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Before reading on, make sure you've read 1 John 5:1-5.
5. Everyone born of God has victory and overcomes the world.
Notice what this statement implies about our relation to the world. This clearly implies that the world is hostile to us and we to world. The world is at war with us and we with it. John is picking back up the theme he started in 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." But now John adds the fact that those who are born of God have victory in this war against the world and its desires. John has made clear that those who are born of God, also love him and his children; they are those who love the Father, and therefore they can't, by their very nature, love the world anymore, because if they loved the world, the love of the Father would not be in them (v. 15). He also said that those who love God, also obey his commands, that is, as John says here, they "do the will of God", and thus will "abide forever". In other words, they overcome the world and its desires, which are passing away, and have eternal life.
So what John is saying is: Our new birth assures us of victory in overcoming the world. Not just some of those who are born of God overcome, but all. This is the doctrine that has been called the Perseverance of the Saints, which is the idea that all those who are born of God continue to the end, fighting the world, the flesh and the devil, keeping the faith, and are rewarded with eternal life at God's right hand. Those who are truly born of God persevere, they are victorious, they never lose their faith, they overcome the world.
Notice what this statement implies about our relation to the world. This clearly implies that the world is hostile to us and we to world. The world is at war with us and we with it. John is picking back up the theme he started in 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." But now John adds the fact that those who are born of God have victory in this war against the world and its desires. John has made clear that those who are born of God, also love him and his children; they are those who love the Father, and therefore they can't, by their very nature, love the world anymore, because if they loved the world, the love of the Father would not be in them (v. 15). He also said that those who love God, also obey his commands, that is, as John says here, they "do the will of God", and thus will "abide forever". In other words, they overcome the world and its desires, which are passing away, and have eternal life.
So what John is saying is: Our new birth assures us of victory in overcoming the world. Not just some of those who are born of God overcome, but all. This is the doctrine that has been called the Perseverance of the Saints, which is the idea that all those who are born of God continue to the end, fighting the world, the flesh and the devil, keeping the faith, and are rewarded with eternal life at God's right hand. Those who are truly born of God persevere, they are victorious, they never lose their faith, they overcome the world.
This is such an important doctrine; this is an enormously practical teaching! How do you know that you're not going to wake up tomorrow and find that you don't believe anymore? How do you know that you're not going to wake up five years from now and the world will seem so desirable to you and the gospel so unappealing? How do you know? When you think about the scope of your life, all the possible trials and temptations that are before you, all the lures of the world, all the appeal of pride in possessions, how do you know it's not just going to sweep you off your feet and drag you into the abyss? What is the rock that you're going to stand on, what's going to steady you, when you're being persecuted, when people start making attempts at your life in China, when your spouse gets cancer and dies and your thirty and you don't know what to do with your life, when you get layed off from your job and you've got kids and there's no food to put on the table, when your spouse commits adultery on you and leaves the faith, just walks out? What's going to hold you in that time? What truth are you going to cling to? If not the fact that you know at the core of your being that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. That is a doctrine that will put steel in your spine.
So, how does this help us know that we have eternal life? Well, if we know that everyone born of God has victory and overcomes the world, then all we need to ask ourselves to assure our hearts of eternal life is, "Have we truly been born of God?"
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