Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXXII) 11/25/22

^5:5 But who could fight and win this battle except by believing that Jesus is actually God’s Son?

So, loving obedience, if it is to be the compliance of persons accepting and transmitting the love of God, must be done without complaining and reluctance. It must be willing submission that does not count any of God’s commandments as too hard; it recognizes God’s absolute right to command and confess nothing He mandates can be wrong. But the world comes in, and it must be somehow disposed of. It must be blocked and denied any influence on our position and duty as now brought out. In this view, says Candlish, I ask you to consider – (I) What the world is and how we can overcome it? (II) How do we overcome the world through new birth and faith?^[1]

With an inquiring mind, Daniel D. Whedon (1808-1885) says the interrogatory pronoun “who” used twice here caught Whedon’s eye. So, find the true world conqueror, and tell us who and what they are. Reveal the secret of their all-conquering strength; what is it? Faith. Faith in whom? In Jesus as the Son of God, all believers conquer the world and win eternal life.^[2]

In line with the Apostle John’s conclusions, Henry Alford (1810-1871) encourages us to ask, “How does our faith overcome the world? This verse furnishes the answer; because it brings us into union with Jesus the Anointed One, the Son of God, making us as He is and partakers of His victory.[3] Through this belief, we are born again as sons of God; we have Him in us, One greater than he who is in the world.[4] And this conclusion is put in the form of a triumphant question: What other person can do it? Who conquers the world, except those who believe that Jesus is God’s Son? Alford points out that Dutch theologian Simon Episcopius (1583-1643) provides this good explanation: “Look through the whole world and show me even one thing of which it can be truly affirmed that a Christian can conquer the world and is not endowed with faith.”^[5]

As a faithful and zealous scholar, William Graham (1810-1883) asks, “What faith is the Apostle John speaking of here in verse four?” This question was undoubtedly in the apostle’s mind as being put to him, and the fifth verse is the answer he gives, limiting and determining the general statement of the fourth verse more precisely. Then, to make the assertion more solid and emphatic, he puts it in the form of a question, thus, “Who are those that overcome the world, but those that believe that Jesus is God’s Son?”^[6]

Using his examiner’s zeal William E. Jelf (1811-1875) notes that the faith spoken of is here more clearly defined. It is not merely a vague general faith in God, which must exist even in religion, but the definite persuasion and trust that Jesus is the Son of God.^[7]

Because of the Apostle John’s attention to triumphant believers, John Stock (1817-1884) states that victory over the world is connected with the blessed discovery that the commandments of God are not that hard to keep. Worldly enticements are the snares of the disobedient. Our blessed Lord would have had followers among Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had it not been for the world. Many of the chief rulers believed in Him, except for the Pharisees. They did not confess Him to keep from being put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.[8] As King Solomon said, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.”[9]

Furthermore, men’s smiles bring seductions; both collapse the heart and imprison it, whereas faith, God’s gift, does not enlarge it and enable it, our senses see but a short distance, looking at temporal things. Robert Leighton (1611-1684), archbishop of Glasgow, Scotland, once said, “A small object before the eye eclipses a larger afar off, so this little world, where there is no faith, eclipses God and heaven.”

The world is then the soul’s idol and tyrant; it dreads any loss and rejoices in any increase in its benefits. The soul then is restless, for the world is incapable, be the efforts what they may, to satisfy it: only God can do that, whose loving-kindness is better than life itself.[10] The world hates the Anointed One because He testifies that its deeds are evil and forbids them. They also consider His mandates insupportable and will not let them rule their lives.[11] The world doesn’t realize who its master is, a murderer from the beginning who dominates the children of disobedience and who, by deceits, keeps up the hostility against God and silences by playing on the passions, disbelief, and ignorance of the world and keeps it in a false peace and worthless submission.[12]

John speaks here of a victory over the world, which delights and enriches the liberated that the born of God enjoy and possess. God implants faith in the human heart through His mercy and power, which brings a new sense, gives a remarkable capability of vision, sees Him that is invisible, and sets Him always before the soul. Thus, Moses became fearless and clever, preferring God to all the pleasures of sin and all the pomp and wealth of Egypt.[13] Faith presents a world, unseen by sense; and given substantially to things hoped for yet unseen.[14] God is seen to be mighty to save, tender in mercies, gentle in loving kindnesses, near to save, and rich in mercy to all that call upon Him,[15] whose favor is everything and whose just displeasure is unbearable. The soul’s worth is now somewhat recognized, and Jesus is altogether precious,[16] whose cross exhibits His unquestionable love, our wages, and sin’s exceeding sinfulness. His voice is heard by the dead, and they live. Faith conquers the world when His passion and salvation are sought and found. Only the overcomers of the world, to whom to live is the Anointed One and to die is gain[17] will be found in heaven.[18] ^[19]

As an ecumenical leader, Philip Schaff (1819-1905) Swiss-born American theologian whose works, especially the Creeds of Christendom (1877), helped set standards in the United States for scholarship in church history, shares an unusual story about Michael Servetus (1511-1553), a Spanish anatomist, astrologer, physician, and theologian who was too vain and obstinate to take advice about confessing the Son of God to be coequal and coeternal with the Father. At the beginning of 1531, he secured a publisher for his book on the “Errors of the Trinity,” He explains away the proof texts for the doctrine of the Trinity,[20] 1 John 5:7 (which he accepts as genuine, though Erasmus omitted it from his first Latin edition). Servetus also ignores the chief passages,[21] the baptismal formula,[22] and the apostolic benediction that coordinates the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.[23] Servetus does not accept the Trinity as three persons but as three dispositions of God.^[24] We find a similar position among the Unitarians today.[25]

Anti-evolutionary Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898), American Christian theologian, Southern Presbyterian pastor, Confederate States Army chaplain, architect, chief of staff, and biographer to Stonewall Jackson, tells us that belief is the preliminary condition of acting throughout all the acts of the soul. Everything a person does is because they believe something. Faith is the mainspring of a person’s activity in its broadest sense. Every decision arises from a belief, and none can occur without it. Hence, selecting faith instead of some other gracious exercise, which may be the fruit of regeneration, is the organic instrument of justification. Another reason may be found in the fact that faith works by love, purifies the soul, and is the victory that overcomes worldliness. Since faith is the principle of sanctification, in a sinner’s heart, it was eminently worthy of a God of holiness to select it as a term of justification.^[26]

After inspecting the Apostle John’s train of thought, William Kelly (1822-1888) offers that here in verses four and five, we have the assurance that it is not the solitary mystic nor the highly spiritual individual, but “All that is born of God overcomes the world.” Does not this stimulate as well as encourage the simplest child of God? Have not all such been born of God? The principle is plain for all to see: No single honest Christian is exempted from the privilege more than the responsibility to overcome. Since every believer is now an object of God’s love and in His family’s relationship, they are to overcome the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world (not service, sacrifice, or love,) but our faith.

Do you believe this? asks Kelly. Do not be faithless but faithful. It is by faith in our Lord Jesus that we are brought to and kept by God, so we discern and repel the enemy to obediently rest in His love who deigned to call us His friends. Faith is the victory that overcame the world, but how? This John next adds. It is “he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” It is now not as “the Anointed One” simply. It is the same Jesus, but the apostle further expresses His dignity. And it is always so with the real soul.

One might well begin with believing that He is Jesus the Anointed One. One might also have presented to faith yet more than this – though it was Good News to hear on divine authority that God anointed Jesus, having sent Him into the world for the everlasting good of those who believe, and this is the Anointed One. But here, we are told of His glory above the world as the eternal Son of God. Is not this far beyond His being the Anointed One on the earth? He was the Son of God before the world, and however, the world or His earthly Jewish people reject His glory as the Son of God will survive heaven and earth. He that came down was God humbling Himself in love, and He that went up was Man after redemption exalted above all the universe, Jesus the Son of God. He, who is God and man in one person, fills the Christian’s heart and will supply all things. We no longer look at Him only as the Anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all those domineered by the devil. We see Him in heavenly glory; we are enabled to appreciate Him in His eternal relationship with God, no less than to ourselves and to all else.^[27]

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[1] Ibid. The First Epistle of John Expounded in a Series of Lectures, op. cit., Lecture XXXVII, pp. 445-456

[2] Whedon, Daniel D., Commentary on the New Testament, op. cit., p. 277

[3] John 16:33

[4] 1 John 4:4

[5] Alford, Henry: The Greek Testament, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 498

[6] Graham, William: The Spirit of Love, op. cit., pp. 315-319

[7] Jelf, William E., Commentary on the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., p. 70

[8] John 12:42-43

[9] Proverbs 29:25

[10] Psalm 63:3

[11] Luke 19:14

[12] Ibid. 11:21

[13] Hebrews 11:29

[14] Ibid. 11:1

[15] Psalm 86:5

[16] Cf. John 1:14

[17] Philippians 1:21

[18] Cf. Revelation 3:21

[19] Stock, John: An Exposition of the First Epistle General of St. John, op. cit., pp. 411-415

[20] 1 John 5:7

[21] See John 10:30; 14:11; Romans 11:36

[22] Matthew 28:19

[23] 2 Corinthians 13:14

[24] Schaff, Philip: History of the Christian Church, op. cit., Vol. 8, pp. 605-610

[25] Unitarianism is a Christian religious denomination. Unitarians believe that God is only one person. Unitarians reject the Trinity and do not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Followers of Unitarianism also do not accept the concepts of original sin and of eternal punishment for sins committed on earth.

[26] Dabney, Robert L., Systematic Theology. Unknown. Kindle Edition

[27] Kelly, William: An Exposition of the Epistles of John the Apostle, op. cit., pp. 356-357

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXXI) 11/24/22

^5:5 But who could fight and win this battle except by believing that Jesus is actually God’s Son?

