I John 5- Bible Commentary

I John 5

I John 5: 1-2:
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.

Love to God and love to the brethren confirm and prove each other. If either is found alone it is not genuine. Fellowship with God and fellowship one with another necessarily exist together. A man may be conscious of kindness towards others and yet doubt whether he is fulfilling the law of brotherly love. For such the Apostle gives this test: Do you love God? Do you strive to obey Him? If so your love of others is the right kind.

I John 5:3:
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome

Some translations use "grievous" instead of "burdensome." Both words are good descriptives. God's commandments are grievous when they are opposed by sin within, arising out of enmity or when they are observed by the law without rising out of bondage. His commandments are not grievous when condemnation has been removed and the enmity has been established, when character has been renewed and when we are no longer living by our own power but in the presence and grace of the Holy Spirit.

"The answer, though incredibly profound, is actually quite simple. Though the commandments are indeed burdensome, that burden has been laid on the shoulders of another. Jesus Christ, who demands that we be perfect, achieves perfection in our place. Jesus Christ, the culmination of the Old Testament story, fulfills the Old Testament laws. That same weight that threatens to break our backs actually did crush our savior. The weights that we bear every day are simply aftershocks of our human attempts to save ourselves. The weights we feel are a phantom; they’ve already been taken to the cross, carried up the Via Dolorosa on Christ’s back. We are free. We are, in Christ, unburdened." --Tullian Tchividjian

I John 5:4:
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Faith is what the Holy Spirit dropped into our hearts when we received the Lord Jesus Christ as our saviour. Faith is what allows us to call God our father (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6) Faith is of God. Jesus said if you had faith as a mustard seed you would be able to speak to a mountain and it would move (Matthew 17:20). Faith is the confidence and assurance we have in the crucified and risen Christ. Faith is lifting our eyes up to God and relying on the greater on in us to see us through.

Christianity isn’t a school of moral virtue; according to Law, it is “an entire change of life, a dedication of ourselves, our souls and bodies unto God.” It is marked by a true death and separation from worldly tempers, vain indulgences and unnecessary cares. We must therefore renounce the “pomps and vanities of the world” before we can be received into Christian communion. Law calls us to the rejection of all worldly opinions, fleshly cares and earthly projects. Since “he that is born of God overcometh the world” Law believes that the Christian life is lived in opposition to the world. In Pure Pleasure I make the distinction that we can “enjoy the earth without loving the world” but I suspect William Law might disagree with me on that point.
Life in Christ, Law says, makes us “utterly hate and labor to avoid all sin.” Most moderns would agree with the “hate” part. We’re not as accepting of the “labor to avoid all sin” part. But in this, the best classics (and more importantly, Scripture) agree that in order to put sin to death (I’m not speaking of forgiveness of sins here, but being free from experiential sin), a cooperative labor on our part is essential.

I John 5:5:
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

The final glorious consequence of faith in Christ is victory over the world. By the world we must not think of the world of nature but the mass of mankind, the special fabric of the world alienated from God, occupied with the material aims and objects of the unspiritual existence. This is the world that hated Christ (John 7); this is the world that could give no peace; this is the world which John bids us not to love (I John 2:15 i.e. the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life--this is the world to which believers are top be crucified and dead (Gal 6:14; Col 2:8). The New Testament conception of the world is simply that organized mass of humanity which goes its own way, serves its own desires, and is content to plan its purpose and work its devices, to think and love and labor without recognizing God, without acknowledging His person or seeking His help or recognizing His holiness or depending on Him for strength and leading.

I John 5:6:
This is He who came by water and blood–Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.

“John tells us in his gospel about an eyewitness, himself obviously, who stood under Jesus’ cross when one of the soldiers pierced the side of the dead Savior. This witness saw blood and water come from the wound.

John saw a sign in this, something that had a deeper meaning. A stream of life came from the dead Savior on the cross that would reach the whole world. That stream would come with water in Baptism and blood in the Communion cup. It would carry with it Jesus’ victory on the cross.

