Anti-Christ or Abiding in Christ?
1 John 2:18-29
This passage is what I call a “Quintuple A” passage because John is going to write about:
- Awareness v18
- Allegiance v19
- Anointing v20
- Assurance v21-23
- Abiding v24-29
“The person who is deluded always speaks about how ‘nice’ they were. The person who enjoys the full assurance of eternal salvation knows only we were sinners, but we were saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. False assurance always speaks about what we have done. Real assurance always speaks about what Christ has done for us, and by his grace, what Christ has done in us.”
Sinclair Ferguson
The Tests of Authentic Christian Faith:
- The Theological Test: Do we believe Jesus is the Son of God?
- The Moral Test: Are we practicing righteousness?
- The Social Test: Do we love others?
- The Personal Test: Am I abiding in Christ?
“As the abiding of God in us is the persistent and purposeful action by which the Divine nature influences ours, so our abiding in God is the persistent and purposeful submission of ourselves to that action.”
Robert Law, The Tests of Life: A Study of the First Epistle of St. John
“He would have us not only remember our union to Christ, but specially that it is not our own doing, but the work of God Himself. As the Holy Spirit teaches us to realize this, we shall see what a source of assurance and strength it must become to us. If it is of God alone that I am in Christ, then God Himself, the Infinite One, becomes my security for all I can need or wish in seeking to abide in Christ.”
Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ: The Joy of Being in God’s Presence
