Assurance of salvation and walking in confidence - 1 John chapter 5


Vincent Ball

Assurance of salvation.  / Faith; Assurance; Assurance of salvation / 1 John 5

Focusing on having faith and an assurance of salvation 

 

1 John 5 ESV
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 

We know that we are from God, and 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. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.


My three points regarding confidence leading to assurance :





1) Confident in His overcoming 


2) Confident of His testimony


3) Confident by knowing Him 





Illustration:


As I have mentioned before in my sermons God has made me a very good artist. I won the Waltham Abbey Art Trail in England two consecutive years and in the third year I was cocky, big-headed and full of my own confidence based upon the testimony of others who said I'd win. I thought I knew it all but I lost. I never come anywhere. My confidence was there but I was wrong and it was in the wrong thing. Unlike our confidence upon the reality that Jesus is who he said he is by overcoming death and the testimony of God and the truth of the Holy Spirit regarding the proof of this. Because of this we can have boldness and certainty because we know God.


1) Confident in His overcoming 


English Standard Version 1 John 5:1–2
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.


Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Some people like to call themselves Christians but live any way they like, but are they? Truly believing in God, truly believing in Jesus, brings about a change, a supernatural change by the power of the holy spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to reside in you.


By this we shall know they are genuine, this is how you know you are genuine. We should have new desires in line with God's will. We will be attempting to obey god's commandments. There will be a difference in our lifestyles. The bad we once used to do we will not want to do anymore and we will want to do good instead. We will be transformed by the renewing of our minds and this is a work of the Holy Spirit. We will recognise a change in us internally that we will know is not of us, it’s called regeneration. Because of this we know we are dealing with God and because we are dealing with God it will give us a confidence and the boldness to be able to overcome the world.


English Standard Version 1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.


When you truly love God Then you'll have a different attitude to what He asks you to do. And because of this these commandments are not burdensome. They may require some effort and self-control but they are not burdensome. 


You'll find that by actually obeying his commands, being victorious over your own sin, and loving others, you will find this victory a blessing not a burden. This is another way of overcoming the world and what it has to offer.


English Standard Version 1 John 5:4–5
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?


So you see, everyone who is born of God has faith and overcomes the world through this faith . This is a victory. Ultimately Jesus has overcome the world and we can have confidence.  because of this and our faith, which actually is given by God Himself. 


Scripture presents faith as fundamentally God’s gift rather than a human achievement. Salvation comes through faith, but this faith is not your own doing—it is the gift of God. (Eph 2:8–9) God assigns to each person a measure of faith. (Rom 12:3) Belief in Christ has been granted to you as a gift. (Phil 1:29)


The New Testament emphasizes this consistently. Believers obtain faith by the righteousness of God and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Pet 1:1) The Spirit distributes faith as a spiritual gift. (1 Cor 12:9) Jesus is described as both the founder and perfecter of faith (Heb 12:2)—he originates and completes it in believers. This is another reason for our confidence. 


2) Confident of His testimony


English Standard Version 1 John 5:6–8
Testimony Concerning the Son of God
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.


Jesus came through his baptism and his death—not just his baptism, but both together. John wants to show that Jesus was truly human and that his death on the cross saves us. Some false teachers claimed Jesus wasn’t really human. But John says that truly believing in Jesus means accepting him as God’s chosen one who really suffered and died for us.


The Holy Spirit confirms this truth and never lies because the Spirit is truth itself. Three things testify to who Jesus really is: the Spirit, water, and blood. These point to his baptism, his death on the cross, and God’s power—all showing that Jesus is God who became human.


Believing that Jesus is God is absolutely crucial. You can’t separate his divinity from his humanity or his humanity from his divinity. If you deny either one, you get Jesus wrong. Jesus did something no prophet could do—he didn’t just call people to be holy, but through his blood he took away all sin forever. Calling Jesus just a good teacher or a good person misses the whole point of who he is and what he did. Putting Jesus anywhere lower than God’s throne breaks the most important command: to worship God alone.


English Standard Version 1 John 5:9
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.


God is truthful. He cannot lie. His testimony is good enough. The testimony of man is already concrete enough. God's testimony is absolutely steadfast. We can trust him. He holds the universe in place. He holds all creation in place. Why would he lie? 


English Standard Version 1 John 5:10–12
Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.


Believers internally testify to the fact that they have the Holy Spirit working inside of them. They also grasp and understand who Jesus is in the Scriptures and agree with it. If we don't agree with God and we don't believe what He's saying about Jesus, then there's really no hope for us because God is telling the truth. But as believers we know the truth. We can walk in confidence and hope and certainty. 


And the testimony is that God gave us eternal life and this life is the Son. It's not just about extending our life into eternity. It's about the fact that Jesus is eternal life by himself. He is just eternal life summed up in his being making him  not just eternal life but life itself. 


And if we don't believe this then we call God a liar. How can we possibly be saved if we don't recognize Jesus in the equation of it all? If we have Jesus we have life. If we don't have him we don't have life.


3) Confident by knowing Him


English Standard Version 1 John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.


As we've been studying these last five chapters of 1 John, you should be coming to a conclusion that you are or are not saved. If you know you are - all well and good, you will have confidence, you will be bold, you will have certainty and assurance - You can have peace in knowing that you are going to be with your Saviour ultimately. If you do not have peace then I appeal to you to get to know Jesus. If assurance rests on objective grounds—God’s testimony, the Spirit’s witness, and a life transformed by faith—then those without assurance should examine whether they possess these marks, and if not, turn to Christ to receive them. The question isn’t whether you’re open-minded enough for God to find you, but whether you bear the marks of one born of God: faith in Christ, love for his people, and a growing desire to obey him.