But the appeal the Apostle John so confidently made in his time is valid today. We may ask, as he did, where is there one who shows that they have obtained a complete victory over the world, except the faithful Christian? Barnes also wants to know whether there is anyone whose aim is not to stay alive. Furthermore, is there anyone who shows that their purposes regarding this world are subordinate to the world to come?

Surely, there are those now, as there were then, who break away from one form of sin and their circle of sinful companions. Yes, some change the enthusiastic passions of youth for the soberness of adult life; some see the folly of partying, carousing, and overindulgence; there are those who are disappointed in some ambitious endeavor and who withdraw from social contacts; there are those who, oppressed with the way things are going in the world are satisfied with sticking to their habits, and there are those whose hearts are crushed and broken by losses. If such sorrows and disappointments are surrendered to the Savior, as they sometimes do; if they lead the troubled mind to seek peace in His blood and support in the hope of heaven, then a real victory is obtained over the world. Then, when the hardship is over, they will see that there has been a work of grace in the soul that has effectually changed all its feelings and secured a triumph that shall be eternal.^[1]

With impressive theological vision, Richard Rothe (1799-1867) sees that verse five contains an expressed proof of the position that faith in Jesus as the Anointed One is the real power whereby they that are born of God overcome the world. The Apostle John appeals directly and boldly to his readers’ immediate consciousness and experience and asks them the question, “Who else than those that believe in Jesus as the Son of God overcomes the world?” It is a question of triumphant confidence in the indisputable truth of his assertion. Who can claim, like the Christian, to have overcome the world? The natural man lays no claim to such a victory. On the contrary, they regard themselves as one that must serve the world and do so with pride. However, Christians maintain that the world must serve them, not them serving the world.

Christians, however, are confident they can overcome the world; indeed, they know that by faith, victory over the world’s temptations involves a thoroughly reasonable manner. Their faith is the faith that Jesus is the Son of God, and as a man, a fellow human being, fought His way to perfect fellowship with God and has overcome everything in Himself that could have given the world any power over Him. Knowing this Jesus as the Conqueror and Lord of Satan’s empire in perfect fellowship with God, believers know that they belong through faith to this Jesus and that Jesus’ power, like His life and crown, are their own.

No doubt, faith in Jesus, which should regard Him, not as God’s Son, but only as a man, such as we all are, could not impart to us the consciousness of possessing the power to overcome· the world. That is why John lays such stress upon the fact that Jesus is God’s Son. How important it is in the interest of our religious, ethical confidence, and joyfulness to find in Jesus that which He is, namely, the Son of God, is very clear from this verse. Anyone to whom a Savior is unimportant will certainly also live a nasty and beggarly Christian life. In proportion, as the Savior is grand and lofty in our estimation, our Christian life will also be full of power and glory. To attempt to rob humanity of this sole true God-man is the most heinous crime committed against it.^[2]

Consistent with the Apostle John’s theme, Heinrich A. W. Meyer (1800-1882) notes that John introduces faith as the victory which overcomes the world. Faith is a critical factor because it is necessary in overcoming the world. When people believe, they turn around their life’s ambitions from the world to God. The necessity of faith is emphasized here in verse five, by an important question, “Who is he,” (KJV), “Who is it” (NIV), which is equivalent to “There’s no one else except the those,” who believe that Jesus is the Son of God can overcome the world’s attractions. Hence, the person who believes is born of God with love. Faith works through love; it puts into action the love force, which is self-contained in faith.^[3]

With noticeable comprehension Henry Cowles (1802-1881) observes the logic for connecting these first five verses with the introduction of “by” in verse two. We keep His commandments and do not find them “burdensome” because everyone born of God conquers the world. Observe next the use of whatsoever instead of whosoever (KJV) — the neuter pronoun in place of the more usual and natural masculine. The exact usage appears in John’s Gospel.[4] The neuter seems to be chosen to bear the sense of universality more decisively — absolutely all in its totality.

Then the word “overcometh,” in verse four, translates the common Greek word for being victorious, gaining the victory, which has the ring of War, battle, and triumph. The Apostle John used it in this epistle earlier concerning the Christian young men who had conquered the Evil One.[5] What, then, does John affirm here? Every soul, a newborn of God, becomes victorious over the world; being thus victorious keeps God’s commandments and does not find them difficult. When the world’s power over the heartbreaks, we obey God’s commandments with case and delight — find them no burden.

How is this victory over the world achieved? John has but one answer – by faith, which he explains to be “believing that Jesus is the Son of God,” and of course, taking hold of His strength as such, we can conquer the world because Jesus can give us this triumph and will if we trust Him by faith. So, first, John affirms this; then boldly challenges every opponent to show a case of such victory over the world achieved by any other force than this.

So, let all the human philosophies, educational forces, or social powers be summoned; can they produce one human soul lifted by their training and their boasted energy into real victory over the world? Such take to be a fair exposition of these precious words. Will the reader accept the suggestion that this truth is intensely, gloriously, and practical in the best sense? It comes to us in our moral weakness; finds us encompassed with temptations from without; weakened perhaps by moral defeats from within; put to complex conflicts against many a subtle, stubborn foe, and sometimes not a little discouraged – yet what does it say? Its words are not many, but they are wonderfully pregnant with meaning – “victory over the world;” and “victory through faith in God’s Son!” The truth put into these few words meets our case perfectly. Let it scatter our fears to the winds and lift our souls into the calm assurance of trust, peace, and victory.^[6]

Called a giant and rare thinker, Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872) perceives how the Apostle John transitions from love to faith in these first five verses. Formal writers on Theology or Ethics would have stopped to announce the beginning of a new subject. They would probably have told us they had been discussing one of the great Christian virtues or graces; now the time had come to explain the nature and signs of another. If we find no such hints in John’s epistle, we must not hastily conclude that he is uninterested in the method. Perhaps he is more careful of it than those writers mentioned above. Maybe he knows better than they what is the process of the human spirit, what is God’s method of awakening and directing the different energies with which He has endowed us.

But we cannot overcome the world by calculating the embarrassments we have undergone or predicting those we must yet go through. The only victory that overcomes the world is by faith, not faith in its weakness, but God’s strength; loving faith that embraces the world and subdues it to the believer’s will. However, John appears to be worried about his grand language leading to pride. The Church might be proud of its promised victory over the world, proud of the faith that was its to win. So, John must remind his disciples in whom they placed their faith, and what they believed: ‘Who are they that overcomes, only those that believe Jesus is the Son of God?’ Therefore, it is not a unique charm called faith; an endowment conferred upon particular favorites of Heaven that could give them a victory over the world.

On the contrary, the notion of such an endowment might make them into another world more selfish, less godly, than that which they denounced. Only by believing that Jesus, who died for all humanity, is the Son of God, and only by seeking fellowship with all people could they receive the Holy Spirit and be the conquerors of the world’s Spirit. And what was true for them is true for us. By believing in Him, we can declare that the meanest child on earth can become a child of God. Believing in Him, we can be members of that spiritual society that will grow wider and more blessed when the world and its selfish works burn up in the flames of the last day.^[7]

After looking things over, Robert S. Candlish (1807-1873) states that our union with the Father and joint possession of the new life is faith in the Anointed One. This faith is also a sign of spiritual life. “Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Anointed One is born of God.” “Believing” is used here in its complete and definite sense. In the third chapter, the Apostle John expresses belief in the revelation made concerning the Anointed One, and in chapter four, faith in the love manifested through Him. But here in Chapter Five, he expresses the personal relation of a believing soul to the Anointed of God. In addition to this truth about the Anointed One and the love He manifested, the reliance upon Him brings the believer into vital contact with Him. The one who believes that Jesus is the Anointed of God for the purposes of salvation not only admits an intellectual truth but receives all that is involved in that truth.

The Apostle John has previously considered the confession of the Anointed One concerning society, but he has here in mind solely the faith of a soul in the person of the Anointed One without any regard to another. It is a person meeting God in the Anointed One and with heart and mouth echoing God’s testimony about themselves and their Savior. It is the very essence of what is needed to make someone God’s child. It is more than assent to a proposition or a truth. It is even more than the expression of a fact. It is the naked contact of a soul with God through the Savior.^[8]

Candlish also comments that John brings in the “world,” and he does so during a singularly high estimate of the believer’s standing and character. He places them in a relationship of close intimacy with God and serious responsibility regarding the special duty that implies. For what is brotherly love, as John describes it? It is our letting the same love with which God loved us flow, through us, to all mankind, and our embracing all who accept that love as fellow believers in the Lord. John associates this exercise of love on our part, not only with God’s practice of love to us but also with our obligation of loving obedience to God.

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[1] Barnes, Albert: New Testament Notes, op. cit., 1 John 5, pp. 4874-4975

[2] Rothe, Richard: Exposition of the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., The Expository Times, January 1895, p. 178

[3] Meyer, Heinrich A. W., Critical Exegetical Handbook New Testament, op. cit., Vol. 10, p. 812

[4] John 6:39; 17:2

[5] 1 John 2:13,14

[6] Cowles, Henry: The Gospel and Epistles of John: with Notes, op. cit., pp. 353-354

[7] Maurice, Frederick D., The Epistles of St. John: A Series of Lectures on Christian Ethics, op. cit., Lecture XVI, p. 266

[8] Candlish, Robert S., The First Epistle of John, or, God Revealed in Life, Light, and Love, op. cit., pp. 207-219

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXX) 11/23/22

^5:5 But who could fight and win this battle except by believing that Jesus is actually God’s Son?