In his letter he writes about this sight. We can regard these words as a very useful reminder that Christ has come to us with water in Baptism. However, He has also come with blood. A Christian is not only baptized, but a guest at communion. You can’t take Communion once, as with Baptism, and then in belief go about your life. Communion is something to be taken regularly. Through Baptism we’ve been incorporated into Christ as members in His body. Now the stream of life from Him pulsates through us also. Through Communion this stream reaches us as the blood that cleanses us from all sin. In Communion we drink from the source of life and forgiveness. We are at the cross and the gates of heaven at the same time that open slightly and let us hear the never ending exultations surrounding the Lamb of God and catch a glimpse of His Glory.”
– Bo Giertz, “To Live with Christ” p. 549

I John 5:9-11:
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.God hath given to us eternal life

The best efforts we can put forth here will never be lost because there is a hereafter. Human life is not a temporary illusion. It has a meaning which outstrips time. That is why the faith and practice of a Churchman becomes of paramount importance. The Christian Gospel offers a way of life in this world which finds its bloom in the world to come.

Of all the ugly sins that provoked God's wrath, it was their unbelief that angered God.

The primary basis of all faith and acceptance is the word of God--that which God Himself said. To receive and believe this is the first essential to salvation,--the first evidence of acceptance.

Faith and feeling should not be confounded. Faith is to exercise in the Word of God regardless of our feelings, and often in opposition to our feelings. Many fail to accept the pardon and assurance of the acceptance of Heaven, because they do not take God at His word, but instead turn their attention to their changeable moods and feelings. Faith always precedes the joyful feelings which naturally result from the assurance of forgiveness and acceptance. This order is never reversed.

“In Jesus, the invisible God has revealed himself in terms that can be understood anywhere, any time – a perfect human life. In Jesus, the powers of the unseen world, the age to come, are being revealed as he demonstrates his sovereignty over all the hostile forces ranged against man – sin, disease, demons and even death itself. Supremely, the life of eternity is life that has overcome the grave, and that life can be found in Christ alone who triumphed over death by his glorious resurrection. This life is in his Son.“ -
– Bo David Jackman, from The Message of John’s Letters, p. 154

Contrary to popular belief, the Lord Jesus Christ does not live within the matrix of Organized Religion. The Ekklesia, like our Lord, is Wholly Other. I can prove it to you beyond the shadow of a doubt. Can you join a “church” ? Yes, if you meet their requirements for membership. Can you join the Ekklesia? No. You have to be born into it. Or, to be more correct, you have to be born-again into it. It is not a question of joining or not joining, but a question of having Life versus not having Life. “He that has the Son has Life; He that has not the Son has not Life.”
Some erroneously believe Jesus founded a movement, or formed a new religion. No, the world already had movements and religions, and would continue to have them. He had no intention of starting a new one. What did He bring us? What did He contribute to the world? He committed Himself to us as our Life. --School of Christ

I John 5:12:
“He that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

Life is not a property of the flesh but of God, who by His grace gives us life. Life must be lived on God’s terms, according to His laws, and in His grace. Thus, life is a gift, not an attribute.

I John 5:14:
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

The key, being, that it is according to His will.

Adam Dooley

....we are to pray with commitment. The purpose of prayer is NOT to get our will done in heaven, but God’s will done on earth. Restricting the substance of our petitions to the will of God is key to receiving the answer we seek. Again, John reassures us, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).” By surrendering our desires to God’s design, we emulate the spirit of Jesus in Gethsemane as He prayed, “Not my will, but thy will be done (Matt. 26:39).”
But how can we discern God’s will in order to pray it? We know that God is willing to fill us with the knowledge of His will (Col. 1:9), but how does He do it? Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit are the only trustworthy guides. God will not answer any prayer that contradicts His word or justifies sinful behavior (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The Bible lays down guidelines (some explicit and some implicit) for us to live by, and the Spirit of God reveals specific direction within those parameters. Those who have a submissive heart fully committed to God’s preference for their lives can pray knowing that God will always answer. E. Stanley Jones explained, “Prayer is surrender — surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.”
--Adam Dooley; Kentucky Today; DOOLEY NOTED: The gift that we refuse 9.19.23

I John 5:19:
The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Amy Carmichael

“Satan is so much more in earnest than we are--he buys up the opportunity while we are wondering how much it will cost.”
― Amy Carmichael

I John 5:21:
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

An interesting way to end the letter. Perhaps most important is that righteousness is about worshiping God. Being righteous means we obey the first four commandments. We have no other gods, except Yahweh. We do not worship idols. We do not take his name in vain. We rest so that we might worship him. It is impossible to be righteous without worshiping God. Perhaps this is why I John ends the way it does.