Marks Of A True Believer In First John.

Can we know objectively that a person is a true believer? The Apostle John thought so.
A true believer.......
1. Walks in the light 1:7.
2. Keeps His commandments 2:3.
3. Has a Christlike walk 2:6.
4. Loves other Christians. 2:10, 3:14.
5. Practices righteousness. 2:29, 3:7.
6. Does not continue in sin. 3:6,9.
7. Overcomes the World. 5:4.

Should you think the standard is too high, this demonstrates how low we have fallen from the Scriptures.
The modern Gospel avoids talking about sin, repentance and the cost in following Jesus.
Is it no wonder that we have so many 'counterfeit' Christians.
Multitudes of so called 'Christians" are heading for a Christless Eternity.

It is time we returned to a Scriptural Gospel and the claims of Christ.

These are the marks of a true believer:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Gal 5:22-23 ESV

“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.


And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:

for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;

and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:10-14‬ ‭

“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭15:1-2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The first thing a chrirtoan needs to do is acknolwedge thier own sins in the light of his doctrine . If we aren’t acknowledged sinners Jesus doctrine is t going to mean much to us

Stuff like this should shine a light in us

“But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall be given into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭6:35-38‬ ‭KJV‬‬

An acknowledged sinner understands the value of this doctrine , someone who pretends they aren’t a reformed sinner won’t grasp the value of mutual mercy

Marks Of A True Believer In First John

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When I first carefully studied this epistle, I arrived at the same conclusion.
I would add "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves" (1:8). Also abiding in Him (2:28;3:6).

The apostle John was given insights and revelations like no other apostle.

Sounds like you are wattering down what it means to be born of God, denying the "true righteousness and holiness" of the new man (Eph 4:24) and claiming that being born again means you don't sin as much as others do.

Are we saved by Grace or are we saved by how well we perform?

By Grace we are saved by faith alone, BUT the faith that saves is not alone. Discipleship is the evidence of saving faith!

Your objection is with the Apostle John, not me. As Christians we will sin less as we grow in grace.

You missed the point. John says that AFTER you are saved by grace, here is how you should live as a Christian. And that is exactly what God expects.

No. That is totally incorrect. While the new birth does give you the power to stop sinning, you still have your sin nature within. So the first thing John tells you is if you say you have no sin (1) you deceive yourself and (2) you make God a liar. Therefore we are to examine ourselves continuously, confess our sins to God, and repent of those sins.

No, I agree with John. You turn his black and white statements into gray statements.

John said,


John did not say... Since there is only a little sin in Jesus, whoever lives in Him only sins a little. John did not say... Whoever sins more than just a few sins has never seen Him nor known Him.

John said,


John did not say... He who only sins a little is righteous just as Jesus is righteous.

John said,


John did not say... Whoever has been born of God only sins a little because His seed remains in Him and he cannot sin more than a little because he has been born of God.

There is no material difference between sinning just a little and sinning a lot. All sins come from the heart and defile a person (Matt 15:18). That's why we need new hearts that are "truly righteous and holy" (Eph 4:24) and are incorruptible just like "His seed" which "remains" in us after we have been "born of God".

Some people do not understand this because they have not learned to distinguish between the flesh (which is dead because of sin) and the spirit (which is alive because of righteousness) (Ro 8:10).

What did I say that was incorrect?

The new birth does not give us "the power to stop sinning" because the new birth does not take away the flesh. The flesh remains corrupt, and grows more corrupt as time goes on (Eph 4:22). And it still belongs to us. We have a choice after we are saved to put off the old man and put on the new man. Or we may choose to not do that. But there is no way to stop the old man from being evil. And there is no way to stop the new man from being truly righteous and holy. If we want to live a successful Chrictian life, we must learn to put on the new man and walk in the light that Jesus shines on our paths. That is the only way to avoid fulfilling the lusts of the flesh (Ga 5:16-17).

These are the marks of every true believer as described by John.

Outrageous! Surely they sin just as much! ?

Here is what you said and it was false: "denying the "true righteousness and holiness" of the new man".

Claiming that the flesh can satisfy the righteous requirements of the law denies that we have "true righteousness and holiness" in Christ. You don't see that?

Ok, so it was a poor choice of words. Maybe I should have said, "... claiming that being born again means you don't have as much sin as others do."

Are you claiming to be without sin?
There is a difference between sin in the life of the believer and that of the unbeliever.
The unbeliever lives in the realm of sin, bound by it, a slave to it.
The believer may fall into sin on occasion, but does not make a habit of it or practice it. This is what first John teaches.

As a believer grows in grace, he or she, through mortification, learns to put sin to death. For example, I used to have a hair trigger temper. Over the years, by God's grace, I have conquered it. Likewise. the believer , as they grow in grace find victory over sins, sinning less & less. This is sanctification. It is never perfectly complete in this life however.
This is what I mean.

At which point in a person's life do we look for these indicators and quantify them so we can judge them to be "true" believers.

What part of a person's life shall we examine, put under the microscope? Can we make allowances for life's hardships and tragedies?

Seems to me like God forgot to give us the metric to objectively assess these markers.

If you want to be the gate keeper of who is a "true" believer and who is not, go for it.

"Lordship salvation" in my experience brings about doubt because the focus is on ones' performance.
It also creates a very judgemental attitude about the salvation of others.

Some Christians are more "faithful" than others.
While all believers should desire to walk in the Spirit and rest in Jesus, many do not and why because they lack good teaching and support.

Perhaps the issue is the teaching of the correct Gospel and what is discipleship.

That is what God expects, it is what we should be, but it is not what every Christian does.

I support church discipline and telling people to leave after teaching them about the spiritual/worthy walk.

What I do not support, a subjective, UN-quantifiable analysis of another person to determine if someone is saved based on my very limited insight into another person's interior and exterior life.

Many "nominal Christians" are very well behaved via our observations.

@Aussie52 has stated the list is a way to objectively "know" by examining another's behaviour, it will always be subjective not objective.

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:1-3‬ ‭KJV‬‬

But there comes a time when we have to grow up and need more than milk need mest and potatoes

“For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭5:13-14‬ ‭KJV‬‬

In every family there’s are youngsters and elders

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
‭‭James‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It’s a conscious battle how much we know is how much we ourself are accountable for

““The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭12:47-48‬ ‭

We have to be careful because the more we understand we’re setting up our judgement not everyone else’s .

““For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more;

whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭8:16-18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The more a person grasps consciously the more they are held accountable table for like children babies don’t have any rules they aren’t accountable not able they don’t know anything yet but ten year olds can’t throw crying fits like babies they know better thier parent taught them better.

So now they are accountable to not throw baby fits they aren’t babes anymore . But even the babes who aren’t mature and drink only milk belong to God that’s all they know and it keeps them fed they can’t digest the meet yet

“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.

…. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. ….

For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭14:1, 9-11‬ ‭

“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭14:12-13‬ ‭

as one people only know a little bit and that’s still Okay some people know a lot so now it’s not okay to live as if they know a little like a babe