Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXXII) 05/10/23

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

Expositor and systematic theologist Michael Eaton (1942-2017) states that the Christian faith is not composed of “sinning believers.” We know that everyone who is born of God does not sin. John’s message of fellowship with God by the blood of the Anointed One is encouraging, but it does not give easy permission to sin.^[1] In this sense, the Christian “does not sin.” The new birth has given them a unique nature, a tendency to love God, and the ability to love fellow Christians. The Christian has confidence in their security under Jesus’ care. The One who is born of God keeps them, and the wicked one is unable to steal them.^[2]

There are a number of interpretations of this line, but it likely refers to the ministry of Jesus in protecting His people. The description of Jesus as the One who is born [begotten] of God is exceptional, but we have noticed before John’s fondness for putting things in unexpected ways. The believer can feel safe because Jesus can protect them.^[3] The truth is that “the evil one does not get hold of them.” Satan can attack the believer, entice the believer, trick the believer, deceive the believer – but he cannot remove the believer from the Anointed One’s protecting hands.

The second matter that “we know,” says John, is that he and his disciples hold to the authentic faith, as opposed to the proto-Gnostics whose message John refuses to acknowledge. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the grasp of the evil one. One observes again the note of strong affirmation: ‘We know (without doubt or introspection) that we (not the proto-Gnostics) are (not “want to be” or “hope to be”) of God. As distinct to the Christian fellowship, “the whole world lies in the grasp of the evil one.”

This world has only two communities: God’s people and all others. Jesus grasps one, and Satan grabs the other. Jesus will not loosen His grasp; Satan will not voluntarily loosen his grip. The Christian is in a situation of conflict against spiritual enemies. A a godless society is not in a position of conflict. It is not struggling; it lies almost asleep in Satan’s grip.^[4]

After scrutinizing the Apostle John’s subject theme, William Loader (1944) indicates that verse eighteen focuses on behavior as the fruit of a system, while verse nineteen emphasizes belonging within the system, being part of the relationships, which make proper behavior possible as opposed to fitting in with a godless society system where the values of the evil one prevail and produce the fruit of rebellion. We are God’s family (literally: “we are of or ‘out of God’”). To the Apostle John, there is no neutral territory. We are either in one system or the other. When we are least conscious of being involved in a value system, we are often most influenced by either love reigns or its opposite reigns.

Similarly, the Apostle Paul warns his readers not to be “conformed to the pattern of this present world” but to be “transformed by the renewal of their minds.”^[5] In verse nineteen, John reiterates the foundation of his thought about God: it is the occasion of the coming of God’s Son. Through that event, we have received understanding. That understanding consists of knowing the true God. There are false gods; the epistle will end with knowing the true God. There are false gods, and the epistle will end with a warning against them: Children be on guard against idols.^[6]

Great Commission practitioner David Jackman (1945) sees the Apostle John talking here in verse nineteen about a new attitude to a godless society. Christians know that they belong to God and not to this world. John’s second great affirmation focuses on the personal relationship between God’s children and their Father. Literally, “we know that we are of God.”

The construction of this phrase stresses that God alone is the source of our life. It explains and justifies the NIV’s inclusion of the “we” and “children.” All that we have comes from Him, so we belong to Him totally, body, mind, and spirit. That is something a Christian knows, not presumptuously, but because of the positive evidence in life and behavior of the new birth, as John’s letter has outlined and described them. By definition, God’s family is separated from a godless society. Children of God live differently from the non-Christian society surrounding them.^[7]

After studying the context surrounding this verse, John W. (Jack) Carter (1947), the Apostle John describes the vast gulf between those who are faithful to the LORD and those who are not. The heretics have been trying to cause the faithful to doubt their salvation.  Through this letter, John has argued that those who love the LORD are secure in their faith, and though they still struggle with wrongdoing, they are not and never will be characterized by wickedness. 

However, wickedness is the very nature of this godless world.  Just as it is possible to witness the character of godliness in those who love the LORD, it is possible to detect the nature of wickedness in those who do not.  People of faith can be confident that they are of God because they are not surrendered to the wickedness of this world.  Christians still wrestle with the issues of law-breaking tendencies and behaviors against God’s Word, but what differentiates that person of faith is that it is, indeed, a struggle.  Because they battle with sin in a sincere effort to be obedient to the LORD, people of faith can know they are part of God’s family and be confident in that faith.^[8]

A man who loves sharing God’s Word, Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) notes the second “we know” statement in verse nineteen begins by echoing verse eighteen, only in different words. Instead of “born of God,” believers simply are “of God.” They are His creation and His re-creation in the Anointed One, and therefore His eternal possession. John does not speak of hope explicitly, but the assurance of the knowledge of being God’s possession in a world of sin, the devil, and death is equivalent to it.^[9]

Skilled in Dead Sea Scroll interpretation and Final Covenant writings, Colin G. Kruse (1950) has the Apostle John continuing in verse nineteen to reassure his readers, using the second of his “we know” expressions found in verses eighteen and twenty to contrast their position with that of the rest of a godless society. The NIV has rather unnecessarily added the word “children” in its translation of the first clause (literally translated, it would read: “we know that we are of God”).

The contrast between true believers and those of the rest of a godless society is that the former belongs to God, while the latter lay under the evil one’s control. In the light of the previous verse, believers are no longer under the power of the evil one because Jesus the Anointed One keeps them safe so that the evil one cannot harm them. The teaching that the rest of a godless society is under the control of the evil one has its counterpart in the Gospel of John, where the evangelist mentions the prince (ruler) of this world three times.^[10] In the context of First John, those in a godless society include the secessionists, whom John now regards as belonging to a godless society.^{[11] [12]}

Believing that Christians can fall away from the faith, Ben Witherington III (1951) sees the picture the Apostle John paints in verse nineteen as quite gloomy of the world’s godless society lying hopeless under the dominion of the Evil One.^[13] Literally it says that the entire world lies “in the Evil One” and not “in the Anointed One.” This is why the whole world, all of human society, needs to be and is the object of God’s salvation plan. It does not mean that it is as bad as it might be or is unredeemable, but rather that the wickedness of the Evil One has affected it like self-rising yeast.

Yet amid this darkness, there is a community of light in which believers are protected from the Evil One, who need not surrender to his temptations but can survive living in a godless society, and the antichrists. Indirectly, but nonetheless, this community is a godless society’s only hope, for only there does one find the saving presence of Jesus directly. This verse also stresses that “we know that we are born of God.”

It is not something that needs to be hypothesized or surmised; it is simply known. But this is not all that is known. Things will suddenly become a lot brighter in verse twenty. To use Westcott’s terms, John will contrast the Active Enemy with the Watchful Guardian. The Christian knows that both in the moral nature they inherited, and the moral sphere in which they live, there is an ever-widening gulf between them and a godless society.^[14]

With her crafted spiritual insight, Judith Lieu (1951) also notes the second affirmation repeals the assurance that brought readers and John together in the face of the threat of the false prophets.^[15] That “from God” signifies more than belonging to God or coming from God; it has been shaped by the images of birth and being children, so it means having one’s origin and being in God.^[16] It is not something that can be said of anyone but only those who have declared their common allegiance. Who they are is determined by the opposition they face; over against them is “the whole world,” which, as often in this letter, represents all that is opposed to God.^[17]

John now makes explicit what so far has been implicit, that in his dualistic scheme, a godless society is inseparably tied to the evil one. Yet John does not say that a godless society is “of the evil one” but lies under or in the evil one’s power. Perhaps this offers a glimmer of hope of snatching a godless society from the evil one’s grip. If so, it would soften the contradiction with John’s earlier declaration that Jesus is a source of forgiveness even for (the sins of) “the whole world.”^[18]

However, John has repeatedly shown himself not uncomfortable with such contradictions in his thought process. The real concern at this point in the letter is not whether a godless society will also join God’s realm but with those whom John invites to share this affirmation. By making these words theirs, they will effectively be distancing themselves from any contamination from a godless society, where the power of the evil one is at work. Success in a godless society and its pursuit can hold no attraction for them. Nonetheless, they need the protection of the one born of God against the evil one shows that they have not left a godless society behind; it remains in place.^[19]

Conclusively, says Vincent Cheung (1952), it is no secret that “the whole world lies in wickedness,” so functioning in human society will involve interaction with non-Christians. The Apostle Paul admitted that it was unavoidable.^[20] Necessary relations aside, the issue is whether we should associate them on a personal level. Few Christians who befriend non-Christians as Jesus did are effective in ministry to sinners, assuming they have one in mind in the first place.

Many are dishonest – they have no intention of demanding conversion from non-Christians. To repeat Paul’s admonition, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’”^[21] That is, we should not be so deceived as to think that it makes little difference with whom we associate. It is foolish to assume that no tragedy will befall those who enjoy the company of non-Christians.^{[22] [23]}

Contextual interpretation specialist Gary M. Burge (1952) notes that verse nineteen is the Apostle John’s second bold affirmation. The sustenance and protection of Jesus are essential because a godless society lies (NIV, “is under the control of”) in the grip of Satan. Again, John’s imagery is striking. A godless society is not under siege by Satan; it hardly struggles against him. Instead, a godless society rests in Satan’s arms. John’s dualistic outlook again draws sharp boundaries between church and state, light and darkness, and God and evil. Christians reside in the rival camp to Satan, but our security is assured because Jesus lives there with us. A godless society is used to Satan’s embrace, but he cannot hold Christians.

Finally, John makes clear our hope. If a godless society is experiencing disintegration and many are aligned with the forces of evil, what hope is there for us in a godless society? John’s answer in verse twenty is that Jesus the Anointed One has penetrated worldliness. He has worked as a saboteur, undermining a godless society’s systems and reversing its possibilities.

Note that John describes the work of the Anointed One as bringing knowledge so that we may know, but this should not be seen as a type of human logic – the very thing to which John is opposed! Christian knowledge is focused on genuine reality, something that happened in history. Thus, in verse twenty, John does not say we merely know the truth; instead, we know “Him who is the Truth.”^[24] John uses an adjective rather than the usual noun to underscore that Christian certainty is not about abstract reasoning or inspired enlightenment but about God, the real God, “Him who is Truth,” the only true God.^{[25] [26]}

A scholar who truly inspires Christian missionaries, Daniel L. Akin (1957), states that in stark contrast to the believer’s safety in the Anointed One, the security of worldly souls is left to the power of the evil one. We are safe, but a godless society is in slavery. On the other hand, believers in Jesus have a confident and settled knowledge that they are God’s property. Here is confidence, an inner assurance, that spiritual death has no claim on them. Here is a certainty of the soul that sin cannot dominate us, and the evil one cannot harm them without overcoming God’s protection.

So, how can a godless society continue living in such terror without seeking liberation? It is because those sinners are tragically caught up in the devil’s net of lies and the futility of this world system to redeem anyone. Satan numbs unbelievers’ minds, snatches God’s Word from human hearts,^[27] deceives by miraculous signs and wonders,^[28] and entices through fleshly desires and pride.^[29]

In the writings of Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, we find mentioned that in one of his battles, the enemy gave a signal that they were ready for peace when, in fact, it was a disguised plan to outflank the Roman army and attack on the unprotected side. However, the Roman soldiers grew suspicious that this was done by the enemy to deceive them.^[30] Has not Satan used this same tactic against God’s people His Church? So, beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.^[31]

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[1] 1 John 3:6

[2] Ibid 5:18b

[3] See also John 17:11,12,15; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24; Revelation 3:10

[4] Eaton, Michael: Focus on the Bible, 1,2,3 John, op. cit., pp. 196-197

[5] Romans 12:2

[6] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., p. 79

[7] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Letters, op. cit., p. 169

[8] Carter, Dr. John W. (Jack). 1,2,3, John & Jude: (The Disciple’s Bible Commentary Book 48), op. cit., pp. 136-137

[9] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., p. 317

[10] John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11

[11] Cf. 1 John 2:18-19; 4:1-5

[12] Kruse, Colin G., The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[13] Cf. John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11

[14] 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

[15] 1 John 4:4, 6

[16] See Ibid 3:10

[17] Ibid. 2:15-17

[18] 1 John 2:2; 4:14

[19] Lieu, Judith: A New Testament Library, I, II, & III John, op. cit., pp. 231-232

[20] 1 Corinthians 5:10

[21] Ibid. 15:33

[22] See Psalm 26:4-5; 101:4-5; 119:115; 141:4-6; Proverbs 4:14-15; 13:20; 22:24-25; 1 Corinthians 5:6; Ephesians 5:3-4; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; 2 Timothy 2:16

[23] Cheung, Vincent. Systematic Theology, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[24] John 14:6

[25] Cf. 1 Samuel 3:7; Jeremiah 24:7; 31:34; John 1:9; 15:1; Revelation 3:7

[26] Burge, Gary M., The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary), op. cit., pp. 217-218

[27] Matthew 13:4, 9

[28] Ibid. 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9

[29] 1 John 2:15-17

[30] Julius Caesar: Delphi Complete Works of: The Gallic Wars, Bk. VII, Kindle Edition, p. 233

[31] Matthew 7:15

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXXI) 05/09/23

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

With his stately speaking style, William M. Sinclair (1850-1917) offers the KJV reading of verse nineteen, “A godless society rests in wickedness,” which should read, “All society rests in the wicked one.” There is a constant danger lest Christians should forget this.^[1] This portion of the Apostle John’s epistle ends with a climax: the Son is indeed come; He gave us the capability of seeing the true God, and in that Almighty Being, we are His through His Son. The most significant fact in John’s mind is that his Friend and Master of sixty years ago was the very Word made flesh.^{[2] [3]}

As Germany’s premier biblical theologian Adolf Schlatter (1852-1938) said about of the post resurrection believers “The idea of resurrection establishes the connection between the two basic words of the promise ‒ the kingship of Christ ‒ and eternal life, of which the former refers to God’s eternal work and the latter to our own perfection. It is closely related to the promise of eternal life, but unites it with the final work of Christ and thereby makes a unified hope out of the two goals to which our desire is directed.”^[4] 

One of the most influential Anglican reconcilers, Charles Gore (1853-1932) the Apostle John is to be complimented on drawing a tremendous contrast between the two societies: the Church’s supremacy over the evil one and all his works and the a godless society which lies in his grasp! To give this any credibility, John must have believed it to be true –that is, on the whole, notwithstanding the unworthy lapses of individual members of the Church, such as John implies, and despite respectable and noble lives among those who were not Christians. Even with these things, so long as becoming a Christian was a risky venture that no one would make who was not in earnest, the moral level of the Church was very high, and the contrast between the Church and a godless society continued sharp.

