Overcoming the World I. Base Text: 1 John 5:1-21 II. Context A. 1 John 1. 1 John associated with John the Apostle, author of Gospel of John, 2/3 John, Revelation 2. Time is disputed, generally seen either as ca. 61-67 or ca. 85-95 CE; later date more consistent with all evidence 3. It is assumed that John wrote from Ephesus based upon tradition and his activity in that area (cf. Revelation 1:1-3:21) 5. He does not seem to write to any specific congregation; hence 1 John reckoned as one of the "catholic," or universal letters 6. His audience is fellow Christians; intimate language like "my little children" may indicate that he writes to Christians who already know him (1 John 2:1, 5:23) B. John by begins demonstrating His authority through experience with Jesus as Word of life, declaring God as light, not darkness, and thus exhorting Christians toward doing Jesus' commandments, walking as He walked (1 John 1:1-2:14) C. John continues by warning Christians about the ways of darkness and error and to strengthen them in their standing as God's children, contrasting the "antichrists", their false doctrines, and their immorality with the assurance of God in the Spirit, holding firm to the Gospel as from the beginning, practicing righteousness (1 John 2:15-3:10) D. John then speaks primarily in terms of loving one another, comparing and contrasting those who hate and those who love, warning to test spirits, and establishing the primacy of love for one another (1 John 3:11-4:21) E. John concludes his letter with a concise re-statement of his themes: abiding in God, overcoming the world, and avoiding sin (1 John 5:1-21) III. Meaning and Application A. Overcoming the World (1 John 5:1-13) 1. Having established how Christians are to love one another, John recapitulates his major themes succinctly in 1 John 5:1-13 2. By way of concluding the "treatise on love," John declares that the one who believes Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God, and those who love God love those who love God, or, in other terms, we know we love one another when we love God and do His commandments, which are not burdensome (1 John 5:1-3) a. John affirms the power and essential nature of belief of Jesus as the Christ (cf. Acts 16:31), yet also that such a belief demands love of God, fellow man, and to do God's commandments (cf. James 2:14-26) b. Contextually, John continues to draw a contrast between those who do not believe Jesus is the Christ but deny Him, the antichrists, and the Christians who do believe Jesus is the Christ and who abide in Him; he now says they are "born of God," reminiscent of John 3:1-8 (cf. 1 John 2:22) c. Consistent with 1 John 4:20-21, John associates love of God with love of those who love God, i.e. fellow Christians, something lacking in the "antichrist" Docetists/incipient Gnostics d. John then reverses the order of love from what might be expected: we know we love God's children when we love God and do His commandments, as opposed to knowing we love God by loving His children e. True love is consistent with God as love and His righteousness (1 John 4:8): if our love is not informed by God's standard, it is not effective love (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)! f. The love of God, like knowing God, is to keep His commandments, which are not burdensome, but healthy and beneficial (cf. Matthew 11:28-29, 1 John 2:3-6; e.g. Galatians 5:22-24) 3. The children of God have not only come to experience true love, but also have overcome the world through the victory of faith in Jesus, the Son of God (1 John 5:4-5) a. Victory and conquering is a major theme of Johannine literature, found in John 16:33, 1 John 2:13-14, 4:5, Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21, 5:5, 11:7, 17:14, 21:7; Revelation 12:10-11 especially parallel with 1 John 5:4-5 b. This victory accomplished in faith, willing to suffer and die in order to hold firm to the Name, embodied in Jesus (so John 16:33, Revelation 15:2) c. Those who believe Jesus is the Son of God overcome the world; those who deny Jesus is the Son of God are overcome by the world! 4. John then re-states the confidence of faith in Jesus as the Son of God: the witness of the Spirit, water, and blood, the testimony of God; those who affirm that testimony in faith have eternal life in the Son (1 John 5:6-13) a. Witness the foundation of John's authority in 1 John 1:1-4 b. The three witnesses are the Holy Spirit, the baptismal water, the blood shed on the cross (John 1:29-34, 19:31-37) c. All of these testify first to Jesus' Incarnation, that He came into the world, was truly baptized, had actual blood shed, and thus to God's work in Jesus, declaring Him the Son of God in power d. As people will accept man's testimony in judicial matters, how much more should we accept God's testimony manifest in Jesus (1 John 5:9)? e. Those who believe in God in Christ have that testimony within them, and partake of the blessing God provides in Jesus, eternal life f. Yet those who do not thus believe (i.e. antichrists, the Docetists/incipient Gnostics) have been declared as liars by God, do not have the life they claim to have g. John writes to provide Christians with this ultimate assurance: they may