You can have assurance of salvation when you believe that salvation is not your doing, but God’s act of redemption in Jesus Christ, conceived before the foundation of the world, carried out by God through the mysteries of His providence in real-time.
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Can Christians know they are saved (cf. 1 John 5:13)? 1 John has three tests or evidences.
Doctrinal (belief, 1 John 1:1,5,10; 2:18-25; 4:1-6,14-16; 5:11-12)
Lifestyle (obedience, 1 John 2:2-3; 2:3-6; 3:1-10; 5:18)
Social (love, 1 John 1:2-3; 2:7-11; 3:11-18; 4:7-12, 16-21)
Assurance is difficult because
often believers seek certain experiences not promised in the Bible
often believers do not fully understand the gospel
often believers continue to willfully sin (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 9:27; 1 Tim. 1:19-20; 2 Tim. 4:10; 2 Pet. 1:8-11)
certain personality types (i.e., perfectionists) can never accept God’s unconditional acceptance and love
in the Bible there are examples of false professions (cf. Matt. 13:3-23; 7:21-23; Mark 4:14-20; 2 Pet. 2:19-20; 1 John 2:18-19, see SPECIAL TOPIC: Apostasy)
Believers’ primary assurance is linked to the character of the Triune God
God the Father’s love (see SPECIAL TOPIC: Characteristics of Israel’s God [OT])
John 3:16; 10:28-29
Romans 8:31-39
Ephesians 2:5,8-9
Philippians 1:6
1 Peter 1:3-5
1 John 4:7-21
God the Son’s actions
death on our behalf (i.e., Isaiah 53)
(1) Mark 10:45
(2) Acts 2:23
(3) Romans 5:6-11
(4) 2 Corinthians 5:21
(5) Heb. 9:28
(6) John 2:2; 4:9-10
high priestly prayer (John 17:12)
continuing intercession
(1) Romans 8:34
(2) Hebrews 7:25; 9:24
(3) 1 John 2:1
God the Spirit’s ministry
calling (John 6:44,65)
advocate ‒ John 14:16; 16:7
teacher ‒ John 14:26; 16:13; 1 John 2:27
intercessing, Rom. 8:26-27
sealing
(1) 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5
(2) Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:3
assuring internal witness
(1) Jphn 15:26
(2) Romans 8:16-17
(3) 1 John 5:7-13
But humans must respond to God’s covenant offer (both initially and continually)
believers must turn from sin (repentance, cf. Mark 1:4; SPECIAL TOPIC: Repentance [NT]) and to God through Jesus (faith)
Mark 1:15
Acts 3:16,19; 20:21; 26:20
believers must receive God’s offer in Christ (see SPECIAL TOPIC: What Does It Mean to “receive,” “believe,” “confess/profess,” “call upon”?)
John 1:12; 3:16
Romans 5:1 (and by analogy 10:9-13)
Ephesians 2:5,8-9
believers must continue in the faith (see SPECIAL TOPIC: Perseverance)
statements of Jesus (Matt. 10:22; 13:1-9,24-30; 24:13; Mark 13:13; John 8:31; 15:4-10; Rev. 2:7,17,26; 3:5,12,21)
statements of Paul (Rom. 11:22; 1 Cor. 15:2; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 1:6; 3:4; 5:4; 6:9; Phil. 2:12; 3:18-20; Col. 1:23; 2 Tim. 3:2)
statements of the author of Hebrews (Heb. 2:1; 3:6,14; 4:14; 6:4-12; 10:26-27
statements of John (1 John 2:6; 2 John 9)
statement of the Father (Rev. 21:7)
remembering that the goal of salvation is Christlikeness
Romans 8:28-29
2 Corinthians 3:18
Galatians 4:19
Ephesians 1:4; 2:10; 4:13
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians 3:13; 4:3; 5:23
Titus 2:14
1 Peter 1:15
Assurance has become a denominational issue
John Calvin based assurance on God’s election. He said that we can never be certain in this life.
John Wesley based assurance on religious experience. He believed that believers have the ability to live above known sin (cf. Romans 6).
Roman Catholics and the Church of Christ base assurance on an authoritative Church. The group to which one belongs is the key to assurance.