As we have seen, John loves to represent things as they are in their ultimate principles and issues and states the contrast at its sharpest. Later, “the Christianization of a godless society” (so-called) took place. It costs no more to be a Christian than to be anything else. The Church entered into a godless society like yeast in flour, but certainly no longer as “the salt,” “the light,” or “the city set on the hill”^[5] – all metaphors involving a sharp contrast. Unfortunately, the Church entered a godless society, or, more accurately, allowed a godless society to join the Church unchanged, unregenerated, and unashamed in character, although it was still evident that they lay in the grip of the evil one.

Unfortunately, some have made for themselves drab looking to a godless society. Such Christians, in name only, are neither incredibly sinful (as we think) nor extremely saintly (as we hope). Now, perhaps, there is an awakening. Perhaps, at least, we are more conscious than formerly that “a godless society lieth in the evil one.” But certainly, the Church still has a long way to travel before men can recognize the society of the redeemed.^[6] So the question for us today is, “Has the Church changed in the twenty-first century from what it was in the nineteenth century as it relates to its effect on a godless society that lies in the clutches of the wicked one?’”

Beyond any doubt, remarks Alonzo R. Cocke (1858-1901), the Apostle John draws a strong contrast between believers and a godless society. Verse nineteen shows us how the assurance deepens. John can scarcely write a sentence without “we know.” “We know” introduces the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth verses. All the tremendous experimental relations of God’s children have become living realities, and out of them gush refreshing waters to satisfy the wants felt by many. In this case, the assurance is that “we are of God.”

This phrase is defined by the previous verse, “born of God.” God is the source of our life and the author of our Christian being. But a godless society, what of it? It “lies in the wicked one.” The word “wicked one” is not a neuter gender, as many suppose, but masculine. We are taught that a godless society is passive in the hands of Satan and permanently under his dominion. The expression “lies in” is expressed by a writer named Lincoln thus: “Warmed by his hellish heat; as we receive our life from God, so the wicked receive diabolical impetus from the wicked one as a sleeping child in the arms of a murderer, so are all the unrenewed in the power and control of Satan.”^[7]

A man who appreciates Jesus’ embodiment of the divine transforming emotion on how we live in this world, Robert Law (1860-1919) makes a good point. Because he was evil, Cain hated and killed his brother, whose works were righteous, and a godless society, because it is subject to the evil one, still hates God’s children. So, on the contrary, the proof that we are born of a different spirit – that we have passed from spiritual death to eternal life – that we love the children of God – “the brethren.” The point of primary emphasis is not that “we have passed from death into life” (though this also is necessarily emphatic) but that the test by which this is ascertained is love to the brethren.^2[8]

In reviewing what the Apostle John says in this verse, Archibald T. Robertson (1863-1934) notes that what the Apostle John says in verse nineteen paints a terrible picture of the Graeco-Roman world of the first century A.D. The Apostle Paul confirms this view in Romans chapters one and two, in addition to Roman poet Quintus Horace Flaccus (65 -8 BC),^[9] Roman philosopher Lucius Annæus Seneca (BC 4-65 AD),^[10] Roman poet Decimus Junius Juvenal (100-200 AD),^[11] and Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56-120 AD).^{[12] [13]}

With characteristic fundamental thinking, Alan England Brooke (1863-1939) states that most Christians are conscious, immediately and intuitively, of the difference between the power which dominates their life and that which controls the energy, intellectual and moral, of a godless society. When speaking of “a godless society,” the Apostle John talks about those who remain estranged from God.^[14] It is with them that we associate “worldly” things.

With an eye for detail, David Smith (1866-1932) contrasts the child of God with the viper brood of the Evil One, as those upon which the lion who goes around seeking whom he may devour^[15] cannot lay his claws on them. Meanwhile, he cuddles a godless society in his lap while God’s children rest in His arms.^[16] English writer and religious thinker William Penn (1644-1718) once said: “If our Hairs fall not to the Ground, less do we or our Substance without God’s Providence. Nor can we fall below the arms of God, how low soever it be we fall. For though our Savior’s Passion is over, His Compassion is not. That never fails His humble, sincere Disciples; In Him, they find more than all they lose in a godless society.”^{[17] [18]}

As a spiritual mentor, Ronald A. Ward (1920-1986) reminds us that we are all boarn of God.^[19] Therefore, the contrast between “us” and “them” is sharp. All worldly society lies as hostages on one side of the spiritual iron curtain in the grasp of the evil one: in enemy territory. But, on the other hand, all believers are free, safe, and secure in God’s hands in His heavenly kingdom.^[20]

With academic precision, Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) notes that in verse nineteen, the Apostle John expresses in specific terms what he conveyed as a general principle in verse eighteen. In summary, “We know we are of God,’’ whereas “the whole world belongs to the devil.” This is the second use of “we know” in verses eighteen to twenty.^[21] For the second time, it is used with reference to the confidence a believer comes to know who God’s children are and who belongs to the devil’s viper brood in verse nineteen. Finally, in its third appearance in verse twenty, the verb occurs in relationship to God’s Son.

So, the first part of verse nineteen echoes the first part of verse eighteen, and the second part of verse nineteen picks up the thought of the second part of verse eighteen. Here in verse nineteen, the use is absolute and not inferential; John is not saying that we can be assured of our spiritual origin since the conditions of verse eighteen are fulfilled. The first person plural “we are,” or, as in Smalley’s translation, “we derive” replaces the more generalized third person singular “anyone” of verse eighteen. In the first place, John describes the spiritual descent and consequent assurance enjoyed by members of his community as shared with all orthodox Christians^[22] by drawing a contrast between such believers and the heretic followers “of a a godless society.”^{[23] [24]}

An insistent believer in Grace, Zane Clark Hodges (1932-2008) sees the Apostle John declare in verse eighteen that the regenerate person’s new nature is inherently sinless because God’s “seed” is in them.^[25] Knowledge of this truth is coupled with the conviction that “we know that we are.” This assurance (founded for each believer on God’s testimony^[26] is accompanied by a realization that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”^[27] John was seeking in these summarizing statements to reinforce the readers’ consciousness that they are distinct from the satanically controlled world system and free from its power. They need not listen to worldly ideas advanced by the antichrists.^[28] Nor need they surrender to worldly desires.^{[29] [30]}

As a capable scriptural analyst, Ian Howard Marshall (1934-2015) finds the Apostle John’s second declaration to be a reminder that humanity is divided into two camps: those who belong to God and those who belong to evil. Since verse eighteen merely stated something true of anybody born of God, his second declaration in verse nineteen states that this principle is true of himself and his readers: we know that we are God’s children and can, therefore, claim the promises made to those born of God. By contrast, a godless society has lost its soul to the evil one.^{[31] [32]}

As a seasoned essayist on the Apostle John’s writings, John Painter (1935) points out that the second part of verse nineteen of the successive “we know that” sentences move from a statement about everyone born of God to affirm “we are of God.” That is shorthand for “we are born of God,” “we are God’s children.” The absence of the opening Greek pronoun hēmeis (“we”)^[33] throws the emphasis on “of God we are.”

This ties in with the contrast with a godless society that lies “in the [power] of the Evil One.” God keeps us from the grasp of the Evil One, but the whole world lies in his grip, entirely in his power. Here the sense of being of God includes the awareness that “we belong to Him” just as “the whole world belongs to the Evil One.” Nevertheless, Jesus, the Anointed One is the sacrificial payment “for the sins of the whole world.”^[34] That’s because the Father sent Him to be a godless society’s Savior.^[35]

This suggests that a godless society is held somewhat unwillingly in the grip of the Evil One. So, Jesus came to take away their sins^[36] and destroy the devil’s works.^[37] Over against this view, which depicts a godless society as a victim in the grip of the Evil One^[38] and be set free,^[39] is the opponents’ view as false prophets, deceivers, and antichrists,^[40] in whom the Spirit of the Antichrist abides. Against this force, John declares: “you have conquered them.”^[41] Also, “everyone who is born of God conquers a godless society.”^[42] There is some indecision in the Church toward a godless society, as a victim to be saved and an enemy to be conquered. But the Apostle John leaves no doubt.^[43]

Ministry & Missions Overseer Muncia Walls (1937) says that beginning with verse eighteen, the Apostle John begins the following three verses by emphasizing that we know something. This expression means “to have positive, absolute knowledge.” There is no doubt whatsoever in the mind of the person who has experienced the new birth. It is a remarkable statement from John concerning the condition of those who are not born again. He emphasizes with this assertion that there are only two categories of conditions, and all of us fit into one or the other of those categories. We are either saved, born again, or lost, lying in the wicked one. There is no neutral ground. ^[44]

As an articulate spokesman for the Reformed Faith movement, James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) notes that the second of John’s affirmations is that “we are God’s children.”  He joins himself with his readers in this certainty. But where does the assurance come from? In the first instance, the certainty that the one born of God does not sin comes from the fact that Jesus (or God) guards the Christian. In this case, the confidence that “we are God’s children” comes from the fact that the tests of righteousness, love, and sound doctrine have been applied, and the results are positive. Once again, John leaves no room for a third alternative, for either a person is of God or the evil one.

From some people’s perspectives, the issues are often blurred, and they find it hard to tell whether one is of God or not. For many, good and evil, love and hate, truth and falsehood seem mixed. But that is no comfort nor an accurate portrait of the actual state of things. In God’s sight, there are only those who are his true children and those who are of a a godless society. Consequently, all Christians should know that they are of God. By God’s grace, the one who does not have this certainty should awake out of their sleep, turn from sin, and embrace the Lord Jesus as both God and Savior.^[45]

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[1] Cf. Galatians 1:4

[2] Cf. 1 John 1:1-2; 2:13, 22-23; 3:5, 8; 16, 23; 4:2; 9-10; 5:1, 5, 9, 11

[3] Sinclair, William M., New Testament Commentary for English Readers, Charles J. Ellicott, op. cit., Vol. 3, pp. 493-494

[4] Schlatter, Adolf: Das christliche Dogma, Calweg Verlag, Stuttgart, 1977, p. 540, [my translation]

[5] Matthew 5:13, 14

[6] Gore, Charles: The Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 216

[7] Cocke, Alonzo R: Studies in the Epistles of John; or, The Manifested Life, op. cit., pp. 136-137, Footnote, § Lincoln

[8] Law, Robert: The Tests of Life: A Study of the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., p. 239

[9] See Horace: Satires: Bk 1, Satire I – On Discontent, The Miseries of the Wealthy

[10] See Seneca: Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger, and Clemency, Published by Belford Clarke & Co. Chicago, 1882

[11] See the Satires of Juvenal, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1881

[12] See the Complete Works of Tacitus

[13] Robertson, Archibald T., Word Pictures in the New Testament, op. cit., p. 1973

[14] Brooke, Alan E., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Johannine Epistles, op. cit., p. 150

[15] 1 Peter 5:8

[16] Cf. Deuteronomy 23:27

[17] Penn, William: Some Fruits of Solitude, Headley Brothers, London, 1905, p. 31:35-37

[18] Smith, David: The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1 John, op. cit., p. 199

[19] See John 8:47; 1 John 4:4-6

[20] Ward, Ronald A., The Epistles on John and Jude, op. cit., p. 59

[21] 1 John 5:18-20

[22] Ibid. 1:1-4

[23] Ibid. 5:19b; also 2:16, 19

[24] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, 1,2,3 John, op. cit., p. 304

[25] 1 John 3:9

[26] Ibid 5:9-13

[27] Ibid. 5:18

[28] Ibid. 3:7-8

[29] Ibid. 2:15-17

[30] Hodges, Zane C., Bible Knowledge Commentary, op. cit., loc. cit.