English Standard Version 1 John 5:14–15
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.


Right from the offset if we are His, then He will hear our prayers. Answered prayers build faith, confidence, and assurance. Some people say to me, "God doesn't answer prayers." Well I say perhaps you're asking for the wrong things, with the wrong motives and not aligning with his will. I'd even go as far as saying in Scripture God won't listen to the prayers of the wicked. 


Scripture consistently affirms that God hears the prayers of the righteous but is far from the wicked (Prov 15:29), and God does not listen to sinners, but listens to those who worship Him and do His will (John 9:31). Multiple passages reinforce this: sin creates separation between people and God, hiding His face so He does not hear (Isa 59:2), and those who make their deeds evil will cry to the Lord but receive no answer (Micah 3:4).


The biblical answer is therefore conditional: God withholds His ear from those persisting in unrepentant wickedness, but remains responsive to sincere prayer from those turning toward Him, regardless of their past. Once again we see that we can have peace and assurance because we know our prayers are answered if we're on the right track.


English Standard Version 1 John 5:16–17
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.


What is the sin not leading to death? That would be all of them apart from the one that does lead to death, which is namely apostasy. If you are a true disciple of Jesus, a true Christian then you should bear the marks of someone who is changed. You will not bear the mark of somebody who is an apostate. deliberately rejecting Christ—is the sin leading to death, and that true Christians will bear marks of genuine conversion: confession of faith, ongoing repentance, love for other believers, and progress in holiness. While believers will sin until they are glorified, the direction of their lives is not toward sin but away from it and toward God. This is evident in how they confess their faith, live in repentance, love other believers, and grow in personal holiness.


Here’s the key point: when John writes about the sin leading to death, he doesn’t say that a “brother”—a true believer—commits this sin. He only refers to a brother in connection with sin that does not lead to death. This distinction matters because it shows John is separating true believers from false professors. John doesn’t teach that genuine believers can lose their salvation. Instead, he makes clear that those who profess faith but then apostatize—reject Christ—were never truly converted in the first place. The sin of apostasy that John addresses is something the elect will never commit; only those who falsely profess faith will commit it.


English Standard Version 1 John 5:18
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.


As we've discussed before, when Scripture says that we do not keep on sinning, that means we do not practice sin. Not that we stop sinning completely. That will never happen until we reach glory. But step by step, notch by notch, day by day, the old ways should be shedding off. We should be transformed by the renewing of our minds until we finally meet our Saviour in heaven. Until then we who are born of God are protected by God. Satan.  cannot touch us or harm us. Scripture says nothing can pluck us out of His hand. We are his elect. That does not mean to say that Satan doesn't harm us in this life. He does sometimes, but only through God's sovereignty and usually to refine us. Or to discipline us. But ultimately he cannot prevent us from being saved. 


English Standard Version 1 John 5:19
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.


After all this we obviously know that we are from God and we should see there is a total difference between us and the way we behave (or should be behaving) and the way the world behaves. The world system is under the influence of Satan. We are aliens in this world, Scripture says, and we shouldn't be surprised that we conflict with the world at times but we can rest assured that God is sovereign. We are His. We have overcome the world and there is no need to fear. 


English Standard Version 1 John 5:20–21
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. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.


John’s final command—“keep yourselves from idols”—is the perfect ending to his entire letter. After five chapters of telling us that believers have eternal life through Jesus and can know the true God, he leaves us with this powerful warning.


The placement matters. John has just reminded us that God’s Son gives us understanding so we can know the true God. We live in Jesus Christ, who is the true God and the source of eternal life. Given all that, the logical next step is clear: reject anything that tries to take God’s place in our hearts.


When John says “idols,” he means more than just statues of false gods—though that was a real problem in his ancient world, where cultural pressure constantly pushed believers to compromise their faith. More importantly, an idol is anything that pushes God out of the centre of your worship, trust, and obedience. It could be false teachings about Jesus himself (which John was deeply concerned about), money, status, relationships, or anything else we trust in instead of God.


This warning works on two levels. On the surface, it addresses a practical problem: believers living in pagan societies faced constant temptation to participate in idol worship to fit in socially or economically. But underneath, John is making a deeper point about spiritual loyalty. The entire letter builds toward this moment—he’s established who God truly is and what it means to know him. Now he’s saying: don’t let anything else claim the throne that belongs to God alone.


It’s a fitting conclusion because it brings everything full circle. John doesn’t end with abstract theology or complicated doctrine. He ends with a simple, urgent command rooted in the most basic Christian reality: God is true, Jesus is God, and nothing else deserves your ultimate allegiance.


Conclusion: 


1 John  mirrors itself by introducing main ideas at the beginning that get reinforced at the end. The opening talks about knowing God and experiencing Christ directly, written so readers feel complete joy. The conclusion’s main point assures readers that they have eternal life—different from John’s Gospel, which tries to convince people to believe in Jesus for the first time. Then the letter unexpectedly shifts to talking about prayer, emphasizing that believers can confidently ask God for things when their requests match what God wants. The letter also explains how to pray for other believers who sin, but it’s more cautious than the book of James, warning against praying for people whose sin is so serious it leads to spiritual death.


The final section reminds readers that those born of God don’t typically sin, acknowledges that the world opposes God, yet encourages believers because Christ has given them the ability to recognize truth. The theme of eternal life circles back to the opening, creating a complete thought, while the final warning about idols—meaning false teachings—returns to the letter’s core message about choosing between real truth and fake substitutes. Overall, this structure shows that real assurance comes from three things: living righteously, showing love, and believing in Jesus—these are the ways readers can test whether their faith is genuine.