Most evangelicals base assurance on the promises of the Bible, linked to the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23) in the life of the believer (i.e., daily Christlikeness).
J.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I do know that many have struggled with this question at some point in their Christian walk. The Bible does tells us to examine ourself and to test ourself to make sure we are in the faith. 2 Cor 13:5 In other words, sit down and think about what you truly believe concerning Christ and His gospel.
Fruit and works are an evidence of faith, but not always. The Jewish leaders had this in abundance and didn’t believe in Jesus. It was their fruit and their works. Jesus says we can do nothing of ourselves. It has to be His work or no work is being done. He covers that in John 15. Assurance is something every Christian is given by the Holy Spirit within them and it is the Spirit who testifies of our salvation. It’s a serious situation to wonder if you’re saved and not a question to be put aside. It’s not a question someone else can answer for you either. It’s a terrible place to be once you begin to doubt or wonder.
Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Jas 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
Jas 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Jas 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Jas 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Also here…
Jesus Himself consistently defines faith by visible obedience.
Matthew 7:16–21 teaches that true allegiance is revealed by fruit, not verbal confession, and that calling Jesus “Lord” without obedience is empty.
Matthew 25:31–46 judges people on concrete acts of mercy, treating practical love as the evidence of genuine faith.
Luke 6:46 exposes the contradiction of professed faith without corresponding action by asking why people call Him Lord but do not do what He says.
John 14:15 connects love and faith directly to obedience, making practice the proof of relationship.
The apostolic writings reinforce this pattern without softening it.
Romans 1:5 speaks of the “obedience of faith,” showing that faith and obedience are inseparable categories in
Paul’s theology.
Galatians 5:6 states that what counts is faith working through love, not faith admired internally or discussed abstractly.
Ephesians 2:8–10 balances salvation by grace with the assertion that believers are created in Christ for good works prepared by God, meaning practical action is the expected outcome of saving faith.
Titus 3:8 insists that those who believe in God must be careful to devote themselves to good works, calling this insistence both good and profitable.
John’s letters are especially blunt.
1 John 2:3–6 says that knowing Christ is proven by walking as He walked, not by claims or doctrinal correctness alone.
1 John 3:16–18 defines love by action and explicitly rejects love that exists only in words.
1 John 4:20–21 declares that claiming love for God while failing to love others is a lie, not a misunderstanding.
Hebrews frames faith as inherently active.
Hebrews 11 repeatedly uses action verbs to describe faith, showing that faith is something people do, not something they merely possess.
Hebrews 10:24–25 calls believers to stir one another toward love and good works, assuming faith expresses itself communally and practically.
The theological center holds it all together.
Faith looks to the cross, where Christ acted decisively rather than sentimentally.
Faith rests in the resurrection, which produces new life, not static belief.
Faith is applied and energized by the Holy Spirit, who produces obedience and fruit, not mere affirmation.
So the biblical verdict is consistent and frankly unimpressed with abstraction.
Faith that never enters the practical sphere is not faith waiting to mature.
According to Scripture, it is faith that never existed in the first place.
1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1Jn 3:12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
1Jn 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
1Jn 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
1Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1Jn 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Something you wrote that prompted me to reply @Bestill
J.
First, faith itself in the New Testament is not static.
The noun pistis and the verb pisteuō regularly carry active force, not mere mental assent.
In James 2:17, “faith” (hē pistis) is said to be nekra “dead” when it does not have works. The verb echei is present active indicative. James is not saying faith once existed and disappeared. He is saying this thing currently called “faith” lacks the necessary properties of living faith.
Now the key verb in James 2:22:
“Faith was working together with his works” uses sunērgei, imperfect active indicative.
This is not occasional cooperation. The imperfect tense indicates ongoing, continuous action in the past. Faith was actively operating alongside works. Grammar does not allow for a category where faith is alive but habitually inactive.
Then James 2:22 again:
“Faith was completed by works” uses eteleōthē, aorist passive indicative.
Passive voice matters here. Faith is not self-completing. It is brought to maturity through outward obedience. The passive shows that works are not the source of faith, but the God-ordained means by which faith reaches its intended expression.