[31] Cf. Mark 8:36

[32] Marshall, Ian Howard. The Epistles of John (The New International Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 252-253

[33] Cf. the opening of 1 John 4:6

[34] 1 John 2:2

[35] Ibid. 4:14

[36] Ibid. 3:5

[37] Ibid. 3:8

[38] Ibid. 5:18

[39] Ibid. 4:14

[40] Ibid. 2:26; 3:7; 2 John 1:7

[41] Ibid. 4:4

[42] Ibid. 5:4-5

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

[44] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., p. 96

[45] Boice, James Montgomery: The Epistles of John, An Expository Commentary, op. cit., pp. 146-147

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXX) 05/08/23

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

With holiness doctrine expertise, Daniel Steele (1824-1914) says that to know that we are of God is sufficient knowledge because it is experimental, intuitive, and confident. The Spirit cries within the heart, “Abba, Father.” The first “we know” in verse eighteen is theoretical, announcing a theological truth respecting the regenerate. It is not a testimony, but a tenet. The first clause of verse nineteen is a testimony. “The whole world.” All men who are not in the Anointed One. Human society, as alien from God and opposed to Him, is wholly, in all its organizations, principles and practices, in the embrace of the evil one.

Christians know that there is a kingdom of darkness, out of which they have been translated, and in which all unregenerate still abide. “It is clear, therefore, that the severance between the church and a godless society ought to be, and tends to be, as total as that between God and the evil one.” A malignant personality has usurped the dominion of the whole world as just defined.^[1] Hence a personal deliverer is required in order to liberate the captives of an individual oppressor and destroyer.^[2]

After sufficient examination of the Greek text, Brooke Wescott (1825-1901) notes that from the general statement of the privilege of God’s children, John affirms the personal relationship in which He and those He addresses stand to Him. The structure of the verse is expressive. The absence of the personal pronouns “we” and “us”^[3]  in the first clause emphasizes the divine source of life. In the second clause, the emphasis is changed. Over against the Christian Society, only faintly indicated in the preceding words, stands “the whole world,” and on this, attention is fixed.

The relation of God’s Church is widely different from that of a godless society to the Evil One. This difference is brought out in the two corresponding phrases “of God” and “of the wicked one.” The first describes the absolute source of being: the second the actual (but not essential) position. Like the corresponding clauses in verse eighteen, this clause is an independent statement and not dependent on “that.” The Christian can look upon the saddest facts of life without being overwhelmed.^[4]

Considered a monarch in the pulpit, Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) observes that this is the second of the triumphant certainties that John supposes to be the property of every Christian. It reads, “We know that those born of God do not sin.”’ There is a distinct connection and advance between these two statements. “Born of God” refers to an act. There is still another connection, “does not sin.” Therefore, the “wicked one cannot touch them.” That glance at a dark surrounding, from which those born of God are protected, is deepened by a vision of the whole world as “lying in the wicked one.”

Now, sayings like these involve a Christian’s privilege to regard people apart from those in the Anointed One’s spiritual body as in a dark condition under an alien power. These have often been spoken of as if they were presumptions, narrow, uncharitable, and gloomy on the one hand. On the lips of some professing Christians, these phrases have a hideous sound and minister un-Christlike sentiments.

But, on the other hand, there are few things that the average Christianity of today wants more than participation in that joyous confidence and positive energy that throb in the Apostle’s words. They desire a triumphant certainty, in the absence of which, many a soul has been lamed, its joy clouded, its power hampered, and its work in a godless society thwarted. So, I tried to catch some of that sacred and joyous confidence that the Apostle peals forth in these triumphant words.^[5]

Like a spiritual farmer planting the seed of God’s Word, Henry A. Sawtelle (1832-1913) is sure that we know if we are of God. We are born of Him and carry His spiritual nature. A matter of certain and blessed knowledge through the previous teaching^[6] and the witnessing Spirit.^[7]

As Scottish theologian Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843) wrote,

“When I stand before the throne,

dressed in beauty not my own,

when I see thee as thou art,

love thee with unsinning heart,

then, Lord, shall I fully know,

not till then, how much I owe.”^[8]

In this verse, the apostle applies the general truth asserted in the previous verse to himself and his readers. It sharply contrasted their standing with that of the unregenerate world so that there is evident progress in the thought and growth in its strength. And the whole world (in its natural unregenerate state) lies in wickedness. Not merely is touched by the wicked one,^[9] but even lies “in the wicked one,” in entire union with him; willingly, unresistingly given up to him, entirely within his sphere. The wicked one here is not an abstract principle of evil but an evil person.^[10]

With Spirit-led certainty, William Baxter Godbey (1833-1920) proposes that all those committing are under the direct administration of the devil. This verse certifies that no regenerated person commits sin, since Satan is not permitted so much as to touch the soul born of God. That soul must voluntarily go over to him before he can muster him into service. All God’s people belong to the divine Ecclesia (Church), namely, the called-out ones, consisting of those who, responsive to the call of the Holy Spirit, have left the devil and a godless society and separated themselves for God’s directions and service. While regeneration takes us out of a godless society, sanctification takes a godless society out of us.^[11]

Noting the Apostle John’s doctrinal implications, John James Lias (1834-1923) says that the Greek text demands some notice. First, there is a slight difference between “a godless society” in 1 John 2:2 and here in verse nineteen. The emphasis here is on “whole” or “all.” In 2:2, it is on the “all society,” while verse nineteen does not include those who have been separated from a godless society by the new birth that comes from God. 

They are delivered from the dominion of evil by the fact that their renewed being comes from God. The rest of humanity “lies under the control of the wicked one.” This expression, too, is remarkable. It occurs only here. It is not, however, so strong as “that wicked one” in 1 John 3:12. The force of “lies in” no doubt is that while the believers in the Anointed One are delivered from the destructive influences of the evil one, the rest of humanity remain under the dominion of those influences – lie passive under their shadow.

Why all society should be said to lie in the evil one, and yet the Anointed One as a reconciler for all its sins, may be explained by saying that the Anointed One’s remedy is potential, not actual, until appropriated by faith. The absence of the article before propitiation in 2:2 strengthens this view. Until faith becomes active and operative until it grasps the life and strength found in the Anointed One alone, the individuals who compose a godless society lie helpless under the yoke of the evil one, unconscious, even, of the blessings which lie within their reach.^[12]

With his systematic spiritual mindset, Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836-1921) comments that what the Apostle John says here announces the condemnation resting upon all of those who do not accept the Anointed One. Hopkins quotes from the Annotated Paragraph Bible, “The sum and end of all Christian teaching is the attainment of that knowledge of the true God, the Father revealed in His Son, which results from personal union with Him, and must lead to eternal life. Any other object of trust and supreme reverence is an idol, from which Christians must keep themselves.”^[13]

A tried and tested biblical scholar who believes in the up-building of the Christian life, Robert Cameron (1839-1904) believes that the Apostle John was sure that his readers knew they were of God and that the whole world – the whole of organized society, alienated from and opposed to God – is in all of its parts and elements under the dominion of Satan. It is an extraordinary but true statement. We are born of God; the spiritual life we possess is from God; every mercy and gift we now have is from God; all our expectations and hopes are from Him.

This is just as true of God’s poor, wreak child as of the ripe and mellow Christian. We are not all matured alike in holiness and love, but we are all alike in God, as the plant is of the seed. We are united to God in spiritual life and have become members of his family. In like manner, all men in a godless society, out of the Anointed One and not born again, are not equally vicious and dishonest, false and unclean, but they are all alike in the kingdom of the evil one. Their world, hopes, purposes, and plans are in accordance with his wishes.^[14]

Manifestly and distinctly, Erich Haupt (1841-1910) suggests that because believers know themselves to be God’s children, to be secure against any contact with the evil one, they must remember that a godless society is entirely under the power of this wicked one. “Of God” and “wicked one” are the representatives of the antithesis. As such, this comparison shows that the dative case^[15] is to be understood that the “wicked one” is masculine and not as neuter. Further, we are led to this by the fact that kosmos (“world”) never occurs as a neuter throughout the Epistle. But this certainly makes the “lies in” all the more difficult. Then, again, there is no instance in the Final Covenant of “lies in” being connected with a personal name.

So, as John sees it, a godless society rests in Satan’s hand, its whole character is composed by its relation to devil. Consequently, the devil and world’s ideas so permeate each other that the godless society comes to its real meaning only through Satan. It is obvious that a godless society is to be understood here, as in 1 John 2:15, as permeated with sin. And “society lies in wickedness,” weightier than “whole world.” It is not that the whole world is subjected to Satanic influence; John makes it emphatic that a godless society as a whole, without any qualification or exception, all that is in it is under the devil’s sway.^[16]

With his Spirit-directed calculating mind, Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) says that in verse nineteen, the Apostle introduces the second significant fact of which the believer has sure knowledge. And, as so often, John’s divisions are not sharp, but the parts intermingle. The second fact is partly anticipated in the first; the first is partially repeated in the second. Christians know that as God’s children, they are preserved from the devil by His Son. Then what do they know about a godless society and their relationship to it? They know they are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one under his power. They have not passed over, as believers have done, out of spiritual death into everlasting life. Satan is their dictator,^[17] as the Anointed One is the Christian’s king.

It is clear that the separation between the Church and a godless society should be as total as that between God and the evil one. In verse eighteen,^[18] John makes it quite clear that “wicked one” is a masculine pronoun, not a neuter. Note once more that the opposition is not exact but goes beyond what precedes. The evil one does not have control over a child of God; he obtains hold over a godless society and has it wholly within his embrace.^[19]

A man who placed particular emphasis on the importance of mystical experience in religion German theologian Julius Wilhelm Martin Kaftan (1848-1926) had this to say: “The law requires love to God. It implies love to our neighbor by abstaining from all injury to him and righteousness in all our relations, forgiving instead of retaliating. It also means that Love to help enemies and friends in all beneficial ways, self-discipline, and avoidance of all sensuous immoderation, subjection of all sensuous activity as a means for spiritual ends in the kingdom of God. All this is done not merely as a matter of outward conduct but from the heart and as the satisfaction of one’s will and desire. This is God’s will respecting us, which Jesus has revealed and of which He is the example in His life. Instead of this, humanity universally seeks to promote life, pleasure, and honor.”^[20]

Prolific writer on the Epistles, George G. Findlay (1849-1919) mentions that taking human nature as it is and reading human history has no part in the return of the Anointed One. Thus, the assurance of verse nineteen seems altogether irrational. One cannot make saints out of the sinners described in the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.^[21] For anyone living in a world where Satan is the tyrant, and knowing themselves as they do, the resurrection of the dead is less incredible than that they should live an unsinning life.

Everyone who has measured their moral strength against the law of sin has groaned with Saul of Tarsus.^[22] We “must,” as Jesus said, “be born anew.”^[23] That means believers, out of all humanity, should know that His arrival was not due to any merit on our part but by the grace of God. John says in verse twenty, “We know that God’s Son has come and given us understanding so we can know the true One, and live in that true God. We are in His Son, Jesus the Anointed One. He is the true God and eternal life.”

Those redeemed by God’s Son carry the Redeemer’s pledge of a worldwide victory in their hearts. It is not limited to personal salvation that John perceives since he has just spoken of “the whole world” or “a godless society as a whole, in its collective capacity and prevailing character, as “lying in the Evil One.” The expression recalls the scene of our Lord’s Third Temptation when the Devil showed Jesus from an exceedingly high mountain “all the kingdoms of a godless society and their glory.”^[24]

But listen to Jesus, “My Father has entrusted everything to me . . . I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.”^[25] If these two counter-claims are legitimate, which of those rival masters will finally dominate the earth? Yes, right now, a godless society lies in the grasp of the Evil One. But God’s Son came! And contrary to all the evils and miseries, against the crimes and ruin of the ages, and opposed to our guilt and weakness, there is one fact to face; God sent His Son as a godless society’s Savior. ^[26]

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[1] See John 14:30; 16:11

[2] Steele, Daniel: Half-Hours with St., John’s Epistles, op. cit., pp.149-150

[3] See 1 John 4:6

[4] Westcott, Brooke F., The Epistles of St. John: Greek Text with Notes, op. cit., pp. 194-195

[5] Maclaren, Alexander: Sermons and Expositions on 1 John, op. cit., “Triumphant Certainties – II

[6] 1 John 4:4, 6

[7] Romans 8:16

[8] Hymn When This Passing World is Done, by Robert Murray McCheyne (1837)

[9] See 1 John 5:18

[10] Sawtelle, Henry A., Commentary on the Epistles of John, op. cit., p. 63

[11] Godbey, William Baxter: Commentary on the New Testament, Vol. II, op. cit., pp. 399-400

[12] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 417-418

[13] Strong, Augustus H, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, op. cit., p. 360

[14] Cameron, Robert: The First Epistle of John, or, God Revealed in Light, Life, and Love, op. cit., p. 246

[15] The dative case is a grammatical case for nouns and pronouns. The case shows a noun’s or pronoun’s relationship to other words in the sentence. The dative case also shows the relationship of an indirect object to a verb.

[16] Haupt, Erich: The First Epistle of St. John: Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, Vol. LXIV, op. cit., pp. 339-340

[17] John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11

[18] Cf. 1 John 2:13-14; 4:4

[19] Plummer, Alfred: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, N. T., Vol. IV., pp. 170-171

[20] Kaftan, Julius Wilhelm Martin: Dogmatik, Publisher J. C. B. Mohr, Freiburg, 1897,  p. 318

[21] Romans 7:21-24

[22] Ibid. 7:25-8:4

[23] John 3:7

[24] Matthew 4:8–11; Luke 4:5–8

[25] Matthew 11:27; 27:18

[26] Findlay, George G., Fellowship in the Life Eternal: An Exposition of the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., pp. 423, 427, 429

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXIX) 05/06/23

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

We have nothing here to do with any but ourselves; the text is written solely for our learning, for our warning. It bids us remember that we, being of God, are not a godless society who wholly lay in the wicked one’s hands. It urges us so as those begotten of God; we may “guard ourselves,” as God’s born-again children, that the “wicked one will not touch us.”

