1 John 5:1. WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST IS BEGOTTEN OF GOD, AND WHOSOEVER LOVETH HIM THAT BEGAT LOVETH HIM ALSO THAT IS BEGOTTEN OF HIM. Faith in Jesus as the Christ has here the only meaning that St. John ever gives it: that divinely wrought trust in the work as well as the person... [ Continue Reading ]
The ruling idea of the third part is Faith in the Spirit's testimony concerning the Son of God incarnate. The close of chap. 3 introduces the theme by the first explicit mention of faith and the Spirit. In chap. 1 John 4:1-6 the two opposite confessions, resulting from two opposite hearings of two o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:2. This is the converse of chap. 1 John 4:20, and as such stands here alone: we know that we love God by the token that we love the brethren; but we also know that we love God's children by the very fact of our loving Him. The two cannot be separated. Still, remembering that the commandment... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:3. FOR, THE LOVE OF GOD IS THIS IT IS IN US FOR THIS END, THAT WE SHOULD KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. Here, as constantly, some truths are suppressed. The apostle had seemed to assert that the love of brethren seen was easier than the love of God unseen. But there are some who might and who did p... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:4-5. FOR WHOSOEVER IS BEGOTTEN OF GOD a new form of words, the ‘we' of the previous verse with ‘that which is born of the Spirit' (John 3:6) OVERCOMETH THE WORLD: is victorious over the kingdom of evil generally, and particularly that sphere of the natural man and of self in the atmosphere... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Divine Testimony to Jesus Christ as the ground of faith: this is first viewed objectively_, _as a witness in history; then subjectively, as a witness enjoyed by the believer._ 1 John 5:6. THIS IS HE THAT CAME BY WATER AND BLOOD, EVEN JESUS CHRIST; NOT IN THE WATER ONLY, BUT IN THE WATER AND IN... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:7-8. FOR THERE ARE THREE WHO BEAR WITNESS [IN HEAVEN, THE FATHER, THE WORD, AND THE HOLY GHOST: AND THESE THREE ARE ONE. AND THERE ARE THREE THAT BEAR WITNESS ON EARTH], THE SPIRIT, AND THE WATER, AND THE BLOOD: AND THE THREE AGREE IN ONE. The bracketed words, if genuine, would, in their pr... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:9. IF WE RECEIVE THE WITNESS OF MEN, THE WITNESS OF GOD IS GREATER: FOR THIS IS THE WITNESS OF GOD, THAT HE HATH BORNE WITNESS CONCERNING HIS SON. The ‘three witnesses' suggested the perfection of merely human testimony. The apostle supposes as a general truth that we receive the testimony... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:10. HE THAT BELIEVETH ON THE SON OF GOD HATH THE WITNESS IN HIMSELF. The testimony has become subjective: the ‘three agree in one' within the believer's consciousness. He has for we must anticipate 1 John 5:11 eternal life within him: the gift of the Spirit of life received by Christ for us... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:11-12. AND THE WITNESS IS THIS, THAT GOD GAVE UNTO US ETERNAL LIFE, AND THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON. These closing words concerning that testimony of which the beginning of the Epistle spoke, go beyond anything yet said. They declare that the witness of the apostles concerning ‘the eternal life... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:13. St. John returns now to his one great design, the fulfilling of the Joy of those who believe. THESE THINGS HAVE I WRITTEN TO YOU the whole Epistle, that is, THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, UNTO YOU THAT BELIEVE IN THE NAME OF THE SON OF GOD. It was not his purpose to establi... [ Continue Reading ]
_The confidence in prayer which this faith in Jesus inspires; with its one exception._ 1 John 5:14-15. A second time the apostle dwells on the boldness of prayer: this closed the second part as the confidence of obedient love; it closes here the third part as the confidence in the Son of God, which... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 5:16-17. The transition from prayer in general to intercessory prayer seems to be abrupt; but it must be remembered that brotherly love is made identical with Christian life, and its offices with doing the will of God. Passing by innumerable other objects of intercession on behalf of a fellow... [ Continue Reading ]
The Epistle winds up with three summarizing declarations, each of which repeats the watchword, ‘we know,' taken, but in a better sense, from the Gnostic ‘we know:' the first, 1 John 5:18, asserts the fundamental opposition between life and sin; the second, 1 John 5:19, the fundamental opposition bet... [ Continue Reading ]