"Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father… But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." [1 Jn 2:24, 27]
The confession of Jesus Christ as Lord, as Christ, as Savior, is absolutely crucial and necessary to salvation. Without it, a man is eternally condemned. For until he makes confession with his mouth, and chooses for himself to believe in his heart, he is lost and headed to hell, no matter how morally good he may appear. We read in Romans regarding the “word of faith,” which is near,
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth The Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man is believing unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is being made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever is believing on Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that are calling upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of The Lord shall be saved.” [Rom 10:8-13]
We should do well to notice the verbs for believe and confess here in the passage: for they are present verbs and they indicate continued action, not just a singular event. Meaning, salvation is not acquired because at some point in the past a man believed and confessed; no, in no wise. Salvation is present, and it is to those who continue to believe and continue to confess, that salvation shall be granted. This is replete in the New Testament scriptures. Even Jesus said, being careful to expand the Greek verb “believeth” into a more accurate English equivalent,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever is believing in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [Jn 3:16]
Do notice, dear man, that Jesus says, “whosoever is believing,” and not, “whosoever may have believed at one point in the past.” You may say, ‘I have confessed and believed in Jesus;’ but, my dear brother, are you still believing and are you still confessing? Does your confession and belief of the past continue on to this very day, and continue to bear fruit? Let us first note that our salvation is one that is present and continuing, and so too our belief and confession of Jesus.
With this foundation, let us look again at what John says in our passage above, which presents to us our next proof of true Christianity. John admonishes us to, “let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning;” that is, the gospel. And if we are doing this, John promises us by The Spirit, “ye also shall continue in the Son, and in The Father.” Thus we imply, if one is not abiding in the gospel to this very day, they should have no assurance whatsoever that they are in both The Son Jesus and The Father Yahweh. For again, John tells us further, if “the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you,” and thus is teaching you “of all things,” then, “ye shall abide in Him.” And we do therefore conclude, if The Holy Spirit does not abide in us, and is thus not teaching us, we shall not abide in God nor His Christ, but, not being found to abide in Him, we shall be without, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Regarding this truth, let us read in Colossians also, where Paul says,
“…Yet now hath He reconciled [you] in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight: if ye continue in the faith having been grounded and firm, and not being dislodged from the hope of the gospel…” [Col 1:21-23]
Notice that those who are presented as “holy and unblameable and unreproveable,” that is, those who are presented to The Father by Jesus as set apart and completely flawless and without grounds for condemnation or judgment, are those who continue in the faith. This is signified to us by the conditional word “if,” for these are true “if ye continue in the faith…and [are] not being dislodged from the hope of the gospel.” Therefore, just as we saw in John, so too we see here: that salvation is for those who continue in the gospel and are not moved away from it, for those who continue to cling to it and do not let go. Again, “for we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” [Heb 3:14] The test that we must lay beside our souls is this: do we continue in the faith, in the gospel? Do we, no matter the circumstance or condition of our lives, continue to steadfastly cling to Christ in belief? Or are we as the seed which fell on rocky ground, whose roots quickly lose grip in the storm or wilt away when the sun rises? The true Christian will abide in the truth of the gospel, clinging to it always.
To see past and future posts in this series of Testing Your Salvation, click here.