A godless society is a system instead of a society. It is not to question who constitutes a godless society as what it is; what its character and constitution is; what its arrangements are; its habits of thought, feeling, and action; its pursuits, occupations, and pleasures. Are there any sinful tendencies in you? Is there any return of the old feeling of impatience, of suspicion, in a word, of unbelief? Ah, then, even “in the heavenly places,” you are not safe from the touch of the wicked one.

Remember that you have to “wrestle against the devil even in the heavenlies;” to wrestle against him not only as “ruling a godless society’s darkness” but as “spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies.”^[1] Satan transforms into an angel of light and attempts to sneak into the secret place where you dwell with God as His children.^[2] He wants to bring up old doubts, conjectures, and arguments to insert them between your heavenly Father’s loving heart and your simple trust. To keep Satan from succeeding, stand against him by faith and say goodbye^[3] ‒ he has no right to be in your spiritual world.

With an inquiring mind, Daniel D. Whedon (1808-1885) says we know that the Apostle John has used the word “know” six times in this fifth chapter.^[4] His religion is not a guess or hope on his part, he knows so. And this knowledge arises from the witness in himself,^[5] namely, the divine witness of the holy three.^[6] Though a godless society denies it, there is no uncertainty about it, for the testimony of God is greater than that of men,^[7] and the testifier is the divine Spirit, the truthitself.^[8] Wickedness and wicked one are translations of the same Greek adjective, ponēros.

So, the regenerate are said to be in the Anointed One, so in the next verse, they are in the true One. The Church is the Anointed One’s mystical body, with every regenerate member mystically embodied into Him. And so, in fearful contrast, the unregenerate world lieth inthe antichrist – Satan.^[9]

In line with Apostle John’s conclusion, Henry Alford (1810-1871) says we must apply what the Apostle John said in verse to him and his readers; and that, in entire separation from “wickedness,” the ruling spirit of this present world. It is not John’s object now to bring out contrasts but to reassert these great truths of the Christian life: We are of God (born of God): identifying us with those spoken of in verse eighteen, and worldly sinners lie in the wicked one’s lap in verse nineteen. This second member of the sentence does not depend on the preceding “that.”

But, like those in verses eighteen and twenty, is an independent proposition. The “wicked one,” by the analogy of John’s diction, is masculine, not neutered. This neuter sense can hardly stand after comparing other references^[10] and, above all, verse eighteen. Some commentators have been anxious to avoid inconsistency with such passages as 1 John 2:2; 4:14 and would give “world” a different meaning.

But there is no inconsistency whatever. If the Anointed One had not become a propitiation for the whole world’s sins and not sent as a godless society’s Savior, none could ever escape a godless society’s prison and believe in Him. But as it is, they who believe in Him come out and are separated from worldly living: so that our proposition here remains strictly accurate: a godless society is the negation of faith in Him, and as such lies in the wicked one, His main adversary.^[11]

An ordained deacon in the Church of England who turned towards a clerical career under Evangelical influences, including his friendship with Favell Lee Mortimer,^[12] which affected him deeply throughout life, Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) states that a godless society was their expositor when the Israelites read Moses and the prophets. They believed as they lusted. Therefore, they ate and drank, planted and built, married and gave in marriage, disputed in their synagogues, went to court with the poor, devoured the houses of widows and the bread of orphans, prayed in public, fasted visibly, gave alms with crowds looking on.

This was the evil society out of which the Anointed One elected His apostles – the state of fleshly indulgence, dull infidelity, confident profession, fatal nonexpectation of the day of His coming. He first broke up the way through this bondage of death and called them to follow Him into the realities of God’s kingdom. All that they were born into, they shook from them and stood far off, as from a thing under a curse. A godless society, then, out of which they were taken, was not the Gentile world but the disobedience of visible Israel.

We have a clue here that will help us answer any questions about John’s comparisons. First, it is proper to distinguish the Church and a godless society as between things antagonist and irreconcilable: for God’s Son, by His incarnation and atonement, and by the calling and mission of His apostles, founded and built up in the earth a visible kingdom, which has no other Head but Him alone. That visible kingdom is so separate from a godless society that a person must either be in it or out of it.

In the visible kingdom of the Anointed One are all the graces and promises of life, while in a godless society are the powers and traditions of death. We know of no revealed salvation out of that visible kingdom; we can point to no other way to life. There is but one Savior, one Mediator, one Sacrifice for sin; one baptism for the remission of sins; one rule of faith; one law of holiness. “We are of God,” writes John, “and the whole world is buried in wickedness.”^[13]

As a faithful and zealous scholar, William Graham (1810-1883) writes about two opposing parties and mentions “we know” three times in verses eighteen to twenty, in each case followed by “that” with the force of “but” or “indeed,” or “also” which precedes “that” in the last instance. It is very marked and should be rendered by “however,” or “but,” and not, as in our translation, by “and.” In verse eighteen, the children of God and the children of the wicked one are contrasted in these solemn words: “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one.” Let us then realize this glorious truth that “believers are the peculiar treasure and property of God.”

In so doing, we strengthen ourselves against the trials and temptations of the evil last days. Be sure that you have passed from death unto life; therefore, like the returned prodigal, you are lying safe in the heavenly Father’s everlasting arms. Let no dangerous doubts weaken the force of your convictions on this matter. It is a very and eternal truth that God loved us; that Jesus, His Son, recompensed our guilt on the cross; that the Holy Spirit, the Quickener, has drawn us to God; and, amid manifold sins and imperfections, and despite the delusions of a godless society, and the temptations of the devil, we can say, with humble but immortal hopes, “We are of God.” His eternal mercy does encompass us, as a shield, for evermore. We are His, and He is ours.

No powers in this world, nor a godless society to come, will separate us from Him;^[14] in the regions of glory, we shall realize the truth contained in these words during the boundless ages of eternity. “We know it,” says the apostle; it is not a mere dim, distant hope that we may attain to the Sonship, but we know and are sure that we are his children, elected, redeemed, sanctified, and justified through the mercy of God in our Lord Jesus the Anointed One.^[15]

With the zeal of a scriptural text examiner, William E. Jelf (1811-1875) makes note that the Apostle John now gives two leading distinctions between Christians and those who are not. (1) The sphere of the natural man, his powers and affections and desires lies patient and submissive in the management and service of the Devil. (2) A godless society, both in the sense of those to whom the sphere of the natural man is their all in all and that sphere itself. We Christians are from God; our life comes from Him and is of Him – godly; our inner man, and our outward sphere is of God.^[16]

After observing the Apostle John’s attention to detail, John Stock (1817-1884) says that the people of the Lord, who are His temple,^[17] will outlive sinful world’s destruction – while sending one party with Judas to his destiny^[18] – not prepared not for them, but the devil and his angels^[19] whom, however perseveringly, partake with them in their eternal hopeless overthrow – they, like Noah – yes, and far better than he did – will step into a new world where righteousness^[20] will see the God they loved and worshipped – and somewhat resembled – face to face, and be like and with Him forever.^[21]

None are thrilled with the god of this world who rules over them; yet in their sorrows, they inquire not after God: they say, “I’m in love with these foreign gods, and I can’t stop loving them now!;”^[22] and a godless society is the great idol, and all kinds of music help to disguise its meanness, and to appeal to its worship.

Therefore, let no one envy sinners but be in reverence of the Lord all day long.^[23] Cross-bearers and followers after the Anointed One, by His Spirit, live the only life worth living. Despite their hardships and conflicts with the powers of darkness,^[24] they don’t live to be destroyed, but they obtain relief and find an exit from danger. God’s presence amidst flames^[25] and their peace flows like a river; as it is written, “Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.”^[26]

They each and all, even if they have, like highly-favored Obadiah, feared God from their youth,^[27] bless the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for their mysterious and wonderful salvation; and say, “Not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and delivered us from this present evil world,^[28] and the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son”^[29] – a kingdom that cannot be moved,^[30] but is like Himself, an everlasting kingdom;^[31] and in the which His people are being eternally glorified.^[32]

With an inquiring spiritual mind, Johannes H. A. Ebrard (1819-1893) says that verse nineteen has the second theme: We know that we are of God. In verse eighteen, the Apostle John described it as a universal judgment – those born of God do not sin. So, verse nineteen follows with the specific conclusion – we know that we are of God. But with this is presently contrasted the “world,” the antithesis of the “we.” In other words, “We know that we are of God, but a godless society is not of God.” Thus, the idea that “sinful society drowns in wickedness” is weakened if we regard it just “being in a miserable and sinful state.” 

Therefore, John must have had some reason for not writing “of God” as he did in 3:10-12.^[33] Concerning a godless society, he says, not merely that it is “of the wicked one,” or has him as a parent and bears his nature, but also that it “lies in them,” that is, sits in their soul – not like an unborn child in the mother’s womb^[34] which would be only another form of being “of the evil one.” Consequently, John speaks not only of nature’s origin and nature but also of its destiny. Thus, these words include a consolation for those born of God.^[35]

Familiar with John’s writing style, William B. Pope (1822-1903) states that we should note the exquisite propriety of the words in verse nineteen. There is no “but,” as before: we know by blessed assurance of our regenerate life that we are of God. This is all we are assured of, and there is no emphatic “we” opposed to the “world.” It is as if the Apostle John tries to avoid even the semblance of triumph against the ungodly. But the stark contrast is apparent. The same “wicked one” the preceding verse says holds the entire world in his power, so far as the new life has not transformed it.

John would not express “a godless society of the wicked one:” if the “devil’s brood” had not been spoken of in 1 John 3:10. Those of a godless society are not just “in” the wicked world, the Greek verb keimai (“lies in”) is used as a metaphor for something or someone buried in a grave or an infant in a womb. The “whole world” is not just the citizens, but its entire constitution, its entire economy, its lusts and principles and motives, and course and end: all that is not “of God.” This the apostle adds as a familiar truth, but never so fearfully expressed as here. The comparison between the regenerate who have fellowship with God, and the unregenerate whose connection is with Satan, could not be more keenly defined.^[36]

A strong supporter of church laity in ministry, Willibald Beyschlag (1823-1900) notes that the Apostle John does not take the time or relate any myth or an original good angel, who, because of a devil whose fall occurs before that of humanity. He does not attempt to explain to us how God created a godless society through the Logos (“the Word” – Jesus), despite the continuous intervention of divine government, now lies wholly within the power of the wicked.^[37] The devil is simply a fact, as sin is a fact; he is the accuser, the spirit of lies in conflict with the Spirit of Truth.^[38]

With precise spiritual discernment, William Alexander (1824-1911) now makes a second statement about who we are: “We know that we are children of God and that a godless society around us is under the control of the evil one.” It is another way of saying that the evil one in verse eighteen has no jurisdiction in verse nineteen. We are God’s property; He paid the price to own us. The devil did not pay one penny to get those who belong to him; they paid him everything. Alexander also points out the Church’s relative position with a godless society in which each exhibits its proper internal qualities most conspicuously. Alexander says, “Purity belongs to one, shameless confusion to the other.” And each one is proud to declare it. ^[39]

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[1] Ephesians 6:12

[2] Psalm 91:1ff

[3] James 4:7

[4] 1 John 5:13, 15^[2x], 18, 19, 20

[5] Ibid. 5:10

[6] Ibid. 5:8

[7] Ibid. 5:9

[8] Ibid. 5:6

[9] Whedon, Daniel, Commentary on the New Testament, op. cit., p. 281

[10] See 1 John 2:13-14; 3:8, 10, 14; 4:4; John 17

[11] Alford, Henry: The Greek Testament, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 513

[12] A British Evangelical author of educational books for children

[13] Manning, Henry Edward: Sermons, Vol. 2., Sermon XIII, A godless society We Have Renounced, pp. 113-114

[14] Romans 3:31-39

[15] Graham, William: The Spirit of Love, op. cit., pp. 350-351

[16] Jelf, William E., Commentary on the First Epistle of St. John, op. cit., p. 81

[17] 1 Corinthians 3:16

[18] Acts of the Apostles 1:25

[19] Matthew 25:41

[20] 2 Peter 3:13

[21] 1 John 3:2

[22] Jeremiah 2:25

[23] Proverbs 23:17

[24] Ephesians 6:12

[25] Daniel 3:24

[26] Psalm 119:165

[27] 1 Kings 18:12

[28] Galatians 1:4

[29] Colossians 1:13

[30] Hebrews 12:28

[31] Daniel 7:27

[32] Stock, John: An Exposition of the First Epistle General of St. John, op. cit., pp. 461-462

[33] See John 8:4; cf. 1 John 2:16

[34] Isaiah 46:3

[35] Ebrard, Johannes H. A., Biblical Commentary on the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., pp. 344-345

[36] Pope, William B., The International Illustrated Commentary on the N.T., Vol. IV, op. cit., pp. 41-42

[37] 1 John 5:19

[38] Ibid. 4:6

[39] Beyschlag, Willibald: New Testament Theology, Vol. II, op. cit., p. 438

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXVIII) 05/05/23

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

Farther, the wicked are said to be trapped in the devil’s snare.^[1] He is said to use crafty methods for the believer’s destruction.^[2] He is said to have enticed Eve with his cleverness.^[3] And believers are said to be delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His beloved Son.^[4] By using “lies in wickedness,” John perhaps represents the wicked of a godless society as lying slain by the devil to give us a better idea of the miserable and helpless state of fallen mankind by the stroke of that relentless malicious enemy – the devil,^[5]

After skillfully scrutinizing the Apostle John’s theme, John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787) comments that we certainly know that we have by regeneration been made partakers of a divine nature, as a powerful and abiding principle of holiness, and that all the rest of a godless society, who have never experienced this new birth, voluntarily continue under the power of sin and Satan.^[6]

For example, Thomas Scott (1747-1821), a man with a heartfelt friendship with hymn writerJohn Newton (1726-1807),^[7] believes that the Apostle John, and other established Christians, with the witness of their conscious love for God and each other, their hatred of sin, and victory over a godless society, knew that they “were of born of God,” His servants, His worshippers, His children, and heirs. And they also clearly perceived that a godless society “lay in wickedness” or “under the wicked one’s control.”

