The chapter falls into two parts. The first twelve verses form the
last section of the second main division of the Epistle, God is Love
(1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12): the last nine verses form the conclusion
and summary of the whole. Some editors break up the first part of the
chapter into two sectio... [ Continue Reading ]
Faith is the Source of Love, the Victory over the World and the
Possession of Life
1. _Whosoever believeth_ Or, _Every one that believeth_: the
construction is identical with that in 1Jn 2:29, 1 John 3:3-4; 1 John
4:2-3; 1 John 4:7, and in the second half of this verse. See
concluding note on 1 John... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12. God is Love
There seems to be no serious break in the Epistle from this point
onwards until we reach the concluding verses which form a sort of
summary (1 John 5:13-21). The key-word -love" is distributed, and not
very unevenly, over the whole, from 1 John 3:1 to 1 John... [ Continue Reading ]
The converse of the truth insisted upon in 1 John 4:20-21 is now
stated. There love and obedience to God was shewn to involve love of
His children: here love of God's children is said to follow from our
love and obedience to God. The two (or three) ideas mutually imply one
another. Love to God impli... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this is the love of God_ Or, _For the love of God is this_, i.e.
consists in this: see on 1 John 1:5. The truth implied in 1 John 5:2,
that love involves obedience, is here explicitly stated. Comp. John
14:15; John 14:21; John 14:23; John 15:10; 2 John 1:6.
_his commandments are not grievous_ F... [ Continue Reading ]
Reason why keeping even the difficult commandment of loving others
rather than oneself is not a grievous burden. It is the world and its
ways which makes the Divine commands grievous, and the new birth
involved in faith gives us a new unworldly nature and a strength which
conquers the world.
_For wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who is he that overcometh_ Here the present tense is right. The
Apostle appeals to the daily experience of every victorious Christian.
_that Jesus is the Son of God_ The faith that conquers is no mere
vague belief in the existence of God, but a definite belief in the
Incarnation: comp. _1Jn 5:1_, 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is he that came_ Closely connected with what precedes: -This
_Son of God_is He that came". The identity of the historic person
Jesus with the eternal Son of God is once more insisted upon as the
central and indispensable truth of the Christian faith. Faith in this
truth is the only faith that... [ Continue Reading ]
_For there are three that bear record in heaven_ If there is one thing
that is certain in textual criticism, it is that this famous passage
is not genuine. The Revisers have only performed an imperative duty in
excluding it from both text and margin. External and internal evidence
are alike overwhel... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there are three that bear witness in earth_ These words also are
part of the spurious insertion. The true text of 1 John 5:7 runs: _For
those who bear witness are three, the Spirit, and the water, and the
blood; and_ THE _three agree in one_. S. John says -those who bear
witness", not simply -t... [ Continue Reading ]
_If we receive the witness of men_ And it is notorious that we do so:
comp. -if God so loved us" (1 John 4:11), and see on 2 John 1:10. The
argument reads like an echo of that of Christ to the Pharisees, -In
your law it is written that the witness of two _men_is true" (John
8:17); how much more ther... [ Continue Reading ]
S. John's characteristic repetition of the word -witness" is greatly
weakened in A. V. by the substitution of -testify" in 1 John 5:9 and
-record" in 1 John 5:10: see on 1 John 1:2; 1 John 2:15; 1 John 2:24;
1 John 4:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that believeth on the Son of God_ For the first time in this
Epistle we have the full phrase -to believe _on_", 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 move... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this is the record_ Better, as R.V., AND THE WITNESS IS THIS, as
in 1 John 5:9: this is what the external witness of God, when it is
internally appropriated by the believer, consists in; viz. the Divine
gift of eternal life.
