This chapter embraces the following subjects: I. A continuance of the discussion about “love,” 1 John 5:1. These verses should have been attached to the previous chapter. II. The victory which is achieved over the world by those who are born of God. The grand instrumentality by which this is done,... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST - Is the Messiah; the anointed of God. On the meaning of the word Christ, see the notes at Matthew 1:1. Of course, it is meant here that the proposition, that “Jesus is the Christ,” should be believed or received in the true and proper sense, in order to... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THIS WE KNOW THAT WE LOVE THE CHILDREN OF GOD ... - This is repeating the same truth in another form. “As it is universally true that if we love Him who has begotten us, we shall also love His children, or our Christian brethren, so it is true also that if we love His children it will follow that... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD, THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS - This constitutes true love; this furnishes the evidence of it. AND HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE NOT GRIEVOUS - Greek, “heavy” - βαρεῖαι bareiai; that is, difficult to be borne as a burden. See Matthew 11:30. The meaning is, that his laws are not... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHATSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD OVERCOMETH THE WORLD - The world, in its maxims, and precepts, and customs, does not rule him, but he is a freeman. The idea is, that there is a conflict between religion and the world, and that in the heart of every true Christian religion secures the victory, or trium... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS HE ... - Where is there one who can pretend to have obtained a victory over the world, except he who believes in the Saviour? All else are worldly, and are governed by worldly aims and principles. It is true that a man may gain a victory over one worldly passion; he may subdue some one evil p... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS HE - This Son of God referred to in the previous verse. The object of the apostle in this verse, in connection with 1 John 5:8, is to state the nature of the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. He refers to three well-known things on which he probably had insisted much in his preaching -... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THERE ARE THREE THAT BEAR RECORD IN HEAVEN ... - There are three that “witness,” or that “bear witness” - the same Greek word which, in 1 John 5:8, is rendered “bear witness” - μαρτυροῦντες marturountes. There is no passage of the New Testament which has given rise to so much discussion in rega... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE ARE THREE THAT BEAR WITNESS IN EARTH - This is a part of the text, which, if the reasoning above is correct, is to be omitted. The genuine passage reads, 1 John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record (or witness, μαρτυροῦντες marturountes) - the Spirit, and the water, and the blood.”... [ Continue Reading ]
IF WE RECEIVE THE WITNESS OF MEN - As we are accustomed to do, and as we must do in courts of justice, and in the ordinary daily transactions of life. We are constantly acting on the belief that what others say is true; that what the members of our families, and our neighbors say, is true; that what... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT BELIEVETH ON THE SON OF GOD HATH THE WITNESS IN HIMSELF - The evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. Compare the notes at Romans 8:16. This cannot refer to any distinct and immediate “revelation” of that fact, that Jesus is the Christ, to the soul of the individual, and is not to be understo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS IS THE RECORD - This is the sum, or the amount, of the testimony (μαρτυρία marturia) which God has given respecting him. THAT GOD HATH GIVEN TO US ETERNAL LIFE - Has provided, through the Saviour, the means of obtaining eternal life. See the notes at John 5:24; John 17:2. AND THIS LIFE IS... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT HATH THE SON, HATH LIFE - See the notes at John 5:24. John evidently designs to refer to that passage in the verse before us, and to state a principle laid down by the Saviour himself. This is the sense of all the important testimony that had ever been borne by God on the subject of salvatio... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE THINGS HAVE I WRITTEN UNTO YOU - The things in this Epistle respecting the testimony borne to the Lord Jesus. THAT BELIEVE ON THE NAME OF THE SON OF GOD - To believe on his name, is to believe on himself - the word “name” often being used to denote the person. See the notes at Matthew 28:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS IS THE CONFIDENCE THAT WE HAVE IN HIM - Margin, “concerning.” Greek, “toward him,” or in respect to him - πρὸς αὐτὸν pros auton. The confidence referred to here is that which relates to the answer to prayer. The apostle does not say that this is the only thing in respect to which there i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF WE KNOW THAT HE HEAR US - That is, if we are assured of this as a true doctrine, then, even though we may not “see” immediately that the prayer is answered, we may have the utmost confidence that it is not disregarded, and that it will be answered in the way best adapted to promote our good.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN SEE HIS BROTHER SIN A SIN ... - From the general assurance that God hears prayer, the apostle turns to a particular case in which it may be benevolently and effectually employed, in rescuing a brother from death. There has been great diversity of opinion in regard to the meaning of this pas... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IS SIN ... - This seems to be thrown in to guard what he had just said, and there is “one” great and enormous sin, a sin which could not be forgiven. But he says also that there are many other forms and degrees of sin, sin for which prayer may be made. Everything, he says, which... [ Continue Reading ]
WE KNOW THAT WHOSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD SINNETH NOT - Is not habitually and characteristically a sinner; does not ultimately and finally sin and perish; cannot, therefore, commit the unpardonable sin. Though he may fall into sin, and grieve his brethren, yet we are never to cease to pray for a true Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE KNOW THAT WE ARE OF GOD - We who are Christians. The apostle supposed that true Christians might have so clear evidence on that subject as to leave no doubt on their own minds that they were the children of God. Compare 1 John 3:14; 2 Timothy 1:12. AND THE WHOLE WORLD - The term “world” here... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE KNOW THAT THE SON OF GOD IS COME - We know this by the evidence that John had referred to in this Epistle, 1 John 1:1; 1 John 5:6. AND HATH GIVEN US AN UNDERSTANDING - Not an “understanding” considered as a faculty of the mind, for religion gives us no new faculties; but he has so instructed... [ Continue Reading ]
LITTLE CHILDREN - This is a favorite mode of address with John, (see the notes at 1 John 2:1), and it was proper to use it in giving his parting counsel; embracing, in fact, all that he had to say - that they should keep themselves from idols, and suffer nothing to alienate their affections from the... [ Continue Reading ]