#5 - This Is A Christian - 1st John

The previous four posts were about the characteristics of non-believers. In 1 John 2:3 we see what a Christian looks like.

#5 - "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands." 1 John 2:3

Verse 5 continues: "But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." - 1 John 2:5,6

The test of knowledge of God is moral conduct. This is a tough requirement. When I first read these verses I was discouraged. There was no way I could obey God perfectly. It seemed as though I was always doing something wrong, so God's love could not be complete in me because of my failure.

The description in 1 John 2:3 is repeated in 1 John 3:24 - "The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in him."

Again in 1 John 5:2 it is repeated again: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments."

This same characteristic of a believer is also given in other places in the Bible, for example Revelation 12:17 - "So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

Again in Revelation 14:12 - "Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus."

There are three characteristics listed here:

1 Faith in Jesus Christ
2 Love
3 Obey God's commandments

We also see that we are to walk as Jesus did. We see this same thing in 1 Peter 2:21 which says - "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."

How did Jesus walk? What did Jesus come to do?

"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" - Philippians 2:8

"'My food,' said Jesus, 'is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.'" - John 4:34

Throughout the New Testament we see that Jesus walked in obedience to God (Matthew 26:39,42, Mark 14:36, John 14:30,31, Romans 5:18,19 and many others).

We can learn a little more from the book of Titus. It says the same thing as 1st John, but in a different way -- "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." - Titus 1:16

Here we see that it is life-style, our behavior that sets a Christian apart from a non-Christian. When someone becomes a Christian there is a resulting change in their behavior. We can not be perfect in our obedience as Jesus was. But we can walk the path He walked, striving--out of love--to live in obedience and love through the strength we get from our faith in Jesus Christ. Yes, Christians still sin, but it is a falling into sin, not a willful diving into sin.

Love and Obedience

If you want to summarize the Law of Moses, Jesus boiled it down to just two action items. Love God and love your neighbor. But what does it mean to love? This is too big of a topic for this post, I'll be discussing it in a future post. However, to summarize, the word used for "love" in the New Testament is an action word. It means to love with your actions. It does not saying anything about loving with your feelings. Biblical love is all about doing loving actions. What are the most loving actions? Would you consider obeying God's commandments, doing what God told us to do, to be loving God?

---