In other words, the entire human race, unless they became “born of God” and part of the Anointed One’s kingdom, remained in subjection to the devil (who is “the prince of this world”) as enslaved people. They are “overcome by him” and “brought into bondage” to him. As a result, they bear his image; and copy his example of pride, envy, malice, deceit, murder, mischief, slander, apostasy, rebellion, ingratitude, and enmity against God. They do his bidding and support his cause. But unfortunately, they have neither wisdom, power, nor the will to deliver themselves. They would have continued in this dreadful state if the Anointed One had not “come to destroy the devil’s works.”^{[8] [9]}

At age fifteen, a potential young theologian who preached and held cottage and prayer meetings, Joseph Benson (1749-1821), says it appears that the Apostle John reflects on the happy difference between regeneration and the knowledge of God in the Anointed One made between them and the ignorant and wicked world and directed them to guard carefully against all idolatry.^[10]

Prominent Baptist minister John Gershom Greenhough (1800-1914) states that this has been called the Epistle of Love and deserves that title well. Still, it might be almost more appropriately called the Epistle of Certainties. There is a ring of absolute assurance from the opening words to the finish. Nor was the language of this Apostle John at all singular and exceptional. As he wrote and spoke, he felt and testified to all those first witnesses of the Anointed One. Greenhough gives some reasons why he feels Epistle of Certainties would be a good title:

I. The strength and dominant power of the early disciples was their certainties. It was the age of skepticism, a period of almost universal uncertainty. People everywhere were boastfully declaring or bemoaning that nothing was or could be known about the higher powers and future life. And then these Apostles went out with triumphant certainty on their lips, holding the clue to all the great mysteries in their hands. No wonder people crowded around them.

II. The confidence of the Apostolic Church made it a missionary Church. The audacity of that early faith was inspiring. There was no hesitation because there was no doubt. They could neither fear nor hold back nor sit still in the absolute assurance that possessed them. And herein lies the lesson which I wish to press upon you: for I am saying what is true of every Church alive, earnest, and aggressive Church. In this respect, the old order never changes.

III. Our being convinced is the measure of our power. In all forward work, especially the one essential is the absolute assurance that we hold proven truths, that our weapons have been forged in God’s furnace, and that the Holy Spirit has given our directions. The Church has undoubtedly had enough pruning and paring. She wants to use the sword again in her real warfare. She wants to feel her feet again planted on apostolic certainties.

IV. We return to this confession of the Apostle John, questioning that we belong to God, but the whole world belongs to the devil would make our evangelism enterprise a laughingstock and much ado about nothing. Here in Christian lands, we cannot always confidently say who is of God and who is of the wicked one. But the words are still valid in their uttermost significance, of those who know the Anointed One and those who do not. These are the certainties of the Christian heart, never to be let go or explained away; these form the basis and inspiration of winning the lost for the Anointed One. And to this, there is but one word to add. Surely the measure of our assurance is the measure of our faithfulness. The more absolutely we know these things, our burden of responsibility is heavier.^[11]

Considering everything the Apostle John has said so far, Adam Clarke (1774-1849) speaks to know that we are of God, gives proof of Christianity’s truth and our reconciliation to God through the death of His Son. This, while the whole world lies in the wicked one’s embrace, is fast asleep and carnally secure in the arms of the devil. What a truly awful state! And do not all worldly people’s actions, temperaments, tendencies, opinions, and principles prove and illustrate this?

Yes, their actions are opposed to God’s law; their conversations shallow, uninspiring, and false; their contracts forced, interested, and deceitful; their quarrels childish, ridiculous, and ferocious; and their friendships hollow, insincere, inconsistent, and unpredictable. Hence, their lying in the arms of the wicked one causes them to become instinctive with their spirit: because they are like their leader, the devil, they will do his bidding.^[12]

With systematic theological intellect, Charles Hodge (1797-1878) says there is no doubt that the Scriptures teach the Word of God and a specially appointed means for one’s salvation and sanctification. This doctrine of the Bible is confirmed by the experience of the Church and of a godless society. That experience teaches that no indications of the saving influences of the Spirit are found and no evidence of sanctification where the Word of God is unknown. This is not saying that none such occur.

We know from the Bible, “That God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation, those that reverence Him and live righteously, are accepted by Him.”^[13] No one doubts that it is God’s authority to call whom He pleases from among the heathen and to reveal enough truth to secure their salvation. Nevertheless, it remains apparent to all eyes that the nations where the Bible is unknown sit in darkness. The absence of the Bible is just as distinctly discernible as the absence of the sun. The Scriptures declare that “the whole world lies in wickedness,” and history confirms that declaration.^[14]

Without using complicated language, Albert Barnes (1798-1870) believes that the Apostle John supposed that true Christians might have such clear evidence of being “of God” to leave no doubt in their minds that they were God’s children.^[15] This contrasted with the whole world. The term “world” here does not mean the planet, but the people who live on earth, including sinners of every grade and kind. They lie as though buried in wickedness, under the power of the “wicked one” – the devil. It is true that the Greek adjective ponērō (“wicked one”) may be used here in the neuter gender, as our translators have rendered it, meaning “that which is evil” or “of a dangerous nature or condition.

But it may also be in the masculine gender, meaning “Satan – adversary.” In that sense, it would mean that the whole world is under his control or dominion. That this is John’s meaning seems clear because: (1) the corresponding phrase in verse nineteen, “in Him that is true,” is evidently to be construed in the masculine, referring to God the Savior and not that we are “in truth.) (2) It makes better sense to say that a godless society lies under the control of the wicked one than to say that it lies “in wickedness.” (3) This agrees better with the other representations in the Bible and elsewhere.^{[16] [17]}

In all these passages, it is supposed that Satan has control over a godless society, especially the heathen world.^[18] Regarding the fact that the heathen world was permeated by wickedness, it may be added that the most eminent critics and commentators adopt this interpretation. The phrase “lies in” means, appropriately, to be laid; to recline; to be situated, etc. It seems here to refer to the passive and dormant state of a wicked world under the dominion of the prince of evil as agreeing to his reign, offering no resistance, and not even struggling to be free.

Thus, it rests as a beast that lies subdued, a body that is dead, or anything that is wholly passive, quiet, and inert. There is no energy, no effort to throw off the devil’s shackles, no fight, no wrestling. The devil’s dominance is complete, and body and soul, individuals, and nations are entirely subject to his temptations. This striking expression will not properly describe the condition of the heathen world or sinners in general. There would seem to be no government under which people are so little agitated and against which they have so little disposition to rebel as Satan once did.^{[19] [20]}

Consistent with the Apostle John’s advice, Heinrich A. W. Meyer (1800-1882) observes that verse nineteen marks the antithesis between believers as being born of God and the “world,” as belonging in its whole extent to the “wicked one.” The Apostle John vindicates himself and his readers united in faith as “being of God.” This finds its explanation in verse eighteen, “being born of God.” The phrase, “and the wicked one cannot touch him,” is probably an independent sentence, not depending on the connection “that.” It is the conjunction “and” that brings out the antithesis between the two parts of the verse, still more clearly than if an adversative particle had done this “a godless society” used here as the ethical meaning of the word, which is peculiar to John.

By “of God” and Martin Luther’s translation of what Isaiah said, “die ihr von mir getragen werdet von Mutterleibe an und von der Mutter her auf mir liegt.” (“you whom I have upheld since your birth and have carried since you were born.”)^[21] Thus, some commentators have erroneously referred to the expression “lies in wickedness” as the child’s relationship to its mother. German theologian Philipp Spener (1635-1705) rendered it “as a child in its mother’s womb.” By “in,” John expresses that a godless society is as though the devil has surrounded it; namely, it lies in obedience under his power.^[22]

According to Robert Jamieson (1802-1880), Andrew Fausset (1821-1910), and David Brown’s (1803-1897) advice, we should focus on the fact that while we know that we are God’s children and that all the rest of a godless society around us is under Satan’s power and control.^[23] They point out that the phrase “lieth in wickedness” (KJV) means they make their home with Satan as his slaves. While the delivered believer is free of the devil’s power, the whole world lies slumped over, helpless, and motionless in his grasp. Still, not to lower one’s standards, these hopeless people include a godless society’s intellegencia, famous, and respectable who are not in vital union with the Anointed One.^[24]

With noticeable spiritual comprehension, Henry Cowles (1802-1881) asks if verses eighteen and nineteen are related in thought to the two preceding verses. Usually, this should be assumed unless the nature of the case forbids it. Considering as much, we may logically arrange the connection this way: Those who “sin deadly to eternal life” are not of those who have been “born of God.” We know that those of God do not commit the unpardonable sin – “deadly to eternal life.”

All newborn children of God keep themselves sanctified through grace, and that wicked one – the devil – does not pull them down. So vast as the north and south poles are apart, these two classes, we Christians are of God, made His children by His regenerating grace while a godless society remains clasped by Satan’s claws. One type is under God’s protecting hand; the other is under Satan’s powerful paw.^[25]

With his lifework well-illustrating the biblical and reformation ideal of a pastor-theologian, Robert S. Candlish (1807-1873) suggests that instead of “wickedness,” in verse nineteen, we might instead read “the wicked one.” There is now general agreement among critics and interpreters to that effect. There is no good reason for any change in this verse from the rendering in the verse before. Therefore, it must unavoidably be personal, “the wicked one touches him not.” It is unnecessary and unwarranted to make it impersonal and make “the whole world lies in wickedness” and abstract thought.

Any change spoils the sense and destroys the apparent contrast between the child of God, whom that wicked one does not touch, and a godless society that is solely in his grasp. We know this last fact as we know we are of God, which contributes to our security. For that is the precise point and purpose of the statement, “the whole world lies under the control of the wicked one.” It is a statement introduced for a purely practical end or purpose personal to us, as born of God, and, in that character, “keeping ourselves.” It has no reference to others besides ourselves; it is strictly applicable and meant to be applied to ourselves alone. No contrast is intended between us and the rest of mankind. There is no emphasis in “we are of God” – in contradistinction to those classified as “of a godless society.” In fact, the “we” is not in the original at all. It is necessarily supplied in our English translation. But it is not being expressed in the original is plain proof, as all scholars know, it is not intended to be emphatic or to suggest any contrast between us and any other body of individuals.

---

[1] 2 Timothy 2:26

[2] Ephesians 6:12

[3] 2 Corinthians 11:3

[4] Colossians 1:13; cf. 1 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2

[5] Macknight, James: Apostolic Epistles with Commentary, Vol. VI, pp. 124-125

[6] Brown of Haddington, John: Self-Interpreting Bible, N. T., Vol. IV, p. 507

[7] Newton, John: Composer of “Amazing Grace,”

[8] Note 1 John 3:7-10; 4:46; John 8:37-47; 12:27-33; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; Ephesians 2:1-2

[9] Scott, Thomas: Commentary on the Holy Bible, pp. 412-413

[10] Benson, Joseph: Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, op. cit., Published by T. Carlton & J. Porter, New York, 1857, pp. 348-349

[11] Greenhough, John Gershom: The Expositor’s Dictionary of Texts, The Cross in Modern Life, 1904, p. 120

[12] Clarke, Adam: Wesleyan Heritage Commentary, op. cit., Hebrews-Revelation, pp. 399-400

[13] Acts of the Apostles 10:34-35

[14] Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, op. cit., Testimony of History, pp. 468-469

[15] Cf. 1 John 3:14; 2 Timothy 1:12

[16] 1 John 2:13

[17] Barnes, Albert: New Testament Notes, op. cit., pp. 4893-4894

[18] Cf. Ephesians 6:12; 1 Corinthians 10:20

[19] Cf. 2 Timothy 2:26

[20] Barnes, Albert: New Testament Notes, op. cit., 1 John 5, pp. 4893-4894

[21] Isaiah 46:3 – (NIV)

[22] Meyer, Heinrich A. W., Critical Exegetical Handbook New Testament, op. cit., Vol. 10, p. 819

[23] See 1 John 2:13, 14; cf 1 John 4:4; John 17:14, 15.

