14 Aug 2012
I John 2:3-5
I John 2:3: “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
John is not saying that you have to keep the Law in order to be saved. What he is saying is that if you are saved then you will obey Christ. This is a result of being saved: you are a changed person, with a new life, and have become someone different. The things that you do – your obedience to Christ – demonstrates that you truly are saved and that you truly are a Christian. The works do not make you a Christian; what they do is demonstrate what is inside you. They are a result, not a cause.
But they are important. If someone thinks they are saved but they reject the Lordship of Christ and refuse to obey Him, then they need to take a very close look at their salvation. John was clear about this: if we say that we know Jesus, but we refuse to obey Him, then we are liars and the truth is not in us.
What John is doing is laying out ways to tell whether our faith is genuine. One way we can know that we really are in Him is by the fact that we do obey Jesus – not because we have to, or because we’re trying to earn something, but because we love Him. That is one of the distinguishing characteristics of being a Christian.