1 John 5:10

10. After τὴν μαρτυρίαν [783], Vulgate, and Memphitic insert τοῦ Θεοῦ. For ἑαυτῷ ([784]) read αυτῷ ([785][786][787][788]). But it remains doubtful whether αυτῷ represents αὐτῷ or αὐτῷ: the latter seems preferable. For τῷ Θεῷ ([789][790][791][792], Memphitic) [793] and Vulgate have τῷ υἱῷ to which others add τοῦ Θεοῦ or αὐτοῦ.

[783] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[784] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[785] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[786] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[787] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[788] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[789] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[790] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[791] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[792] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[793] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.

10. ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τ. υἱὸν τ. Θ. The present participle again indicates what is habitual: not a transitory conviction (ὁ πιστεύσας), but a permanent attitude of faith (1 John 2:10; 1 John 2:22-23; 1 John 3:3-4; 1 John 3:6-8, &c.). For the first time in this Epistle we have the full phrase πιστεύειν εἰς, of which S. John is so fond in his Gospel, where it occurs nearly 40 times. Elsewhere in N.T. it occurs only about 10 times. It expresses the strongest confidence and trust; faith moves towards and reposes on its object. Whereas ‘to believe a person’ (πιστεύειν τινί) need mean no more than to believe what he says (1 John 4:1), ‘to believe on or in a person’ (πιστεύειν εἴς τινα) means to have full trust in his character.

ἔχει τὴν μαρτυρίαν. Some authorities add τοῦ Θεοῦ, which is right as an interpretation, though not as a part of the text. He has it as an abiding possession (John 5:38; Hebrews 10:34): ἔχει does not mean merely ‘he accepts it’. Comp. ‘The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God’ (Romans 8:16); ‘God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father’ (Galatians 4:6).

ἐν αὐτῷ. The differences of reading here, ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐν αὑτῷ, ἐν ἑαντῷ, are immaterial: ‘in him’ in this context cannot mean anything but ‘in himself.’ The external witness faithfully accepted becomes internal certitude. Our faith in the Divinity of Christ attests its own Divine origin, for we could not have obtained it otherwise than from God. “The human mind is made for truth, and so rests in truth, as it cannot rest in falsehood. When then it once becomes possessed of a truth, what is to dispossess it? But this is to be certain; therefore once certitude, always certitude. If certitude in any matter be the termination of all doubt or fear about its truth, and an unconditional conscious adherence to it, it carries with it an inward assurance, strong though implicit, that it shall never fail.” (J. H. Newman).

ὁ μὴ πιστεύων τῷ Θεῷ. He that has not even enough faith to induce him to believe what God says (see first note on this verse). There are great diversities of reading here; ‘God,’ ‘the Son’, ‘the Son of God’, ‘His Son’, ‘Jesus Christ’: of these ‘God’ ([845][846][847][848][849]) is certainly to be preferred. The others have arisen from a wish to make ‘he that believeth not’ more exactly balance ‘he that believeth’. But, as we have repeatedly seen, S. John’s antitheses seldom balance exactly. Yet it is by no means impossible that all five are wrong, and that we ought simply to read ‘He that believeth not hath made Him a liar’: comp. John 3:18, of which this verse seems to be an echo. In ‘he that believeth not’, the case is stated quite generally and indefinitely (ὁ μὴ πιστεύων): the Apostle is not pointing at some one person who was known as not believing (ὁ οὐ πιστεύων); comp. 1 John 3:10; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:20; 1 John 5:12. But in the second clause the point of view becomes one of fact and not of mere possibility; ὅτι οὐ πεπίστευκεν. Contrast ὅτι υὴ πεπίστευκεν (John 3:18). Winer, 594. For the antithetic parallelism comp. 1 John 5:12; 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:27.

[845] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[846] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[847] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[848] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[849] 9th century. A palimpsest. All three Epistles excepting 1 John 3:19 to 1 John 5:1. There is a facsimile of a portion in Hammond’s Outlines of Textual Criticism showing the late leaning uncial letters of the 9th century (Acts 4:10-15), with cursives of the 13th (Hebrews 7:17-25) written over them.

ψεύστην πεποίηκεν αὐτόν. See on 1 John 1:10. He has given God the lie as to His whole scheme of redemption. οὐ πεπίστευκεν … μεμαρτύρηκεν. As R.V., hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne. See on 1 John 1:2. The perfect in both cases indicates a permanent result. He has been and remains an unbeliever in the witness which God has given and continually supplies concerning His Son. Πιστεύειν εἰς τὴν μαρτυρίαν occurs nowhere else in N.T. Usually we have πιστ. τῇ μ. See on 1 John 3:23.