The Apostle John asserts, first and foremost, that the most important command is to believe in Jesus and everything that entails.
Read: I John 3:23-24
Toward the end of the first century, a crisis broke out in the church. A generation removed from those who first placed their faith in Jesus began to question the authenticity of the gospels. John was the last remaining Apostle and likely the only living person who had actually been physically in the presence of Christ.
This is why John, the beloved disciple, wrote his account of the story of Jesus to encourage the first century believers to persevere in their faith.
In his first letter to the churches, he instructed them to remember two primary truths that they had heard and believed when they first came to faith: that God is light and that God is love. Central to these reminders were three exhortations that would help them to know that they had fellowship with God and with one another.
BELIEVE
The first command is to believe in the name of Jesus. This might seem straightforward to us today, but at the time of John’s writing, this was the battle ground for the first heresy targeting Christians.
Gnosticism had already established itself as a popular worldview in Greek culture. Eventually, it found its way into Christian circles. Gnostics rejected conventional knowledge for special knowledge. They wanted their own personal revelation rather than relying on the teaching of the Apostles.
At its core, Gnosticism separates the spiritual realm from the physical realm. Therefore, they denied that Jesus took on human flesh or died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus’ death was nothing more than a symbol.
Gnosticism doesn’t sound all that much different from the challenges we are facing in our churches today. A recent survey revealed that 43% of professing Christians do not believe that Jesus is God. That might appear shocking to you, but I am actually surprised that the statistic is not higher. For too long, the church has set aside the teaching of the Apostles, instead using the story of Jesus to give people pithy lessons on how they can have their best life now. Treating the gospel as just a moral tale for the sake of behavior modification diminishes the impact of what Christ truly accomplished in His life and ministry.
The Apostle John asserts, first and foremost, that the most important command is to believe in Jesus and everything that entails. To reduce Jesus’ death to anything less than the atoning sacrifice for our sins is to deny that we have need of a savior. This is self-deception or, even worse, an accusation against God, calling Him a liar.
John wrote this first epistle to a Christian community who had just been through a church split. In question was the historicity of Jesus, the teaching of the Apostles, and the theology of the cross. John did not mix words when he described those who left as ‘antichrists.’ This was not a minor issue of the color of the carpets or the style of music. It is the core doctrine of our faith and John reminds those who remained faithful to Christ, to keep this command and believe in what they had been taught from the beginning.
John is not asking that we accept his account of Jesus on blind faith. That was a characteristic of the Gnostics who touted having special knowledge. Instead, John invites us to examine the truth for ourselves. Although none of us were there when the apostle saw the risen Christ with his own eyes, he says that we can still have fellowship with him by sharing the same faith. This is why he includes the story of Doubting Thomas, “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).
God is light. It is His nature to reveal the truth. He cannot lie and the light that shines into the darkness cannot be overcome by it. By telling us to believe in the name of Jesus, John is telling us to trust that which is true and verifiable.
LOVE
One way that we often fail in communicating the gospel is by neglecting to follow up the historic and doctrinal claims about Jesus with real world implications. The Apostle John, however, does not stumble on this point. Immediately after stating the command to believe in the name of Jesus, he reiterates that it is also a command to love one another as we have been loved by God.
The command to love, however, is not merely a behavioral modification. It is rooted in the love of God and is therefore a fruit that is produced from the Spirit. Throughout this letter love is described as a response to believing in God, an evidence that we are His children.
The golden rule is generally a good principle to live by. We treat others the way that we want to be treated and, for the most part, we get along with others. However, the golden rule is not perfect and quickly unravels once we start pulling on a few loose threads. If you are an extrovert, treating people the way you want to be treated might be perceived as intrusive to an introvert. The problems also occur the other way around. The golden rule has its limitations.
The command here, however, is not simply treating people the way that we want to be treated. That would put ourselves forward as the standard for love. Instead, we are told to love others as we have been loved. This puts God at the center. The golden rule is surpassed by the gospel rule. We love, because God first loved us.
This is what Jesus is describing in the Sermon on the Mount when He warns us not to judge, lest we be judged (Matthew 7:1-6). It is not possible to carefully examine the beam in our own eye and obsess over the speck in our brother’s eye. If we truly understood what Jesus did for us--how much He loved us, how much we have sinned against Him, and how much we have been forgiven--we would not have any room for hatred or judgment in our hearts. No one has offended us as much as we have offended God, and no one has loved us as much as we have been loved by God. Believing this changes us.
But it is not enough to merely say that we love God without action. “Let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth” (I John 3:18). If this love is truly inside of us, it will manifest itself in how we love others. On the subject of fasting, John Piper says this, “We easily deceive ourselves that we love God unless our love is frequently put to the test, and we must show our preference not merely with words but with sacrifice” (“A Hunger for God” by John Piper). It’s easy to say that we love God, like when Peter was professing his love for Jesus in John 21. It is much harder to follow through with that love in practical ways. That is why Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep and why He tells us to wash each other’s feet.
God is love. He did not merely tell us He loves us, He demonstrated it by sending His one and only Son to die as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. If we have experienced the love of God, we will love others because God’s love abides in us.
ABIDE
Believing God seems straight forward. Loving others, however, seems to be a challenge. As my predecessor, the late Dr. John DeBrine used to say, “To be above with the saints we love, that will be glory. But to live below with the saints we know, that’s another story.” Understanding God’s commands is one thing, practicing them is something else entirely. The Apostle John would argue, however, that the difficulty in loving others is actually related to our belief in God.
During Jesus' final discourse with His disciples on the night He was betrayed, He declared that He is the true vine, and those who abide in Him would bear much fruit (John 15:1-17). This love is not something that starts and ends with us. It is a fruit of the Spirit, which is why we cannot truly love others apart from knowing God.
If we are going to obey God’s commands, we must press into the vine. What is interesting here is that the idea of believing in the name of Jesus is not implied to be a one time act. We must keep believing. We must continue to remember what Christ has done for us. When we abide in Christ, His love flows through us.
This brings the two commands, to believe in Jesus and to love each other, into harmony. We cannot love others without believing in Jesus and we will not believe in Jesus without experiencing His love for us. Both of these commands are served as we press into Christ.
How do we abide in Christ? Spend more of our time considering the sacrifice that Jesus has made on our behalf. The deeper we go into our understanding of what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross, the greater our love for God and others will grow. In many ways, we have barely scratched the surface and have much more to learn about our faith.
Adam Miller is the President and host of Songtime Radio and serves as the pastor of South Chatham Community Church.
You can hear his teaching on our daily broadcast on the radio or online, watch his preaching live on Facebook, and read his articles on our website.
