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Those of us who know our Bibles will know that John explains why he wrote his Gospel: ‘so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ (John 20:31) The purpose for this first letter is different to that of his gospel but he seems keen to explain his intent to its audience:

‘I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.’ (1 John 5:13-21)

You may know

There’s a very simple conclusion to draw from this opening sentence, and that is that it is possible to actually know that we have eternal life. I’m not going to bang on about this because I’m aware that we’ve talked about it in recent weeks, but this blows out of the water the ridiculous notion that faith is somehow belief in that which cannot be known. As Christians we must be confident that what we believe is absolutely true.

Sin and death?

But there is something in this passage which is confusing – if you sin and pray for it God will give you life so long as it’s not sin that leads to death…because some sin doesn’t lead to death, but some does – so don’t pray for that! This seems to make no sense; surely we need to pray for life when our sin is leading us to death? Well, this becomes clearer when we look at this in the light of the rest of this letter. Sin that leads to death is sin which has not been repented of. In other words, there is no use begging God to bring life into your adulterous relationship if you’re not going to break it off! So if you see a brother or sister who continues to fall into sin but who is repenting and fighting for purity, intercede for them and pray on their behalf. If, however, the brother or sister is unrepentant and is seeking sin, there is no requirement for us to pray for life, it would be more appropriate for us to pray for their repentance.

Stand firm

So finally, John finishes his letter by encouraging his readers – hold onto your faith in Christ, do not sin, rely on God, resist the devil, trust God, and don’t worship idols. Oh, and trust God. In other words, your faith will be attacked so there are warnings to stand firm in it. Don’t ignorantly assume that your faith is strong, grab hold of it with both hands in the good times and the bad, and don’t let anything take it away from you. Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life.

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

Things that go bump in the night