1 John 5:1–2
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
How much could be written about Jesus, the Messiah? There is a book containing sixty-six different writing about Jesus. Some were written about Him before He came into the world. John writes in this letter about believing In Him, Jesus. To believe is more than just acknowledging that He was an actual historical person. It is more than just believing He came from Heaven into this world.
Believing in Jesus is trusting Him for our salvation, but it is more than this. It is giving oneself totally to Him, dying to self and allowing God to take control of our lives. It is like what Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” It is what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Being born again is than mental ascent of acknowledging Christ. It is dying to self so Christ can live in us. It is a spiritual birth, a birth beyond the understanding of minds and efforts. It is a radical idea; it is life changing. Go back to 2 Corinthians 5:17 and know that when one genuinely believes in Christ the old sinful self has been crucified and passed away. The one who has accepted Christ is now a new creation.
Jesus told Nicodemus, if one is not born again, he will “never enter the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) How is a person born again? By believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This is a radical idea. We die to self so Christ can live in us. There is no room for two to control and live in us. I think of those in the Muslim faith. How many have strapped a bomb to their body and killed themselves for Allah? Jesus does not say we are to strap the bomb to ourselves but we are to die to self so Christ can live in us.
How do others know we have died to self? The New Birth is a life changing event, a choice we make. We no longer live for self but for Christ. The choice to accept Christ leads a person to living a righteous life and doing acts of love. The one who has accepted Christ no longer has the desire to live in sin (1 Johne 3:9, 5:18). He no longer practices sin (1 John 3:9). The true believer in Christ loves other believers (1 John 4:7).
The proof that one has accepted Christ is found in 1 John 5:1 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.”
True believers in Christ love others. My mother always said, “Love begins at home.”