With his calculating mind, Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) agrees that God’s commandments are not grievous for two reasons: 1) Because He gives strength to bear them.[1] 2) Because love makes them light. They are not like the “mandatory laws to be obeyed,” which is the legal precision of the Pharisees laid on people’s consciences. Here again, we have an echo of the Master’s words; “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,”[2] which is the reason why keeping even the difficult commandment of loving others rather than oneself is not a grievous burden. The world and its ways, says Plummer, make the Divine commands distressing, and the new birth involved in faith gives us an unworldly nature and a strength which conquers the world. It is the person’s new birth from God that triumphs.^[3]

One of John Wesley’s co-leaders, Joseph Benson (1749-1821), speaks of the offices of the Anointed One, exhibited symbolically by water and blood, and the witnesses in heaven and earth that bear testimony to Him and His salvation by which some have overcome the world.[4] But are these overcomers immune to all earthly care, desire, and fear? Who is this person, and where are they to be found? Indeed, none will achieve or gain such a significant victory but those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”^[5]

Straightforward preacher Charles Simeon (1759-1876) declares that since Christianity is at war with sin and Satan, every follower of the Anointed One is by profession a warrior. The enemies they engage in combat are the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is one of these, especially, that the Apostle John speaks about: the world. Humanity at large is led captive by it. The Christian combats and overcomes it. In this respect, they differ from and surpass all the human race. John affirms these things in verse five. He offers a rule to regulate our conduct: “We must be as dead to the world,” even as our Lord Himself was. And does this appear unreasonable or impracticable?

Let anyone imagine several angels, sent down from heaven, to occupy different stations in the world for a season: how would they conduct themselves? They would take each station, whether it was to rule a kingdom or sweep the streets. They would look with contempt on all the vanities of the world; and would stand at the remotest distance from its contamination. They would be intent only on serving God in their respective places so that they might be approved by Him when called to give their report.

Therefore, what should hinder us from considering ourselves in this same position? True, we have corruptions, which the angels do not have, but these corruptions are to be forbidden, and not indulged in, and though carrying out our duty is the more difficult because of them, it is not one bit altered. Nor need we despair of attaining at least some measure of victory over the world; because the Spirit within us always has this bearing; and because the Lord Jesus the Anointed One, in whom we believe, has said, “My grace shall be sufficient for you.”[6] Therefore, John tells every regenerated soul, “Love not the world, nor anything that is in the world,”[7] “but let the same mind be in you as was in the Anointed One, Jesus,”[8] and endeavor in all things to “walk as He walked.”[9] ^[10]

Taking everything into consideration, Adam Clarke (1774-1749) accepts what the Apostle John said about believing that Jesus is the Son of God to mean: He is the promised Messiah, that He came by supernatural generation; and, although truly man, came not by man, but by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The person who believes this has the privilege of experiencing the benefits of the incarnation and passion of Jesus the Anointed One and receiving blessings that the Jews could not have because they did not believe in the Divine mission of the Anointed One.^[11]

Arduous Bible scholar Heinrich Leonhard Heubner (1780-1853), German-born theologian, educated at the Lutheran Seminary in Wittenberg, professor extraordinary of theology, and third director of the Theological Seminary at Wittenberg, says that to overcome the world, a believer must love others without prejudice; they must feel a kinship with those of one mind with them;[12] they must value the true children of God infinitely more than the unconverted. They express the genuineness and holiness of human love through their spiritual character. All acts of kindness are worthless without love.[13] Instead, they become mere natural impulses or masked selfishness. Since true love is associated with a clear conscience, it must not be rendered with a lack of enthusiasm or as part of some duty.

Now, since loving God requires obedience, then true love for others must also be accompanied by faithfulness and compassion. It is a bad sign for a believer to struggle for this strength[14] for the following reasons: 1) The light of faith conquers the errors, illusions, and delusions of false ideas; it sees through them, perceives their nothingness, and masters them; the Word of the Anointed One is the eternal, unchangeable truth; the star that never changes position, so that we do not swerve from the truth. 2) Faith conquers the alluring and fascinations of the world we encounter in its lusts, riches, and rewards; it conquers them by the love of the Anointed One by which heavenly riches, and eternal glory, are revealed. 3) It conquers the threatening’s of the world, the obstacles it raises, and and its persecutions; the call of the Anointed One to us is too mighty, and the crown of honor offered to us causes us to despise the contempt of the world. 4) Overcoming the world is an idea peculiar to Christianity because it contrasts the kingdom of God and the dictatorship of Satan. Unbelief is an offense against the Majesty of God, a denial of the holy miracles which God has wrought according to worldly ethics.^[15]

With unwavering trust in the Apostle John’s testimony, William Lincoln (1788-1844) says there are threats we must take care of excessive liberal thinking and permissiveness on the one side, where anything concerning the truth, honor, and person, and work of the Lord Jesus is concerned.[16] Believers must stand up for God. They must keep their eyes on the Lord. When people try to still the voices of good teachers on account of some rules invented by those who claim to have deeper insights, listen to the other side of the Word of God, that if you love Him, that birthed you, you will love others that are born of Him. You will then see the working of the divine life on one side and the other. “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”[17] ^[18]

In his influential style Augustus Neander (1789-1855) notes that the Apostle John shows believers what imparts strength to fulfill all these commands. “Loving God means obeying His commands. And God’s commands are not too hard for us because everyone who is a child of God has the power to win against the world. It is our faith that has won the victory against the world. So, who wins against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is God’s Son.”[19] These are the highest of all commands, instituted by the Anointed One and perfectly fulfilled by Him. The teachings delivered by Him in the Sermon on the Mount include the traits of sanctified holiness, such as having never been reached by any system of human ethics, before which every human spirit must bow in deep humility.

And yet we hear that these commands are not burdensome. But as the highest of all moral requirements, they should be the most difficult to follow. Therefore, when John says that these commands are not complicated, how can we understand them? He must have learned by experience that they are not hard to obey. So, if the struggle to follow is not in the commands themselves, nor in their relation to other moral mandates, nor in his assertion to obey, it must be in the changed position of mankind towards the divine law. In other words, what was once difficult, even impossible, has now become easy by virtue of a person’s moral transformation through the new birth. Thus, John assigns this as the reason that all who are born of God overcome the world.

From the fact then that believers receive strength to silence the world’s temptation songs, John assumes the consequence that these commands are no longer difficult for believers. We can, therefore, conclude what the requirements for fulfilling these commands to win a victory over the world are. However, only in conflict with the world can they be fulfilled. What makes their fulfillment difficult for many is when the world’s spirit becomes entangled with the believer’s spirit. The power of worldliness is not of God. To them whose spirit is ruled by the world, who feels drawn to the world and finds in it their highest good, to them the commands of God appear difficult.

Thus, we can conclude that believers receive the power that overcomes the world in the strength of divine life. Hence, John announces that all born of God can overcome the world through this victorious power that removes all hindrances to fulfill the commands. They possess the power whereby the difficult is made easy. So, the Anointed One invites to Himself those who feel weighed down, who cannot breathe freely, by reason of the burden of the Law, saying: “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light;”[20] made light by fellowship with Him, by the power which He imparts.^[21]

Speaking plainly, Albert Barnes (1798-1870) asks, are they any who pretend to have obtained a victory over the world, except those who believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior? All else is worldly and governed by worldly aims and principles. A person may indeed gain a victory over one earthly passion, subdue some sinful tendency, abandon the immoral crowd, may break away from improper habits, and may leave the corrupt and polluted crowd. However, unless they have faith in the Son of God, the spirit of the world will reign supreme in their soul in some form.

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[1] Philippians 4:13

[2] Matthew 9:30

[3] Plummer, Alfred: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, op. cit., First Epistle of St. John, pp. 156-157

[4] 1 John 5:5-9

[5] Benson, Joseph: Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, First John

[6] 2 Corinthians 12:9

[7] 1 John 2:15-16

[8] Philippians 2:5

[9] 1 John 2:6

[10] Simeon, Charles: Horæ Homileticæ, Vol. XX, Discourse 2463, pp. 520-525

[11] Clarke, Adam: Wesleyan Heritage Commentary, op. cit., Hebrews-Revelation, p. 394

[12] Philippians 2:2

[13] See 1 Corinthians 13

[14] 1 John 5:3

[15] Heubner, Heinrich, L., Lange’s Commentary on the New Testament, op. cit., Vol. IX, pp. 166-167

[16] Lincoln had in mind that last device of the devil, to break up the assemblies of God’s people by the horrible doctrine of non-eternal punishment, which is a slur upon the cross of the Anointed One.

[17] 1 John 5:4-5

[18] Lincoln, William: Lectures on the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., Lecture VIII, p. 142

[19] 1 John 5:3-5

[20] Matthew 11:30

[21] Neander, August: The First Epistle of John, Practically Explained, op. cit., pp. 278-281

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXIX) 11/22/22

^5:5 But who could fight and win this battle except by believing that Jesus is actually God’s Son?

The truth of this verse is not a shallow statement but a pronouncement of profound principle. Christians can live lives of victory in the face of powerful, daily pressures from the world system. They march to a different drummer. They have enough conviction not to be swayed by worldly living. Spiritual Christians have a distinct and independent procedure for evaluating life’s purpose and meaning.[1]

We overcome the unbelief inherent in worldliness, devoid of genuine trust in the eternal Son of God in all the fullness of His deity. Something in our new life in the Anointed One allows us to respond to God’s order of values and reject Satan’s scheme of corrupt morals. We overcome worldliness when we own God’s principles and live in harmony with those values. If we do not live in accord with those ideals, discord comes to our spiritual lives.

True faith, then, does not believe despite the circumstances but in spite of the cost. It acts on what God says as truth. It is not the faith of years ago when we first came to the Anointed One for salvation. It is the faith of moment-by-moment trust in God’s counter principles for life. The Word of God has a revelatory function in our spirituality. It shows the control of sin and the power of the Anointed One to counteract corruption. Faith in God’s provisions in His Word provides the ability to overcome sinful tendencies.

COMMENTARY AND HOMILETICS

This verse has comments, interpretations, and insights of the Early Church Fathers, Medieval Thinkers, Reformation Theologians, Revivalist Teachers, Reformed Scholars, and Modern Commentators.

