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1 John 2:3–6
“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
For the past week, we have followed John’s argument from the Apostolic testimony to the incarnation, through the message that God is light, to the propitiating work of Christ that grounds our forgiveness. In today’s passage, John turns to the question that gives the rest of his epistle its shape: How can we know whether we have truly come to know this God? John’s answer is the first of the tests of life that he sets before his readers. We can know that we have come to know God if we obey Him.
Verse 3 introduces this test plainly: “By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” To “know” God in the biblical sense is not merely to be informed about Him; it is to be in living relationship with Him, to have come to Him in faith and to be united to Him by the Spirit. This kind of knowledge is necessarily accompanied by obedience. Genuine knowledge of God shows itself in a life that increasingly conforms to the will of the One who is known.
The negative case follows in verse 4: “Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” A profession of a relationship with God that is not accompanied by obedience to Him is simply false. It does not matter how earnest the profession sounds, how much religious feeling accompanies it, or how confidently it is made. Without obedience, it is a lie.
This was directly relevant to the false teachers in John’s audience, who appear to have viewed obedience as a matter for spiritually inferior Christians. Those with higher knowledge, they suggested, had moved beyond the need for moral conformity. John will have none of this. He insists that to know God is to obey Him.
Yet this test is not designed to drive sincere believers to despair. The standard is not sinless perfection. It is a settled direction of life, a genuine endeavor to walk as Christ walked (v. 6). John has already taught us that even genuine believers continue to sin and need ongoing forgiveness (1:8–10). The test of obedience is whether our lives are oriented toward keeping God’s commandments, even when we stumble in particular instances. Those who repent when they sin and seek again to walk in God’s way are showing the marks of true knowledge of Him. John Calvin captures the heart of this teaching: “We cannot know him as Lord and Father, as he shows himself, without being dutiful children and obedient servants.” To know God is to seek to please Him.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Are you growing in obedience to God’s commandments, however imperfectly? Do you grieve over sin and seek again to walk in the way of Christ? Such marks are not the cause of our salvation but evidence that we have come to know Him. Let us meditate on God’s demands for holiness in our lives and trust in His Spirit to supply what we need as we strive to obey Him.
For further study
- John 14:15–21
- 1 John 5:1–3
The bible in a year
- Proverbs 21–22
- 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1
- Proverbs 23–28
- 2 Corinthians 7:2–8:24