1 John 5

Faith Conquers the World

1-5 When we believe Jesus is the Christ, we are born of God, whom we love and obey. We also love his other children. Obeying God is not difficult when we realize that God is always victorious, and being on his side – believing on him and his Son – means that we will also conquer the world.

Here’s a repetition of the concept in 4:4-5. As children of God, we can have confidence in the face of worldly pressures. Popularity does not equal strength; it is a weak rival against those who are from God.

Testimony concerning the Son of God

6-9 There are three testimonies that Jesus was the Son of God: the Holy Spirit, water, and blood. The testimony of God is greater than any human testimony.

The two commentaries I consulted about this: John Gill and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, agree that water refers to Jesus’ baptism, when both God and the Holy Spirit attested to his divinity. Blood refers to the sacrifice he made on the cross. The Holy Spirit attested to his divinity not only at his baptism, but in all the miracles he performed.

All three testify at our spiritual births through our burial in water (Romans 6:4), where we are covered in the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19) and receive the seal of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).

10-12 Believers have made the testimony a part of themselves; nonbelievers make God a liar. What is the testimony? That God gave us eternal life through his Son, through whom comes life.

The message is simple, and the same that John gave in his gospel in 20:30-31:

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Epilogue

13-15 I write this so you will know you have eternal life. We also know that whatever we ask, he will hear us. We have already experienced this.

Note the confidence that we can have in our salvation and our requests to God – not because of who we are or what we’ve done, but because of our faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

16-17 Pray for a brother or sister that is committing a sin that is not mortal, but not necessarily for a mortal sin.

The King James, New King James, and New International Versions translate “mortal sin” as “sin unto death.” The Message calls it a “fatal” sin, which leads to eternal death. The People’s New Testament commentary defines the “sin unto death” with a reference to Hebrews 6:4-6, which talks about the impossibility of restoring those who fall away, crucifying the Son of God anew. A sin not unto death is described in Galatians 6:1, which urges Christians to correct a brother or sister with gentleness.

18-20 We know: 1) that those born of God do not sin; 2) that God protects them from the evil one; 3) that the world lies under the power of the evil one; 4) that the Son of God helps us understand God, who is true; 5) that we are in God and in his Son.

This sums up much of what John has said previously, that Satan cannot touch the children of God. In this, he repeats the declarations of Paul in Romans 8:35-39: Nothing can separate us from the love – or protection – of God.