Exploring 1 John: We Are of God
1 John 5:18-20 - We are protected from the evil one and we have understanding that we are of God.
“We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that 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. This is the true God and eternal life.”
1 John 5:18-20 NASB1995
John is wrapping up his first epistle and reiterates some key points that he has been repeating throughout the five chapters. Let’s start with the first phrase: If we are born of God, we do not sin. Huh??? I am confessing sins every day, so does that mean that I am not born of God? Well, fortunately, Enduring Word reassures us that this means a continued lifestyle of sin:
Whoever is born of God does not sin: In the battle against sin, it is all-essential that we keep our minds set on who we are in Jesus Christ. If we are born of Him, we then have the resources to be free from habitual sin.
John is repeating his idea from 1 John 3:6: Whoever abides in Him does not sin. The grammar in the original language makes it plain John is speaking of a settled, continued lifestyle of sin. John is not teaching here the possibility of sinless perfection. As [John] Stott says, “The present tense in the Greek verb implied habit, continuity, unbroken sequence.”
So those who believe and have accepted the amazing Grace of our Lord have the resources to be free from habitual sin. Some folks have accepted the idea of “cheap grace”, that they are off the hook from the moment they believe and can continue to live a lifestyle filled with many sins. In a way, this reflects the philosophy of the Gnostics, who felt that the flesh was separate from the spirit and the deeds of the flesh could be pursued but yet you could still be “pure” in spirit. John is disavowing this idea, over and over. Here’s an excerpt from Gotquestions.org about cheap grace:
The term “cheap grace” can be traced back to a book written by German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called The Cost of Discipleship, published in 1937. In that book, Bonhoeffer defined “cheap grace” as “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” Notice what is emphasized in Bonhoeffer’s definition of cheap grace and what is de-emphasized. The emphasis is on the benefits of Christianity without the costs involved; hence, the adjective cheap to describe it.
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To play off the title of Bonhoeffer’s book, let’s look at what Jesus said to His disciples about discipleship in Luke 14:25-33. In that passage, Jesus says to the crowds that no one can be His disciple unless they first hate their family (v. 26). Furthermore, the one who cannot bear his own cross cannot be His disciple (v. 27). Two conditions are given by Jesus in order to be His disciple. The first is to be willing to renounce family in order to follow Jesus. The second is to be willing to die, both literally and metaphorically (“die to self”) in order to follow Jesus. Jesus then gives two examples of “counting the cost.” The first is an example of a man who desires to build a tower without first counting the cost of building the tower. After realizing he cannot complete it, he gives up in shame and embarrassment. The second is that of a king preparing to go to battle and making sure he can defend against the superior foe. The point Jesus is making is that discipleship has a cost.
Furthermore, discipleship requires repentance and obedience. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the message He preached was a message of repentance (Matthew 4:17). The message of the apostles after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was also one of repentance (Acts 2:38). Along with repentance comes obedience. Jesus told a crowd of listeners that salvation and obedience go hand in hand: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). Jesus then goes on to differentiate the one who builds his house on the sand from the one who builds his house on the rock, that is, the man who not only hears the words of Jesus, but does them, too.
Cheap grace seeks to hide the cost of discipleship from people. It seeks to claim that as long as we make a profession of faith, we are saved. God’s grace covers all our sins. Again, that is a wonderful truth! The apostle Paul says as much when he writes, “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21). Yet, right after writing that, Paul follows it with this: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is so much more than simply mouthing the words “Jesus is Lord.” We are not saved by a profession of faith. We are not saved by praying the Sinner’s Prayer. We are not saved by signing a card or walking an aisle. We are saved by a living and active faith (James 2:14-26), a faith that manifests itself in repentance, obedience and love of God and our neighbor. Salvation is not a transaction; it’s a transformation. Paul says it best when he says we are “new creations” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). There is nothing “cheap” about grace!
We are saved and we are disciples. Jesus is Savior and He is Lord. It is true that an honest deathbed confession of faith will get you justified and into the gates of Heaven, but if you declare Jesus as your Savior and still have years ahead of you to serve Him, you will confess sins repeatedly and ask for the Holy Spirit to help you with recurring sin patterns, you will love God, and you will obey Him. We took training last year from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on how to be an evangelist. Reverend Graham recognized very early in his tent crusades that just a declaration of faith or coming forward to the altar were not enough. They partnered with Navigators, Inc. to put in place a network of trained individuals that would contact the newly converted and help them establish their transformed lives as disciples.
