Being a follower of Christ involves both inner and outer elements of our being. It is important to have practical methods for evaluating the quality and reality of these essential factors in our lives. Evaluating the inner elements of being a follower of Christ, since these factors are invisible qualities, is infinitely more difficult than appraising the outward perceptible elements one must have to follow Christ.
Among the inner realities of being a Christian, love of God is fundamental. But how does one evaluate such an elusive quality as love? Another of the indispensable inner requisites for being a follower of Christ is faith in God and in Christ. What standards and procedures may a follower of Christ use to appraise his own faith? God has used the Apostle John in a unique way to give us the means to accomplish the difficult task of appraising these intangible factors in our walk with Christ.
The Apostle John reveals three criteria for evaluating our faith. They are: (1) love, (2) moral power, (3) and witnessing for Christ.
First, the Apostle John explains to us that faith may be tested by love. He introduces this test with a statement of the centrality of faith in the plan of God for reconciling man. He wrote, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God.” (1 John 5:1 RV).
He reminds us that in the normal course of events faith in Christ results in a birth which makes the believer a member of the family of those who follow Christ. This family relationship provides the opportunity to determine the existence and strength of our personal faith. John went on to say that “…whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him.” (1 John 5:1 RV). Thus, love, an intangible, becomes a means of determining the existence and quality of faith, which is another intangible!
The logic of this test is this: If we have the faith John speaks of, it will result in God imparting new life to us. This life will issue in a new birth resulting in a family relationship which will be permeated and motivated by love. Reasoning from the conclusion back to the premise, then: If one does not manifest the love that characterizes the family relationship, it is because he is really not in that relationship. This means he hasn’t been born anew which, in turn, indicates the absence of faith in Christ or a defect in one’s faith in Christ.
The love of which John speaks has two-dimensions. First, love has a vertical dimension. This is clear because the person who has received new life through faith in Christ, “loveth him that begat.” (1 John 5:1) That means he loves the one who gave him that wonderful new life! And that one is God. But love also has a horizontal dimension. This is clear because that love, “loveth him also that is begotten of him.” (1 John 5:1) That means that the one who has faith which results in new life will love the others who have received that new life!
The validity of this test is corroborated by all our experience of family life. How, for instance, is an infant’s love for his father brought into being? Aren’t the joy, the comfort, and the confidence of the little child in his father’s arms, a testimony of his love for his father? But on what is the child’s love based? It has not been won by the father through logical argument or temporal inducements. Love is evident long before such things could have any value to the child. The little child’s love for his father, the one through whom God gave the child life is, rather, a congenital love that is inherent in the child-father relationship.
The Apostle John’s next statement seems less obvious than the last. When jealousy, resentment, and animosity so frequently characterize the relationship between brothers and sisters doesn’t it jeopardize the assertion that “…whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him”? (1 John 5:1) If we consider the brother-sister relationship under all conditions we may never reach this conclusion. Brothers may be engaged one moment in mutual strife but if in the next moment one of them is set upon by an outsider, his brother does, automatically, what love and loyalty dictate; that is, he upholds his brother.
Though it seems, at first thought, that John only intensifies our problem when he attempts to evaluate one intangible by another, that is proving the validity of faith by love, it is a formula given by God’s inspiration, so we should be sure we will be able to obtain practical results from it.
Here it seems that the whole argument is turned back on itself for John says, “Hereby we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” (1 John 5:2 RV).
This means that our horizontal love, that is, love of our brethren, is to be evaluated by our vertical love, which is our love to God. First, then, we need to understand how one love may be checked or evaluated by the other.
One definition for love will help clarify the meaning: Love is a deep personal attachment for someone which seeks the good of the one to whom it is directed. Now, we may see how my failure to love God can intimately effect my brethren in such a manner that I can no longer defend my profession of love for them.
The love of God is expressed in obedience to him, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3 RV). But, if I allow myself to become disobedient to God, I invariably violate any definition of brotherly love. My disobedience may bring my brethren under the wrath of God. Who can confine the consequences of rebellion against God? Scripture tells us, “Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity” (Joshua 22:20 RV). Brotherly love, out of consideration for our brother’s welfare, will keep us from this selfishness regardless of the contrary inducements.