Chapter Five

Faith and love in their mutual connection and victory over the world (1–5). The testimony about Christ of three heavenly and three earthly witnesses (6–9). The inner testimony of the believer (10–13). The confidence of the believer (14–15). Prayer for a sinning brother (16–19). The fundamental article of Christian faith—faith in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ; the necessity of guarding against pagan superstition (20–21).

1 John 5:1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born from God, and everyone who loves the one who begat loves also the one begotten from Him. 1 John 5:2. That we love the children of God we recognize from this, when we love God and keep His commandments. 1 John 5:3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. The connection mentioned above (1 John 4) by the Apostle between love for God and love for others is here unfolded and clarified from the side of its cause: God and believers, whom the Apostle calls the reborn from God, are so closely and morally connected to each other that love for God, who has reborn people, must bring with it also love for those reborn by him. “If we are born from him, then undoubtedly we should show what is due both to the parent, that is, to love the one who has fathered us. If, then, all of us who have believed are born from him, then we should love one another both as brothers and as those fathered by him” (Theophylact). Further (verses 2–3) the Apostle emphasizes the thought that love must necessarily be active (compare 1 John 2:3), and the witness of the reality of love is the keeping of God’s commandments, about which the Apostle here remarks that they are not burdensome, just as the Lord himself called the yoke of his commandments good and their burden light (Matt 11:30)—in the sense of course of the assisting grace according to faith in the redemptive power of Christ’s blood (compare 1 John 1:7). “His commandments are not burdensome. For what is burdensome in the matter of love for one’s brother? What, for instance, is burdensome in visiting a prisoner in prison, for the command is not to release him from prison, which would be difficult, but only to visit. And the sick are commanded not to be freed from sickness, but only to be visited” (Theophylact). Perhaps, in speaking of the absence of heaviness in God’s commandments in comparison with the gracious means given to people in Christianity, the Apostle had in mind false teachers who justified their moral licentiousness by appeal to the difficulty and supposed impossibility of fulfilling God’s commandments.

1 John 5:4. For everyone born from God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. 1 John 5:5. Who overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? The fulfillment of God’s commandments by a person encounters obstacles in the form of resistance from powers hostile to God—the world, the flesh, and the devil (see 1 John 2:15-16). But the Christian, through the power of grace bestowed through faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, firmly resists the temptations and trials coming from the world and finally overcomes the entire world hostile to God. The Apostle “explains what the victory consists of and through what it is accomplished; he calls both one thing and the other faith, that is, faith in God, which, being born from God, overcame and drove out every unbelief, and neither Jew, nor Gentile, nor heretic has power against it. And since faith does not conquer alone by itself, but together with the one who possesses it, he adds: and who overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (Theophylact). The victory over the world accomplished by Jesus Christ (John 16:33) is the eternal source from which Christians, through faith in Christ, draw the gracious powers for their own personal victory over the world.