James 2:26 seals it:
“Faith without works is dead” uses estin, present indicative.
Not “becomes dead,” not “might be dead,” but is. This is a state-of-being claim, not a warning about potential loss.
Now move to Jesus and John 15, since that was appealed to.
In John 15:4–5, “abide” (menō) is present active imperative.
Abiding is ongoing, relational, lived. It is not automatic, but it is expected.
When Jesus says “apart from Me you can do nothing,” ouden means nothing of spiritual value, not nothing at all. The verb poiein is present active infinitive. The issue is source, not activity.
Fruit-bearing verbs in John 15 are consistently active, not hypothetical.
“Whoever abides in Me bears much fruit” uses pherei, present active indicative.
This is descriptive reality, not ideal aspiration. The grammar does not support “sometimes fruitless but still healthy.”
Now assurance and the Spirit.
Romans 8:16 says the Spirit testifies with our spirit.
Summarturei is present active indicative. Ongoing testimony.
But the same chapter says believers “put to death the deeds of the body” by the Spirit (Romans 8:13). Thanatoute is present active indicative again. The Spirit’s witness and the Spirit’s work operate together grammatically and theologically.
1 John is relentless on this point.
1 John 2:3: “By this we know (ginōskomen, present active) that we have come to know Him, if we keep (tērōmen, present active subjunctive) His commandments.”
Knowing God is verified by ongoing obedience, not a one-time feeling.
1 John 3:24: “Whoever keeps His commandments abides in Him.”
Both verbs are present tense. Continuous action defining real relationship.
Now address your claim about the Jewish leaders.
Their “works” are consistently described as ergōn nomou, works of the law, human-originated, self-referential.
Paul contrasts these with works that God prepared beforehand (proētoimasen, aorist active indicative) in Ephesians 2:10, works believers walk in, not invent.
Different source. Different nature. Same noun, radically different theology.
So the grammatical conclusion.
The New Testament does not allow:
– faith that lives permanently without works
– assurance that floats free from obedience
– Spirit testimony without Spirit-produced fruit
It does allow:
– imperfect, uneven, growing obedience
– works that are derivative, not meritorious
– assurance grounded in Christ and confirmed by transformation
The verbs are doing the theology for us.
They consistently present faith as active, works as inevitable fruit, and assurance as Spirit-witnessed and Spirit-shaped.
This is not legalism.
This is grammar refusing to let faith be reduced to a noun with no verbs attached.
G’night.
J.
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I appreciate the care and seriousness in how you’re handling this question. You’re right that the New Testament doesn’t treat faith as a static idea or mere mental assent, and I think your emphasis on source really matters. Works that flow from self-effort or self-justification are a very different thing from fruit produced through abiding.
At the same time, I want to hold space for the lived experience of believers who genuinely trust Christ and still wrestle with assurance, especially during seasons of suffering, burnout, or spiritual dryness. Even in John 15, abiding is relational and ongoing, not mechanical. Growth and fruitfulness aren’t always immediately visible to the person living through the season.
What’s helped me is seeing assurance as something both anchored and relational. Anchored in Christ’s finished work, not my consistency, and relationally confirmed over time as the Spirit reshapes desires, responses, and direction. That doesn’t look like flawless obedience, but it does look like a changed orientation of the heart.
I agree that assurance isn’t meant to float free from transformation, but I’m also grateful that Scripture leaves room for uneven growth, honest self-examination, and reassurance that God is still at work even when the fruit feels small or hard to measure. For people asking this question, I think it’s important they hear both truths together: assurance is real, and it grows best in grace rather than fear.
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I believe Paul provides the answer, though what one sees depends entirely on the interpretive lens through which his words are read.
The Law and Sin
Rom 7:7 What then do we conclude? Is the Law identical with sin? Certainly not! Nevertheless, if it had not been for the Law, I should not have recognized sin or have known its meaning. [For instance] I would not have known about covetousness [would have had no consciousness of sin or sense of guilt] if the Law had not [repeatedly] said, You shall not covet and have an evil desire [for one thing and another]. [Exo_20:17; Deu_5:21]
Rom 7:8 But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment [to express itself], got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead [the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing].
