Looking at 1 Jn 5 Epistles of John

Jn 5:1-5 The three tests In Ch 2, John describes three tests which he applies to the professing Christian Obedience 2:3-6 Love 2:7-11 Belief 2:18-27 In Ch 3, he examines obedience (2:28-3:10) and love (3:11-18). In Ch 4, he looks at belief (4:1-6) and love (4:7-12). Now in Ch 5, the three tests are combined. Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Examining the words “Believe” and “faith” occur in vv1,4 and 5. “Love” occurs in vv1,2 and 3. “Obey” or “keep his commandments” occurs in vv2 and 3. The point is to show how the three tests belong together. Also, our love for God (at the end of ch 4) belongs together with our obligation to love our brother. Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Linking the tests The link between the three tests is the “new birth”. Faith, love and obedience are the natural growth which follows abirth from above, just as in 4:13-16, faith and love were shown to be evidences of the mutual indwelling of God and his people. Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

“Born of God” (v1) Present/ perfect tenses combined Believing is the consequence, not the cause of the new birth. A present continuing activity of believing New birth brings us into a loving relationship with our family: father and other children Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

“Keep his commandments” (vv2f) F.W.Robertson: “There is not love that does not shape itself into obedience.” Love for God is not an emotional experience so much as moral obedience. “My yoke is easy” (Mtt 11:30). Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

“Overcoming the world” (vv 4,5) “John gathers up the sum of all the limited, transitory powers opposed to God which makes obedience difficult” (Westcott) and calls it the world. Godless preoccupations (2:16) Intellectual sidetracks (heresy) Physical attack (persecution) Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Summary A circular argument: Christian believers are God’s children, born from above. God’s children are loved by all who love God. Those who love God also keep his commandments. They obey because they overcome the world. They overcome the world because they are Christian believers, born from above. Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Jn 5:6-17 The three witnesses How do we come to faith? Faith depends on testimony. Vv6-9 describes the nature of the testimony, vv10-12 the results of testimony and vv13-17 the consequent assurance. Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Jesus came by “water and blood” The two sacraments (Luther and Calvin)?? Jesus’ wound in Jn 19:34,35 (Augustine)? Tertullian: water relates to Jesus’ baptism and blood to his death. (Remember that John is countering heretics who held that Jesus was not fully human) Symbols of purification and redemption. Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

“The Spirit bears witness” (v6) The Spirit is personal: only a person can testify. The Spirit is truth (Jn 15:26. 16:13; 1 Jn 4:6) : he is essentially fitted and also constrained by his nature to bear witness. How? Because the Spirit is given to us (3:24; 4:13) and our confession of Christ comes from his anointing (2:20,27; 4:1-6). Objective and subjective testimony, historical and experimental, water and blood on the one hand and the Spirit on the other. Calvin: “ He it is who seals in our hearts the testimony of the water and the blood.” Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Vv10-12 The results of the testimony It evokes faith in Jesus (v10) It produces eternal life (vv11,12) Not a prize but a gift Not anywhere else but in the Son Not a past possession but a present relationship Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Vv13-17 The consequent assurance That my reader should hear That hearing they might believe That believing they might live That living they might know… ASSURANCE OF LIFE ASSURANCE OF ANSWERED PRAYER Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

Vv16f: A limitation on prayer? What is “sin unto death”? A specific sin? “Mortal” and “venial” sins? Apostasy? (Heb 6) Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? (Mk 3:29) Counterfeit Christians? Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5

5:18-21: Three affirmations The “born of God” don’t sin v18 You either belong to God or to the world v19 We know Him and we are in Him v20. V21 So avoid substitutes! Epistles of John Looking at 1 Jn 5