The Message of the New Testament

The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of doctrine, Mark Dever writes,

I do not think that the church needs to worry about atheism today. That superstition has never seriously threatened the church of Jesus Christ. As a friend of mine once said, “The real danger is not unbelief, but wrong belief; not irreligion, but heresy; not the doubter, but the deceiver.” Wrong belief, heresy, and deceivers are what concern John.

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When you share the gospel with others, you do not merely share your experience (though we certainly can share something about our own experience). Most fundamentally, you share objective truth. You share particular doctrines that are rooted in history about who Jesus is and what he did. You might decide this is not important, but then you would have to take 1 John out of the Bible.

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 476, 477.

The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of morality, Mark Dever writes,

[T]he most orthodox person in the world, who has every point of doctrine correct, is not a Christian if his or her right thinking is not coupled with right living. Let me use a story to illustrate this point. Suppose Bob starts a business and he puts me in charge of it. Then Bob travels to Europe for some business deals and leaves me with very careful instructions. While he is away, Bob sends me a few more letters with further instructions about what would be done in the office. Suppose, then, Bob returns several weeks later and finds the office in ruins. The receptionist sits listening to the local disco station while ignoring the ringing telephone. Everyone else is playing checkers, chess, or cards. There is trash in the halls. And Bob’s email is filled with angry notes from canceling customers and clients. So Bob walks up to me and says, “Mark, what happened here? Didn’t you get my letters?” I smile and say, “Oh, yeah, I got your letters. Not only did I get your letters, I loved reading them. Bob, those were wonderful letters! You know, those letters were so good that I photocopied them and gave a copy to everybody in the office. And they liked them so much we had letter studies. After work, we gathered to study them together. We also had them framed. There they are, up on the wall! What great letters! Some of us had even begun memorizing parts of them and are having our children memorize them.” Well, you can only imagine what Bob might say at this point. “Mark, why didn’t you do what the letters said to do? And what do you mean, you loved the letters? Of course you don’t!”

This is what John is saying to these Christians: “You might have all your doctrine right and say you believe in Jesus. But why aren’t you obeying his commands?” If we claim to walk in the light, but we walk in the dark, we lie. Words alone, without actions, are empty. You are not a disciple if there are no actions. A disciple is one who follows. You can be as emotionally attached as you want to the word “Christian,” but if you are not following Christ you are not a disciple. Besides, why do you think Jesus lived the life he did if the kind of life you live is not important? Why do you think he died the death he did?

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 480.

The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of love for God’s people, Mark Dever writes,

Do we love one another as God has loved us? John writes, “And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (4:21). If you have gotten hold of the real thing, not only will you believe Jesus is the son of God; and not only will you obey the commands of God; you will also love the people of God. John is not commanding his readers to love the people of God. He is simply saying, anyone who has gotten hold of the real thing will love the people of God.

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Jesus is our greatest example of the love of God. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 481.

The Apostle John concludes his first epistle rather oddly with the words, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” This conclusion seems strange because idolatry is nowhere mentioned in the preceding chapters. Mark Dever explains:

John concludes his letter with a short verse over which commentators have spilled gallons of ink: “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (5:21). That is the final line. There is no benediction; no prayer for God’s grace to be upon us. No, he just says, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols,” even though idolatry has not been mentioned once in the letter. People wonder, why on earth does he introduce idolatry now?

We have already seen that for John, faith isbelieving, obeying, and loving. Any faith that does not contain all three elements, John says, is false. And then he concludes with the exhortation, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” What he is saying is simple: keep yourselves from a false and distorted Jesus. And you know you have a false and distorted Jesus in one of three ways. First, you might have the wrong doctrine. You might conceive of Christ as an impersonal principle or a spiritual force. Alternatively, you might think he was just a great, human teacher. No, God became incarnate. Keep yourselves from such imposter Christs. Those are just idols to suit your desires.

Second, you might think God is indifferent to sin. No, God incarnate died for our sins. He is deeply concerned for how we live! If you are worshiping a God who is indifferent to sin, you are not worshiping the true God; you are worshiping an idol of your own making.

Third, you might think God is unconcerned with love. Get your doctrine right; don’t do anything grossly immoral; go to church. That’s enough, right? No, the God incarnate died for our sins because of his love for us. He leads his children to love one another with the same love. If you miss this, you have missed the real God and are worshiping some idol.

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” If you keep yourself from those idols, you can know you have gotten hold of the real thing.

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 484.