Rom 7:9 Once I was alive, but quite apart from and unconscious of the Law. But when the commandment came, sin lived again and I died (was sentenced by the Law to death). [Psa_73:22]
Rom 7:10 And the very legal ordinance which was designed and intended to bring life actually proved [to mean to me] death. [Lev_18:5]
Rom 7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me [by taking its incentive] from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated me, and using it [as a weapon], killed me.
Rom 7:12 The Law therefore is holy, and [each] commandment is holy and just and good.
Rom 7:13 Did that which is good then prove fatal [bringing death] to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing [as a weapon], in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear.
Rom 7:14 We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.
Rom 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].
Rom 7:16 Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.
Rom 7:17 However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
Rom 7:19 For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].
Rom 7:21 So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.
Rom 7:22 For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature]. [Psa_1:2]
Rom 7:23 But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].
Rom 7:24 O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?
Rom 7:25 O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
AMP.
What do you say? Paul the regenerate, or unregenerate man?
And don’t we ALL struggle [sometimes] with doubts re our salvation @ellenvera ?
You wrote…
The most common Greek word for fear is φόβος (phobos), from which English gets “phobia.” It denotes terror, dread, alarm, or fear caused by threat or danger. This is the kind of fear associated with judgment, punishment, or exposure, and Scripture consistently teaches that this fear is not meant to characterize the believer’s standing before God.
1 John 4:18[1]
Here phobos is explicitly linked to torment and punishment, and its removal is tied to assurance in God’s love.
You agree?
J.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. - KJV ↩︎
@ellenvera and @bestill, et. al.
This will probably sound too simplistic. On the few occasions where I have been in the position to listen to folks who struggle with questions like this: “What am I supposed to do with my doubts? Does the fact that I have doubts mean I might not be saved? How can I have assurance of my salvation?”, I have often felt The Lord helped me quiet their fears with the following answer to their question. This answer almost always causes them to think about their dooubt in a way they so-far had not. I usually say, matter-of-factly, “Unsaved people don’t worry about their salvation.”
In most cases, doubt is a feeling that arises when a reality in your life is assaulted with suspicion (in my experience). If I were to cast suspicion on something you knew was not real, it would not generate any anxiety (or feelings of doubt) in you. i.e. If I were to say “there is strong evidence that Santa Clause in the department store is just a paid actor”, you would probably just say “So what?”. The very fact that one is experiencing doubt is strong evidence that they are protecting an indwelling “reality” and something outside them is assaulting it. It is safe to say if they are doubting their salvation it is only because salvation is an internal reality. Only God can make Himself an internal reality in someone’s life, and God does not reverse Himself. It’s OK to feel the doubt, but let the same feeling of doubt serve you as strong encouragement of your eternal reality.
KP
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Thanks for engaging this so carefully. I’ll try to answer your questions plainly.
On Romans 7: I lean toward reading this as Paul describing the regenerate believer’s lived experience, not an unregenerate one. What convinces me is not just the struggle itself, but verses like Romans 7:22 delighting in the law of God in the inner being. That posture doesn’t fit an unregenerate heart. What Paul seems to be doing is describing life under grace with a still-present flesh, not life prior to Christ. The cry of Romans 7:24 isn’t the end of the story; it drives directly into Romans 8, where assurance, the Spirit’s work, and freedom are made explicit.
On fear: yes, I agree with you. The kind of fear Scripture consistently excludes from the believer’s life is phobos, fear tied to punishment, condemnation, or loss of standing before God. That’s exactly what 1 John 4:18 addresses. Perfect love casts out that fear, not because believers never struggle, but because their standing rests in God’s love, not their performance.
That’s why I keep coming back to the distinction between fear and reverent seriousness. Grace doesn’t eliminate self-examination, but it does change its tone. The Spirit convicts, corrects, and reassures; He does not torment. When fear becomes the primary motivator, assurance erodes rather than grows.
I also appreciate KPuff’s point. People who worry about their salvation are often doing so precisely because Christ already matters deeply to them. Doubt, in that sense, doesn’t automatically signal absence of faith; it often signals that faith is under pressure. The New Testament seems to make room for that reality without making doubt the final word.