[24] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Testament Volume, op. cit., p. 731

[25] Cowles, Henry: The Gospel and Epistles of John, op. cit., p. 361

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXVII) 05/04/23

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

But the evil one is of this world and all things in it, which are placed there like objects imprisoned in the wicked one’s share. Therefore, as the Apostle John said, the whole world lies in the possession of the wicked, not in God.^[1] Wherefore we have maintained that there are two localities – one good and another which lies outside of this. For if we say that there is but a monarchy of one nature, God fills all things, and there is no location outside Him, what will be the sustainer of His creation. So, where is Gehenna’s fire?^[2] Where is the outer darkness? Where is weeping? It is possible; it lies within Himself? God forbid; else He will also be made to suffer from these. Therefore, entertain no such fancies, if anything, about your salvation.^[3]

It is sad that after only three hundred years after our Lord’s ascension, such subjects were the main course of discussions and arguments in the Church. Instead of focusing on the teachings, the cross, His resurrection, ascension, and return, it was on trivial matters. Have we progressed any since then? I can recall the 1960s “God is Dead” theory, controversy over Situation Ethics, the Supreme Court’s unconstitutional abortion guarantee, the legalization of Gay Marriage, the adoption of Lesbian ministers and pastors, the rise of LGBTQ+ Christian churches, and so on. Are they the real reason for such decadence?

Listen to what God told the prophet Hosea: “My people are destroyed because they don’t know Me, and it is all your fault, you priests, for you refuse to know Me; therefore, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten my laws, I will ‘forget’ to bless your children.’”^[4]

Even unbelieving Jews fell into two groups when it came to the Gospel. “Those in Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica and gladly listened to the message. Moreover, they searched the Scriptures daily to check on Paul and Silas’ statements to see if they were factual.”^[5] And the Apostle Paul had this prayer for the Ephesians:

Why does God give us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God’s people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity; until finally, we all believe alike about our salvation and our Savior, God’s Son, and all become full-grown in the Lord ‒ yes, to the point of being filled full with Christ. Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.”^[6]

With a studious monk’s spiritual insight, Bede the Venerable (672-735) says we know that we are of God because we have been born again by grace and baptism through faith, and we know too that we shall persevere in that faith to the very end. But those who love a godless society are subjected to the enemy, and no water of regeneration can deliver them from that subjection, especially if they sin again after baptism. Nor is it just the lovers of a godless society who are in this state because it also applies to those newly born again and who have inherited the guilt of original sin, although they cannot yet tell the difference between good and evil. Such people remain in the enemy’s power unless, by the power of a loving Creator, they are taken out of Satan’s regime of darkness and placed in the Anointed One’s Kingdom of Light.

Respected Reformation writer, Matthew Poole (1624-1679) notes that in verse nineteen, the Apostle John does not exclusively assume this status of being born again. But rather, he expresses his generous confidence in them, to whom he writes that it was his privilege to share this in common with them, to be of God, or born of Him; despite the general population who were under the power of that before-mentioned wicked one, or amid all of sin’s impurity and malignity. And we know that God’s Son has come and given us knowledge that we might know the True One; and that we might be in the True One, in His Son Jesus the Anointed One. He is the true God and the life eternal.^[7]

A young independent, thinking theological sage, Hugh Binning (1627-1653), says that if we believe that our descent is from an uncreated Spirit, how powerful might that be to conform you more and more to Him and to transform more and more control of your flesh to the spirit! Nothing will raise the hearts of the Princes of Peace’s subjects more than realizing their royal birth and dignity. How should this consideration make your spirits suitable to your state or fortunes, as we use to say? You would labor to raise them to that height and walk worthy of that high calling.

O that we might learn from what the Apostle Paul gives the Corinthian believers.^[8] A soul with the meditation of this royal descent from God could not possibly glory in those disgraceful things humanity glories in and not contain or restrain any boasting. The praise of many is their shame because it is sinful. But suppose that in which they glory is not shameful, as the lawful things of this world, yet certainly it is a great shame for a Christian to glory in them or esteems them as reasonable.

If we remain mindful that we are of God, born of God, what power do you think temptations, or baits to sin, would have over us! As the Apostle John says, “He that is born of God does not sin, he keeps himself, and that wicked one cannot touch him.” Indeed, this consideration imprinted in the heart would elevate us above all these baser persuasions of the flesh. This would make sin loathsome and despicable, as the most significant indignity we could do to our spiritual nature.

The strength and advantage of sin make us forget what we are and with whom we have a relationship. Are we to drink from a godless society’s puddle, or then with our jealousies and suspicions, forget our birth and state and so be enticed to do anything a godless society does? If you could beat back all the fiery darts of the devil, take the shield of this faith and persuasion;^[9] how would it silence temptations? As Nehemiah asked, “Should someone in my position run from danger?”^[10] Ask yourself, “Should I, born of the Spirit; who is of God in the Anointed One, humiliate myself to such unworthy and base things? Shall I dishonor our heavenly Father and disgrace myself?”^[11]

There is nothing more commendable to a Christian than to look around and view the whole world lying in wickedness, then to look backward to what they once were and compare it with what they are now that God’s grace has set them free. O, what a soul-stirring perspective that is in relation to what the Apostle John says in verse nineteen. How does this increase the value of grace, and how much does it add to a soul’s inward contentment to think about what it used to be and what it would undoubtedly have become if not for God’s grace! People often looked to those as inferior, so they might not envy those superior to them.

So, it might do well when a Christian is grieved and disturbed because they have not attained that desired measure of the image of God, and fellowship with Him, to cast a look about to the miserable and hopeless estate of so many thousands who have the appearance of Satan so visibly engraved on them and have no inward stirring after this blessed image; and reflect on the slimy pit from whence they were rescued, to look upon that primitive estate in which grace found them as described by Ezekiel.^[12]

Would such hindsight not make them break out in admiration and be powerful enough to comfort and compose their spirit? Such were some of you. Then consider though the stains of sin were as red as crimson and scarlet,^[13] yet they were washed clean by the blood of the Anointed One to enroll you in heaven’s register – what an astonishing thought is it!^[14]

In his fiery manner, John Flavel (1627-1691) suggests that we study worldly people’s eternal futility in having any idea of how empty they become when they lose all their worldly affections. It is the false image of a godless society in their fancy that crucifies them with so many cares and solicitudes about it, and it is the true image of a godless society, represented to us in the mirror of God’s Word, which significantly helps us to crucify our worldly affections. “O, if we could only believe three things about a godless society, we would never be so fond of it as we are.”

The best and sweetest enjoyments in a godless society are fading flowers and withering grass.^[15] Yes, it is defiling and disappearing because it “lies in wickedness” and spreads universal infection among all humanity.^[16] For sure, it destroys and defiles multitudes of souls, drowning in the sea of damnation.^[17] Nevertheless, millions of souls will wish they had never known its riches, pleasures, or honors for eternity.^[18]

From his scriptural viewpoint, William Burkitt (1650-1703) believes that the far part of a godless society’s residents is under the dominion of the “wicked one,” sunk into idolatry, and worshippers of the devil. Nevertheless, they continue their impure and corrupt living, wholly committed to mischief and wickedness. We see the darkness and horror of an unregenerate and unconverted state under Satan’s dominion. But behold the blessed change Christianity makes, not in the profession but its practice. It delivers from the power of darkness and the power of Satan, the prince of darkness, and translates us into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

With meticulous Greek text examination and confirmation, Johann Bengel (1687-1752) defines “from” in verse nineteen as an abbreviated expression: We are from God and abide in God, but a godless society is from the wicked one and lies wholly in the wicked one’s grasp. Therefore, a godless society can no more touch the sons of God than the wicked one, under whose power they are prisoners. The wicked one, in verse eighteen, is opposed to Him that is true in verse twenty. Therefore, a godless society [including the educated, the respectable, and all others, except those claiming God as their heavenly Father and the Anointed One as their Savior] are not touched by the “wicked one.” 

All others, as we say in German bleibt liegen, (remain lying [down]), by means of idolatry, blindness, deceit, violence, lust, irreverence, and all wickedness, in the evil one, destitute both of life from God and of understanding.^[19] The dreadful condition of a godless society is most vividly portrayed in this summary. No other commentary is needed than a godless society itself and worldly people’s actions, discussions, contracts, strifes, and brotherhoods. They esteem themselves happy in their wretchedness and the sons of God as destitute of what is good for their welfare. Furthermore, there is an antithesis in abides, as applied to God and the saints. Those who are regenerate have what they pray for and need according to God’s will.^{[20] [21]}

As an unapologetic Gospel preacher, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) notes that after Christianity in Europe came into prominence in the Middle Ages, Christians had the upper hand in nations and civil communities while a greater part of humanity remained in their old heathen state of ignorance and wickedness. And besides, as Christians gained influence in secular affairs, true reverence declined, and corruption and wickedness prevailed among them. And as to the state of the Christian world, politics and the implementation of humanities became paramount in the Church’s hierarchy and theology.

In giving an account of how the doctrine of original sin came to prevail among Christians, Dr. Thomas Taylor (1576-1632) observes, “That the Christian religion was very early and grievously corrupted, by dreaming, ignorant, superstitious monks . . . The generality of Christians has embraced this persuasion concerning original sin, and the consequence has been that, in general, Christians have been the most wicked, lewd, bloody, and treacherous of all humanity.”^[22]

With all the Apostle John’s themes in mind, John Wesley (1703-1791) shares that one of his followers wrote him with a question, “I have no witness that I am saved from sin. And yet I have no doubts of it.” “Very well,” says Wesley, “as long as you have no doubt, it is enough; you will need that witness when you have doubts.” “But what scripture makes mention of any such thing or gives any reason to expect it?” That scripture is, “And we have received God’s Spirit (not a godless society’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.”^[23]

Now, sanctification is one of God’s things freely given to us, and no possible reason can be given why this should not be expected when it is freely given to us. Is it not the same thing implied in that well-known scripture, “For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”^[24] Does the Spirit witness this only to those who are children of God in the lowest sense? No, but to those also who are such in the highest degree. What reason have we to doubt it?^[25]

With scholarly meditation, James Macknight (1721-1800) asserts that we know that we are born of God. The Greek text says we know that we are “from God.” But the full circle expression must be completed from verse eighteen by supplying “having been born.”^[26] But the whole world lies under the power of the wicked one. In verse nineteen, as in chapter 1 John 2:16, “world” does not signify the earth’s material fabric but its evil inhabitants. It denotes all the idolaters, infidels, and wicked people of a godless society, having made themselves the devil’s subjects. It may be said that they lie under the rule of the wicked one, under his dominion: just as believers in the next verse say, they are in or under the true God by being under His Son.^[27] The devil’s power in the lower world is over its inhabitants^[28] is often spoken of in scripture. He is called the prince and the power of the air, the spirit which now works inwardly in the children of disobedience.^[29] He is also said to be the god of this world and blinds the minds of unbelievers. He is labeled our adversary and is said to be roaming around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may swallow up.^[30]

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[1] 1 John 5:19

[2] Gehenna is the place where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch in the “valley of the son of Hinnom,” to the south of Jerusalem (Josh. 15:8, passim; II Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 2:23; 7:31-32; 19:6, 13-14). For this reason, the valley was deemed to be accursed, and “Gehenna” therefore soon became a figurative equivalent for “hell.” 

[3] Archelaus: Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch, Manes, Ch. 14, p. 17

[4] Hosea 4:6

[5] Acts of the Apostles 17:11

[6] Ephesians 4:14

[7] Poole, Matthew. Commentary on the Holy Bible – Book of 1st, 2nd & 3rd John (Annotated), Kindle Edition

[8] 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

[9] Ephesians 6:16

[10] Nehemiah 6:11

[11] Binning, Hugh: The Sinner’s Sanctuary, Sermon XVI, p. 185

[12] Ezekiel 16

[13] Isaiah 1:18

[14] Ibid. Sermon XXIII, p. 215

[15] Isaiah 40:6; James 1:10-11

[16] 2 Peter 1:4

[17] 1 Timothy 6:9

[18] Flavel, John: The Method of Grace: How the Spirit Works, op. cit., Ch. 28, p. 400

[19] See 1 Corinthians 5:11; 11:32

[20] 1 John 2:2

[21] Bengel, Johann: Gnomon on the New Testament, op. cit., Vol. 4, pp.153-154

[22] Edwards, Jonathan, Works of, op. cit., Vol. 2, Original Sin Defended, Part, 1, Ch. 1, Sec. 7, p. 497

[23] 1 Corinthians 2:12

[24] Romans 8:16

[25] Wesley, John, Works of, op. cit., Vol. 11, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Written on Saturday, May 2, 1761, pp. 493-494

[26] See 1 John 3:12

[27] 1 Thessalonians 1:1

[28] Ephesians 2:2

[29] 2 Corinthians 4:4

[30] 1 Peter 5:8

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXVI) 05/03/23

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

Jesus responded to the question by Jewish Rabbi and Sanhedrin member Nicodemus about entering the Kingdom of God and told him Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s impossible to see what I’m pointing to is God’s kingdom.” When Nicodemus did not seem to understand, Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me repeat it. Unless a person submits to this original creation – the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life – it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.”^[1]

The Apostle James noted that God chose to birth us by giving us His Word in the flesh. And we, out of all creation, became His prized possession.^[2] And the Apostle Peter told his readers that they had a new life. It was not passed on to you from your parents, for the life they gave you will fade away. However, this new one will last forever, for it comes from the Anointed One, God’s ever-living Message to humanity.^[3]

Here John remembers what Jesus said, “If you belonged to a godless society, a godless society would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you to be different from those in a godless society. So, you don’t belong to a godless society, which is why a godless society hates you.”^[4] We must never forget that it’s not just a matter of us protecting ourselves; Jesus is also busy watching us. Only heaven will reveal the many times that the Anointed One through the Holy Spirit changed our departure times, missing a turn on the highway, not picking up the phone, not meeting someone we were scheduled to see, stopping somewhere we weren’t planning on, etc., in order to protect us.  We need all the help we can get because of what John points out here.

