1 John 5:20

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 evil one. Therefore the Christian knows that both in the moral nature which he inherits, and in the moral sphere in which he lives, there is an ever-widening gulf between him and the world. But his knowledge goes beyond this. Even in the intellectual sphere, in which the Gnostic claims to have such advantages, the Christian is, by Christ's bounty, superior.

The -and" (δέ) brings the whole to a conclusion: comp. Hebrews 13:20; Hebrews 13:22. Or it may mark the opposition between the world's evil case and what is stated here; in which case δέ should be rendered -but."

is come This includes the notion of -is here" (ἥκει); but it is the coming at the Incarnation rather than the perpetual presence that is prominent in this context.

hath given us an understanding Or, hath given us understanding, i.e. the capacity for receiving knowledge, intellectual power. The word (διάνοια) occurs nowhere else in S. John's writings.

that we may know Literally, -that we may continue to recognise, as we do now" (ἵνα with the indicative; see on John 17:3). It is the appropriationof the knowledge that is emphasized; hence -recognise" (γινώσκομεν) rather than -know" (οἴδαμεν). The latter word is used at the opening of these three verses: there it is the possessionof the knowledge that is the main thing.

him that is true God; another parallel with Christ's Prayer; - that they should knowThee the only true God" (John 17:3), where some authorities give ἵνα with the indicative, as here. -True" does not mean -that cannot lie" (Titus 1:2), but -genuine, real, very," as opposed to the falsegods of 1 John 5:21. See on 1 John 2:8. What is the Gnostic's claim to superior knowledge in comparison with this? We know that we have the Divine gift of intelligence by means of which we attain to the knowledge of a personal God who embraces and sustains us in his Son.

and we are in him A fresh sentence, not dependent on either preceding -that". -Him that is true" again means God. It is arbitrary to change the meaning and make this refer to Christ. -The Son has given us understanding by which to attain to knowledge of the Father." Instead of resuming -And we do knowthe Father," the Apostle makes an advance and says: -And we are inthe Father." Knowledge has become fellowship (1 John 1:3; 1 John 2:3-5). God has appeared as man; God has spoken as man to man; and the Christian faith, which is the one absolute certainty for man, the one means of re-uniting him to God, is the result.

even in his Son Jesus Christ Omit -even" which has been inserted in A.V. and R.V. to make -in Him that is true" refer to Christ. This last clause explains how it is that we are in the Father, viz. by being in the Son. Comp. 1 John 2:23; John 1:18; John 14:9; John 17:21; John 17:23. Tyndale boldly turns the second -in" into -through"; -we are inhim that is true, throughhis sonne Jesu Christ." We have had similar explanatory additions in 1 John 5:13; 1 John 5:16.

This is the true God It is impossible to determine with certainty whether -This" (οὗτος) refers to the Father, the principalsubstantive of the previous sentence, or to Jesus Christ, the nearestsubstantive. That S. John teaches the Divinity of Jesus Christ both in Epistle and Gospel is so manifest, that a text more or less in favour of the doctrine need not be the subject of heated controversy. The following considerations are in favour of referring -This" to Christ.1. Jesus Christ is the subject last mentioned. 2. The Father having been twice called -the true One" in the previous verse, to proceed to say of Him -This is the true God" is somewhat tautological. 3. It is Christ who both in this Epistle (1 John 1:2; 1 John 5:12) and also in the Gospel (John 11:25; John 14:6) is called the Life. 4. S. Athanasius three times in his Orations against the Ariansinterprets the passage in this way, as if there was no doubt about it (III. xxiv. 4, xxv. 16; IV. ix. 1). The following are in favour of referring -This" to the Father. 1. The Father is the leading subject of all that follows -understanding." 2. To repeat what has been already stated and add to it is exactly S. John's style. He has spoken of -Him that is true": and he now goes on -This (true One) is the true God and eternal life." 3. It is the Father who is the source of that life which the Son has and is (John 5:26). 4. John 7:3 supports this view. 5. The Divinity of Christ has less special point in reference to the warning against idols: the truth that God is the true God is the basis of the warning against false gods: comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:9. But see the conclusion of the note on -from idols" in the next verse: see also note kin Lect. v. of Liddon's Bampton Lectures.