With apostolic overtones, Œcumenius, (died 990 AD), tells us that intellectual faith in an abstract idea or object does not overcome the world. Instead, as John makes plain, it must be complete faith in Jesus the Anointed One.[2]

Monastery supporter, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) states that when it comes to believing in Jesus as God’s Son, “What could result from the contemplation of compassion so marvelous and so undeserved, favor so free and so well attested, kindness so unexpected, clemency so unconquerable, grace so amazing, except that the soul should withdraw from all sinful affections, reject all that is inconsistent with God’s love, and yield herself wholly to heavenly things? It is no wonder that the bride, moved by the perfume of this unction, runs swiftly, all on fire with love, yet reckons herself as loving all too little in return for the bridegroom’s love?”[3]

From his perspective, Juan of Ávila (1499-1559), Spanish priest, preacher, academic author, and religious mystic states that “There is no book so effective towards the instructing of a man in all virtue and abhorrence of all sin as the Passion of the Son of God.”

From humble circumstances, Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, a Spanish noblewoman who answered the call to convent life in the Catholic Church wrote, “I wish to mention, that the affliction is but little, in comparison with the far greater gain which is acquired when the works correspond with the acts and words mentioned; and that she who cannot do all at once, should do it gently, and by degrees; and if she wishes to derive any benefit from prayer, she should also bend her will; for even in these little retired spots, she will not want many occasions of exercising patience. Remember that this is much more important than I can express: Fix your eyes on your Crucified Lord, and everything will seem easy to you.”[4]

Reformation writer Matthew Poole (1624-1679) states that our belief, that is, our faith in Jesus as God’s Son and the Messiah, fills the soul with great insights concerning Him and the reason for His coming among us and what we are to expect as a result. But, on the other hand, it makes it easy to turn this world into a shameful pretender and rob it of its former power.[5]

From his viewpoint William Burkitt (1650-1703) notes that the Apostle John has spoken of the usefulness of faith in the former verse. First, it overcomes the world; next, it discovers the object of this faith: the proposition that Jesus is the Son of God. The faith which overcomes the world is belief in the divinity and sonship of Jesus the Anointed One. We overcome the world by believing in Him that conquered it, Jesus the Anointed One, who purchased, promised, and prepared a better world than what we see, or can see, with our bodily eyes and made us joint heirs of the Anointed One’s eternal glory.

Let us notice that some reason for the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus bears witness to the truth of His doctrine, the reality of His miracles, and the certainty of His mission. So, the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures, breathing in the believer’s conscience, bears witness to their soul, that Jesus the Anointed One came to save them by the water of sanctification, as well as with and by the blood of redemption; and that this witnessing Spirit is the Spirit of truth.^[6]

With a thoughtful mind, Matthew Henry (1662-1714) tells us that true love for the people of God may be distinguished from natural kindness or party attachments in being united with God’s agápē and obedience to His commands. The same Holy Spirit that taught divine love will have taught submission also, and that mankind cannot genuinely love God’s children, who, by habit, sin or neglect their known duties. As God’s mandates are holy, just, and good rules of liberty and happiness, those who are born of God and love Him, do not count them grievous but lament that they cannot serve Him more perfectly. Self-denial is required, but true Christians have a principle that carries them above all hindrances. Though the conflict is often sharp, and the regenerate may be cast down, they will rise and renew their combat with resolution.

But all, except believers in the Anointed One, are enslaved in some respect or other, says Henry, to the world’s customs, opinions, or interests. Faith is the cause of victory, the means, the instrument, and the spiritual armor that helps us overcome. Faith sanctifies the heart and purifies it from those sensual lusts by which the world obtains sway and dominion over souls. It has the indwelling Spirit of grace, which is greater than he who dwells in the world. The honest Christian overcomes the world by faith; they see in and by the life and conduct of the Lord Jesus on earth that this world is to be renounced and overcome. They cannot be satisfied staying in this world but look beyond it, still tending, striving, and pressing toward heaven. After the Anointed One’s example, we must all overcome the world, or it will overcome us to our ruin.^[7]

With scholarly meditation James Macknight (1721-1800) tells us that the Jews universally believed their Messiah or the Anointed One was the Son of God. We see this in many passages of scripture. Therefore, the Jews sought to kill Him because He broke the Sabbath and said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.[8] The Jews’ response was not to stone Him because of His miracles, but for blasphemy, and because being human, He made Himself out to be God. Then we have Jesus’ confrontation with the High priest and Sanhedrin, who demanded a reason He should not be killed for claiming to be the Anointed One, the Son of God.[9] After all, the high priest, and the council composed of men of the highest rank and learning among the Jews, believed that the coming Anointed One was the Son of God and that the Son of God Himself is God; otherwise,,,, they could not have reckoned Jesus a blasphemer, for calling Himself the Anointed One the Son of God.^[10]

Skillfully, John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) states emphatically that it is only by believing in the Anointed One as the true Messiah and only begotten Son of God, and depending on Him, by a living and effectual faith, for justification, sanctification, and complete salvation, that any person, Jew or Gentile, can be weaned from the spirit killing things of this world.^[11]

For example, Thomas Scott (1747-1821) explains that “That which is born of God” refers to the heavenly nature communicated in regeneration. This divine spirit motivates the believer toward God and holiness with earnestness. Furthermore, it includes in its essence spiritual judgment and holy affections. This unique essence is found in those made victorious over the world. They succeeded in overcoming both their natural love for the world’s honors, riches, pleasures, awards, and friendship and their fear of the world’s displeasure, rage, and contempt. As a result, they are prepared for losses, exercising self-denial, and enduring affliction in the cause of God. As a result, believers learn to disregard the maxims, fashions, customs, and opinions of ungodly people, however well-known, numerous, or powerful.

The heart’s desire of even the youngest of those born of God is to gain victory over all that kept them in sinful bondage in the world. Though the conflict of grace with corrupt nature, and the allurements and terrors of the world, is often very sharp; and the regenerate person may be baffled, cast down, and wounded in battle: yet “His seed remains in them,”[12] and the divine life, being again invigorated by the Holy Spirit, will excite them to rise and renew their fight, with redoubled fortitude and resolution. In the end, their victory will be definite; they will stick to the truth and do God’s will no matter what loss, suffering, disgrace, or hardship may follow. According to Scott, in acquiring this honorable “victory,” faith is principally concerned. It comes by realizing the truth in God’s testimony concerning invisible and eternal things.^[13]

According to Robert Jamieson (1802-1880), Andrew Fausset (1821-1910), and David Brown (1803-1897) they hear the Apostle John asking, who could fight and win this battle other than by believing that Jesus is the true Son of God? They find this verse as confirming, by a triumphant question defying all contradiction, as an undeniable fact,[14] that the victory which overcomes the world is faith. For it is by believing that we become one with Jesus, God’s Son, to partake of His victory over the world. Thus, there lives in us One greater than he who rules the world.[15] It poses the question, can anyone in the world be found who has overcome the world by any other means than faith?[16]

In his classical style, Sir John Robert Seeley (1834-1895), a liberal British Historian and political essayist stated that “He who has a faith, we know well, is twice himself.” The world, the conventional order of things, goes down before the weapons of faith, before the energy of those who have a glimpse, or only think they have a foretaste, of the eternal or customary order of things.^[17] So it appears that some in the world did listen.[18]

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[1] Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21

[2] Œcumenius: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Bray, Gerald, ed., op. cit., Vol. XI, p. 222

[3] Bernard of Clairvaux, De Diligendo Deo (On Loving God) Published by Catholic Spiritual Direction, Ch. 4, p. 9

[4] Teresa of Ávila, The Interior Castle, Trans. by the Rev. John Dalton, T. Jones, Paternoster Row, London, 1852, p. 194

[5] Poole, Matthew: Matthew Poole’s commentary on the Holy Bible – Book of 1st, 2nd & 3rd John (Annotated), Kindle Edition

[6] Burkitt, William: Expository Notes, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 735-736

[7] Henry, Matthew: Concise Commentary on the Bible, op. cit., p. 2058

[8] John 10:33

[9] Matthew 26:59-67

[10] Macknight, James: Apostolic Epistles with Commentary, Vol. VI, pp. 104-105

[11] Brown, John of Haddington: Self-Interpreting Bible, N. T., Vol. IV, p. 506

[12] 1 John 3:9

[13] Scott, Thomas: Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VI, pp. 405-406

[14] 1 John 5:4

[15] Ibid. 4:4

[16] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Testament Volume, op. cit., p.729

[17] Seeley, Sir John, Natural Religion, Macmillan and Co., London, 1882, p. 35

[18] See John 8:47; 1 John 4:6

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXVII) 11/18/22

^5:4 because everyone who is a child of God has the power to win against the world.

As an expert on John’s writings, John Painter (1935) remarks that even with the Anointed One’s victory, worldly society still lies bound in the grip of the Evil One. Even under these circumstances, the capacity for success is evident with the affirmation that we are God’s children, as evil forces dominate the world around us,[1] which implies that the evil one no longer has the power to demand obedience from us. This power comes from the divine ability to conquer worldly influence. Our faith overpowered and continues defeating the world’s endless temptations. As the Apostle Paul forcefully stated, “Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through the Anointed One, who loved us.”[2] Our faith has the power to conquer worldliness.^[3]

Ministry and Missions Overseer Muncia Walls (1937) notes that the Apostle John again employs a statement in verse four that may not be clear to the reader. Why did he say “whatsoever,” [KJV] instead of “whosoever,” is born of God? We know that John is speaking of those born again but is also talking about their experience. That gives the born-again child of God overcoming triumph through the experience already received and undergoing new creation in the Anointed One. John is not implying a once-for-all-time experience that overcomes the world with this comment; the Greek verb nikaō in this statement suggests “constantly overcoming the world.” We receive the capability to continue conquering the world when the Holy Spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit within the child of God enables them to continue walking in victory over this world. John says our overwhelming victory is our faith.[4]

An articulate spokesman for the Reformed faith James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), points out the three tests in verses two to four. For instance, no infant is born into isolation or unique because their mannerisms and attributes do not connect with their ancestors. For one thing, they are born into a family relationship. For another, they possess at least some of the attributes of those who reproduced them. Spiritually speaking, this means that the child of God exhibits the features the Apostle John letter has been teaching.  

