Sword & Trowel 2017: Issue 1
believe with all their hearts that God is light, pure, and holy, without a shadow of sin. The true God is light, truth and lovingkindness beyond description.
In our case, whether vague about God in the past, or militantly atheistic, we would have been ac- commodating toward sin, excusing ourselves and society at large of all but the worst acts, and would even have harboured such ideas as ‘the es- sential goodness of man’. But something profound has hap- pened to us, and we have seen far, far better things about God. We have re- alised that he is pure and high above us. He is unblemished and wonderful in all his attributes. We have come to believe with gladness that Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, came into this world in amazing sympathy and love to take the punishment due to sinners. We have grasped that God is unique, and transcendent above all that we see in this fallen world. Yet we do not believe that this realisation indicates that we are saved.
The apostle John contradicts us.
You have seen, he reasons, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Do you not see that this is a sign of salvation? If you really value and believe this, you evidently walk in the light. You may think you are lost and deluded, and that conversion has not taken place, but if you fi rmly believe these things, then it is by the work of the Holy Spirit. Your mind has been opened. You have become a passionate believer in the true and perfect and wonderful God. The apostle’s conclusion is that
there has been in your heart, in all probability, a work of grace. ‘If we walk in the light,’ says John,
‘we have fellowship one with anoth- er.’ You are in the same family as we are, says the apostle, ‘and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ Your belief in him is sincere. You have seen the differ- ence between your pagan gods (or your former atheism) and the true God, and you feel it deeply in your soul. This is only the fi rst word of encouragement that the apostle gives, and he repeats it in the course of the epistle, in chapter 2, verse 27, and in chapter 4, verses 13 and 14.
2 A SENSE OF OUR OWN CONDITION
A second indication that there is, in all likelihood, spiritual life in us is found in 1 John 1.8-9 – ‘If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If [on the other hand] we con- fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ The conclusive point is added in
verse 10 – ‘If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.’
The opposite of that last verse is true of us if we are deeply aware that we are sinners. We say – ‘I am a lost sinner, guilty and condemned before God, and have repented sincerely before him, relying on Christ’s mercy and atoning death for forgiveness.’ If we feel unforgiven and unsure of
The Dissolving of Doubts page 9
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