know they have eternal life by believing Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:13; cf. 1 John 2:3-6, 3:9-10, 14-15) 5. Textual issue: the Comma Johannem a. The N/KJV insert in 1 John 5:7, " For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" b. Frequently seen in Latin editions of the text, extremely rare in any Greek manuscript of the New Testament c. The line seems to come from Cyprian who attempts to describe the Trinity in Johannine terms: a charitable interpretation would suggest a scribe wrote the line in the margin of a Latin copy of the New Testament and a later scribe incorporated it into the text; a less charitable interpretation would suggest that a scribe inserted the line in order to make Trinitarian theology more explicit within the text d. Regardless, a clear interpolation into the text, not consistent with the context, breaking up John's point about the Spirit, water, and blood, and with non-existent attestation in Greek manuscripts of the New Testament e. The Father, the Son as the Word made flesh, and the Holy Spirit are one, but it does not reflect well on the Trinitarian argument to have to have it inserted into the text in this way! 6. As before in 1 John, so again in 1 John 5:1-13: we must take care not to absolutize and de-contextualize what John is saying a. In context, John makes stark contrasts between Christians who affirm the truth of God in Christ according to the apostolic Gospel and the antichrist Docetics/incipient Gnostics who deny the physicality of Christ b. The antichrists did not really believe Jesus is the Christ and did not accept the testimony of the Apostles regarding the Incarnation, baptism, death, and resurrection of Jesus (cf. 1 John 2:18-29, 2 John 1:6-9) c. Does this mean that everyone who gives mental assent to the proposition that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, righteous, etc.? Hardly (Matthew 7:20-27, James 2:14-26)! d. If anything, 1 John 5:1-3 devastates the "faith only" position, since the love of God is to keep the commandments, and belief cannot be disassociated from following God's commandments in this passage! e. The same is true in terms of 1 John 5:10: to believe in the Son of God absolutely demands recognition that He was incarnate and confess the physical life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but also demands fidelity to the Gospel of the Kingdom in its totality (Galatians 1:6-9, 1 John 2:1-29) f. John is not writing in an environment where there are a multiplicity of errors involving different aspects of the truth of God in Christ; we should not assume that what he writes in terms of one specific challenge means he would not consider other challenges as less important or less damnable! 7. Yet there is much we can gain from what John says in 1 John 5:1-13 a. Belief is important, yet true belief naturally leads to seeking to accomplish the truth which is believed upon, to follow after Jesus (cf. Romans 1:5, 6:1-23, James 2:14-26)! b. The love of God is to keep His commandments: a beautiful reminder that the commandments of God in Christ are for our benefit, embody God's love for us, and allows us to abide in His love and show that love to each other (1 John 4:7-21, 5:3) c. Faith is our victory over the world and its forces of sin and evil, and we either maintain faith and gain the victory or are overcome by the world and suffer eternally (1 John 5:4-5; cf. Romans 12:1-2, Revelation 12:10-11) d. Yet our faith is not blind, but rooted in the witness of the Apostles and their experience: God in the flesh, baptized, dying, raised in power, and in Him we can have life (1 John 1:1-4, 5:6-12) e. The importance of 1 John 5:13 can be hardly overstated: John is not trying to get everyone to doubt their salvation and feel that if they are saved, they are barely saved; instead, Christians are to have confidence in their salvation, in obtaining eternal life, but only because they maintain belief in the apostolic Gospel and exhibit the fruit of righteousness which it bears (1 John 2:3-6, 3:7-10, 19-21) 8. Christians have every reason to maintain their trust in God, not led astray by false teachers on account of an uninformed faith, but must continue to encourage one another in love and keeping God's commandments in Christ! B. Prayer (1 John 5:14-17) 1. After reassuring Christians of their standing before God, he again reassures them that God hears their prayers and will do what they ask (1 John 5:14-15; cf. 1 John 3:22) 2. On account of that strong confidence, John provides counsel to fellow Christians about praying for the forgiveness and restoration of others who have sinned: those who have sinned "not leading to death" should be prayed for so God may grant him life; those who have sinned "leading to death" should not receive such a prayer (1 John 5:16) 3. John makes it clear that all wrongdoing is sin, but that there is a sin that does not lead to death (1 John 5:17) 4. What shall we make of what John has to say? 5. First, as with 1 John 3:22, so with 1 John 5:14-15: "anything" does not mean fancy cars and lots of money (cf. James 4:3), but all those things which are consistent with God's purposes for the world in Jesus Christ 6. "Sin not leading to