1 John 5:6. This is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood, and by the Spirit, not by water only, but by water and blood, and the Spirit testifies concerning Him, because the Spirit is truth. 1 John 5:7. For there are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 1 John 5:8. And there are three that testify on earth: the spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are of one. 1 John 5:9. If we accept the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God, by which God testified concerning His Son. Faith in the Deity of Jesus Christ (verse 5) forms the very essence and chief foundation of Christianity, and it is against this faith that false prophets and heretics of the apostolic age directed all their strength. Therefore, the Apostle now points to the firm and unshakeable grounds on which that faith rests. Returning to the beginning of his epistle 1 John 1:1-3, the Apostle now in detail unfolds and substantiates the testimony about Christ, in whom faith has overcome the world. The testimonies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, are first of all the “water” of baptism, the “blood” of the crucifixion death at Golgotha, and the “spirit,” that is, the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of God confirms these testimonies, who is truth (verse 6). But the testimony of God’s Spirit is in complete accord with the testimony—of God the Father about his Son (Matt 3:17 and others) and of the Lord Jesus Christ about himself (John 1:18; Matt 26:64 and others), because all three persons of the Holy Trinity are one in essence (verse 7). To these high heavenly witnesses correspond three earthly witnesses: spirit, water, and blood (verse 8). “Having said this, he confirms these words with proof from what is less to what is greater. If we receive the testimony of people about something, is it not much more just that we should receive greater testimony from God? For this is testimony about the Son of God—that is, about Christ—is it not from God himself?” (Theophylact). The seventh verse, which is very important in a doctrinal and dogmatic sense, is not found in any of the ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament: neither in such authoritative unique manuscripts as the Sinaitic, Alexandrian, Vatican, nor in the most ancient Greek cursive manuscripts, nor in lectionaries. In the works of the ancient Greek fathers, in their polemic against Arians, who had constant occasion to speak of the threeness of persons in God and their consubstantiality, this verse is not cited. And Theophylact in his commentary on the epistle of the Apostle John omits verse 7. This verse is absent also in the most ancient translations of the New Testament—the Peshitta, Arabic and others; only in some, and those not ancient, copies of the Latin Vulgate translation does this disputed verse appear. It is already under the influence of the Vulgate that in two Greek manuscripts of the sixteenth century this verse is found. In the printed edition of the Complutensian Bible (1514–1520) the words under discussion appear. In the newest critical editions of the New Testament—those of Griesbach, Scholz, Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, Tregelles and others—the words of verse 7 are omitted. On the contrary, the texts accepted by the Eastern and Western churches, both original and translated, contain the words of verse 7 as authentic apostolic words. With this church view we should remain, although the scientific textual-critical data do not prove the authenticity of this passage with absolute certainty (see Professor N. I. Sagardy, pp. 206–260). In any case, the insertion of the words of verse 7 does not at all hinder the reading and connection of the entire text, and it is in accord both with the preceding and subsequent texts, and fully harmonizes with the peculiarities of the theology of the Apostle John.

1 John 5:10. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God represents Him as a liar, because he does not believe the testimony by which God testified concerning His Son. 1 John 5:11. And this testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 1 John 5:12. The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:13. These things I have written to you, believers in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you, believing in the Son of God, have eternal life. Besides the heavenly and earthly testimonies, faith in Jesus Christ has in its favor a strong inner testimony of the believer himself: for the believer and one living in Christ, the truth of faith is beyond all doubt, inasmuch as faith is a constant fact of his consciousness (compare John 7:16; Rom 8:16; 1 John 1:10). On the other hand, whoever does not believe in God’s testimony, thereby considers it false, consequently presents God himself as false (verse 10); “the unbeliever is guilty in two respects: in unbelief, presenting God as a liar, and in depriving himself of sonship, and through this of eternal life” (Theophylact). Meanwhile, true faith bears within itself an undoubted pledge of eternal life (verses 11–12, compare 1 John 1:4). In verse 13 “there is drawn as a kind of conclusion. I, he says, wrote this to you as heirs of eternal life. For those who do not live in the hope of eternal life, this could not be written, because to give what is holy to dogs and to cast pearls before pigs is not praiseworthy” (Matt 7:6) (Theophylact). And the further verses, 1 John 5:14-21, constituting an organic, inseparable part of the epistle, have the character of a conclusion, in which the chief thoughts of the epistle are repeated, with the addition, however, of one new thought about intercessory prayer for sinning brothers (1 John 5:15-16).

1 John 5:14. And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 John 5:15. And when we know that He hears us in everything we ask, we know also that we receive what we have asked from Him. In the believing consciousness of possession of true, eternal life lies, as a necessary moment, the filial confidence of the believer before God (verse 14, see 1 John 2:28), consisting of joyful hope that God will hear our prayers if only they accord with his most holy will (compare John 16:24; Heb 4:16)—“if we ask God for things in accord with his will, then he listens to us... But whoever asks for something contrary to the will of the Teacher will not be heard” (Theophylact). Through this Christian hope it comes about that what is asked of God, expected from him, appears to the believing Christian as already fulfilled (verse 15). Such is the essence of Christian prayer in general.