_eternal life_ See on 1 John 1:2 and on John 3:36; John 5:24. -Hath
g... [ Continue Reading ]
A deduction from the preceding clause. If the Son has the life in
Himself, then whoever has the Son has the life, and no man can have
the one without the other. -To have the Son" must be compared with -to
have the Father" in 1 John 2:23. In both cases -have" signifies
possession in living union thro... [ Continue Reading ]
_These things have I written unto you_ -These things" will cover the
whole Epistle, and such is probably the meaning, as in 1 John 1:4,
where S. John states the purpose of his Epistle in words which are
explained by what he says here: there is nothing there or here, as
there is in 1 John 2:26, to li... [ Continue Reading ]
Intercessory Love the Fruit of Faith and of the Possession of Life
13 17. Eternal life, faith, and brotherly love shewing boldness in
intercession, are the leading ideas of this section. We have had most
of these topics before, and the section is more or less of a
recapitulation. But S. John "canno... [ Continue Reading ]
Conclusion and Summary
Some modern writers consider that 1 John 5:13 constitutes the
conclusion of the Epistle, the remainder (14 21) being a postscript or
appendix, analogous to chap. 21. of the Gospel, and possibly by
another hand. Some go so far as to conjecture that the same person
added chap.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this is the confidence that we have in him_ Better, _And the_
BOLDNESS _that we have_ TOWARDS _Him is this_: see on 1 John 1:5 and 1
John 2:28. For the fourth and last time in the Epistle the Apostle
touches on the subject of the Christian's -boldness." Twice he speaks
of it in connexion with t... [ Continue Reading ]
_if we know that he hear us … we know that we have_ The one
certitude depends upon the other: if we trust God's goodness, we are
perfectly certain that our trust is not misplaced. Comp. -All things
whatsoever ye pray and ask for, _believe that ye have received them_,
and ye shall have them" (Mark 11... [ Continue Reading ]
-The prayer of faith" is all-prevailing when it is in accordance with
God's will. This is the sole limit as regards prayer on our own
behalf. Is there any other limit in the case of prayer on behalf of
another? Yes, there is that other's own will: this will prove a
further limitation. Man's will has... [ Continue Reading ]
_All unrighteousness is sin_ A warning against _carelessness_about
breaches of duty, whether in ourselves or in others. All such things
are sin and need the cleansing blood of Christ (1 John 1:9; 1 John
2:2). Here, therefore, is a wide enough field for brotherly
intercession. The statement serves al... [ Continue Reading ]
_We know_ This confident expression of the certitude of Christian
faith stands at the beginning of each of these three verses and is the
link which binds them together. We have had it twice before (1Jn 3:2;
1 John 3:14; comp. 1 John 2:20-21; 1 John 3:5; 1 John 3:15): and
perhaps in all cases it is m... [ Continue Reading ]
The Sum of the Christian's Knowledge
18 20. The Epistle now draws rapidly to a close. Having briefly, yet
with much new material, retouched some of the leading ideas of the
Epistle, eternal life, faith in Christ and boldness in prayer united
with brotherly love (13 17), the Apostle now goes on to em... [ Continue Reading ]
_And we know_ The conjunction must be omitted on abundant authority.
This introduces the second great fact of which the believer has sure
knowledge. And, as so often, S. John's divisions are not sharp, but
the parts intermingle. The second fact is partly anticipated in the
first; the first is partly... [ Continue Reading ]
_And we know_ This introduces the third great fact of which believers
have certain knowledge. The first two Christian certitudes are that
the believer as a child of God progresses under Christ's protection
towards the sinlessness of God, while the unbelieving world lies
wholly in the power of the ev... [ Continue Reading ]
Farewell Warning
_Little children_ As usual (1Jn 2:1; 1 John 2:12; 1Jn 2:28, 1 John
3:7; 1 John 3:18; 1 John 4:4), this refers to all his readers.
_keep yourselves_ Better, as R. V., GUARD _yourselves_. It is not the
verb used in 1 John 5:18 (τηρεῖν) but that used 2 Thessalonians
3:3 (φυλάσσειν); -... [ Continue Reading ]