death" vs. "sin leading to death" appealed to in Roman Catholicism to justify doctrine of "venial" sins versus "mortal" sins 7. If John means to categorize sins by severity, this would be the first and only time it is done in the New Testament, and no guidelines or insights are given as to defining the two categories 8. Throughout the rest of the New Testament, the contrast is not about the severity of the sin, but between those repented of and those left without repentance (Luke 13:1-5, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 6:9-11, 2 Corinthians 7:5-16, Galatians 6:1-5, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, James 5:20-21) 9. Therefore, the most consistent interpretation would understand the "sin leading to death" as sin not confessed or repented of (cf. 1 John 1:8-10), whereas the "sin not leading to death" are those which have been confessed and repented of 10. A great lesson: we can pray for the healing and restoration of our fellow Christians who struggle with sin and who seek confession and repentance! C. The True God and Eternal Life (1 John 5:18-20) 1. John has re-affirmed love, victory, and testimony; he concludes by re-affirming righteousness in 1 John 5:18-20 2. 1 John 5:18-19 a restatement of 1 John 3:4-10, 4:1-5; God also protects His own, and the Evil One cannot harm them; whole world in possession of Evil One (cf. John 8:31-53, Ephesians 6:1-18, 1 Peter 5:8-9, Revelation 12:1-13:18) 3. Yet Christians know the true God and eternal life as manifest in Jesus who came and gave us true understanding, seen throughout John's Gospel and first letter (1 John 5:20) 4. What more can be said than 1 John 5:20? Such is the essence of Christianity! 5. As with 1 John 3:4-10, so with 1 John 5:18-19: Christians as not persistent in sin, not absolutely never sinning, in light of 1 John 1:8-9, 2:1 6. Yet a good contrast to keep in mind: do we manifest sin or do we manifest righteousness in our lives? D. Concluding Exhortation (1 John 5:21) 1. John's letter begins abruptly and without regard to convention; the ending is no different (1 John 1:1, 5:21)! 2. The conclusion introduces a thought and exhortation seen nowhere else in the letter: to guard from idols 3. Idolatry a major concern in the Old Testament: bowing down before statues, whether of some foreign "divinity" or named YHWH (Exodus 20:1-5, 32:1-6, Judges 6:25-32, 1 Kings 12:25-30, 16:30-33, 18:17-46, Isaiah 44:9-20) 4. Still an issue in the New Testament (Acts 14:8-18, 19:23-34, Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13) 5. No doubt John would not want Christians to bow down to statues 6. Yet his concern is deeper, reflected in Matthew 6:19-24, Romans 1:25, Ephesians 5:3,5, Colossians 3:5: making things made by God as good to become absolute and thus make them as the god(s) of their lives 7. The True God of 1 John 5:20 is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; we are to accept no worldly imitations or substitutes! 8. John's concern remains apt to this day: we must enthrone God as God of our lives, finding satisfaction in Him, recognizing that worldly lusts are a poor imitation of the satisfaction to be found in God and in Him alone! IV. Conclusion A. John's work to assure Christians is complete 1. They can know they are in God in Christ by holding firm to the apostolic Gospel which they heard from the beginning, follow the direction of the Spirit toward righteousness, and manifest righteousness in life 2. Their opponents, the antichrists, deny Jesus as the Christ, since they deny His Incarnation, death, and resurrection; they do not manifest righteousness B. Let us always maintain the following with great confidence: we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20) C. Let us gain the victory through faith in Jesus the Son of God! D. Invitation/songbook Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3). John does not believe that love and commandments are mutually incompatible. God's commandments in Christ reflect and express His love, pursuing what is good and healthy while avoiding what is bad and evil. Let us keep God's commandments, abiding in His love! 2: For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4). Faith is the victory we gain over the forces of evil in control of this present world (cf. Ephesians 6:12). That victory may not look like victory from a worldly perspective since it often involves suffering and death. Yet the same was true of Jesus' victory: it seemed like defeat, but it was really the ultimate victory over sin and death. Let us find our victory through faith in Jesus the Son of God! 3: And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20). What could be appended to what John says here? This is the point and goal of Christianity: to obtain understanding in Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, to abide in Him, and to share in eternal life through Him. Let us do so! 4: Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen (1 John 5:21). John has not spoken of idolatry before in his letter, but his concluding concern is apt. It is easy to take something good which God has made and make it the god of our lives. Let us serve the One True God and accept no imitations or substitutes!