A litmus test is a test in which a single factor is decisive
in proving the presence or absence of something. “I
have eternal life,” many said, as I did, but passing
the litmus test determines whether someone has truly believed
as the Scriptures say.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood
and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him
come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture
has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But
this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing
in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given,
because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39)
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the
gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give
Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would
have given you living water (the Holy Spirit).” ...whoever
drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst;
but the water that I will give him will become in him a
well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John
4:10,14)
So how do the scriptures say one must believe in order
to have this river of living water flowing out of him?
For the scriptures give us the litmus test in order that
we could know whether we have passed from death to life
and have truly received the Holy Spirit — the Water
of Life. John 5:24 presents the good news in very clear
and simple terms:
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and
believes Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall
not come into judgment, but has passed out of death and
into life.
But how does anyone know he is saved? Does he know because
the preacher tells him so? Is it enough to hear, “I
know that I know that I know I am saved”? It wasn’t
enough for me. I still wasn’t sure. Something very
deep seemed to be missing. Then I discovered, well friends
showed me, the marvelous first letter of John. It tells
everyone how they can know. It gives all of us the litmus
test. Take it yourself. Read through 1 John, chapters one
through five. Then especially consider verses 3:14, 16,
and 17. They utterly disqualify mere mental belief (Gnosticism).
14We know that we have passed from death to life, because
we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother
abides in death. 16By this we know love, because He laid
down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. 17But whoever has this world’s
goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart
from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
The Test
The criteria for the litmus test is verse 14 — “do
you love the brethren.” When a person has been saved
and has passed from death into life and partaken of the
water of life, the inevitable result will be that “he
loves the brethren.” The presence or absence of true
salvation will be revealed by the results of the litmus
test.
“I love, I love my brothers and sisters in the Lord” most
would say, and was my first response, I must admit. Most
people would say they love, so how could that be the litmus
test for true salvation?
The
answer – we
must
define
our
terms
the
way
the
Bible
does,
and
the
way
the
Apostle
John
did.
He
gives
the
definition
for “love” in
verse
16: “we
know love,
because
He
laid
down
His
life
for
us.
And
we
ought
to
lay
down
our
lives
for
the
brethren.” How
did
the
Son
of
God
demonstrate
love?
By
laying
down
His
life
every day
for
His
disciples
and
for
others,
not
considering
His
own
needs,
sharing
everything
that
He
had,
considering
even
the
outcasts
and
the
lowly,
appealing
to
the
high-minded
and
proud,
even
sacrificing
His
very
life
for
the
good
of
others.
This
is
the
love
of
God,
and
this
is
the
factor
that
is
poured
into
the
heart
of
a
person
who
is
truly
saved.
Verse 17 defines the test results even further. If a person
has something and he sees a brother in need, if he is not
sharing it, it is proof-negative for the love of God being
present in his heart. Selfishness, greed, accumulations
of extra possessions, lacks of sharing, indicate that true
salvation is not present.
We can see the proof-positive results of a people who passed
the Litmus Test in Acts 2:42 – “All who believed
shared all things in common… And there were no needy
among them, for they shared everything in common.” But
later, when the letter of 1 John was written, the church
was filled with many people who had a kind of belief, but
it was not “saving belief,” as they were not
able to demonstrate, try though they might, the proving
factor of loving like the Son of God had loved.
That’s why 1 John was written; its sole purpose was
that those who read it could know whether they had really
received saving faith. For the Savior and the apostles
knew that people could believe in vain (as I had, and
maybe you have), but their heart still reached out to them.
John put something special in 1 John 5:13, a provision,
just for those who didn’t pass the litmus tests of
1 John 2:4, 3:17, and 4:20.
Some would claim to see, even though they were blind, as
Yahshua spoke of in John 9:41. Their guilt can’t
be removed. But those who don’t claim to see, and
so don’t have the confidence they have passed out
of death into life after reading 1 John, still have an
opportunity to believe and love as their Master commanded
all His disciples to love, which was just as He had loved
them. The Authorized Version gets this very important
verse right:
These things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal
life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God. (1 John 5:13)
That is why John repeats the phrase twice in verse 13: “believe
on the name of the Son of God.” So 1 John 5:12-13
struck home to some in John’s day who thought they
had believed on the name of the Son, but discovered, after
reading the letter, that they could not confess they had
eternal life. In fact, they were now sure the love of God
did not abide in their hearts. After this rude awakening,
they took hope in John’s promise that they could
yet believe and surrender their life to the True One whom
John knew.
