The fifth chapter of I John contains a verse that deals with two kinds of faith: initial faith and confirmed faith.

The passage reads as follows: These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God describes initial faith. That ye may know that ye have eternal life declares that even initial faith benefits the believer with the gift of eternal life.

And that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God describes confirmed faith.

This remarkable passage explains how God reinforces initial faith with inward assurance. The unbeliever has come full circle. When belief replaces unbelief, then God confirms the intellectual belief with inward personal assurance that now needs no external and tangible proof. The new believer, convinced by common sense judgment of undeniable facts, now possesses the inward witness to his own salvation as well as proof of the validity of the Word of God.

The simple fact that the Bible IS has led the honest investigator to an inward confirmation of his faith.

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