The first characteristic is love for the parent and God’s other children. Earlier, John said this feature in God’s children is “loving God.”[5] Now he shows equally that it is a virtue of the child of God to be loved by those who are also members of God’s family. Love divorced from obedience is not love at all. So, John immediately passes from love to the second matter of God’s mandates, saying, “This is love for God, to obey His commands.”[6] Christians frequently attempt to turn love for God into a mushy emotional experience, but John does not allow this in his epistle. Love for the brethren means an active love that expresses itself.”

Similarly, love for God means a love that expresses itself in obedience to His commandments. These verses define the third of John’s tests as belief and obedience. The implication is that, just as it is inconceivable to have love without obedience or being obedient without love, it is also impossible to have love or obedience without belief in Jesus as the Anointed Son of God. John wrote his Gospel to lead men and women to this twofold confession.[7] These three statements express three essential principles: That which is victorious over the world has its origins in God. Indeed, no victory would be possible if it were not for the reality of that new life that sprang from God and was planted within the Christian.^[8]

After a long look at the Apostle John’s message William Loader (1944) implies that John felt urged to explain this spiritual family connection more directly because only God’s children overcome the world. The children of God are able to fulfill the command to love because they can counter the pressures brought against them by the world and its corrupt value systems. Their base is not selfishness and greed but compassion and caring. Starting from this base and allowing themselves to gain such understanding and comfort, they are free to pass on empathy and thoughtfulness without being crippled by the world’s agenda of proving themselves and bettering themselves at the expense of others.

Great Commission disciple David Jackman (1945) believes that victory is the third and last characteristic evidence of true faith in a Christian’s life and experience. That’s why everyone born of God overcomes the world. The idea is not new. We can see past what the opposition has planned to combat the things of God. The evil one has complete control of the world’s society.[9] But the new birth removes us from that sphere of decay and death[10] and translates us into the kingdom of eternal life.[11] ^[12]

After studying the context surrounding verse four, John W. (Jack) Carter (1947) remarks that though the faithful have been marginalized, persecuted, and even martyred, they have not been defeated and never will be. The evil nature that permeates this world seeks to consume all who will submit to it, but that evil is powerless against the Holy Spirit and cannot destroy the spirit of a faithful follower of the LORD. By dwelling in the believer’s heart, the Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation, a seal that cannot be “overpowered” by the evil one.  Satan, his minions, or the immoral people of this world cannot take away salvation from any believer. 

Consequently, the believer has eternally overcome this enemy through the power of the Holy Spirit. The ability to “overcome the world” comes from one simple promise of God:  when one places their faith and trust in Him, one is no longer condemned to eternal death by their sin. The very point of salvation is that one is saved from an eternity apart from God. Sin no longer has the power to condemn someone who has placed their faith and trust in God.  God is victorious over evil by gracefully granting forgiveness to those who love Him.^[13]

From one who loves sharing Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) tells us that the reason why God’s commands are not a bitter burden[14] is that personal faith enables believers to break free of the world’s downward pull.[15] That is the essence of verse four, where the Apostle John says, “everyone given spiritual rebirth from God overcomes the world.” But the phrase everything born of God) is used in personal terms here. John chooses a construction in verse four that emphasizes the quality and elite status believers possess by receiving supernatural renewal through a regenerating act of God appropriated by faith.[16] [17]

A believer that Christians can fall away, Ben Witherington III (1951) feels that the Apostle John’s declaration that everyone born of God conquers the world’s ungodly behavior and morals. Since this remark is attached to what has come before, it presumably means that born-of-God persons can escape the gravity of this world, which holds us down and hinders us from obeying God’s commands, particularly the command to love. “The children of God are able to fulfill the command to love because they can counter the pressures brought against them by the world and its value systems … they are free … to pass on that compassion and caring without being crippled by the world’s agenda of proving oneself and bettering oneself at the expense of others.”[18]

Witherington points out that the Greek present active verb Nika (“overcomes”) indicates that the struggle is ongoing but winnable. Here we are told what amounts to the key to overcoming the world: “our faith.” Even better, John tells us by what means the world is driven back. The participle here, nikesasa indicates an event in the past: the hour in which a Christian first believed. Interestingly, only here in the Final Covenant do we have the noun Nike (“victory.”)[19]

With her seminarian insight, Judith Lieu (1951) agrees that verse four provides a transition from the previous section, emphasizing love as the defining mark of those in a close relationship with God. However, such an accord is inseparable from belief in the true identity of Jesus. Just as love bound them together with God, and separated them from all that opposes God, so does hostility bind the world together in their ungodly belief. Earlier, the Apostle John assured his readers that victory over the world was already theirs.[20] John may be drawing this conclusion from the final battle at the end of time between forces on God’s side against the evil followers of Satan.[21] It may have been strong enough for John to include it in his compliment to the young men because you have defeated the Evil One.[22] The victory did not lie in their achievements but in the superiority of the one who dwelled in them. So they were encouraged to see their struggles as a scene from the future conflict between good and evil, eternal life, and everlasting punishment.^[23]

Contextual interpretation specialist Gary M. Burge (1952) notices that the Apostle John repeats what he said in verse one about people who understand the true identity of the Anointed One as those who love God and all His children who obey His commands as people who have been born of God. If they have such divine power, the mandate to love cannot be a burden. No impediment, no temptation from the world, can rob them of moral victory. Therefore, the triumph of the Christian life is not about us as we are in the world. It is about power – transformation through a rebirth – and how that power defeats the world’s impulses that once controlled us.^[24]

Emphasizing the Apostle John’s call to fellowship, Bruce B. Barton (1954) notes that the Greek adjective pan to (“whatsoever” KJV; “whatever” NKJV) designates the collective unit of believers, not just a single believer. In the next verse, the Apostle John referred to the individual. This same pattern – speaking of the collective body of believers and then of each believer – is also found in John’s Gospel.[25] The unified corporate body of regenerated believers – the Christian community – has the power that overcomes (conquers or defeats) the world’s dominant influence.[26] In verse five, Barton points out that the word overcomes implies a “military conquest.” The world looks at God’s commands as limiting and burdensome, but Christians (those born of God) know that obeying God cannot be troublesome because of the power within them and because they desire to please Him, since, by faith, we know we have already overcome.^[27]

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[1] 1 John 5:19

[2] Romans 8:37

[3] Painter, John. Sacra Pagina: 1, 2, and 3 John: Volume 18, Kindle Edition

[4] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., p. 83

[5] 1 John 5:2

[6] Ibid. 5:3

[7] John 20:30-31

[8] Boice, James Montgomery: The Epistles of John, An Expositional Commentary, op. cit., pp. 125-128

[9] 1 John 5:19

[10] Ibid 2:17

[11] Ibid 3:14

[12] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Letters, op. cit., p. 142

[13] Carter, Dr. John W. (Jack). 1,2,3, John & Jude: (The Disciple’s Bible Commentary Book 48), op. cit., pp. 119-120

[14] 1 John 5:3

[15] See William Loader, The Johannine Epistles, (1992), op. cit., p.61; Daniel Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition, 1,2,3 John, p. 192

[16] Cf. 1 John 5:1

[17] Yarbrough, Robert W.. 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., p. 275

[18] See William Loader, The Johannine Epistles, (1992), op. cit., p.61

[19] Witherington, Ben III, Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[20] 1 John 4:4

[21] Revelation 20:10

[22] 1 John 2:13-14

[23] Lieu, Judith: The New Testament Library, I, II, & III., op. cit., p. 206

[24] Burge, Gary M., The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary), op. cit., pp. 192-193

[25] John 6:37. 39; 17:2. 24

[26] See 1 John 5:5; John 16:33

[27] Burton, Bruce B., 1, 2, & 3 John (Life Application Bible Commentary), op. cit. pp. 107-108

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXVI) 11/17/22

^5:4 because everyone who is a child of God has the power to win against the world.