So yes, I agree that assurance is real, Spirit-given, and grounded in Christ. And I also believe it matures best in grace, not fear, as the Spirit bears witness over time through a transformed direction of life, not through constant inner certainty or emotional steadiness.
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Our salvation depends solely on the real and forever living Christ Jesus. We get saved (Matt 11:28-29; 19:21) only by and through abiding in and following Jesus unto the end (John 15; Matt 11:28-29; 19:21). But our salvation gets lost the moment we stop abiding in and following the Lord Jesus. Therefore, abiding in and following Jesus unto the end is the only assurance of our salvation.
1 John was very enjoyable when the Holy Spirit gave me understanding of it. Before then, I had gotten frustrated, but I wasn’t hearing him correctly. You know how we are told to see who the text is directed to, why it was spoken, what has changed that lead to this, etc. I am told to see who in a different way at times. Paul alludes to this when he speaks of there being a war in his members and that when he wanted to do good another part of him wanted to do evil. When reading 1 John 3. Take verse 2 for example.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God (present tense) and it does not yet appear what we shall be (wait, it doesn’t appear now that we are the sons of God) but we know that when he appears we shall be like him (then, we will be like him) because we shall see him as he is.”
So, now we are the sons of God. Yet, we do not fully look like Christ, but we are “becoming in the image of him.
Colossians 3:10 “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
Verse 11 goes on to say how we are one in Christ Jesus regardless of who we were or where we come from.
But in Verse 12 Paul say to “put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of one mind, meekness, longsuffering…” all of which are only seen by acts done with the body of man. These are among the fruits of the spirit of the born again believers, or sons of God.
These acts don’t give salvation to anyone one but are a result of being a son of God, redeemed, saved from eternal damnation.
Jesus is our Redeemer. It is he who justifies us. It is he who sanctifies us. God gives understanding. God reveals. God empowers. We, are told what to do once we believe, to be led by the spirit. Our spirit that is alive to God is to bring all thoughts that is contrary to the word under subjection, then our bodies will obey.
What Paul is describing in this war that goes on in a believer is exactly this. We can choose to be led by the flesh, allowing fleshly thoughts to build up until we are led astray to do sinful acts with our bodies. Or we can choose to be led by the spirit and let the nature of God manifest through us.
Galatians 5:18-24 “**16 **But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. **17 **For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. **18 **But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. **19 **Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, **20 **idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, **21 **envy,[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do[e] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. **22 **But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, **23 **gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. **24 **And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
2 Corinthians 3:18
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
The point I am making is that we who believe in the Lord Jesus, are born again with the indwelling of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who will continue to change us to be more like Jesus until he returns.
**Philippians 1:6 “**And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Because of the finished work of Christ, the shedding of his blood, him rising from the dead and giving all power of death and the grave, we are to be certain of our salvation. It is because we believe in him that he is crowned Lord of our life. We trust in him. We must have faith in his accomplished work.
To have doubt in ourselves because of something we have done or haven’t done doesn’t change what Christ has done. Neither can it. We are not to condemn ourselves. We must continue to have faith and cast down thoughts that says his blood was not enough, his life was not enough, his resurrection was not enough.
Now to get back to 1 John.
1 John 3:5 
I am overjoyed at this very moment!!! But okay. So, the scripture says, “And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin”
And where are we? Acts 17:28 “For in him we live and move and have our being…”
Romans 8:9
”But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Roman 8:10 **“**And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Romans 7:24 ”O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Romans 7:25 **“**I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.“
@Johann Now James 2 begins by telling us to be like the Lord Jesus and not to be partial, showing favoritism and that being so, we are evil in our thoughts, (verse 4).
This is faith that calls for us to act the way we believe. Take James 2:14-16.
James 2:14-16
“What does it profit, my brethren though a man say he has faith and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say to them depart in peace, be warm, and filled but you don’t give them those things which are needful to the body what does it profit?”
Meaning what good is it, or what have you profited.
I am reminded of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:9 “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?”
And in James 4: 17 **“**Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
That good does not mean a good act. It means the right thing or the right good thing to do, which will be the needed thing.
