Eternal Life Found in 1 John

Eternal Life Found in 1 John

1 John 5:13 states, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." Have you ever wondered about eternal life? How can one be sure that they have this eternal life that John proclaims so confidently in his epistle? In his epistle, John gives some very clear ways on how one can be sure that they have eternal life. First, John proclaims that Jesus is eternal life (John 1:2). If one wants to know they have eternal life, the first thing people need to start with is to just look at Jesus, He is the source of eternal life. Second, John points out believers walking in the light (1 John 1:7; 2:3-5, 17, 28). To walk in the light means to walk with Christ in obedience to His Word. If one is walking in the light and not in darkness, they can be confident that their eyes are on Christ and that they are on the road to eternal life.

Third, one can know they have eternal life by enduring until the end (1 John 2:19). If one perseveres in their faith until death, believing in the source of eternal life, Jesus Christ, and lives a life of light, John confirms how this is a sign of genuine faith. Fourth, eternal life is granted to those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 2:23-25). If anyone denies that Jesus is the Christ, they are antichrist and can be sure that they will not have eternal life. By confessing Jesus is the Christ, the promised one has from God’s Word is eternal life (1 John 2:25). Fifth, one can be confident that they have eternal life not by being sinless but if they are sinning less (1 John 3:4-10). The Christian life is a process. One of these processes is called sanctification. By the means of Grace, God continues to prune and sanctify His children to be more like his Son, Jesus Christ. Believers can be sure they have this eternal life if they can see their lives becoming more like Jesus (Jobes, 2011).

Sixth, Christians can be sure of their eternal life by keeping the commandments (1 John 3:21-24). The commandment is this, “that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23). Belief and love are at the heart of the Gospel. God is love and sent Christ to die on the cross for our sins and because of this, Christians should be radiating love. With love, there is no fear and Christians can have confidence of the day of judgment that they will receive eternal life.

So how does John communicate confidence for eternal life? It is all through love. Love God, love His commandments, love your brothers, love to do good works that radiate the light, love perusing the Christian life until the end, love God through sanctification, and most importantly love the source of eternal life, Jesus Christ. If a believer has this type of love, they should be confident to “know that they have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Is Tradition a Bad Word?

Tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time through the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere since the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere. (Iren., Adv. Haer. 3.3.2)

When it comes to Ignatius of Antioch, he highlights the role of tradition by explaining the importance of church leaders’ positions within the Church (Roberts, Donaldson, & Coxe, 1885). Ignatius, in all seven letters to the Churches, commands believers to obey the bishop, presbyters, and deacons (Ignatius, 1946). One of his most beautiful quotes regarding this topic is found in his letter to the Smyrnaeans (8.1). It reads,

You must all follow the lead of the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed that of the Father; follow the presbytery as you would the Apostles; reverence the deacons as you would God’s commandment. Let no one do anything touching the Church, apart from the bishop.

It is quite clear that Ignatius is teaching that the Church should submit and follow the role and office of the bishop. Ignatius, like Irenaeus, is trying to help people understand that apostolic succession is critical to the understanding of Christianity and to combat heresies formed by other pretenders of the faith. Suppose this type of tradition/apostolic succession is followed. In that case, the Church should have order and less division and be able to maintain the traditions that were handed down from the apostles. 

Today, if you speak of the word tradition, it is almost looked upon as a bad word in the evangelical circle. Tradition seems to have a different meaning than it did a few thousand years ago, and people today relate it to the Catholic Church’s false doctrines. They also view this word meaning that people hold tradition in equal status or even sometimes elevate its importance over Scripture. In my opinion, this is not what the word tradition should mean in the modern era of Christianity. Instead, people need to take the time to learn and understand the true definition of this term and identify the value and importance that it has and played in the role of historical Christianity.

References

Irenaeus of Lyons. (1885). Irenaeus against Heresies. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., & Coxe, A. C. (Eds.). (1885). The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

McGrath, A. E. (2013). Historical theology an introduction to the history of Christian thought. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (1946). The Epistles of St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (J. Quasten & J. C. Plumpe, Eds., J. A. Kleist, Trans.) (1st ed.). New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.

The Muratorian Fragment

The Muratorian fragment is a remarkable find to the Christian faith. Most Christians look to Athanasius (367 CE) or the councils in North Africa and Carthage (390 CE) to see a completed list of the New Testament (Ferguson, 2013). The Muratorian fragment, dated around 180 CE, gives believers an ancient record of 22 of the 27 New Testament books; this is a fantastic discovery (Caius, 1886)! This discovery means that, within just 150 years of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the core writings of the New Testament were already being circulated, accepted, and deemed authoritative within the universal catholic Church. In just these New Testament books, doctrines of Jesus’ deity, His human nature, His death for sinners, His resurrection, and forgiveness for sins found in Him alone can easily be justified (1 Cor. 15:3; Acts 1:3; 2:24-36; 13:38-39; Gal. 2:15-16; John 1:1-3; 6:47; Phil. 2:6-8; Romans 10:9). Furthermore, this fragment also shows us what the Church did not deem authoritative, and it warns believers to stay away from specific letters and teachers (e.g., Marcion, Arsinous, Valentinus, and Miltiades).

In addition to the Muratorian fragment, Apostolic Fathers quote the New Testament as well. For example, Clement of Rome (95 C.E.), uses material from almost all of the New Testament with the exception of Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John. Ignatius from Rome (110 CE), quotes Matthew, Luke, Acts, Ephesians, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians. Then there is Polycarp who is Ignatius’s successor, who quotes at least 17 N.T. books!

Christians should feel confident that God through the influence of the Holy Spirit, allowed the early Church to discover all the books that He wanted to be in the completed Canon of Scripture. It is no accident that some letters were included and some were left out, it all happened through the sovereign hand of God. From this fragment, we can see that God was already working in the hearts and minds of His children and that soon, the Canon would be finalized and completed so that the whole world would have no doubt who Jesus truly claimed to be, the Son of God/Man.

References

Caius, P. of R. (1886). Fragments of Caius. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), S. D. F. Salmond (Trans.), Fathers of the third century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix (Vol. 5). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

Ferguson, E. (2013). Church history: From Christ to the pre-Reformation (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 

Roberts, A., Donaldson, J., & Coxe, A. C. (Eds.). (1885). The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (1946). The Epistles of St. Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch. (J. Quasten & J. C. Plumpe, Eds., J. A. Kleist, Trans.) (1st ed.). New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.