It is not the mere fact of having received the Divine birth that John insists on, notes Plummer, but the permanent results of that birth.[1] This is the victory that overcomes! Better, the conquest that subdued the world is this victory won once and for all.[2] So faith, which is “the proof of things not seen,”[3] which “are eternal,”[4] has conquered the visible world and, is on its way out.[5] Faith is both the victory and the victor by the faith that has won a decisive victory, the believer conquers.^[6]

A prolific writer on the Epistles, George G. Findlay (1849-1919) notes that it was a dismal world the Apostle John surveyed – a world with Roman Domitian for its emperor, Juvenal for its poet, and Tacitus for its historian. People lay crushed beneath the tyrannies and evils of that age in all directions. Nowhere, except in the Christian camp, are John and his comrades standing erect and free, confident and resourceful. So, cries the Apostle, “Who are they that overcome the world?” Then he answers his question, “none except those that believe Jesus is the Son of God!” Victory is the word in which, at this threatening hour, the last of the Apostles sums up his personal experience and records the issue of the first grand campaign of the Anointed One’s kingdom, during which its future course and history had been rehearsed. He sees “the darkness of ignorance passing away, and the true light of the Gospel already shining.” That is why Jesus was bold enough to say, with Gethsemane and Calvary beckoning Him, “Be of good cheer: I have overcome the world!”[7] ^[8]

In agreement with the Apostle John’s goals, William Macdonald Sinclair (1850-1917) finds that one of the difficulties believers encounter in keeping God’s commands is coping with worldly opposition and influence. Nevertheless, you are a faithful child of God. You fight as a conqueror because God is in you; God overcame the world in the Anointed One and is still conquering evil through His sons and daughters: so that all His mandates are friendly.[9] The Apostle John then injects a new thought suitable to the mood of the passage, which establishes that faith is the measure of love. As human instruments achieve the conquest that is overcoming worldliness, its agent may be regarded as our faith, which appropriates the Anointed One’s work, and carries it out for Him and through Him.[10] ^[11]

Undoubtingly, says Charles Gore (1853-1932) the victory which overcame the world represents “our faith.” But the context shows that the faith the Apostle John is thinking of is an assurance resting upon facts of experience – the truths of the Anointed One’s human life, which justifies the belief in the divine sonship of those born again. The victory of our faith depends upon the triumph by Him in whom we have believed. It is His victory appropriated by us.^[12]

A Church Pulpit Commentary contributor Archdeacon Henry Edward James Bevan (1854-1935) an English Anglican priest explains that “faith” has two meanings in the Final Covenant. The Apostle John uses it in a concrete sense of a definite form of belief embodied in a Christian Creed such as “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.” But more commonly, it is used in an abstract sense, of the moral quality of the soul – a quality which may be, and which is, as frequently employed in the secular life as in the spiritual. Just as the art of painting is related to a particular painter or picture, so is faith as a moral quality related to a specific group or teachings. Our Lord likens the moral quality called faith to the vital force which lives and works in nature: “‘If you have faith the size of a mustard seed … nothing will be impossible to you.”[13]

We must also recognize that faith is a quality that ensures a believer’s growth and maturity. It does not operate suddenly or make instant miraculous changes; it takes time like the mustard seed, it is faith that removes mountains of difficulty, that overcomes the multiple dangers, oppositions, weaknesses, and impossibilities, of this mortal life of ours, and casts them into the sea of human triumph. When we examine intellectual effort, it points out the difference between competent and incompetent teachers. The truth is that one believes, and the other does not believe in how practical their training and instruction areee to their students. A good teacher believes that their efforts will never be wasted no matter how unpromising the soil on which the good seed is sown.^[14]

Beyond doubt, Alonzo Rice Cocke (1858-1901) agrees that the specific form of life that God filled us with is to defeat worldly temptations, and the one source for victory is faith. The Apostle John does not say by faith we attain success. He says faith is itself the victory that overcomes the world. Faith gains strength in victory by withstanding worldly conflicts. When faith remains steadfast in its quiet, healthy process of development, the whole subsequent Christian life is nothing else than a continuation of the victory over the world. The Anointed One says not that He will, but He has overcome the world,[15] and bids believers rejoice in this assurance; so, faith, by fellowship with the Anointed One, thus sharing in His victory over the world. Therefore, we must be distrustful of all efforts to cure the evils of the world that do not rest upon this foundation; even though they may accomplish single reforms, a radical cure of the disease is not to be affected by such means. The Anointed One gained this victory, and harvesting its fruit is still going on.^[16]

In reviewing the Apostle John’s theme here, Archibald T. Robertson (1863-1934) states that God’s commandments are not heavy because of the power that comes with the new birth. Jesus won the victory over the world,[17] and God in us[18] gives us the victory. Even our faith. Our faith in Jesus the Anointed One is shown by our confession and conduct.^[19]

In characteristic fashion, Alan England Brooke (1863-1939) sees in verse four the power each Christian has in virtue of the new birth from God. The Apostle John emphasizes the power of the new delivery rather than its possession by each individual. Everyone born of God has within themselves a force strong enough to overcome the resistance of all the world’s evil powers, which hinders them from loving God. Our faith that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God, is accepted not as an intellectual conviction but as a principle of life, overcoming the powers of the world, which contend for a different lifestyle. John must be thinking of the conversion of each community member. The most natural reference is to the definite withdrawal of the false teachers from the fellowship of the Church. There is no apparent reference to the victory of the Anointed One over the world,[20] which His followers share in virtue of their faith in so far as they unite themselves with Him.^[21]

With an eye for detail, David Smith (1866-1932) proposes that the reason why “God’s commandments are not heavy” is that our faith conquers the world by clinging to God’s eternal principles and realities. We must believe that, despite our appearance, we are God’s, and God is in us and working His saving will in us. The Apostle John begins with “conquering” because the fight is in progress, then “overcoming” because the victory is assured.^[22]

As a spiritual mentor, Ronald A. Ward (1920-1986) feels that the Apostle John’s message in verse four is that everything born of God conquers the world. So that leaves the question do they overcome? One thing John know is that it is not the properties but the persons. John emphasizes the totality and the experience. This means that the key to winning was faith. In addition, John sees the victory as in the past “the victory that overcame the world,”[23] and in the continuous present “overcomes the world.”[24] [25]

In a somewhat confrontational way, Peter S. Ruckman (1921-2016) points out that in the KJV the Apostle John says, “whatsoever,” not “whosoever.” The Greek adjective pas means each, every, any, all, everyone, and everything. Collectively, pas implies some of all types. In his Lexicon, Strong tells us that in verse four it is neuter meaning “anything and everything.” From the context, John is not referring to trees, animals, mountains, etc., but to each child of God since they have God’s power against the evil one and his world.[26]

As a capable scripture analyst Ian Howard Marshall (1934-2015) questions that in light of all the Apostle John has said so far, how can the believer keep God’s commandments to perfection? The Apostle answers that God has given believers the power to conquer the forces of temptation that would hinder them corm carrying out His will. Everyone born of God has defeated the world by the power given to them that enables them to vanquish false prophets[27] and also empowers them to subdue the world with all its temptations. And what is this power? Faith fuels our victory. The fact that we hold steadfast faith in our hearts is the means whereby the new world’s power operates in us and allows us to subdue the world’s attractions.

It is striking that John says that we have gained control over the world. Perhaps he is thinking of the completed victory of Jesus, which repeats itself in the life of the Christian.[28] Or maybe we should take John’s meaning to be: “this is the means of victory, namely what we believe about Jesus who has already overcome the world.” To believe that Jesus has been victorious is to have the power that enables us also to win the battle, for we know that our enemy is already defeated and therefore powerless. And it is precisely faith that we need.

Sometimes, the power of evil appears uncontrollable to the natural eye, and to the weak Christian, the force of temptation seems irresistible. It requires a firm belief in Jesus to motivate us to dismiss sin’s enticing, uncontrollable evil as an illusion to escape the conflict. But that is far from the truth; it is right in the middle of evil’s display of power that the believer confronts its challenge and proclaims the superior might of Jesus. Such faith is far from being a wish fulfillment or sheer illusion. On the contrary, it rests squarely on the truth that Jesus the Anointed One has triumphed over death, and anybody who can defeat death can destroy anything.^[29]

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[1] Cf. John 3:6, 8

[2] Ibid. 16:33

[3] Hebrews 11:1

[4] 2 Corinthians 4:18

[5] 1 John 2:17

[6] Plummer, Alfred: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, op. cit., First Epistle of St. John, pp. 156-157

[7] John 16:33

[8] Findlay, George G: Fellowship in the Life Eternal: An Exposition of the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 359

[9] Cf. 1 John 3:9; 4:4; John 16:33

[10] Cf. 1 John 2:13-14, 23; 4:4; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

[11] Sinclair, W. M: New Testament Commentary for English Readers, Charles J. Ellicott, (Ed.), op. cit., Vol. III, pp. 490-491

[12] Gore, Charles: The Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 195

[13] Matthew 17:20

[14] Bevan, Henry Edward James: The Church Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., Vol. 12, The Victory of Faith, pp. 316-318

[15] John 16:33

[16] Cocke, Alonzo R: Studies in the Epistles of John; or, The Manifested Life, op. cit., p. 123

[17] John 16:13

[18] 1 John 4:4

[19] Robertson, Archibald T., Word Pictures of the New Testament, op. cit., pp. 1966-1967

[20] John 16:33

[21] Brooke, Alan E., Critical and Expository Commentary of the Johannine Epistles, op. cit., pp. 130-131

[22] Smith, David: Expositor’s Greek Testament, op. cit., p. 194

[23] See 1 John 2:13

[24] Ibid. 5:4; 5:5

[25] Ward, Ronald A., The Epistles on John and Jude, op. cit., p. 54

[26] Ruckman, Dr. Peter S., General Epistles Vol. 2 (1-2-3 John, Jude Commentary), op. cit., loc. cit. Kindle Edition

[27] 1 John 4:4

[28] John 16:13

[29] Marshall, Ian Howard: The Epistles of John (The New International Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 228-229

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXV) 11/16/22

^5:4 because everyone who is a child of God has the power to win against the world.

As a monarch in the pulpit, Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) finds that no Final Covenant writer frequently uses the metaphors of combat and victory as this gentle Apostle, John. Few conceived the Christian life as a daily conflict, and none of their writings makes the clear note of triumph in the word “overcomes” ring out so constantly as it does in those of the Apostle of Love. The prominence John gives to the contemplation of abiding in the Anointed One is equally characteristic of his writings. These two conceptions of the Christian life appear to be conflicting but are harmonious. But as to the words in verse four, they appear in a very remarkable context here.

If you read a verse or two before, you will get the distinctiveness of their introduction. “This is the love of God,” says John, “that we keep His commandments: for His commandments are not burdensome.” They are awkward and challenging in themselves; it is difficult to do right, walk in the ways of God, and please Him all the time. Yes, His mandates are hard to carry out – but let’s read on; – “Does it say they are not grievous for those born of God to keep His commandments?” No! “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world.” For John, that is the same as obeying God’s commandments. First, notice, what is the true notion of conquering the world? Secondly, how that victory may be ours through faith.^[1]

For instance, Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) sees the Apostle John introduce why the love-command is not grievous. Because after our new birth, we come into a state of victory, actually begun and ideally completed by our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. We can assume that worldly influence causes any difficulty in obedience –feelings inwardly or outwardly. The desire for worldly pleasures and personal pride imparts a burdensome aspect to our Lord’s commands. Also, we must sometimes deal with worldly temptation and persecution. These are foes of spiritual obedience. But whoever is born of God learns to cope successfully with these distractions. Obedience contains a conquering principle and will help sweep such difficulties out of the way.

