Why The 1st John Website Exists
Many claim to follow Christ, yet few know the full truth of salvation. 1st John exists to make that truth known.
Our Calling
Paul Reveals the Mystery of God’s Wisdom
When we refer to “our calling” or “the call”, we are of course speaking of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that invitation we received through the Holy Spirit to believe on Jesus as the promised Messiah who will save His people from eternal death in hell. Remember first, it was only the Jewish people, in all the earth, that had been promised a Messiah who would come to deliver them. The promises from God were given to the Jews, through angles and God’s prophets, beginning with promises to Abraham, then 635 years later the law through Moses, and God called these people His chosen, and gave them first the Old Covenant and later the New Covenant; not the Gentiles.
Who We Are in Christ and the Meaning of Our Calling
If we are to properly understand sound doctrine as taught directly from the Bible, we need to understand that the Christian church, of its people who are Gentiles, they must be grafted into God’s chosen people, who are the people of Isreal. This is what the Bible teaches us in Romans 11:11-24. There is no room in the Christian community to look down on Israel with any contempt, as Romans 11 makes clear that our gain in Christ is only made possible due to Israel’s disobedience, but that disobedience is only for a season. The Jews remain God’s chosen people, and their treason will be swept away in due time, all according to prophesy. All of God’s message of redemption came to us through the Jewish people, and they are the cultivated olive tree of Romans 11:24, and the root is God.
We lay this information as a foundation so we may understand who we are in Christ. To be truly “called” into faith in Him, we must know who He is and what is required from us for our redemption. When Jesus was on earth and spoke His words recorded in the gospels and at times quoted in the following New Testament books, He was always speaking to the Jews who were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin along with some of the tribe of Levi from the original twelve tribes who came out of Egypt. The ten northern tribes (kingdom of Israel) had already been dispersed among the pagan nations some 700 years earlier so during the life and times of Jesus on earth, only remnants of the other tribes were locally present and considered outcasts by the Jews. This may be more history than needed for this article, but it is good to know or be reminded as it is part of our understanding the ministry of Jesus and where most of us fit in.
Faith, Obedience, and the Foundation of Salvation
We know that having faith in Christ is a prerequisite for our salvation, but do we know what a “calling to faith” entails? Most Christians today believe that the “faith” we need is complete when we go on record accepting Christ as the Savior of us all; that act of faith completes our requirement for salvation. The verses in the Bible used to support this theology are many, as the gospel message stresses the need for faith and condemns the falling away from faith.
What is missing however in this simplified doctrine for salvation is that the word “faith” embodies a full acceptance of who Jesus is, what He taught us and a full obedience to His instruction, to His leadership. Jesus says in Luke 6:46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Then Jesus explains what He means by this:
47) Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
48) He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
49) But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
Spoken in a parable, we see if we are not following all that Jesus taught us, we lack the foundation to be saved, Jew or Gentile, and we forfeit the gospel calling. If we leave out the need to obey Him, to lead a new life in Him, one that leaves the old life behind us forever, we fail to meet the requirements for grace to forgive us our sins. If the gospel we accepted when we came to faith in Christ does not include this, it is a false doctrine, because Jesus requires it, John 3:3.
We must be worthy of our calling, Ephesians 4:1 and 2 Thessalonians 1:11, and worthy of Christ, Matthew 10:34-39, to receive our salvation. This worthiness comes when we meet the biblical description of what it means to become a “new creation” in Christ, which is required: 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15. This new creation is described in 1John 2:28-3:10 as becoming “Children of God”. Yes, we know we tend to be redundant repeating this core message from varying perspectives in our articles, but it is just that important, one we must not overlook.
Living Worthy of the Call and Pursuing Holiness
Our calling is to pursue and obtain a complete transformation in who we are. “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure”, 1 John 3:3. Let us encourage one another to lead holy lives:
47) Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
48) He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
49) But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
- 1 Peter 1:13-16
13) Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14) as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15) but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16) because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
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