Faith in the Incarnate Son of God
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 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. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the [ Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8 And there are three that testify on earth: the (not found in any Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century)] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Concluding Affirmations
13 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. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them 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 you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 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 by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
NOTES:
5:1–5 Children of God are identified not only by their love
for others (1 Jn 4:7–9) and for God (1 Jn 5:1–2) but by their belief in the
divine sonship of Jesus Christ. Faith, the acceptance of Jesus in his true
character and the obedience in love to God’s commands (1 Jn 5:3), is the source
of the Christian’s power in the world and conquers the world of evil (1 Jn
5:4–5), even as Christ overcame the world (Jn 16:33).
5:6–12 Water and blood (1 Jn 5:6) refers to Christ’s baptism
(Mt 3:16–17) and to the shedding of his blood on the cross (Jn 19:34). The
Spirit was present at the baptism (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:32, 34). The
testimony to Christ as the Son of God is confirmed by divine witness (1 Jn
5:7–9), greater by far than the two legally required human witnesses (Dt 17:6).
To deny this is to deny God’s truth; cf. Jn 8:17–18. The gist of the divine
witness or testimony is that eternal life (1 Jn 5:11–12) is given in Christ and
nowhere else. To possess the Son is not acceptance of a doctrine but of a
person who lives now and provides life.
5:13–21 As children of God we have confidence in prayer
because of our intimate relationship with him (1 Jn 5:14–15). In love, we pray
(1 Jn 5:16–17) for those who are in sin, but not in deadly sin (literally, “sin
unto death”), probably referring to apostasy or activities brought on under the
antichrist; cf. Mk 3:29; Hb 6:4–6; 10:26–31. Even in the latter case, however,
prayer, while not enjoined, is not forbidden. The letter concludes with a
summary of the themes of the letter (1 Jn 5:18–20). There is a sharp antithesis
between the children of God and those belonging to the world and to the evil
one. The Son reveals the God of truth; Christians dwell in the true God, in his
Son, and have eternal life. The final verse (1 Jn 5:21) voices a perennial
warning about idols, any type of rival to God
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