1 John: What Can You KNOW?

John, the apostle and author of this letter addressed, it seems, to Christians in general, was battling a group of men called "gnostics." You may have heard of the term "agnostic," which means "without knowledge." An agnostic believes it's impossible to truly KNOW about God or the spiritual world. He might concede that the spiritual realm exists, but would argue that we have no real way of understanding the spiritual world. This absolves him (in his mind) of any responsibility he may have towards the spiritual world.

The word "gnostic" means, simply, "knowledge." A gnostic is someone who believes he has special knowledge regarding the spiritual realm. During the time John wrote his letters, this religion was not a full-blown, named religion, but it was on the rise. It would become full-blown in the second and third centuries, and it's alive and well today.

A Calvinist is one of these claiming special knowledge. He claims that no one may become a Christian in the first place unless God plants the special knowledge in one's heart. He claims man is incapable of thinking on a spiritual level until God saves him and changes his thinking. Isn't this salvation through special knowledge?

Anyone believing in "special revelation," the idea that God continues to reveal bits and pieces of His will to us today in an ongoing revelation, is a gnostic. He puts his faith in special knowledge revealed only to him - not to the rest of the world.

John wrote that we may KNOW we have eternal life. Who cares what these "special revelation" guys claim? Who cares about their hifalutin, inflated views of their own knowledge. John says the average person can KNOW he is saved. "By this we know we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments" (2:3). "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it" (2:21). "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him" (2:29). "We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is" (3:2). "You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin" (3:5). "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother" (3:10). "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren" (3:14). "...you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us" (3:15-16). "We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him" (3:19). "We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us" (3:24).

Okay, we could go on and on with this...there are many more verses with the same thought and impact as those above, but you get the idea. John wants us to KNOW that we can KNOW we are saved, that we are in Christ, that we are abiding in Him, etc. We should never doubt this fact. We should be able to apply simple tests to ourselves and discover whether or not our hearts are in the right place. It's not rocket science! It's not by special revelation. It's through the revelation that every person today may pick up and read for himself.

And that gives me great confidence!

God bless,
Nathan

Tomorrow's Reading: 2 & 3 John; Jude; Philemon