"For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith." 1 John 5:3 & 4
What is Victory beyond Salvation?
Salvation is truly victory. We are delivered from death and Hell, saved from the penalty and adament bondage of sin. This is the most important thing that can happen to anyone during their life on earth. However, this is by no means intended to be the final or only victory in our spiritual life.
Even after salvation, we continue to live in a fallen flesh, among a fallen people, and part of a fallen world. This is the reason we still sin after salvation: our now perfected but intangible spirits are left to compete with corrupt but tangible bodies in the battlefield of confused souls (In this terminology, "soul" refers to the intellect, emotions, and will. It is synonomous with the lay term "mind" and the word "heart" in many Bible translations, such as the KJV). When we, in our souls, listen to the flesh as opposed to the spirit, we act on faulty information regarding reality and end up sinning.
This is where the second element of spiritual victory comes in to play: sanctification. Salvation begins with justification, when we are declared righteous by God. This is the first victory, and is the one that gives us eternal life. Salvation continues throughout the life of a believer as sanctification—the transformation of our souls to be more like Jesus Christ. Sanctification involves many more victories than justification; in sanctification, believers begin to conquer habitual sin and ungodly attitudes, filling the reclaimed territory with the love of Christ. How does this happen? Believe it or not, santification comes by the same means as justification. As we all know, we are justified by faith (Rom. 3:28, 5:1, Gal. 2:16, 3:24, Eph. 2:8). As 1 John 5:4 demonstrates, so does the spiritual victory of sanctification.
1 John 5:3 & 4 — The Basis of Victory through Faith
As you probably know, our primary rule as Christians is to love God (Matt. 7:37 & 38). First John 5:3 tells us how to do so. "For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands." We demonstrate our love for God by keeping His commands. How does this prove our love for God? Quite simply, all of the commandments ultimately stem from love for God. In Matthew 7, we are told that all of the law and the prophets depend on two commandments: love God and love others. However, we are also told throughout the New Testament that love for others comes from love for God, such as in 1 John 4:7, "Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
Okay, then, so loving God, the ultimate aim of the Christian, consists of obeying His commands. To disobey God's commands is sin. Victorious Christian living is the removal of sin in sanctification. To love God more, we must be victorious over sin, conquer our flesh. This seems to be a formidable task. "Sin is powerful, so how can I beat it?" is the question asked by many. The Biblical answer is surprising. When we say that victorious living is hard, God replies, "No, it's not." See the second half of 1 John 5:3, "Now His commands are not a burden." Many translations render it something like this: "His laws are not difficult [or hard]," (that is not any particular translation). The fact is that it really is not that hard to live in victory if we understand how we can.
So, the, how can we live victoriously? Well, the glorious words of 1 John 5:4 explain it: "because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith." It is by faith that we can conquer the world (here referring to the world system, including the flesh). The worldly actions, appetites, and attitudes of the flesh all fall to the sword of faith, just as our condemnation to Hell does when we are first saved. We must trust Christ in order to live a victorious Christian life.
Elaborating: How to Conquer by Faith
Now you may be thinking, "This sounds good and theologically sound, but how does it work? How do I have victory over the flesh simply with faith?" Well, the first thing to understand is the very nature of faith.
What Faith Is
An unfortunate amount of the time, people confuse faith with simple belief. This, however, is not accurate at all. Faith is far more than simple belief. The unique characteristics of faith make it powerful:
• Faith goes beyond reason, not contrary to it. Many people (primarily atheists and all sorts of rationalists) believe that faith is simply a whimsical belief in something that is either illogical or has no evidence. This is plain wrong. Our faith as Christians is based on the historical facts of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. When the evidence is viewed from anything besides a hypercritical perspective, this becomes plain. These historical facts do not constitute indisputable proof of Christianity, but are convincing enough that one can safely accept the conclusion of Christianity even without seeing the full path of reason that leads there. Our faith goes along the path of reason, but continues where the limits of human reason end.