The conflict will be great sometimes, and the desire for worldly things is not subdued all at once; nevertheless, our new nature goes on to victory and overcomes it in the end. For it is like God. “Whomever God births” covers all believers, whether man, woman, or anything else.[2] The world’s philosophy and immorality, on the other hand, compete with God’s Spirit. So, the depravity of human nature is a part of the world. Therefore, faith is the victory that overcomes what the world throws at us.[3]

The Abarim Bible Dictionary explains that the Greek verb nikaō is in the aorist present tense (which indicates that the action was started and is ongoing). It also specifies that whoever is born of God performs the action instead of receiving it. In addition, its mood is indicative (which describes a current situation) as opposed to a condition that might be, is wished for, or commanded to be.[4] In other words, the believer’s overcoming is not in the past; it is a daily process. Furthermore, it is not done at the beginning or end of the day but in each instance. That’s why our sanctification at the new birth is continuous throughout life.

Greek word expert Marvin R. Vincent (1834-1921) sees it somewhat differently. For Vincent, the aorist tense of “overcame” started and is an ongoing expression of the victory that overcame.[5] The victory over the world was potential, it was won when we believed in Jesus as the Anointed One, the Son of God. We overcome the world by being brought into union with the Anointed One. On becoming as He is,[6] we become partakers of His victory.[7] “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.”[8] ^[9]

Noting doctrinal implications, John James Lias (1834-1923) clarifies that the neuter Greek adjective pas here is not equivalent to all humanity as some have thought. Instead, it refers to the natural power in them.[10] It is not we who conquer but the power that dwells in us. If we overcome, it is not credited to any human ability apart from God. Instead, His divine gift working in each of us unites us into one body in the Anointed One. It means that whoever has been born from God overcomes, that is, has permanent possession of the power to overcome worldliness. When the Apostle John says, “this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith,” it literally implies that this is the victory that overcame or (has been overcoming) the world. It does not suggest that our faith overcame the world. However, John links faith with the past fact that defeating it draws its power. Without connection with that past fact, our faith could have no such ability.^[11]

Here are some homiletical insights for verses three and four: 1) Keeping God’s commandments produces peace of mind. 2) It produces an approving conscience; 3) It promotes unity and peace among mankind, and 4) It grows easier by practicing and forming holy habits. Thus, our new life is sparked into operation by faith that helps in conquering worldliness. Because it is the life of God manifested in Jesus the Anointed One and imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, spiritual life must be a victorious life. It cannot be otherwise.[12] By this, the fulfillment of God’s commands is not grievous. By ourselves, says Lias, we are utterly incapable of rising to the level of their requirements.[13] But in His strength, we are always able to conquer.

We need only to believe 1) that God is Lord of all; 2) He wills to make us partakers of His glory; 3) He is ready to impart to us the power we need to have victory over sin, and 4) this power to attain successful obedience is in His Son. Hence, this kind of perfect faith produces ideal obedience. But, on the other hand, if we are not yet victorious over sin, it proves our faith is imperfect. And according to the measure of our faith, so is our approach to Christian perfection. Let us then “reach forward towards the things that are before.”[14] ^[15]

With his lexicon in mind, Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836-1921) illustrates that just as the accomplished organist demonstrates the unexpected capabilities of his instrument, likewise, the Anointed One brings into activity all the hidden powers of the human soul.^[16] It goes against those who object to the Doctrine of Perseverance, says Hopkins. Such thinking leads to spiritual laziness. But this is only possible for the unregenerate. The certainty of success is the most substantial incentive to activity in the conflict with sin to regenerate. It is notoriously untrue that confidence in overcoming inspires reluctance or idleness. The only prayers God will answer are those we cannot answer. Therefore, the Apostle Paul urges, “Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.”[17] ^[18] British scholar, preacher, and author Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) said, “Your salvation is His business; His service your business.”

To be clear, Robert Cameron (1839-1904) asks how can we know that we love God’s children? Only when we love God and observe His commandments. As the Apostle John tells us, loving God’s children proves the reality of love for God. In verse four, we learn that love for God is the test of love for fellow believers. We show the existence of love for our spiritual brothers and sisters by love and obedience to the commands of a universal heavenly Father. It is only possible because of the new life believers possess. If a person is born of God and provides the incentive to love, then it follows that we should love all who are born again. As a result, we exercise love toward fellow believers not merely because we find them pleasant and friendly companions but because they are part of God’s family. Those called “children” here are not those in whom the divine life may have the least possible development but in whom the life exists.

So, we may say we love the spiritual family members we see, and, therefore, love God whom we have not seen. Or contrariwise, we may say, we love God and keep His commandments and, therefore, we love all Christians. Thus, the existence of love for God is a rational reason for assuming the presence of love for others. And because of this inward experience of love and outward obedience to commandments, we come to know that we love God and love His children also. This is the victory, even our faith. No one has triumphed over the world until becoming united with the Anointed One and achieving success at this crucial point. They are set free by this truth received in their hearts; all others are slaves of an insane and savage world.[19]

Manifestly, Erich Haupt (1841-1910) believes that the reason the law of God became easy is evident here in verse four. Obeying the commandments becomes hard only by worldly opposition, which frustrates and hinders their fulfillment. It depends on the world’s power as the kingdom of darkness to contaminate worldly thinking with the evil influence of Satan.[20] As a result, the tendency to act in opposition to God’s will became part of its culture. Therefore, this inclination makes all obedience towards God a daily wrestle, so to speak, driven by the world’s continuous influence upon believers. But what power will secure enduring success in a war like this, which will permanently provide victory? What is the might that is equal to this?  Without exception, the divine energy, the power of Light, triumphs over the world as the seat of all darkness. Because this victory is necessary, the divine commandments that require and enforce this victory cannot become a burden.[21]

In his calculating mind, Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) is sure God’s commandments are not burdensome for two reasons: 1) He gives us strength to carry them.[22] 2) Because love makes them weightless. They are unlike the heavy legal rules, regulations, and requirements the Pharisees’ piled on people’s shoulders. Here again, we have an echo of the Master’s words; “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”[23] Another reason why even keeping the challenging commandment of loving others rather than oneself is not a dreadful burden. The world and its immoral ways make keeping the Divine commands so tough. But the new birth in faith gives us a unique, otherworldly nature with spiritual strength that conquers those temptations. It is the individual’s birth by God that brings triumph.

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[1] Maclaren, Alexander: Sermons and Exposition on 1 John, Faith Conquering the World.

[2] Cf. John 3:6; 6:37, 39; 17:2

[3] Sawtelle, Henry A., Commentary on the Epistles of John, op. cit., pp. 55-56

[4] Abarim Publications Interlinear (Greek/English) New Testament.

[5] See 1 John 4:9

[6] John 3:17

[7] Ibid. 16:33

[8] 1 John 4:4

[9] Vincent, Marvin R., Word Studies in the New Testament, op. cit., p. 363

[10] See John 3:6; 6:37; 17:2

[11] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 359-361

[12] See Luke 11:22

[13] Cf. Romans 3:9, 20, 28

[14] Philippians 3:13, 14; 2 Peter 1:5-7

[15] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Homiletical Treatment, op. cit., pp. 358-361

[16] Strong, Augustus H., Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, op. cit., p. 57

[17] Philippians 2:12-13

[18] Strong, Augustus H., Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, op. cit., p. 197

[19] Cameron, Robert: The First Epistle of John, or, God Revealed in Light, Life, and Love, op. cit., pp. 209, 216, 247

[20] 1 John 2:15

[21] Haupt, Erich: The First Epistle of St. John: Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, Vol. LXIV, op. cit., pp. 292-293

[22] Philippians 4:13

[23] Matthew 11:30

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson XXIV) 11/14/22

^5:4 because everyone who is a child of God has the power to win against the world.

After checking closely, Richard H. Tuck (1817-1868) agrees with Jelf in that he regards the world as the sphere of the “self-seeking principle.” Those born of God are conceived and birthed in another sphere – the sphere of the “God-seeking principle.” As such, the powers of darkness in the present order of things are opposed to the kingdom of Light. Thus, through faith, they are victorious over the world order because they are in union with the Anointed One, and He makes us participators in His victory.^[1]

With an inquiring mind, Johannes H. A. Ebrard (1819-1893) follows what other commentators have said about the Apostle John’s words in the first half of verse four being connected with what he said in verse three. But this does not exclude the introduction of a new central theme of being born of God in verse four. Similarly, John passed along the idea mentioned in 1 John 3:24 to 1 John 5:1 as an introduction to this new theme. John laid down the proposition as supporting his argument (where the neuter verb “born” is used) in the same sense as in his Gospel.[2]

With the proposition thoroughly explained, John proceeds to assert the same thought independently, as his formal theme, of overcoming the world’s evil influence by faith.  We must not understand “faith” in the subjective sense alone, of the acting or spirit of our faith, but it is our faith in substance and object, Jesus the Anointed One. It is also that which, or Him in whom, we believe our faith, in opposition, as our believing mind, the spirit in which we believe. However, faith alone is certainly not the victory but only the cause of overcoming. It gives us the sense that “faith,” through which we become God’s children, has allowed us to triumph. But this faith includes its object – our embracing of the Anointed One in faith – that is, the action which negates the world’s evil influence.^[3]

In missionary terms, James Nisbet (1823-1874) states that the Christian life is undoubtedly warfare and the great need to put on “the whole armor of God.”[4] The world is one of the greatest foes Christians encounter, but it is not the world God created – that is good, but the cosmos Satan has generated, which is evil. Nisbet then lists these issues:

I. The opposition of the world. (a) It may arise from earthly possessions. These, when rightly used, have proved a great blessing but, when wrongly used, a great curse.[5] (b) It may arise from physical achievements. The human heart too frequently desires these. But these carnal honors dazzle only for a time and often seem of no value when possessed. Pursuing them, however, sidetracks the soul from life’s great mission. (c) It may arise from sensual pleasures – the heart absorbed with such vanity has neither time nor thought for spiritual realities. (d) It may appear from bitter adversities. Prosperity lifts: adversity lets down: the one soothes and flatters the individual, and the other produces brutal and wicked thoughts in hindsight.

