1 John 5
1 faith, gives us a new life, 2 life makes us obedience to Him (a power), this is our assurance of salvation 3-5 power to love
6-13
(1) Background
From the previous passage, the one who conquered the world is the one who believed, but what do they believe? John here made it clear to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Why is this a big deal? In epistles, the writer always wrote when the church they ministered to facing opponents. From the content and the historical background, we have to figure out what the opponent believed. The opponents here (secessionists) probably did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that they believed that in God alone (not the Son) they would have eternal life. Not only they told others that they were Christians and tried to teach others.
(2) Difficult passage
5:6 Jesus Christ is the one who came by water and blood—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
(PNTC)...there is a view that Jesus’ coming ‘by water’ and his coming ‘by blood’ must be taken together. It is argued that 5:6 reflects the view found in ancient Jewish sources that the human body is composed of two elements, water and blood. The whole statement that Jesus came ‘by water and blood’ is then seen as analogous to the author’s reference in 4:2 凡靈認耶穌基督是成了肉身來的，就是出於神的，從此你們可以認出神的靈來。.to Jesus’ coming ‘in the flesh’ (en sarki), both of which function as affirmations of his real humanity. Thus to say that he came ‘by water’ only would be to deny his real humanity. Adopting this view, we would have to say that Jesus’ coming [by water] was not something agreed upon by the author and the secessionists, but that it represented the secessionists’ denial of the real humanity of Jesus—a denial that the author strenuously opposed.
(3) Repeated words: testifies//truth v.7, 8, 9a, 9b, 10, 11
The Holy Spirit is the One who testifies by ascending on Jesus during His Baptism and remaining on Him. Therefore, the Holy Spirit verified that the "human" Jesus is the Messiah.
Second, God testified to the Son. Again during the Baptism of Jesus Mark 1:10 他從水裡一上來，就看見天裂開了，聖靈彷彿鴿子，降在他身上。11 又有聲音從天上來，說：“你是我的愛子，我喜悅你。”, and during the Transfiguration, Mark 9:7 有一朵雲彩來遮蓋他們，也有聲音從雲彩裡出來，說：“這是我的愛子，你們要聽他。” God spoke from Heaven. In this content, the testimony is that God has given to those who believe in Jesus Christ eternal life v.11-12. In other words, when a person believes in the Son, God gives that person eternal life. This fact proves that God "endorsed" the Son.
(NET) The expression “to have the Son” in 5:12 means to “possess” him in the sense that he is present in the individual’s life (see 1 John 2:23 for the use of the Greek verb “to have” to indicate possession of a divine reality). From the parallel statement in 5:10a it is clear that believing in the Son and thus having God’s testimony in one’s self is the same as “having” the Son here in 5:12a. This is essentially identical to John 3:16: “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” In contrast, the negative statement in 5:12b reflects the author’s evaluation of the opponents: “the one who does not have the Son does not have (eternal) life.” The opponents, in spite of their claims to know God, do not possess (nor have they at any time possessed, cf. 2:19) eternal life.
(3) Reflection
The eternal lives which are inside of us, the believers, are the living proof that God testifies for Jesus. We are in such honorable and important positions. How shall we live our lives today to reflect the value of eternal life, or the life from God? In v.1-3, those who have the lives have the power to love (to yield/sacrifice and to go extra miles/in action). Do you have the power?
If Jesus is not truly the Son of God we will not have this eternal life from God. We will be just like our old selves. However, that is not true. We see many lives being changed in our church and in the universal church. One of the people who will be baptized was interviewed by the pastor recently and I got the privilege to sit in the meeting. The family member of that person told us how that person is always happy. There may be things that bothered them, but very quickly they turned back into happiness again! May we be encouraged and firmly believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
v.13 John's purpose in writing this letter is let his audience to have the assurance of salvation and from that they will have a confidence of answering prayers.
1. Having an assurance in God was important, because when they faced the opponents they knew that what they believed was true. They would not be led away. Do we have the assurance? When being challenged by seemingly true teaching, how confident are we?
Audrey
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