• Faith is belief-based action, not passive acceptance of a belief. The term "leap of faith" is a good demonstration of this fact. You can think something in your head all day long, and profess it with your mouth until you lose your voice, but you do not have faith unless you do things in accordance with that belief. This applies very well to Christianity. Faith is lived-out belief in the Gospel.
• Faith is divinely granted. True saving faith in God comes from God. God asks us to place faith in Him, and then He gives us that faith to place in Him. This is why faith is so powerful: it is divine in origin. We are supernaturally enabled to trust God.
These three distinctions are what make faith faith. Faith is extremely powerful when understood correctly. Now, then, we can proceed to examine how faith leads to victory.
The Faithless Origin of Sin
The next thing to realize in order to see how faith brings victory is that every sin can be realized as stemming from a lack of faith. In fact, the well-known three groups of sin from John 2:16 can each be explained from the perspective of a lack of faith.
• Lust of the flesh — Sins committed in lust of the flesh are those which satisfy physical appetites in sinful ways. These include gluttony, sexual immorality, drug abuse, and alcoholism, among others. These sins stem from a lack of faith in God's promises to provide for your physical needs. Consider Matthew 6:25 - 33. In that passage, we are taught that God will take care of us physically. When we overindulge in our physical desires, we are looking God in the eyes and saying, "I don't believe you will satisfy my physical needs."
• Lust of the eyes —Sins committed in lust of the eyes are those which satisfy our desire for things that look good to us. These include such as covetousness, theft, and fraud. These sins stem from a lack of faith in God's promise that His grace is sufficient for us, that He is all we need to be joyous. Instead of trusting that God will satisfy us in His own way (like the psalmist knew in Psalm 63:5), we begin to look to the appealing things of the world for our satisfaction.
• Pride of life — Sins committed in the pride of life are those which make us feel valuable outside of God, self-sufficient or self-righteous. These include hypocrisy, selfishness, greed, self-promotion, self-righteousness, lying, and many others. These sins stem from a lack of faith in God's promise that He will exalt the humble, and that the meek will inherit the earth. Instead of submitting themselves to the will of God, trusting that He will exalt them in due time (1 Peter 5:6), they pursue worth through possessions, reputation, and social standing. God wants us instead to find our worth in Him who loves us.
All sin falls under one of these three categories, and all three of these categories are explained by a lack of faith. Thus, all sin results as a lack of faith. This is where victory through faith comes into the picture.
Applying Faith to Conquer Sin
Now we see the real picture. By nature, we are without faith in God. Our lack of faith in Him causes us to trust in our fallen flesh instead of our divinely perfected spirits and the Holy Spirit. When we trust our flesh, we act according to the flesh, which is sin.
Faith, then, is how to change the entire situation. Since faith is divinely granted, the key is to ask God for more faith. As much as you can, just trust in Him. When you are confronted with a decision, think about God's promises and have faith that God will hold true.
If you have a hard time getting the idea, look at some practical examples. If you are tempted to hold back that tithe check, trust God's promise to bless those who give to His work. When you are left alone with a promiscuous coworker, just believe God's warning that adultery is a deadly snare and He will bless the pure. Sure, Ryan may have stolen your report and passed it off as his own work, but you can have faith that vengeance is the Lord's, who pays back the wicked according to their works. All your friends may want you to join in on immoral activities or conversations, but trust God's promise that living righteously will bring respect and a good reputation.
Conclusion
Do you see the pattern? God constantly promises us good if we obey Him and love Him. We love God by keeping His commandments, and we keep His commandments by trusting His promise that it is good to keep His commandments. Oh, and you may not always remember a specific promise and a specific exhortation that deals with your situation, but remember the many general promises God makes for the righteous. We can overcome any sin by using divinely provided faith in God. I would suggest you memorize 1 John 5:3 & 4. I remember how they struck me when I read them the first time, and I knew I had found the key to victorious Christian living. Try them out yourself. Faith in God brings you to a brilliant relationship with Him far beyond justification.