"We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
1 John 3:14
Part 1
“We know that we have passed from death unto life,”
“We know,” – these are very encouraging words. There are so many things in this world that we cannot know. With the “iffy-ness” of life, here is something that we can be sure of, “that we have passed from death unto life!” Biblical Christianity believes in the sure promises of the living God. And His promises of salvation are secure. Understanding what salvation is about is not difficult.
“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life,” (1 John 5:12).
A person either “has life” or he does not “have life.” He either has the Son of God and life, or he does not have the Son of God and still “abides” in death. To “have passed from death unto life” means,
“to pass over from one place to another…, to migrate, out of death into life,”1 (Robertson).
This happens to each new believer as he puts his faith in Jesus Christ. He makes the trip from one state – death, and into another – life. And this happens to the believer as he is born again, right here on the earth.2
The Apostle describes what the Lord does for us this way,
“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,” (Colossians 1:13).
Our salvation is not a mystery or hidden. Something so important as our soul’s eternal destiny is not a secret, it is “knowable.”
“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).
There is to be no guesswork here, for we can know that God has saved us.
In our verse for today, John describes one of the ways the believer knows that he has “passed from death unto life.”
Come back tomorrow and see what the “loving the brethren” test proves.
1. A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.
2. “We have passed” is a perfect active indicative verb, the action has been completed in the past, and the results of the passing continue on into the present.