Chapter Five
1 John 5:1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the One who begot also loves the One begotten of Him.
1 John 5:2. That we love the children of God, we know from this: when we love God and keep His commandments.
And this is said in confirmation of the above. If we received from the Teacher the commandment to love one another, then, without a doubt, if we believe that our Teacher Jesus is the Christ, and He is the Christ in the sense that He is God and man together, we must also keep His commandments, as those of a Teacher and as those of God. And believing that He is God, we receive the name of His children, as it is also said in the Gospel: "to those who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12), that is, those who believed in Him also became His children. And if we have been born of Him, then, without a doubt, we must also render what is due to our Parent, that is, love the One who begot us. And if all of us who have believed have been born of Him, then we must love one another both as brothers and as those born of Him.
In confirmation of this the apostle also says that he who loves the one who begat also loves the one begotten of him. Then again he says that love for the brethren or children of God proves love for the One who begat. Above he was saying that he who loves God also loves his brother, but now he says that he who loves the children of God also loves God, and he sets forth love for one's brother as proof of love for God.
1 John 5:3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
1 John 5:4. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
The connection is as follows: love consists in our keeping His commandments, because everyone born of God overcomes the world. Since the apostle pointed to the keeping of the commandments as the full proof of love for God, and some thought that God's commandments were burdensome, he says: and His commandments are not burdensome. For what is burdensome in loving one's brother? What, for example, is burdensome about visiting a prisoner in jail? For the command is not to release him from jail, which would be difficult, but only to visit him. And regarding the sick, the command is not to free them from illness, but only to visit them. And regarding the hungry, the command is not to set before them a table of many dishes, or to give the naked clothing made of precious fabric, but to provide what is most urgently needed, which the hungry and the naked seek. Having said this, he points to another incentive for love. What is it? Victory. He says that by making yourselves children of God through love for your brother, you already have a reward for this good quality — victory over the world; for the one born of God overcomes the world. Then he explains what the victory consists of and through what it is accomplished; he calls both the one and the other faith, that is, faith in God, which, having been born of God, conquered and drove away every unbelief, and neither Jew, nor Greek, nor heretic is strong against it. And since faith conquers not alone, by itself, but together with the one who possesses it, he adds: and who is it that overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? And who is this Jesus? Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood.
1 John 5:5. Who overcomes the world, if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:6. This is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood and the Spirit, not by water only, but by water and blood.
In the words "everyone who is born of God," the apostle mentioned the adoption by God and the birth. And this is accomplished together through holy baptism. Therefore he says: This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, who regenerates and makes us sons of God. For this is also implied as a consequence in the words: "he who is born of God" overcomes the world. How "born"? By water and blood. For Jesus Christ who came regenerates by water and blood. And again he adds with repetition of the word: not by water only regenerating, but by water and blood. For he wishes first to demonstrate the glorification of Christ who adopts us, because first the man who is in Christ was adopted by God, and then Christ through His own adoption granted such dignity to us as well. And His sonship was declared three times: once at the baptism in the Jordan, when the Father testified from above that the one being baptized is the beloved Son. So Jesus came "by water," that is, He was declared the Son of God through the testimony of the Father at the baptism in water. "By blood," when, going to the cross, He said: "Glorify Me, You, O Father!" and when a voice came: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again," which those who heard it took for thunder (John 17:5, John 12:28, 29). "By the Spirit," when as God He rose from the dead; for to raise oneself is proper to God alone, and by the word Spirit is meant God, as can be seen in the saying: "God is a spirit" (John 4:24).
So, with the testimony of the three (baptism, the cross, and the resurrection) concerning the sonship of Jesus, the Lord's sonship is indisputable. And through His own sonship, as the firstfruits of the entire human race, He also granted us the right to be sons of God. And these three are in one Christ. For this is what the expression means: "and these three are one," that is, in relation to the testimony concerning Christ. It should be known that some of the fathers understood the word Spirit not as referring to the resurrection of Christ, but to the Father, when He cried out at the Jordan: "This is My beloved Son, in whom is My good pleasure" (Matt. 3:17), since God is Spirit, as we said above.
Having said this, he confirms his words with a proof from the lesser. If we accept human testimony about something, should we not all the more justly accept the greater testimony, from God? For this testimony about the Son of God, that is Christ, is it not from God Himself? Thus, he who believes in the Son of God, that He is God, as the Son of God, has the testimony in himself, because the believer is himself also adopted through Jesus, who was adopted by God. But the unbeliever is guilty in two respects: in unbelief, making God a liar, and in depriving himself of adoption, and through this, of eternal life, which Christ also has in Himself, as it is said in the Gospel: "in Him was life" (John 1:4). Therefore, whoever has the Son in himself through baptism also has life, for all of us who were baptized into Christ "have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). But whoever does not have the Son of God through baptism does not have life either; he is dead. For receiving us, dead in transgressions, He raises us through holy baptism. In what way? Because whoever through immersion in baptism was buried together with Christ is dead to the world, that is, to worldly desires, and lives no longer for the world, but for Christ.
1 John 5:6. And the Spirit testifies of Him, because the Spirit is truth.
Blessed Theophylact omitted here the following (seventh) verse:
1 John 5:7. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are one.
The reason for this, of course, is that he had at hand a text of the New Testament in which this verse is absent. Meanwhile, this verse is found in many other manuscripts of the New Testament, was used by the holy fathers and church writers, is necessarily required by the structure of the apostolic discourse, in short, this verse is undoubtedly authentic. – Makar. Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. 1, pp. 235–241. St. Petersburg, 1850.
1 John 5:8. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are in agreement.
1 John 5:9. If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God, which God has testified concerning His Son.
1 John 5:10. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has witnessed concerning His Son.
1 John 5:11. This testimony consists in the fact that God has granted us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
1 John 5:12. He who has the Son of God has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
These three are in one, that is, in relation to the testimony concerning Christ they show that He was adopted by God the Father, and that which He Himself received, He also transmitted to those who are worthy, who believe in His name.
1 John 5:13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you, believing in the Son of God, have eternal life.
1 John 5:14. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.