James is saying that it is not to be that just because someone says that they believe in Jesus they then get to hang around until they die.
James 2:19 he says, “You believe that there is one God…” good for you. or so what! 
“…the devil believes also and tremble. “
It tickles me because to me he is saying that at least the devil does something, he trembles,
Being the Body of Christ means that the work of Jesus is to continue through us in spreading the gospel; preaching the Kingdom of God with signs following, freeing all that are oppressed by the devil. We are to love and help mankind when and how we are led to.
By your fruit.
You will know you are saved if you have been Transformed by Christ, if you are no longer controlled by sinful desire, ruled by your flesh, which leads to conflict, violence, murder, theft, adultery, conspiracy, manipulation, bias, prejudice, racism, stds, choosing to not wear a mask during the pandemic when you know someone with a weakened immune system might perish, and so on. Because it is no longer about you, and your freedom to do whatever you want. It is about LOVE, which seeks the well being of all.
Instead, you have become Master over your flesh, through Christ, and rule over it with LOVE, the Holy Spirit working in you. Thus being made free from the Law of the Flesh, as you died to sin on the cross, and have been reborn under the Law of LOVE, which focusses on the doing of beneficial behavior rather than the fear and punishment and reprisal for bad behavior. And by behaving this way, aligned in the Character of the Father, you become a child of God, rather than a child of the devil, who is lawless, who accuses others, who judges based on outer appearances alone, and who destroys, trying to usurp the throne from God to rule Creation with a pride that leads to his fall.
Because when you LOVE, you do not sacrifice your relationship with God, your spouse, your kin, or your fellow man. LOVE enables you to take Conscious Control and redirect your pursuits toward Godly Objectives, like protecting the foreigner in your land, the widow, the orphan, the sick and the helpless, the homeless and unemployed. LOVE enables you to forsake the selfish pursuit of wealth, because we know through Christ that Our Father provides our needs and we will not do without, but instead work for Him and His Purpose in our workspace, when we till the land, when we exercise at the gym, when we eat out, when we play cards with friends, when we go on vacations, when we go to family reunions… serving God in the Spirit of LOVE that guides us, and in the process, affecting the world for the better as ambassadors of Christ. LOVE, which pursues Peace, and Justice, and performs great Kindness even to our enemies. LOVE, which sacrifices your fancy Starbucks coffee so a homeless person can grab a cheeseburger at McDonalds. LOVE, which is mindful of the geese and gander crossing the street and does not speed up to hit them. The world is not your sandbox to play in to do whatever you will. It is God’s Creation and God is watching. And the angels take note, of who takes care of it and who throws it away.
If you are not pursuing the Transformation, if you do not put the old ways to rest and embrace the new, then how can embracing Christ be anything more than empty words?
But God LOVEs us all and looks for some way that not even the least of these little ones be lost. So when someone gives a bed side confession or asks Christ to forgive them at the last second, or even can only agree to the prayer they hear when their body is no longer able to react or speak the words, if we who are changed by LOVE have truly begun to grasp it, how can we say that God wont use even the last seconds to save the lost soul. When even Christ said to his neighbor on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise.
The old world is fading. The new world will be born. Do we fade with the old, known for the call we did not answer? Or do we become known as the first born of this new world, bowing down as the first Transformed, to serve and help others to be newly born. (The first will be last, and the last will be first) The old world is still dying, and the new world is still being born. And together, there are those who follow one Law, or the other. And again, the Law you carry, lift up with your life, written in your heart, bears the fruit that shows which world you call your home.
Ties in with…
The Final Judgment
Mat 25:31 "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne.
Mat 25:32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.
Mat 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on his right: ‘Come, you who have been blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world.
Mat 25:35 For I became hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you received me hospitably;
Mat 25:36 naked and you clothed me. I fell sick and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
Mat 25:37 Then the righteous ones will answer him with the words: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
Mat 25:38 When did we see you a stranger and receive you hospitably, or naked and clothe you?
Mat 25:39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
Mat 25:40 In reply the King will say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Mat 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left: ‘Go away from me, you who have been cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
Mat 25:42 For I became hungry, but you gave me nothing to eat; and I was thirsty, but you gave me nothing to drink.