1 John 5:16. If someone sees his brother sinning a sin not toward death, let him pray, and God will give him life, that is, for those sinning not toward death. There is a sin toward death: I do not say that one should pray about that. 1 John 5:17. All unrighteousness is sin; but there is sin not toward death. The confidence of faith and prayer—a great treasure on which the blessedness of the believer rests. But the believer should use this blessing not only for himself but also for others, as much as possible contributing to their well-being and salvation—and first of all through prayer for them. As for intercessory prayer for sinning (1 John 1:8) brothers and sisters, it, like prayer in general, can be heard by God only under certain conditions on our part. “Having said that God grants our petitions that accord with his will, the Apostle now clearly expresses what he wishes we would ask according to the will of God. And since he spoke much, almost throughout the epistle, about love for the brother and about the fact that God wishes for us to keep love for the brother unfeigned, then now as one of his wishes, and indeed the best one, he names the fact that when someone sees his brother sinning by a sin that is not fatal, then let him ask” (Theophylact). We should pray for sinning brothers and sisters if they commit “a sin that does not lead to death” (that is, if they have not completely fallen away from faith and love, if they have not deliberately cut themselves off from the gracious means acting on them. But besides “sin that does not lead to death,” there is also “sin that leads to death,” that is, something like the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Gospel (Matt 12:31-32), a decisive, conscious, and intentional falling away from faith—especially from faith in the incarnation of the Son of God (Jas 4:3), and from love for others (1 John 3:10): hatred toward one’s brother the Apostle directly calls murder (1 John 3:15); and the Apostle Paul speaks of the gravity of the sin of denial of the incarnate Son of God (Heb 6:4-6). Presenting prayer for sinning brothers and sisters with sin that does not lead to death as the obligatory duty of a believing Christian (compare Jas 5:16), the Apostle does not give such instruction about prayer for those sinning with sin that leads to death, though he does not directly forbid prayer of this kind: the success of prayer in the latter case is hindered by unbelief, stubbornness, hardness, and persisting in sins. But sins of the first kind, non-fatal, require careful cleansing and should be avoided, inasmuch as “all wrongdoing is sin” (verse 17a).

1 John 5:18. We know that everyone born from God does not sin; but the one born from God guards himself, and the evil one does not touch him. 1 John 5:19. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in evil. 1 John 5:20. We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know the true God, and we are in the true God in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:21. Children! keep yourselves from idols. Amen. Now follows the conclusion of the epistle. With the threefold “we know” (verses 18, 19, 20) the Apostle once again brings before his readers the basic truths unfolded by him in the epistle, truths completely unquestionable both for the Apostle and for all Christians. The first position, earlier unfolded by the Apostle (1 John 3:9), states: “everyone born of God does not sin” (verse 18). “However, so that no one might think that the nature of the one reborn changes and becomes already inaccessible to sin, he adds: ‘keeps himself,’ that is, if he does not keep and guard himself, he will undoubtedly sin. Thus he does not achieve sinlessness by nature, but by the great gift of God. God, having adopted us as sons and daughters, deemed us worthy of such grace, that we, preserving and keeping the gift bestowed on us by him, can and do not sin” (Theophylact). The second position consists of two opposite judgments: “we are from God,” and “the whole world lies under the power of the evil one” (verse 19)—the world hostile to God encompasses first and foremost the “prince of this world” (John 12:31) and his children, especially false teachers and antichrists, of whom the Apostle spoke (1 John 2:18-19), as well as those who follow the desires of the world (1 John 2:15-16). All of this true Christians, being born of God, should be alien to. Such a state of the believer is conditioned by the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, appearing in the world, gave us the opportunity to know the true God, and we are in communion with God, being in communion with his Son Jesus Christ, who is the true God and eternal life (verse 20). This third position sums up all that the Apostle has said in the section 1 John 4:9-5:12. Being in communion with the true God, having eternal life from him, Christians should in every way avoid the worship of false gods and every form of idolatry (verse 21). “The Apostle wrote this to the whole church, which was not entirely filled with chosen people, and among them there were some who were ill-disposed. To them he gives this commandment, fearing for their weakness” (Theophylact).