John's Books - Church Age is Different

None of John’s books (Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John) contain Church Age doctrine. We can read them and learn from them, but they are not to us.

Let me show you why.

In the Gospel of John, as we’ll see in a minute, Jesus continually emphasizes His relationship with the Father. Once we’ve looked at these passages, we’ll move on to where Jesus emphasizes believers’ responsibilities regarding salvation.

Let’s first look at a couple of John’s statements about Jesus’ identity.

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

John 1:14,18

¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth….. ¹⁸No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Now some of Jesus’ statements about Himself and the Father.

John 5:17-29 (sections of)

¹⁷But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” ¹⁸For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

¹⁹Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. ²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²²For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, ²³so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

24-29

²⁴“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. ²⁵Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;

²⁷and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, ²⁹and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. [Second Coming judgment based on works. Obviously not for the Church Age.]

John 5:30-43 (sections of)

³⁰“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

³⁶But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

³⁷And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. ³⁸You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.

⁴³I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

John 6:29

²⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

John 6:38-40

³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:43-48

⁴³Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.⁴⁴No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life.

John 7:16-18

¹⁶So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. ¹⁷If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. ¹⁸He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

John 7:28-29

²⁸Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. ²⁹I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

John 8:12-19

¹²Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” ….¹⁶But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me… ¹⁸I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” ¹⁹So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”

John 8:23-29

²³And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. ²⁴Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” ²⁵So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?

²⁶I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true…²⁸So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.²⁹And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

John 8:42, 46, 47

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me…. ⁴⁶Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

John 8:54-58

⁵⁴Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ⁵⁵and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. ⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”⁵⁷So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

John 10:14-15

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, ¹⁵even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep….

John 10:25-30

²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. ²⁶But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. ²⁷My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.²⁹My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

John 10:37-38

³⁷If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; ³⁸but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

John 12:44-50

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. ⁴⁵He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.

⁴⁸He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. ⁴⁹For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

John 13:20, 31-32

²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

³¹Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus *said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; ³²if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.

John 14 (sections of)

⁶Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. ⁷If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” 8Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”⁹Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

11-20

¹¹Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.

¹⁹After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. ²⁰In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

John 16 (sections of)

¹³But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. ¹⁴He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. ¹⁵All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

²³In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. ²⁴Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.

25-30

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf;²⁷for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. ²⁸I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples *said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. ³⁰Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”

John 17 (sections of)

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ²even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. ³This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

8-12

⁸for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. ⁹I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;

¹⁰and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. ¹²While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me…

13-21

¹³But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. ¹⁴I have given them Your word… ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth;

²⁰“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Jesus and the Father

So you’ve now seen that much of John is about Jesus’ relationship to the Father. That’s all fine, you say, no problem with that. Let’s briefly look into John 3 before I get into what you might have a problem with.

I agree that if you read just 3:16, it does seem like ours. That’s why we’ve claimed it for so long. But let’s get the full context. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that one must be born again/born of the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is the only connection to the Father and He must ‘be lifted up’ to be able to offer eternal life to those who believe.

^{John 3:16….}

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

¹⁸He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. ²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Next is John the Baptist speaking of Jesus

^31 …He who comes from heaven is above all. ³²What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies…. ³³He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁶He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Keep these two John 3 passages in mind. We’ll come back to them soon. And check out my article 1 Peter. It connects John 3:36 (above) ‘he who does not obey the Son’ to 1 Peter 1:1. And it connects John 3:3 being ‘born again’ to 1 Peter 1:3. All non-Church Age books.

Now for the passages in John you might have been skimming over. Or maybe someone told you they mean something other than what they say.

Jesus Speaking of Believers’ Responsibilities

John 8:31-32

³¹So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

John 14:21-24

²¹He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”²²Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. ²⁴He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

John 15

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ²Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. ³You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

⁵I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8-17

⁸My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. ⁹Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

¹²“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you… ¹⁴You are My friends if you do what I command you.¹⁵No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. ¹⁷This I command you, that you love one another.

These verses contain commandments for salvation. That doesn’t sound like our Church Age ‘by grace alone through faith alone’ gospel to me.

But they DO sound like 1, 2, and 3 John. Check out these excerpts!

1 John 1:5-7

⁵This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; ⁷but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 2:1-11

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ²and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

³By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;⁵but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: ⁶the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

7-11

⁷Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning… ⁸On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you… ⁹The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness….

1 John 2:23-29

²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.²⁴As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. ²⁶These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

27-29

²⁷As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you…as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

²⁸Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. ²⁹If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

1 John 3

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are…. ²Beloved, now we are children of God… We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. ³And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. ⁴Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. ⁵You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.

6-10

⁶No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. ⁷Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; ⁸the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. ¹⁰By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

[Now after seeing born of God these three times, read John 1:12-13 then go back to John 3.]

¹⁴We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. ¹⁶We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹We will know by this that we are of the truth…

21-24

²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; ²²and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. ²⁴The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 John 4

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

11-17

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. ¹³By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

20-21

²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

1 John 5

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. ³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

⁵Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

9-13

⁹If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. ¹⁰The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. ¹¹And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹²He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

¹³These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

2 John 1

⁴I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. ^5… love one another.⁶And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

⁸Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. ⁹Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

What did we just look at?

So in summary, the Gospel of John focuses on how Jesus and the Father are one, therefore, validating Jesus’ claim that He’s able to offer eternal life to those who believe in Him, meaning SALVATION. As you saw earlier:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.

He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.

For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

More.

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. ⁴⁵He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Upon faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection during the Church Age, individuals are sealed and secured by the Holy Spirit, giving us a guaranteed inheritance – saved by faith alone! But that’s not what you’re seeing in John’s books, is it?

Why? Because the intended audience of these books [believers outside the Church Age] do not have the indwelling Spirit and must follow what Matthew through John and Hebrews through Revelation say. They will not have a guaranteed inheritance so they must obey His commandments. Here’s a repeat of some of those passages…

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

Another one.

This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

And two more.

And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.

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So the Gospel of John is foundational to all believers. Hopefully, you can now see, though, that it is only speaking of salvation, and not security.

Maybe this will help. Before Jesus’ sacrifice, the Law applied to the Jews. And what was the core focus of the Law? Love God, keep His commands, practice righteousness, love others. The Holy Spirit did not indwell them, thus they were required to obey. Though Jesus fulfilled the Law so that He’d qualify to save us, its core essence carries into the post Church Age Tribulation as you just saw above. (Remember, the Tribulation is just Jews and Gentiles. No Church.) That’ll look like this: Love God, believe Jesus, keep His commands, practice righteousness, love others. The Holy Spirit, again, will not indwell these believers, thus they’ll be required to obey.

See it now! The only real difference between the two is since Jesus’ sacrifice has occurred, Tribulation believers must believe in Him!

Remember, after the Church is taken home in the Rapture, Daniel 9:27’s confirming of the covenant can happen. Once it does, the seven-year Tribulation, which will be a time of judgment for the Gentile nations and refinement for the Jews, will begin. It will be a Jewish time frame with Hebrews through Revelation as their doctrinal books. Check them out. You’ll find they’re saying the same thing you see here!

PS – Looking back now, I don’t believe I did a good job explaining John 3:16 in this article. Please see Salvation and Security for more on that.