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, but you did not receive me hospitably; naked, but you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, but you did not look after me.’
Mat 25:44 Then they too will answer with the words: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?’
Mat 25:45 Then he will answer them, saying: ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of these least ones, you did not do it to me.’
Mat 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment,N4 but the righteous into eternal life.”
J.
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Heaven is a place of pure love with God as its light and life. To accept heaven is a choice. We are in this world to make that choice, and what we choose in this life will become our eternity. We enter heaven, when we choose to be humble, contrite, and express pure love. Pure love is unconditional, meek, humble, selfless, pure, sacrificial, forgiving, faithful, compassionate, truthful, charitable, and free of greed, pride, hate, anger, selfishness, and revenge. It is difficult to express this love when we live in a sinful world. However, if we look at Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we can do it, and enter heaven. Hell is a place where God’s love, which is the light of the universe, is rejected. It is, therefore, total darkness and loneliness. We walk away from heaven and choose hell when we reject God’s sacrificial love, refuse to repent for our sins, and choose pride, money, selfishness, lies, hate, revenge, greed, lust, murder, infidelity and sexual perversions.
Some Scripture references…
Jesus Himself frames eternal life as a present possession, not merely a future possibility, using the verb ἔχει (echei), present active indicative of ἔχω, meaning “to have, to possess.”
The grammar matters here: “hath” is present tense, and “is passed” translates μεταβέβηκεν (metabebēken), perfect active indicative, indicating a completed transition with ongoing results, meaning the believer already stands on the life side of the divide.
John 6 reinforces this with the same verb and tense structure, again refusing to push eternal life entirely into the future.
Here “may have” translates ἔχῃ (echē), present subjunctive, expressing real possession grounded in faith, while resurrection is future, showing that eternal life begins now and culminates later.
John then moves from possession to knowledge, using the verb οἶδα (oida), which denotes settled, intuitive, or certain knowledge, not tentative discovery.
“May know” is εἰδῆτε (eidēte), perfective knowledge, and “have” is again ἔχετε (echete), present active indicative, meaning eternal life is something believers already possess and can consciously know they possess.
John also links assurance to abiding, not performance, using the verb μένω (menō), meaning to remain, dwell, continue in a settled state.
The phrase “hereby we know” again uses γινώσκομεν (ginōskomen), experiential knowledge grounded in the Spirit’s presence, not introspective perfectionism.
Paul approaches assurance covenantally and judicially, using legal language tied to justification and sealing.
“No condemnation” translates οὐδὲν κατάκριμα (ouden katakrima), meaning not even a fragment of judicial sentence remains, which is incompatible with perpetual uncertainty about final standing.
Paul then anchors assurance in divine action, not human stability, using the verb σφραγίζω (sphragizō), meaning to seal, mark ownership, or authenticate.
The sealing is God’s act, not ours, and it is linked to ἀρραβών (arrabōn), a commercial term meaning down payment or guarantee.
A guarantee that fails is not a guarantee, and Paul is not careless with legal metaphors.
Finally, Paul uses the verb πέπεισμαι (pepeismai), perfect passive indicative of πείθω, meaning “to be fully convinced with settled certainty.”
This is not emotional bravado but theological confidence rooted in God’s completed work in Christ, publicly enacted at the cross and vindicated in the resurrection.
So biblically speaking, assurance rests on present possession (ἔχω), completed transfer (μεταβαίνω in the perfect tense), settled knowledge (οἶδα / γινώσκω), divine sealing (σφραγίζω), and covenantal guarantee (ἀρραβών), not on the believer’s fluctuating self-assessment.
Scripture does not invite believers to speculate about eternal life; it declares that those in Christ may know they have it, because God has already acted decisively, and uncertainty about His verdict would imply that the cross and resurrection were somehow provisional, which the New Testament never allows.
J.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John 5:24 KJV ↩︎
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:40 KJV ↩︎
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life. 1 John 5:13 KJV ↩︎
And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. 1 John 3:24 KJV ↩︎
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 KJV ↩︎
In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians 1:13 KJV ↩︎
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Ephesians 1:14 KJV ↩︎
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life… nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38–39 KJV ↩︎