I John 5, Life in the Son

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?  John returns to the "social test" -- how one treats others.

1 John 5: 1-4 Love of God = Obedience to Him
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

If we love God then we naturally love God's children. John cannot imagine any alternatives. Since God's commands are intended to promote that love, they are then easy to follow.

1 John 5: 5-12, And this requires belief in Jesus
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about 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.

Water and blood most likely refer to Jesus' baptism and death? Both of these historical events were likely in conflict to Gnostic teachings of the time that Jesus was a human mortal visited by a divine spirit that arrived after baptism and left before death.

This section, in the King James Version, had the notorious Comma Johanneum, the addition of a marginal sentence which described the Trinity, claiming Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Father were one. (As I mention elsewhere, even Isaac Newton wrote on this addition to the text.)

1 John 5: 11-12 Eternal Life
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

In the Gospel of John, probably written prior to this, the author makes a similar statement (see John 20:31.)

1 John 5: 13-15 Our confidence before God
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

In the Gospel of John, probably written prior to this, the author makes a similar statement (see John 20:31.)  John insists on confidence in approaching God, simply due to the actions and identity of Jesus.

1 John 5: 16-17 Sin and death
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

The concept of "sin that leads to death" is a strange one.  Given the context, it presumably is a strong decision or statement of consistent disbelief in Jesus's identification as savior?

In verse 16, the literal interpretation is "he should pray and he will give him life." Stott suggests it is the person praying who saves the life of another.

In verses 16-17 we have an example of the effectiveness of praying described earlier in verses 13-15.

1 John 5: 18-21, Summary
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

The letter is summarized here -- spiritual birth leads to childhood in God's family and movement away from the sinful fabric of the World. This letter is cyclical, repeating and retracing ideas about purity, love, identification with Christ vs. identification with the world.

Then the book ends with a brief instruction about idolatry! (Why does the book end this way?)