II. The triumph of faith. (a) Faith is a spiritual principle. Not a train of ideas floating in the head, but a disposition of the heart.[6] It is cherished there and proves a living, active principle of irresistible power. (b) Divine truth controls Faith. In every instance of worldly opposition, the believer asks God, “What do You want me to do?” They don’t have long to wait for the answer. Faith has a foundation to build on and is firm that even hell’s gates[7] cannot prevail against it.[8] (c) God personally sustains our faith. He teaches the hands to war and the fingers to fight.[9] (d) Faith is triumphant over the world’s temptations. Indeed, it is not merely a means of conquest but a victory. Therefore, the issues of conflict and overcoming are not a mystery.^[10]

Discernably, William Alexander (1824-1911) notes that the Apostle John had just said that if you have been born-again through God’s permission and power through His Spirit, you have been triumphant over the world. But what kind of conquest is John talking about? Whatever success the believer experienced wasn’t through their influence, but the victorious power of Him who said, “I have overcome the world.”^[11] Yet it wasn’t a case of the Christian sitting back and watching the Anointed One destroy their opponents; it was their faith in His authority and ability to push back the world’s menacing presence. Th Christian religion is objectively and subjectively received by faith.” We see this illustrated, says Alexander, when the disciples left Jerusalem after the Day of Pentecost, God’s message was proclaimed in ever-widening circles. The number of disciples increased vastly in Jerusalem, and many Jewish priests were converted.^[12] That led the Apostle Paul to say that we received grace and apostleship through the Anointed One to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for His name’s sake.^[13] Take notice, faith is spoken of as the defeat of the world itself, not merely the instrument for victory. There were no parades waving the Christian flag because, notes Alexander, “There is something very noble in this deep, silent, unexcited triumph – our faith is a victory!”^{[14] [15]}

With holiness doctrine expertise Daniel Steele (1824-1914) points out that some say the neutral term “Whatsoever” emphasizes the victorious power rather than the victorious person. Beware of that explanation of this text, however, which analyzes the Christian into two personalities, the old-self in full strength and the new-self dwelling together until death separates them. The Apostle Paus says that because the old-self was never crucified,[16] the body of sin was never destroyed. The result is a lifelong sinning personality, justified by the doctrine that entire sanctification is impossible in the present life, which encourages believers to continue in depravity, and discrowns the Gospel of the Anointed One by making death the final conqueror of sinful tendencies.

As a result, it leaves the person shackled in Satan’s evil empire whose dominion we cannot escape unless faith in the Anointed One becomes real and infinitely more valuable than earthly pleasures. Faith gives us the proper standard for estimating the value of things. The term “Even our faith” in verse four, the Greek word pistis “faith” occurs only here in John’s epistle. It is not found in his Gospel. It signifies the system of Gospel truth summed up in the confession that Jesus the Anointed One, the Son of God, both Savior, and Lord, is so trusted in and enthroned as to constitute that saving faith which works by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world. He who possesses this faith and perseveringly exhibits its effects in their transformed character will share the victory over the world in which the Anointed One triumphed.[17] ^[18]

Brooke F. Westcott (1825-1901) denotes that when considering the character of divine commandments, it does not prove they are not a burden. In themselves, they are difficult to obey.[19] To love all spiritual believers is not an easy thing. But with the mandate also comes the power of fulfillment. Even though our natural likes, feelings, and criticism may inhibit spiritual sympathy, every faculty and ability that God empowers is more robust than the world’s temptations to secure victory. The Apostle John passes from the abstract to the concrete in developing this thought. He chooses the abstract to convey a universal truth. Triumph is not so much the believer in unity with others or the Church, but of each element included in the individual’s personal and social life.[20]

Under the phrase “the world,” John implies all the secular world’s limited resources opposed to God, making obedience of His commandments difficult. By introducing the spiritual and eternal blessings, John assures us that we can overcome the temptations that spring from a narrow, earthly, and fleeting ungodly economy. So, it holds true of humans as a whole and the authority and ability supplied to them.[21] Thus, we can be sure of the divine victory as illustrated by the nature of the victory itself. The Christian’s triumph is the individual appropriation of a victory gained by the Anointed One once and for all.^[22]

Experientially, Edward Blencowe (1826-1896) curate of St. Catherine’s Church, in Teversal, Nottinghamshire, England, and Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, states that a faithful Christian, on their way to heaven, has a conquest to make, a victory to win – to overcome the world’s opposition. Why is this? Because the world is fallen from God. Satan is its prince and ruler, and, therefore, through baptism, we vowed to renounce it. The devil finds in the world temptations suited to each one of us. Riches tempt one to deny God. The world’s smile and hope of its favor make many traitors to God; the fear of its frown, and still more of its sneers, keeps many from openly confessing the Anointed One as Savior.

That means, “whoever is born of God” has within them One who is greater than the world, even the Spirit of God. The grace of God enables them to persevere and get better day after day in overcoming their sinful tendencies. It begins by resisting all the world’s temptations. The victory over the world is accomplished by faith. Not as though we had any strength in ourselves or any merit to count on. But by believing our testimony and daring to act upon it, we obtain knowledge, power, and motives that make us conquerors.

How it is that everyone who has faith in the Anointed One will triumph over the world’s welcoming song. Here are some vital points to consider. 1) It is because the believer is convinced that the world is evil that God’s Son came to redeem them from its power and bring them to heaven and God. 2) Again, the believer knows that the Lord Jesus conquered the world, not for Himself but for His followers, and that they must study and strive to be sharers in His victory. 3) Christians can see by Jesus’ example, His humble life, self-denial, bitter sufferings, and death that they must renounce the world and its pleasures. It is the lesson of the Cross. 4) Faith teaches the Christian that the Savior makes grace available. 5) It is by faith in the resurrection of Jesus the Anointed One and exaltation to Heaven where He constantly intercedes for us that we are born again in a living hope,[23] to an incorruptible, and undefiled inheritance.^[24]

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[1] Tuck, Richard H. The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary, op. cit., pp. 328-329

[2] John 3:6, 7, 8

[3] Ebrard, Johannes H. A., Biblical Commentary on the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., pp. 314-315

[4] Ephesians 6:11

[5] 2 Timothy 4:10

[6] Romans 10:10

[7] Besides being part of a city’s protection against invaders, city gates were places of central activity in biblical times. It was at the city gates that important business transactions were made, the city court was convened, and public announcements were heralded. Cf. Deuteronomy 21:18-21; Ruth 4:1-11; 1 Samuel 4:18; Esther 2:5-8. 19-23. Thus, the “gates of hell” refers to the meeting of wicked and antichrist forces met to make decisions on how to destroy the Kingdom of God on earth.

[8] Matthew 16:18

[9] Psalm 144:1

[10] Nisbet, James: The Church Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., Vol. 12, pp. 318-319

[11] John 16:33

[12] Acts of the Apostles 6:7; cf. 14:27

[13] Romans 1:5

[14] Alexander may have taken this from William Wordsworth’s “Ode to Duty” – Thou, who art victory and awe.

[15] Alexander, William: The Holy Bible with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary, op. cit., Vol. IV, pp. 340-341

[16] Galatians 2:20; 5:34; Colossians 2:11

[17] John 16:33

[18] Steele, Daniel: Half-Hours with St. John’s Epistles, op. cit., pp. 130, 165

[19] Acts of the Apostles 14:22; 16:33

[20] John 3:6, 8

[21] Ibid. 16:33

[22] Westcott, Brooke F., The Epistles of St. John Greek Text with Notes, op. cit., pp. 179-180

[23] 1 Peter 1:3

[24] Blencowe, Edward: The Biblical Illustrator, Vol. 22, First Epistle of John, p. 399

Praise the Lord! I’ve finally got all the puzzle pieces back together and will start posting the lessons on the First Epistle of John on Monday, November 14, 2022.

It took more time than I anticipated, but with the Lord’s help and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, they helped me figure it out. Now I feel normal again and have that blessed feeling of serving my Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed One.

So, thank you for your patience, I’ll see you on Monday!

The other day I had an interesting conversation with a family friend. We talked about lawlessness and selfishness in parts of today’s society.

I mentioned constant calls for gun reform and mental health crises during the mass shootings. I said to him, in my mind, it’s not a mental health crisis but a Moral Health crisis.

Children are not taught morals, ethics, and civility now that God, Christianity, and the Bible are banned from public school curricula. So many families of these shooters are not known as dedicated churchgoers. If a law said, “All schools receiving federal money must have classes on these subjects before a person can graduate,” it would give them some moral compass to use.

I told my good friend that, from my perspective, there are two types of people who express interest in any involvement with God. Those who depend on RELIGION and others on RELATIONSHIP. religion is founded on CEREMONIES, and relationship is anchored in COMMITMENT. Finally, loyalty to ceremonies provides a sense SATISFACTION, whereas commitment promises security in SALVATION.

Will this provide all the answers? No! But it must start somewhere. Not with others, but with ourselves.