That’s why Jesus was adamant that His followers understand, “When the Helper comes, He will show the people of a godless society how wrong they are about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment. He will prove that they are guilty of sin because they don’t believe in me. He will show them how wrong they are about how to be right with God. The Helper will do this because I am going to the Father. You will not see me then. And He will show them how wrong their judgment is, because their leader has already been condemned.”^[5]

Considering this, let’s look at what happened to Stephen and James. The evil one certainly caused them physical harm, but it was to the glory of God.  John is talking about any spiritual damage the devil may cause, the kind that would jeopardize our standing with God and our gift of eternal life. The difference, says John, is that the unconverted sinner is under the control and influence of the devil, while the converted believer is under the power and influence of the Anointed One. As a result, even if the child of God errs or makes a mistake, God’s Son watches over them, and the devil cannot get near them to do what he did to Adam and Eve.

Again, let us remind ourselves that sinning disobeys God’s Word and will. If an unconverted sinner is found doing things God is against and does not approve of, the motivation for such deeds comes from the devil’s influence. They are already under condemnation, and death will be their destiny. However, when converted believer disobeys God’s Word and will for their lives since they belong to Him, He is more interested in saving them than losing them because of the high price He paid for them.

Verses four and five clearly state, “Every child of God has power over the sins of a godless society. The way we have power over the sins of a godless society is by our faith. Who could have no power over a godless society except by believing that Jesus is God’s Son.” But not just the Father; John says that God’s Son also watches over them so that Satan cannot enter their hearts and minds and take over control of their lives. Just as the only one who can open the door of their hearts to let Jesus in is the person, the same applies to opening the entryway to the devil and letting him back in. If Jesus is in charge, He will open the door, and Satan has no interest in coming in where Jesus is Lord.

We should also note that this is the third and last “we know” of this section.  We know two truths in this verse: 1) we know that God is our Father and 2) that a godless society system is under the dominion of Satan. One is positive and the other negative. We are either a child of God or part of the devil’s brood.^[6] We enjoy the certainty of our relationship to the Father. In verse nineteen, the Apostle John shows the distinction between those who find their origin in God and those who find their descent in Satan. The divine capacity/nature is inherently sinless, while the sin nature lies under the sway of Satan.^[7] Therefore, the kind of life we have corresponds to its source.

When Christians sin, they step out of their spiritual character. The partition between the believer’s kingdom and a godless society’s system is as great as the separation between God and Satan. The essential division from the satanic system occurred at the point of salvation, so Christians have an entirely new way of living.  Previously they walked according to the norms and standards of this world. Apart from God, there is no satisfaction. Christians are fully aware that they act out of character when they sin because the cross is an offense to this world’s system.^[8] 

People living under this system do not want any authority over them, and especially they do not care for God’s sovereignty over them. They do not like being told that it is not right to undermine their fellow man with lies. They desire the privileges in God’s Word if it is convenient for their plans. They will deceive anyone to accomplish their purposes. All of this occurs because Satan deludes them. He blinds their eyes and minds.^[9]

Some people say, “The devil made me do it.” Satan may tempt us, but he cannot make us sin. The devil cannot recapture the true believer and make them his slave. The evil one might intimidate us into doing this, but it is only a hollow threat. He can make us question our salvation, but he cannot take it from us. He can derail our fellowship with the Lord but not our relationship. He cannot make us sin, but he can set the context for inducement to sin.

The truth is, we do not have to keep ourselves saved. Christians can no more keep themselves saved than they can redeem themselves.  It is Jesus that safeguards us. He provides and protects. The One who rescued us in the first place keeps us in the second place. A Christian cannot confidently serve the Lord until they believe in their soul’s eternal security. Otherwise, everything they do, they do with the idea of keeping themselves saved.  Their priority is to stack up merits with God. It all results in the energy of the flesh.

So, when we look at verse nineteen, this is the second remarkable fact of which Christians have certainty. They, as God’s children, and preserved from the evil one by His Son, have nothing to do with a godless society, which still lies under the power of the evil one. The “the evil one” is not neuter but masculine is evident from the context, as well as from 1 John 2:13.^[10] By saying that it lies in the evil one’s hands represents it as being under the dominion of Satan. There is, therefore, no reason why we should hesitate to shun a godless society, which despises God and delivers itself into the bondage of Satan; nor is there any reason why we should fear its hostility, because it is alienated from God.

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.

Dionysius the Areopagite (circa 15-76 AD), who was converted to Christianity by the Apostle Paul when he visited Athens,^[11] is commenting on Luke 22:46, where Jesus comes back from praying and finds His disciples sound asleep. So, He says to them, “Get up and pray so that you will not give in to temptation.” Dionysius says that no one can remain free from experiencing moments of weakness. As the Apostle John says, “We know that we are children of God and that a godless society around us is under the control of the evil one.”^[12] Not only that but that most of a person’s days are travail and trouble.”^[13] But you might ask, “What difference is there between resisting and falling into temptation?”

Living in a world ruled by the devil, if a person is overcome by evil – they will be overcome unless they struggle against it unless God protects them with His shield. The fact that a person has entered into temptation is like a person led into captivity. But if a person withstands and endures, that individual has not entered temptation or fallen into it. Was not Jesus led by the Spirit into a wasteland but did not enter into the temptations offered by the devil?^[14] Thus the wicked one, when he tempts us, draws us into the same tricks he tempted Jesus. For God, it is said, “cannot be tempted of evil.”^[15] The devil, therefore, drives us by enticements to destruction; but God leads us by the hand to everlasting life.^[16]

With philosophic-theologic intensity, Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD): “World” does not mean creation as a whole but rather worldly people and those who live according to their lusts. Senseless reasoning. A godless society subjected to Evil. ^[17]

With great assurance, early church ecclesiastical teacher Didymus the Blind (313-398 AD) sees the Apostle John calling the “world,” that is, those who love a godless society, as being subjected to evil. This includes everybody because we are all born under sin, which traces its origin to the disobedience of Adam. Many heretics claim that there is a creator god who made a godless society evil to begin with, but this is not so. The word refers to people, not to the material substance of creation. We Are of God.

With a studious monk’s spiritual insight, Bede (672-735 AD): We know that we are of God because we have been born again by grace and baptism through faith, and we know too that we shall persevere in that faith to the very end. But those who love a godless society are subjected to the enemy, and no water of regeneration can deliver them from that subjection, especially if they sin again after baptism. It is not just the lovers of a godless society who are in this state because it also applies to those who are newly born and who have inherited the guilt of original sin, although they cannot yet tell the difference between good and evil. Such people remain in the enemy’s power unless, by the authority of a loving Creator, they are taken out of Satan’s dominion of darkness and placed under the Son’s kingdom of Light and Love.^[18]

After a stealthy investigation of the Apostle John’s letter, Isho’dad of Merv (800-900 AD): A godless society is subjected to the perversion which gives birth to sin, and because of that, it is prone to the cultivation of evil.^[19]

Now the followers of Origen (184-253 AD) were discussing this passage, “We know that our body – the human-made physical tent we live in here on earth will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a heaven-made home for us to live in. It will be our forever home in heaven.”^[20] They sought to disprove the resurrection of the body. They were saying that the “tent” is our temporary covering on earth. In contrast, our “forever home” in heaven is our spiritual clothing.

Then someone presented the writings of Methodius (815-885 AD).^[21] He said this earthly house must be understood metaphorically as our short-lived existence here, not this tent. Therefore, if you consider the body as the earthly house which wears out, tell us whose heavenly home is dissolved? For the tent is one thing, and the heavenly home is another. Therefore, if this present body life crumbles like an old house, we still have that which is not made with hands in heaven. The body, the result of human reproduction, also houses the soul, which is the workmanship of God.

So, what, then, is the house made with hands? It is a short-lived existence sustained by human hands. God said, “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground.”^[22] After that, we have the body not made with hands. As the Lord showed when He said: “Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, they will welcome you to an eternal home when your possessions are gone.”^[23] As then, when the days of our present life end, those good deeds of kindness which you did in this world “under the control of Satan,”^[24] souls will rest in peace with God until we receive the new house that will never fail prepared for us.^[25]

A Persian prophet named Mani (216-277 AD) and the founder of Manichaeism, a religion of antiquity strongly influenced by Gnosticism, is reported as saying: “I hold that there are two natures, one good and another evil; and that the one which is good dwells in a certain part proper to it, but that the evil one is this world as well as all things in it, which are placed there like objects imprisoned in the portion of the wicked one.” So, we see that Manes worships two unoriginated, self-existent, and eternal deities who were opposed to one another. He one is represented one as good and the other as evil and assigned the name “Light to the former, and Darkness to the latter.” This was in harmony with what the Apostle John says here in verse nineteen, “We know that we are children of God and that all the rest of a godless society around us is under Satan’s power and control.”^[26]

Archelaus,Bishop of Caesarea (circa 301-399), is the assumed author of a Christian polemic against the Manicheans in 278 AD. It resulted from a trial of a Heretic Persian prophet named Manes over disputed doctrines. One of the judges asked him if he had any more precise statement to make that would give them some explanation of the nature of his doctrine and the designation of his faith. Manes replied: I hold that there are two natures, one good and another evil and that the good one dwells in a particular portion itself.

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[1] Ibid. 3:3-5

[2] James 1:18

[3] 1 Peter 1:23

[4] John 15:18-19

[5] Ibid. 16:8-11

[6] 2 Peter 1:2-4

[7] 1 John 3:9; 5:1, 4

[8] Galatians 4:3-4

[9] John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; Job 1:10; 2:5; Romans 16:20

[10] Cf. 1 John 2:14; 4:4

[11] Acts of the Apostles 17:34

[12] 1 John 5:19

[13] Psalm 90:10

[14] Matthew 4:1

[15] James 1:13

[16] Dionysius, Exegetical Fragments II: the Gospel According to Luke. An Interpretation, Ch. 22:42-48, p. 116, ⁋46

 

[18] Didymus the Blind: Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scriptures, Bray, G. (Ed.), op. cit., Vol. XI, p. 228

[19] Isho’dad of Merv: Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scriptures, Bray, G. (Ed.), op. cit., Vol. XI, p. 228

[20] 2 Corinthians 5:1

[21] Methodius (815-885 AD) was a Byzantine Christian theologian and missionary evangelizing what is known today as Serbia of former Yugoslavia. On one occasion the disciples of early church scholar Origen

[22] Genesis 3:19

[23] Luke 16:9

[24] 1 John 5:19

[25] Methodius, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI, Part 2, From the Discourse on the Resurrection, pp. 709-710

[26] Augustine of Hippo, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 4, The Manichaean Controversy, trans. By Richard Stothert and Albert H. Newman, p. 19

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXV) 05/02/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

With her crafted spiritual insight, Judith Lieu (1951) points out that the Apostle John’s First Letter reaches its powerful conclusion with three confident affirmations, “We know,”^[1] as a confessional formula familiar within the Johannine tradition. These appeal to shared certainties, even if, at times, they have been argued earlier in the letter.^[2] Within the rhetoric of the letter, the word “we” now includes the readers who can make these certainties their own: in saying “we know,” John is not stating the obvious but is inviting his audience to acknowledge these as truths for them and to also acknowledge the consequences.

If they were recognized as prescribed, these readers would be aware that they were participating in a tradition that did not originate with them and was not limited to them. The unexpected direct address of verse twenty-one will reinforce both this and their urgency to commit themselves. However, the following certainties recall the story of God’s Son in chapter three and the dichotomous world it shaped. It means that the “we know” works equally as an internal cross-reference, taking the audience back to the earlier argument to which they have indirectly assented, ^[3]

Contextual interpretation specialist Gary M. Burge (1952) says that prayer thoughts become more somber in verses sixteen to eighteen, but there is an essential link with the preceding verses. Christians alert to God’s will know with confidence the success of their prayers. But likewise, they should see the seriousness of sin and how it impedes spiritual vitality. Moreover, they should know the power of prayer for another person – particularly those who sin. John has likely been leading up to this all along. In the letter, he marked off clear boundaries between true believers and the secessionists, the orthodox and the heretical. He emphasized the importance of sin and righteousness for the church.^[4]

Christians acknowledge their sin,^[5] but they do not persist in sinful habits.^[6] Unbelievers, by contrast, sin consistently but often refuse to admit it. Sin (for many of them) is an archaic category. John has in mind a situation in which one believer sees another sinning. The NIV refers to “brother,” which translates the Greek word but, in John’s dialect, means any fellow believer. In this case, we are told to pray, and God will respond, giving them life in answer to the fellow Christian’s intercessory prayer.

The chief difficulty in the verse is that John says this intercession should be done only for “those whose sin does are not deadly to eternal life.” First, it is essential to note what John is not saying. He is not saying that prayer for “deadly to eternal life sins” is prohibited or that there is a level of sin beyond which prayer is useless. The NIV translation of verse sixteen obscures John’s interest to some extent, for he is only making his recommendation for “sin [that] is not deadly to eternal life.” He is silent about the other. But what are these two types of sin? The “deadly to eternal life sin” could refer to physical illness and death.^[7]

But this interpretation seems unlikely in the present passage, particularly since verse sixteen says God will give the sinner life. This life must be eternal; if it were physical, John should extend it to those other “mortal” sins, the very thing he does not do. And those with “less deadly to eternal life sins” do not have their physical lives in jeopardy in the first place.

