"And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave His commandment."
1 John was written partly to combat false teachers, who were calling people away from the basic doctrines about Jesus. In verse 23, John gave two essential Christian commandments. First, to "believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ." This is where our salvation begins. In the Gospel of John in chapter 6, a group of people asked Jesus in verse 28: "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Jesus answered in verse 29: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom he hath sent." Until one believes in, or on, Jesus, nothing else matters. It is not enougb to believe about Jesus, i.e., that He exists. It is not even enough to believe Jesus, i.e., the words of Jesus in the gospels. To believe on Jesus is to take Him into your life and receive His Holy Spirit. After this, the service begins. But the service does not save us. We are saved by faith (believing) in Jesus. We are not saved by works, but to work. (Read Ephesians 2:8-10.) This is a gospel fact, and if one tries to tell you otherwise, he or she, is trying to lead you astray. Second, we are to "love one another, as He gave His commandment." In the Gospel of John, verse 17, Jesus said: "These things I command you, that ye love one another." Somehow we have concluded that loving people is an option. We even seem to think that loving our fellow Christians is an option. When something is given as a command, it is not a suggestion. In his first letter, John mentions love a lot. One great example is in 1 John 4:20-21: "If a man (or woman) say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen. 21. And this commandment we have from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." We are not saved by loving people, we are saved to love people, and if we do not love people, especially our Christian brothers and sisters, we are not good examples. In the Gospel of John 13:35, Jesus said: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." When we fail to love, we cover up the fact that we are Christians. If you are out of sorts with, for example, someone at your church and you do not love them, I strongly suggest that you go to them and get it straightened out. Here we are commanded to believe and love. If you believe, then love. "I'm just sayin'." Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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