Examine Yourself.

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified.” 2 Corinthians 13:5

One of the most important questions a person can ask himself/herself is, “Am I truly born again?” The Bible instructs us that it is good to “test yourself” to see if you are a Christian. It is not a fact that you’re lacking faith because you wonder if you’re saved. It shows that you are concerned about your standing before God. When you start prayerfully seeking answers, God will not leave you clueless. He doesn’t want you to doubt your salvation or to be deceived about a false conversion. Once you have diligently searched the Scriptures, prayed, and (if possible) have sought Biblical counsel, the answer to your question of whether or not you're a Christian should be clearly revealed to you by the Lord.

The following evaluation test is based on evidences (fruit) after salvation. While eternal salvation is not based on works, but by grace though faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), we are saved unto good works (Ephesians 2:10). When someone is saved, he/she is a new creature with new desires (2 Corinthians 5:17). So take the 1 John test to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Please answer each question honestly before the all-knowing God.

1 John Test

1. Do you claim to be in fellowship with God?

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practice the truth.” -1 John 1:6

2. Do you claim to be without sin?

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” -1 John 1:8

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” -1 John 1:10

3. Do you keep His commandments?

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” -1 John 2:3-4

“Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.” -1 John 3:24a

4. Do you obey His word?

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” -1 John 2:5

5. Are you imitating Christ?

“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.” -1 John 2:6

6. Do you love your brother?

“He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now …[He] is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” -1 John 2:9, 11

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” -1 John 4:20

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” -1 John 3:14

7. Do you love the world?

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” -1 John 2:15-16

8. Are you following after righteousness?

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” -1 John 3:10

9. Do you have compassion for the needy?

“But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” -1 John 3:17

10. Do you show love by your actions?

“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” -1 John 3:18-19

11. Does the world hear you, or God?

“They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” -1 John 4:5-6

12. Do you love as God loves?

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifest towards us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” -1 John 4:7-10

“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” -1 John 4: 12-13