In the second part of verse 18, John says that the evil one does not touch the one who is born of God. Let’s do a word study of “touch”. This word comes from the Greek word ἅπτω or háptō, with the following Biblical usages; Strong’s G681 is used 4o times in the New Testament:
to fasten to, adhere to
to fasten fire to a thing, kindle, set of fire
I like this explanation from Desiring God about how we are protected:
The devil’s accusations and temptations and harassments can hurt us terribly, but they can never destroy us. There is no deadly touch. There is no poisonous bite. His fangs were removed at the cross, and his lethal poison is taken away from believers. He cannot destroy us.
So I take “cannot touch us” to mean that Satan can’t touch us with any deadly touch. He can hurt us terribly. I don’t want to minimize Satan’s realty in this world. He can throw us in prison and he can move others to kill us, according to Revelation 2:10. But he can’t hurt us ultimately. He can’t touch us with the touch of destruction and damnation. That has been taken out of his hand by the blood of Jesus. Jesus did that when he died on the cross according to Colossians 2:15. He disarmed the principalities and powers when he died and shed his blood.
The enemy rules this world (as noted in the next verse of this passage) and can hurt us physically and even have others kill us because of our beliefs. But he cannot take away our salvation, as long as we don’t renege on our belief due to our fears or pain. There are many Christian martyrs (witnesses for God who lost their lives) in history, including an amazing number that have occurred in our lifetimes around the world. In our country, it’s still mostly just a war of words (and heavy artillery is being used by the other side in that word war) and some Christians have lost job opportunities because of their beliefs.
But if true persecution and torture and certain death for Christians came to our shores, would I be able to withstand it? Life is mighty comfortable right now, but conditions could change in a heartbeat. That’s why I pray in every supplication prayer that I can be ready for the coming persecution. Persecution won’t last forever, but life with Him will!
As to the world lying in the power of the enemy, although believers know and acknowledge this fact, there are many in the world who are ignorant of this fact, prefer this state of evil and rebellion over belief, or laugh at it as unscientific ignorance. Humans are depraved and fallen, but the enemy has found ways to exponentially increase that level of depravity for his goals (just look at things like terrorist attacks and concentration camps and prideful glorification of sins as examples).
John repeats for the final time in verse 20 that we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding to know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true through His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. This understanding of our faith is the key to truth and eternal life. I found this lovely commentary from 19th-century Baptist preacher J.C. Philpot on Precept Austin:
How do you know that the sun rose this morning? By the light which rose with it. So we may say, spiritually, "How do you know that the Son of God has come?" By the Sun of righteousness arising upon you with healing in his wings and the shining light which he diffuses in your heart. So the Lord speaks to Zion--"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." That is the way in which the darkness is dispersed; for he adds, "Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall rise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you." Did not our blessed Lord say, "I am come a light into the world, that whoever believes on me should not abide in darkness?" And has he not promised, "He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life?" Now as God is light, when he is pleased to shine into the soul, we walk in the light as he is in the light, and then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. This is the best, this is the surest, this is the safest way to know that the Son of God is come.
We know also that the Son of God is come by his presence; by his power put forth on our behalf; by the answers which he gives to prayer; by the way in which he appears in dark and gloomy hours, making crooked things straight and rough places plain, discovering himself to us as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, showing unto us that in him there is rest and peace, solid, abiding happiness, and in no other. He thus draws and fixes our eyes upon himself, where he sits at the right hand of the Father in the fullness of his grace, glory, and majesty. Thus we know that the Son of God has come. Every prayer, every petition, every sigh and cry, every longing look that you cast up to him, and every word of his grace, every sweet promise, every glimpse or glance of the King in his beauty, which you receive out of his fullness, are all so many testimonies that the Son of God has come, and that you know that he has come.
Amen!
My next devotional examines the last verse in 1 John 5 - verse 21. John advises the little children to guard themselves from idols. Then I will summarize 1 John and take a giant leap into an amazing book of the Bible: Acts.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I thank You for the protection that You bring against the schemes of the evil one in this world. Please prepare me for persecution so that I stand strong in understanding and faith. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 6/27/2024 to review the lexicon for touch.
Precept Austin was accessed on 6/27/2024 to review commentary for 1 John 5:18-20.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org.
In all cases of republishing, the following attribution must be included:
By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org