In every other translation you can see how they tried to
make sense out of this seemingly confusing verse. But understanding
the intentions of John in writing this makes it clear that
he wasn’t being redundant in what he was saying.
So you could read it: “These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that
ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may
[still have an opportunity to] believe on the name of the
Son of God [if you can honestly see that your life doesn’t
match up to everything that was written in this letter].”
Confidence Towards God
The litmus test of 1 John reveals the presence or absence
of the love of God. Paul wrote in Romans 5:5 that “the
love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit.” The book of 1 John lets anyone know who wants to know whether this has actually happened in his life, or whether he has only the concept of love without the power to love.
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue,
but in deed and in truth. 19And by this we know that we
are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
20For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our
heart, and knows all things. 21Beloved, if our heart does
not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. (1 John
3:18-21)
In these verses, John is not teaching that even though
our heart condemns us for failing to love our brother in
deed and truth, God overlooks it and does not hold us guilty
for not loving and not obeying His word. That is why the
next verse says that if our hearts don’t condemn
us (because we do love our brothers), then we have confidence
towards God. If we are not loving as He loved, then we
do not and we cannot have confidence towards God. Indeed,
He knows our heart. He knows why and how we fail to love
in a greater and more comprehensive way than we do. And,
He does not overlook it. He is not partial.
Those Who Have the Son Have the Life
Those who had the Son had the life, which is the one thing
I knew I didn’t have, caught up as I was in the rat
race, like everyone else. No matter how much I did, being
part of the church council, Sunday School Superintendent,
giving of my time and money, my life was just like that
of everyone in the world around me. The only difference
was that I did a few things in the evening and on the weekend
that they didn’t. The void inside of me and the lack
of confidence that I was saved, never went away.
The first believers seemed to have something I didn’t
have. They had not only received the whole message of this
new life, as the angel told Peter to preach in Acts 5:20,
but they had received the life itself. And it was a life
together! That was the difference. Seeing that opened up
the reality of what it meant to believe.
What it Means to Believe
To believe means to be persuaded in one’s heart of
the truth by the Holy Spirit, through hearing the gospel
from a righteous sent one, as the Savior spoke of in John
7:18. Such a one is true because he is not seeking his
own glory, but the glory of the One who sent him. And such
a one is spiritually and morally clean, for Yahshua said, “There
is no unrighteousness in him.”
How could anyone have truly believed in the True One without
a true preacher speaking the very Word of Messiah? The
one who is doing the Father’s will must meet the
one who is willing to do the Father’s will. The hearer
is then given the needed illumination by the Father as
our Master said, “He shall know of the teaching,
whether it is of God.” (John 7:17) The gospel is
then the power of God for salvation, and the Father communicates
the “good gift” of the Holy Spirit to those
who are persuaded to die to themselves, take up their cross,
and do His will.
John 3:16 is probably the best known and most loved verse
in the Bible, “For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.”
But what does it mean to believe as this verse says, to
put one’s complete trust in the Savior of the world?
The Scriptures tell all of us plainly, if we are willing
to listen. The word believes in John 3:16 is the same Greek
word as believed in Acts 2:44, which tells us two absolutely
essential things about all who believe: “Now all
who believed were together, and had all things in common.” This
was very good news to me, because when I found the people
who lived the life of faith, it meant I had also found
a place to belong, a place to call home — true
community.
Epistle of Straw?
Some in John’s day obviously were not in fellowship
with Him (God), as 1 John 1:6 says. And they were not in
fellowship with John either, which is why he writes his
letter:
That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that
you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John
1:3)
John, of course, knew all about abiding in Him and bearing
fruit, because the love of God was in his heart. He had
borne much fruit and so had proven to be one of His disciples.
