💡We Know We Are In Him: Withholding Mercy = Walking in Darkness

Ari Umble

15 Jun 2025 — 3 min read

📌 This is a continuation of the following study: 🔗🔗 Obadiah Reveals God's Condition for Forgiveness: To Be Kept, You Must Become a Keeper

https://ari-umble.ghost.io/ghost/#/editor/post/684156679401f3000135f7b3

The apostle John, especially in 1 John, gives clear spiritual tests for how we know we are truly "in Him"—that is, united with Christ, walking in the truth, and bearing the marks of a child of God. These statements aren’t just theological—they are relational and moral diagnostics.

Here’s a breakdown of the "we know that we are in Him" statements from 1 John and how they tie into everything we’ve been exploring about Edom, mercy, brotherhood, forgiveness, and reflecting the Father.

📖 Key "We Know That We Are in Him" Statements in 1 John

✅ 1. Obedience to His Commands

1 John 2:3–5
“We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments… whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him.”

📌 Connection:
Edom did not “keep” the covenant command to love their brother (cf. Lev. 19:18). The unmerciful servant disobeyed the command to forgive. John insists that true union with God shows up in obedience—not in profession alone.

✅ 2. Walking as Jesus Walked

1 John 2:6
“Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.”

📌 Connection:
Jesus walked in compassion, mercy, truth, and sacrificial love. If we do not live this way, we deny the very nature of the one we claim to follow. Edom failed here. The priest and Levite in the Good Samaritan parable failed here. True disciples imitate Christ, just as Christ imitated the Father (John 5:19).

✅ 3. Loving One Another

1 John 3:10
“By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

📌 Connection:
This verse explicitly frames love for our brother as the litmus test of whether we are God's children or not. Edom is a textbook failure here: they did not love their brother Jacob. Neither did the unmerciful servant love his fellow debtor.

1 John 4:12 — “If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.”

✅ 4. Not Hating Your Brother

1 John 2:9–11
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness... Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness.”

📌 Connection:
Hating a brother—or even withholding mercy—is equated with walking in darkness. That’s what Edom did, and it's what the wicked servant did. 1 John exposes such hypocrisy as spiritual blindness, not authentic union with God.

✅ 5. Confessing Jesus and Living in Love

1 John 4:15–16
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

📌 Connection:
Love isn’t optional—it’s the essence of God and the evidence of abiding in Him. You cannot claim to know God while refusing to love like God.

🧵 The Pattern: You Know You Are in Him If…

Marker	Scripture	What It Means
Obey His Commands	1 John 2:3–5	Live in line with His Word
Walk Like Jesus	1 John 2:6	Mercy, sacrifice, truth
Love One Another	1 John 3:10; 4:12	Brotherhood and compassion
Don’t Hate Your Brother	1 John 2:9–11	No room for indifference or cruelty
Abide in Love	1 John 4:15–16	God’s presence and love are inseparable

🔥 Synthesis with Obadiah, the Unmerciful Servant, and Jesus’ Teachings:

Edom failed the "in Him" test: they refused to love their brother Jacob.
The unmerciful servant failed: he did not love his fellow servant.
Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you love one another” (John 13:35).
John affirms: “If you don’t love, you’re not in Him.”

✝️ To be in God is to reflect the love of God. ✝️
🧬 To be His child is to bear the family likeness. 🧬
💔 To hate your brother or sister, or stand aloof in their suffering, is to deny your birthright—just like Edom. 💔

💡 Final Thought:

“We know we are in Him” is not based on how we feel, what we claim, or what we know intellectually. It is known by how we love, how we forgive, how we act toward our brothers and sisters, especially in their day of trouble.

To be IN Christ we must be LIKE Christ.