  • Motives should be considered. A person should ask themselves the following

    • Are they living according to the written word of God. If so, then communion should be taken as often as possible. (1 Cor 11:24-26)

    • Are they in active sin or passive indifference. If so, then they should confess their sin or lack of interest in the things of God, and take communion. (1 Cor 11:28, 1 John 1:9)

    • Are they in continual active sin. If so, then they should refrain from communion until they have repented of their sin before taking communion. (1 Cor 11:28-34, 1 John 2:1-3)

    • Have they been continually passively indifferent and have been continually irregular concerning the things of God. If so, then they should refrain from taking communion and consider whether they are the Lord’s.

Loveother Christians

Those who are the Lord’s want to fellowship with other believers (1 John 1:3), love one another by meeting each others practical needs (3:17,18) and also spiritually intercede for other believers (1 John 5:16).

1 The 5th century Anathasian creed states, “We worship one God in triunity, and triunity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor separating the substance”, from The Joy of Knowing God, Richard L Strauss, p 36.

2 Richard L Strauss, The Joy of Knowing God, p. 37.

3Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14597a.htm

4 Joseph Samual Frey, The Divinity of the Messiah, p 124.

5Math 26:63-64., “I adjure you by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself, nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Jesus calls himself the Son of Man (in reference to the Divine Being in Daniel 7:13,14) and the Son of God. Thus, in both acknowledging that He is the Son of God and also the Divine reference in Daniel 7, He is conclusively stating that He is Divine.

In Acts 7:56, Steven said that “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” In Math 24:30 and 25:31, Jesus said that “they will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” and “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all His angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.” The Son of God is sitting at the right and of the throne of God as the glorified Son of Man.

6John Calvin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christology

7http://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/articles/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance?nav=m-44609&wildcard=/the-village-blog/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance/

8http://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/articles/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance?nav=m-44609&wildcard=/the-village-blog/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance/

9http://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/articles/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance?nav=m-44609&wildcard=/the-village-blog/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance/

10http://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/articles/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance?nav=m-44609&wildcard=/the-village-blog/john-calvin-on-faith-and-assurance/