The same meaning has the Lord's utterance in Matt. 7:21: if these words are understood in a perfectionist sense, then no one will enter the kingdom (see, for example, 1 John 1:8). The Lord here contrasts "the one who does the will of the Father" with the "workers of iniquity" (verse 23), i.e. the one who shows even imperfect obedience, to those who show obvious disdain. Were the "wrongdoers" here referred to as part of His sheep and then rejected? No! These people never fell away from Christ, because they never really belonged to Him: He says that He never knew them (Matt. 7:23).

When an earthly father says that his children are obedient to him, it does not occur to anyone to assume that they are absolutely and irreproachably obedient—there are no absolutely and perfectly obedient children in nature. Nevertheless, it is more or less clear to everyone what it is about. Children know exactly who their father is; he has indisputable authority for them.

Such words of the Apostle as 1 Jn. 3:9 or 2:6, as I understand it, has another meaning: it contains a command as to how God's children should behave. Let me give you an example: An officer scolds a cadet of the Suvorov School, telling him: "Suvorov men do not behave like this." Does this mean that he does not consider the cadet a Suvorov student? No, on the contrary, he reminds him of his calling, in order to demand conduct that is appropriate to him. To give another example, a king brings a thieving street kid into his palace and proclaims him crown prince (as God does to us in the act of atonement). When a former street kid begins, out of old habit, to swear dirty or drag something that does not lie well, he is reminded that "crown princes do not behave like this." This does not mean that he will no longer be recognized as the crown prince; This means that he is required to bring his behavior in line with his rank. Let me remind you of the words of the Apostle: "I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1). If a person demonstrates a stubborn reluctance to change his behavior in accordance with his new status, then this means that he is an unbeliever and does not want to be a believer.

This is what Paul says in 1 Cor. 6:9-11: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but they were washed, but sanctified, but justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.

It is impossible to be a Christian and indulge in the crimes and vices that are described here. Let us say once more: For the grace of God has appeared, which saves all men, teaching us that, having rejected ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live chastely, righteously, and godly in this present age, awaiting the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, to deliver us from all iniquity, and to purify his special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).

A particularly suspicious Christian may say that I do not indulge in these vices on the level of my actions, but I sometimes have bad thoughts. Of course, it is necessary to get rid of thoughts, but the Apostle here (and in similar passages, e.g., Gal. 5:19-21) does not engage in deep psychoanalysis: he speaks about the behavior of people. A person always knows for sure whether he commits these sins or not. If he does, he must leave them immediately; if he has already left them and sincerely believed in Christ, then let him believe the words of the Apostle: "And such were some of you; but they were washed, but sanctified, but were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11).

Thus, faith always means obedience to Christ. Obedience will never be completely perfect, but it will be obedience. A true believer will always show a sincere desire for righteousness and a desire to avoid sin. Here you can immediately console a person who is tormented by his sins and worries about his salvation – this very pain and anxiety testify to the fact that God has not left him, and will never leave him. As already mentioned, He rebukes and punishes only those whom He considers His own (Heb. 12:6). The Bible teaches us to pray with the Psalmist: "Establish my feet in Thy word, and do not let any iniquity take possession of me" (Psalm 118:133), and to believe with the Apostle in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will also strengthen you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:8).

But will not man be careless about his duty to obey Christ when he is already well promised eternal salvation? I am sure that it will not. Even in human relationships, we don't need the threat of punishment to love those we love and honor those we honor. A wife can obey her husband and honor him, although he has once and for all firmly promised her that he will never leave her; Children can honor and obey their father, although they are firmly convinced that he will never turn them out of the house. It is the consciousness that God is our Father and Master, and that we are accepted among His children and servants, that obliges us to respectful obedience: the Son honors his father, and the servant honors his master; if I am a father, where is the reverence for me? and if I be the Lord, where is the reverence for me? says the Lord of hosts (Mal. 1:6).

When the Apostle says: "I subdue and enslave my body, lest, preaching to others, I myself remain unworthy" (1 Cor. 9:27), he does not show a slavish fear of losing salvation (he is sure of salvation: Phil. 1:21-23, 2 Tim. 4:8), but a filial fear of offending God and turning people away from the Good News by his unworthy behavior.

On Predestination to Salvation

He chose us in Him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and blameless before Him in love, having predestined us to be adopted as sons by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will.

In Him we have become heirs, having been predestined for this by the decree of Him who does all things according to the purpose of His will (Ephesians 1:4-5, 11).

The Apostles clearly testify to this amazing truth: God chose us for salvation when we were not yet in the world, and the light itself did not yet exist. In the life of every believer, God fulfills His eternal plan: Peter, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, chosen, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, to obedience and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you and peace abound (1 Peter 1:1-2).