One of the major concerns present in Protestant culture, particularly among Evangelicals, is having an absolute personal guarantee of one's salvation.
The Catholic Church, in contrast, says that this sort of certainty is off limits. We can have confidence (not absolute certainty) of being heavenbound in the present moment, but regarding our future... we need to be humble and pray for perseverance.
So there is a conflict of visions between Evangelicals and Catholics on this matter.
Into that conflict comes 1John 5:13:
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."
With this verse in hand, Evangelicals will say to Catholics:
"You guys say you can't know where you are going when you die. But here is John the Apostle saying we can KNOW we have eternal life. So why would you say you cannot know you have eternal life?"
So... what do we do with this passage?
What is Eternal Life?
Well, the first thing to do is examine the sentence closely. Let's start with the concept of "eternal life".
What is that?
An Evangelical reading that phrase believes it means, "An eternity spent in beatitude with God after you die." And that's not a bad reading. There are passages of the New Testament which use the phrase "eternal life" to mean precisely that. For instance:
"And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."- Matthew 25:46
But consider how that use of "eternal life" is something we will have in the future-something to look forward to. It's not so much something you have NOW.
That's where a second usage of the phrase "eternal life" comes in. This is one which is referenced earlier in John's letter:
"You know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them" -1John 3:15
Note that this use of eternal life is something you have right now, within you. This understanding is something more like:
"A supernatural disposition which perfects the soul to enable it to live with God."
Or, as we Catholics call it; "sanctifying grace". And the condition of having sanctifying grace is called "being in a state of grace".
So... which way is John using the phrase "eternal life" in 1John 5:13?
Well, he says we can "know we HAVE eternal life". He speaks of it as something you have now. This moves us toward understanding it as a reference to sanctifying grace.
Therefore, 1John 5:13 isn't talking about an assurance of being heavenbound when you die in the future. It's talking about having sanctifying grace now.
What are "these things"?
The other question we have to ask is what John means when he says he wrote "these things". Obviously that refers to the letter as a whole.
So if John wrote the whole letter so we can know we have eternal life, it seems we need to go back through the letter and see if John gave us some criteria for knowing whether we have it.
What do we find?
By my reckoning, John gives us four criteria for knowing we have eternal life.
1 - Loving the brethren
"Whoever loves a brother or sister abides in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling." -1John 2:10
"We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them." - 1John 3:14-15
2 - Obeying Christ's commandments
"Now by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we obey His commandments." - 1John 2:3
"All who obey His commandments abide in Him, and He abides in them. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit that He has given us." - 1John 3:24
"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome..." - 1John 5:2-3
3 - Staying true to the original Apostolic preaching
"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father." - 1John 2:24
4 - Not being caught up in love for the world
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world." - 1John 2:15
How Do We Read It?
Let's conclude then. A Catholic reads John 5:13 as meaning something like this:
John's letter reminds his audience someone who has eternal life -sanctifying grace - within them is someone who loves other Christians, obeys Christ's commandments, stays true to Apostolic teaching, and isn't caught up in love for the world. And if I look at myself and see that it describes me, I can know I am in a state of grace.
For more on the Biblical teaching on the possibility of losing salvation, see this post [here]
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