Yet another eternal security question

[IGotQuestions]

I know eternal security has been beaten into the ground here, but I have one question that used to crop up when I was a Baptist. It is this verse:
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may** know that you have eternal life**.

Does God want those who believe in the name of the Son of God to know that they have eternal life?

 

[Della]

I know eternal security has been beaten into the ground here, but I have one question that used to crop up when I was a Baptist. It is this verse:
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may** know that you have eternal life**.

Does God want those who believe in the name of the Son of God to know that they have eternal life?

The difficulty is in plucking verses out of context, both of the immediate text and that of the greater whole of Scripture. Anyone can do that to make the Bible say just about anything. It’s very poor exegesis. There are many verses that warn us against presumption, just as there are verses that assure us of salvation. Thus our salvation is always conditioned upon our cooperation with God’s grace. We can know we have eternal life only if we remain in God’s grace. Without God’s grace no one can be saved.

 

[John_Martin]

I know eternal security has been beaten into the ground here, but I have one question that used to crop up when I was a Baptist. It is this verse:
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may** know that you have eternal life**.

Does God want those who believe in the name of the Son of God to know that they have eternal life?

You simplify it - He said, “I write these things (I write verses 1 - 12, and all 4 prior chapters) to you who believe, so that if you do everything in verses 1 - 12 and the 4 prior chapters, then you will know you have life; If you do all I say in the whole letter, you will then know you have life. If you do not do everything I say, you will end up inventing doctrines like ‘Eternal Security’ to calm your lack of knowing.”

Knowing eternal life is not a doctrine. Knowing eternal life is experiencing the presence and power of Christ within you to enable you to love one another and love God virtuously. When you see yourself doing that, you are amazed and realize, “I really do have eternal life; I am doing things only a child of God could ever do.”

Yes, he wants us to know we have eternal life, so he tells us what to do so we will know - “I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior” is not one of the things he listed to do for certainty of eternal life.