261 – 86, for an excellent study on the meaning of the term "overcomer." Dr. Rosscup shows conclusively
The Gospel According to the Apostles
fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1:6). "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (2:3 – 4). "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (2:15). "If you know that He is righ teous, you know that everyone also who practices righ teous ness is born of Him" (2:29). "And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (3:3). Scores of other passages throughout the epistle confirm the same truth: the one who is truly saved cannot continue in a pattern of unbroken sin (3:6 – 10).
The doctrinal test that John gave relates to Jesus' deity and lordship: "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also" (2:22 – 23). "By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God" (4:2). "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (5:1).
John was so confident of the ultimate triumph of faith over sin that he had a special name for the believer: "the one who overcomes" (5:5; cf. Rev. 2:7, 11, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7).4 He wrote, "Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5). For John, a true believer could never ultimately fail to overcome.
The Writer of Hebrews
I have examined elsewhere5 the warning passages in Hebrews that were addressed to people who identified with and intellectually accepted Christ but had not yet laid hold of Him by faith. No matter how one interprets the warning passages of the book, there is no escaping the clear and obvious implications of Hebrews 12:10 – 14: "He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. . . . [Therefore pursue] the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."
3. For a complete exposition of 1 John, read John F. MacArthur, Confession of Sin: 1 John 1:1 – 2:2 (Chicago: Moody, 1986); Love Not the World: 1 John 2:3 – 17 (Chicago: Moody, 1986); Marks of a True Believer: 1 John 2:18 — 4:21 (Chicago: Moody, 1987); and Assurance of Victory: 1 John 5 (Chicago: Moody, 1986).
4. See James E. Rosscup, "Th e Overcomer of the Apocalypse," Grace Th eological Journal 3 (Fall 1982): 261 – 86, for an excellent study on the meaning of the term "overcomer." Dr. Rosscup shows conclusively that the term is equivalent to "believer."
5. John F. MacArthur, Th e MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Hebrews (Chicago: Moody, 1983).