That was all John wanted for those who believed in Yahshua
through his message. John used the word fellowship in 1
John 1:3, which is the same word translated fellowship
in Acts 2:42. This is the Greek word koinonia, which means
a sharing of all you are and all you have — communication,
distribution and participation. This is the life of faith
that the early believers and the apostles shared with Yahshua
and the Father.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized;
and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
42And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine
and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
(Acts 2:41-42)
Many had not continued steadfastly in John’s teachings
and fellowship. They had fallen from the glory the church
began with. John explained what this meant in 1 John 2:4, “He
who says, ‘I know Him’ and does not keep His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Some may think that keeping His commandments places them
under the law. And it is true: trying to keep His commandments
without the Holy Spirit would be bondage and legalism.
Yet those who walk in the Spirit can fulfill the righteous
requirements of the law. Others may say, “I obey
His commandments and keep His word,” but He said
this is only possible for those who hate their life in
this world, and who come to the place where He is:
He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his
life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26If
anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there
My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father
will honor. (John 12:25-26)
When 1 John was read to the church, those who heard it
had to judge their walk according to the litmus test of
1 John 1:7 and 1 John 2:6. That is just what we have to
do today when we read it: ask ourselves the question, “Do
we have fellowship (a common life) with one another because
we walk as He walked?” They could not have fellowship
with the Savior in heaven without having it with John,
their apostle, as well. His letter did not persuade those
who were not in fellowship with him. They continued to
love the world, dispute his teachings, and not meet the
needs of their brothers. Such “believers” effectively
discarded 1 John as an “epistle of straw.”
Martin Luther’s condemnation of the Letter of James
as just such a worthless epistle (calling it an “epistle
of straw”) shows how easily this can happen. Luther
was upset because it threw a wrench into his gospel of
being saved by faith alone, for James wrote “faith
without works is dead.” “The religion of a
man is worthless who does not bridle his tongue, for instance,
or care for the widows and the orphans in his community.”
Faced with this, Luther, a man famous for his foul tongue
and fiery invective, had to make a choice. Was he wrong?
Had he himself failed the litmus test which James had given
him? Or was James wrong, uninspired — a man of the
flesh? Like the “stiff-necked” men of old Israel,
Luther “stoned the prophet” rather than trembling
at his word.
That is why to disregard 1 John as an epistle of straw
doesn’t mean to question its inspiration, authorship,
or date of composition. It means to ignore, as Martin Luther
did with the Letter of James, the evidence of the litmus
test 1 John gives to all who claim to believe. His sheep
hear His voice and do not reason it away, even when He
tells them they don’t really know Him or His salvation.
See What’s in a
Name
Romans 5:5
John 2:23-25, 8:30-44, 1 Corinthians 15:2
John 13:34-35
1 John 5:20
1 John 5:12 in the NASB reads, “He
who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the
Son of God does not have the life.”
Romans 10:14-17
The word believe (pisteuo) is #4100 in Strong’s
Greek Concordance. It comes from #4102 (pistis), persuasion, which is derived from #3982 (peitho), meaning to convince.
Fellowship is in the Greek a very rich word: (#2842
from 2844); partnership, i.e. (literally) participation,
or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary, which means relating
to or involving money) benefaction; (to) communicate,
communication, communion, contribution, distribution,
fellowship.
Romans 8:1-4
James 2:14-17 and 1:26, respectively.
One example
among many by Luther, which directly contradicts James
3:9: “For I am unable to pray without at the same
time cursing,” Luther said, “If I am prompted
to say, ‘Hallowed be Thy name,’ I must add, ‘Cursed,
damned, outraged be the name of papists.’ Indeed,
I pray thus orally every day and in my heart, without intermission” And
concerning Catholic clergy he wrote, “The Rhine is
scarcely big enough to drown the whole accursed gang of
Roman extortioners... cardinals, archbishops, bishops,
and abbots.” (Quoted in W. Durant, The Reformation,
p. 418)
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