Have you ever struggled to know if your salvation is sure? Have you ever had the fear that, with any wrongdoing, you are now separated from God? I understand this is a struggle because I have carried this weight for most of my life. I grew up in a culture that always treated Christianity like a tightrope walk. If I made one wrong choice or committed one sin, I was separated from Him until I said a prayer, out loud, asking for His forgiveness. Assurance of salvation was also a struggle for the Christians in Ephesus. 1 John helps to answer these questions by teaching us that we can be sure in our salvation if we are walking in the light and confessing our sins. 

Before we can jump into how to have assurance in our salvation, we must understand the context of what was happening in the church. The apostle John wrote his first letter to people who were third-generation Christians. They knew the scriptures and had grown up around the church. They knew who Jesus was and what He had done for them. People who grow up in the church and with family in the church have the unique struggle of hearing spiritual things from the beginning of life but never truly making a connection with them. They have the propensity to hold these teachings as opinions rather than sound doctrine. This is where the people of 1 John are. Because of this, John wrote to deepen the faith of those who already believed.

Throughout the New Testament, we see that there would eventually be false teachers that would rise and confuse the church from within. John writes the letter of 1 John as an elder in the church at Ephesus to address some of the false teaching that was surfacing. One such doctrine was Gnosticism. Gnosticism has two extreme views: The first view is that flesh is evil, therefore we must deprive it of anything that brings simplicity to life, ease, or enjoyment. The second view is that, because the flesh is evil, we can do whatever we want in the flesh because it does not affect the spirit. This religion was part of what caused the Christians’ lack of faith and trust in their salvation. John wanted to reassure the Christians that they were still saved.

In chapter 1, John talks about what it means to walk in the light. He starts in verse 5 by saying that God is light, which means He cannot be where darkness is. It is impossible for Him. Light is always used when describing God. In Psalm 27:1, the psalmist says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” James 1:17 tells us, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” Both of these verses tell us that not only is God light, He is the Father of it. Every gift that He gives us is of light and not of darkness.

Knowing that God is light, however, only does so much to reassure our faith. In verses 6-9, John shows the Christians what this means regarding salvation. How can I truly know that my salvation is sure? First, I must be walking in the light.

What does that mean? Think about a trail in the forest. Trees, snakes, plants, and other kinds of danger are outside that trail. The path is not so narrow that I have to walk with one foot in front of the other. It is a path where I can walk hand-in-hand with my sisters and brothers and still have room on either side. This is how walking in the light is. I am not lost if I make one step to the side, because the light is bigger than my misstep. Verse 7 of 1 John 1 says, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Christ’s forgiveness is bigger than any sin I have committed. The only way to leave the path of light is to choose to do so. No rock on the path or root in the road can send me flying into the darkness; therefore, if I am choosing to live my life in the light, I can have confidence that Christ is covering the mistakes I make.

Secondly, I must be willing to confess my sins. In verse 9, we read, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The word “confess” here is not the type of confession we have always been taught. My whole life, I believed confession was about admitting to the fact that you have sinned. While this is a good practice that lets our brothers and sisters in Christ be able to help us on our walk, it is not what John is talking about here. This word means “to say or tell similarly.” Confession, in this verse, is telling us to think about our sins like God does. These Christians believed that the things they did in their body meant nothing to their spiritual health. John tells them that if they are willing to change their thinking about sin, God will forgive them for anything they might do.

God has given us no reason to think He is waiting for us to mess up so He can push away from us. In James 4:8, we are told, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” He wants a relationship with you and makes it easy for you to follow Him. To ensure our salvation is safe, we must choose a life in the light and think the way God does. Praise be to God that I can have full assurance of the salvation that He has so graciously bestowed on me!

 

by Hannah Parker