Righteousness: The Moral Test
1 John 2:1–6
By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:3
It often happens that shortly after a person believes in Christ, doubts set in. The initial experience of the Christian is usually one of great joy. He had been lost in the darkness of his own sin and ignorance; now he has come into the light. Formerly he had not found God; now he has found him. But then, as time goes by, the new Christian may begin to wonder if, in fact, anything has really changed. He thought that he was a new creature in Christ; but, to speak frankly, he is really much as he was. The same temptations are present; they may even be worse. There are the same flaws of character. Even the joy, which he once knew, seems to be evaporating. At such a time the new Christian often asks how it is possible to be certain that he is saved by God. He may ask, “How can I truly know that I know God?”
To answer this question is one of the major purposes, perhaps the major purpose, of 1 John. There are three answers or tests. There is the moral test, which is the test of righteousness. The second test is social, the test of love. Finally, there is the doctrinal test, which is the test of truth.
John introduces the first of the tests for Christian assurance in verse 3. What is it that characterizes the one who truly knows God? The answer is “righteousness.” There is no knowledge of God without an accompanying righteousness, for God is righteous. This is John’s point. Do we say we are Christians? Then “whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (v. 6). The call is to emulate Jesus in our conduct. To walk as Christ walked is to live, not by rules, but by an example. It is to follow him, to be his disciple. Such a discipleship is personal, active, and costly. It is personal because it cannot be passed off to another. To walk as Christ walked is also active because the Lord himself is active. To be inactive is to be left behind.
Finally, it is costly as well, because the path that Jesus walked is the path to crucifixion. It leads to glory, but before that, it leads to the cross. Such a path can be walked only by the one who has died to self and who has deliberately taken up the cross of Christ to follow him.
Such a one, whether in John’s day or our own, will always have confidence before God and will be sure that he knows him. By the test of righteousness we may know that we know God and may assure our hearts before him.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.