1 John 5
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Read & Reflect
1 John 5:1-5
“Faith trusts Jesus as the Christ, a truth insisted upon throughout this letter, and the believer who so trusts is born of God. The confession that Jesus is the Christ is not the result of human insight, but of a divine work in the one who makes it (cf. 1 Cor. 12:3). And this divine work produces love for fellow-believers, for love for the father means love for his child as well.”[1]
Believing that Jesus is the Christ makes us “born of God,” i.e., his children. How does this lead to loving others, keeping his commandments, and overcoming the world?
1 John 5:3
“John is not a legalist, but he recognizes that love is busy; it finds its natural expression in doing the things that please the beloved, and where will we find these things better than in his commands? When John adds his commands are not burdensome (cf. Mt. 11:30), the thought is not that it is quite easy to discharge our obligations to God. Rather the thought is that God’s commands are not an irksome burden. They may be difficult but they are a delight.” [2]
- Am I in agreement that “his commandments are not burdensome”?1 John 5:6-12
“Some heretics apparently held that the divine Christ came on Jesus when he was baptized [water], but left him before his death. John contests this with his emphasis on blood: not by water only, but by water and blood. It was (and is) this that is the heart of the gospel. There were apparently no doubts about the water but the blood seems to have been the stumbling block; heretics evidently found it impossible to hold that the divine Christ could die.” [3]
- What might have been attractive about the false teaching that Jesus is indeed our savior, but that he never died on the cross?
- Reflect on the fact that I have been given life through Jesus Christ who came “by the water and the blood.”
[1] Morris, L. L. (1994). 1 John. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1408). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
[2] Morris, L. L. (1994). 1 John. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1408). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
[3] Morris, L. L. (1994). 1 John. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1408). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