A more helpful solution comes from the First Covenant’s distinction between unintentional and intentional sins. In the First Covenant, the temple sacrificial rituals only provided forgiveness for spontaneous or unconscious sins.^[8] On the other hand, when someone sinned deliberately and willfully, the sinner was either exiled or killed.^[9] This dual classification of sin persisted in Judaism into the Final Covenant period.^[10] But the more difficult exegetical question lies one step further. What type of sin does John have in mind for Christians?^[11] This must be explained before it is understood.

Emphasizing the Apostle John’s call to Christian fellowship, Bruce B. Barton (1954) says that verse eighteen appears two ways in various translations because of a textual variant in the Greek manuscripts. The words translated as “God’s Son” are rendered as “the one born of God” in other versions, leaving the interpretation open that this could refer to the Anointed One or the Christian. If it means Christian, it signifies that believers must hold themselves securely and keep from sinning. The preferred reading is that God’s Son keeps the believer from sin.

Many commentators favor this reading because: (1) the first clause of this verse already mentions the believer who is born of God. (2) John consistently uses the perfect tense to describe the believer who has become a child of God,^[12] while here the aorist is used, and (3) there is little or no security in the fact that believers must keep themselves secure. Instead, God’s Son securely holds believers, helping them not to make sinning a routine and keeping them away from the evil one (meaning Satan). Christians do sin on occasions, but they ask God to forgive them and continue serving Him. God has freed believers from their slavery to Satan, and He keeps them safe from Satan’s continued attacks.

Unfortunately, the rest of a godless society does not have a Christian’s freedom to obey God. Unless unbelievers come to the Anointed One in faith, they have no choice but to follow Satan. There is no middle ground; either people belong to God and obey Him, or they live under Satan’s control.^[13]

A scholar who truly inspires Christian missionaries, Daniel L. Akin (1957) finds that the Apostle John makes three powerful affirmations in verse eighteen that assure us once again of victory over our sinful tendencies:

First, “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning.” Sin is no longer the pattern of their lives. John is confirming the purity of our lives, not perfection, something he addressed earlier.^[14] Future glorification (perfection) impacts present sanctification (practice).

Second, “For God’s Son holds them securely,” We find this reference to Jesus as Protector emphasized in the Holman Christian Standard Bible’s translation. We do not stay pure ourselves, Jesus keeps us. This is a theme repeated several times in the Final Covenant.

And third, “The evil one cannot touch them.”^[15] The word “touch” has the idea of grabbing hold of with the intent to harm. Satan may ambush us and tempt us with idols, friends who have fallen away, fleshly enticements, and worldly allurements, but because of the Anointed One’s power he cannot keep us in his grasp ^[16]

With a classical thinking approach to understanding the scriptures, Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) makes the point that in verse eighteen, the first of three impressive and effective consecutive references to the fact that “we know that”^[17] follows naturally from what has just been saying. John speaks for the last time about the problem of sin and sinning. We know that no one born of God lives for sin’s sake. The first and second instances of “we know that” in verses eighteen and nineteen appear, as does the statement in verse thirteen without the support of introductory conjunctions such as “but,” “now,” or “and.”

John’s rhetorically stylistic feature of not using conjunctions is for the sake of serious expression. Thus, he extols and exhorts those certainties of the faith that can and must, in the end, be known. The first of three references in verses eighteen to twenty-one are to those who are (born) “of God.” They contrast sharply with a final reference to the one who “lives for the sake of sin.” In no way is sin “the overriding characteristic of a believer’s life.” Instead, those who come to be united with us,^[18] or come so that they, like we, might have God as our Father who keeps the Anointed One’s siblings safe and secure in His loving, all-powerful embrace.^[19]

In his unorthodox Unitarian way, Duncan Heaster (1967) agrees that the One born of God does not sin but guards those who believe in Him, and the evil one cannot touch them. The One begotten of God was the Lord Jesus; the “evil one,” the devil [Satan], both of the flesh and the systemic Jewish opposition to Him did not touch Him. The prince of this world had no power over the Lord,^[20] who remained untouched by the temptations of the devil fabricated in the wilderness. But all believers have been born of God by allowing the Spirit to birth them.^[21]

This active process of the Spirit means that while they are still committing sins,^[22] they do not continue in the life given over to sin, for the Spirit changes and cleanses them. We are kept from falling, but we must also “keep ourselves” there must be some willing responses from our side. The Spirit does not zap a person and force them to transformation and salvation against their will and volition.^[23]

Bright seminarian Karen H. Jobes (b. 1968) notes that having just taught, on the one hand, that sin covered by the Anointed One’s atonement does not disqualify a believer from eternal life, the Apostle John now reminds his readers that sin is utterly incompatible with new life in the Anointed One. While it is true that people genuinely born of God cannot commit the sin deadly to eternal life, John does not give license to anyone who thinks they may go on sinning with impunity so that grace might increase.^[24] Thinking along those lines is characteristic of those who have not been born of God. It is such erroneous thinking that John refuted^[25] that sin is not a serious issue.

However, using two different forms of the same verb, “born of,” may indicate a distinction that allows two considerations of persons. It occurs first as a perfect passive participle to refer to the believer or as an aorist passive, which most interpreters take as a reference to Jesus the Anointed One. Perhaps John suggests the shared nature that reborn Christians have with the sinless man, Jesus the Anointed One. In this reading, John reassures his readers that they are safe because the Anointed One protects them. While the powers of evil may tempt, entice, and otherwise influence the believer, even to the point of lapses into sin, the evil one cannot take hold of a child of God to remove them from the light and life and drag them back into darkness and death.^[26]

A skilled sermonizer, David Legge (b. 1969) speaks of the certainty of eternal life found in verse eighteen: “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin.” God guards those birthed by Him, and the wicked one cannot touch them. Victory over sin is another certainty we can have if we are God’s children. It doesn’t mean we’ll never fall, and it certainly does not mean that we’ll not struggle with temptation – perhaps all the more because of it – but we will know victory and ought to know it.^[27]

^5:19 We know that we belong to God, but the Evil One controls the whole world.

EXPOSITION

Jesus told His followers that the time would come when Satan, the ruler of this world, would be dethroned and sent into exile. But until then, he still holds power and must be considered a force against God and His children.^[28] So even Jesus admitted that His time for ministry here on earth was running out because the chief of this godless world was about to attack.^[29] So if any believer gets scared because it looks like the prince of this world may win out, don’t be afraid because a godless society’s ruler has already been indicted and will be tried and convicted.^[30] Thus, the Apostle John offers his ninth test, the Test of Antichrist.

So, why worry? Simply because if people take their eyes off of Jesus and focus on Satan, the fascinating god of ignorance because they think he’ll give them what they want, then they won’t have to try so hard to believe a Truth they can’t see. The problem is that the glittering display of worldly amusement has blinded them from seeing the sparkling glory of God’s message of salvation that illuminates the darkness through the Anointed One.

But, of course, once you see how unique the Gospel we preach is about the glory of the Anointed One, that’s the best portrait of God you’ll ever see.^[31] But is this hypnotic experience under the devil’s spell only for specific individuals? No! Paul told the Ephesians that they once went along with the crowd and were just like all the others, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air, who is at work right now in the hearts of those who are against the Lord.^[32]

If the Apostle John had any worries, they all disappeared after he revealed things to come. He tells us that he saw the great Dragon – the ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray – get thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him crashing to earth. But just as Jesus had the Father send the Holy Spirit to continue the work of His Son, so Lucifer raised a strange beast that looked like a leopard but had bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth, rising out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns and ten crown upon its horns. And written on each head were blasphemous names, each defying and insulting God.^[33]

But his terror didn’t last long. John says that he saw an Angel descending out of Heaven. Who carried the key to the bottomless pit and a huge chain. The Angel grabbed the Dragon, threw him in, and locked the door.^[34] He remained locked up for a thousand years. It seemed that Satan didn’t learn his lesson and immediately began to prepare for another war.^[35] God didn’t reveal this to John to scare people into heaven. Instead, it encourages believers that while sinners belong to the devil, they are God’s children. The Apostle John expressed this concept of God’s ownership when he wrote that for those who accepted Jesus as the Anointed One, He gave them the right to become God’s children. So, they became children of God, but not in how babies are usually born. It was not because of any human desire or plan. Instead, they were born of God.^[36]

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[1] Cf. 1 John 5:15

[2] Ibid. 2:29, See John 3:11; 21:24

[3] Lieu, Judith: A New Testament Library, I, II, 7 III John, op. cit., pp. 229-230

[4] 1 John1:7–10; 2:12; 3:4–5, 8–9; 4:10

[5] Ibid 1:8; 2:1-3

[6] Ibid. 3:6-9

[7] Cf. Numbers 18:22; Deuteronomy 22:26; Isaiah 22:14; Acts of the Apostles 5:1–11; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 11:29-30

[8] Leviticus 4:2, 13, 22, 27; 5:15-18; Numbers 15:27-31; Psalm 19:13

[9] Numbers 15:30-31; Deuteronomy 17:12

[10] Cf. Qumran, 1QS 5:11-12

[11] Burge, Gary M., The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary), op. cit., pp. 215-216

[12] 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:4, 18a

[13] Burton, Bruce B., 1,2,3 John (Life Application Bible Commentary) op. cit., pp. 118-119

[14] 1 John 3:2-3

[15] Cf. 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 1:24

[16] Akin, Daniel L., Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (the Anointed One-Centered Exposition Commentary), op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[17] 1 John 5:15a; 19a; 20a

[18] See 1 John 4:2; 2 John

[19] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, 1-3 John, op. cit., pp. 580-581

[20] John 14:30

[21] Ibid. 3:3-5

[22] 1 John 1:10

[23] Heaster, Duncan. New European Christadelphian Commentary: op. cit., The Letters of John, p. 80

[24] Cf. Romans 6:1

[25] 1 John 1:5-10

[26] Jobes, Karen H., 1, 2, and 3 John (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament Series Book 18), op. cit., pp. 237-238

[27] Legge, David: Preach the Word, 1 John, op. cit., Sermon 16

[28] John 12:31

[29] Ibid. 14:30

[30] Ibid. 16:11

[31] 2 Corinthians 4:4

[32] Ephesians 2:2

[33] Revelation 13:1-2

[34] Ibid. 20:1-3

[35] Ibid. 20:7-8

[36] Ibid. 1:12-13

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXIV) 05/01/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

With an eye for detail, David Smith (1866-1932) states that a child of God may fall into sin but not continue in it; they are not under its dominion. Why? Because while they have a vicious adversary, they also have a vigilant Guardian.^[1] Jesus, the Anointed Son of God.

As an effective spiritual mentor, Ronald A. Ward (1920-1986) sees the Apostle John making an essential point concerning being God’s child. Once you are born again and become part of God’s family, it is imperative that you cease wanting to practice sinning. In 1 John 3:9, John contributed this tendency to our new “spiritual heredity.” But now he adds another: “Those born of God do not keep on sinning because God protects them from the evil one.” In other words, Jesus’ earthy ministry toward His disciples now extends as a heavenly ministry toward all believers. With this confidence, we should all “resist the devil.”^[2] When we do, he will flee and not touch us.^[3]

With academic precision, Stephen S. Smalley (1931-2018) sees verse seventeen as forming a transition to verses eighteen to twenty. The idea of prayer still echoes in the phrase, “not all sin is mortal.”^[4] However, it has become secondary in John’s thought, whereas the subject of sin, which he treats further, becomes central.^[5] John now moves on from the study of Christian certainty in such spiritual activity as prayer^[6] to that of confidence in the spiritual knowledge a believer may possess.^[7]

However, after verses sixteen and seventeen, which some in heretical circles might have interpreted as encouraging an indifferent attitude toward sin (“ask, and God will give life” to the sinner; “not all sin is mortal”), John makes a climactic statement on the subject. No incentive to sin is offered; instead, it is alleged that no one born of God continues to sin since they are protected by the Anointed One from God. As members of God’s family (“born of God”), it is implied that Christians are to develop the family likeness, including proper conduct.^[8] In verse twenty-one, John issues a final warning.^[9]

An insistent believer in God’s Grace, Zane Clark Hodges (1932-2008) agrees that the Apostle John affirmed that anyone born of God is a person whose true, inward nature is inherently sinless.^[10] The additional statement about the one born of God is not, as often suggested, a reference to the Anointed One. John nowhere else referred to the Anointed One in this way, and he was still writing about regenerated people. With this view, the word “himself” should be read in place of “him.” John thus affirmed that “the one who has been born of God keeps himself” (there is no word for “safe” in the original Greek). It restates the truth of 1 John 3:9 in a slightly different form. A believer’s new man (or “new self;”)^[11] is fundamentally resistant to sin, and hence the evil one,^[12] Satan, does not ambush him.^[13]

As a capable scripture analyst, Ian Howard Marshall (1934-2015) notes that having concluded his appeal to the church members to pray for one another to be rescued from sin, the Apostle John comes to the strong statement of belief, which forms the climax of his letter. First, he takes up his keyword from verse thirteen: “I write these things to you … so that you may know.” Then, in three affirmations, he declares the content of this Christian knowledge that should characterize his readers.

It may be significant that the Greek word he uses expresses a state of knowledge rather than the action of coming to know something. Nevertheless, John is declaring what he and his fellow Christians know, and his readers should be able to include themselves in the number of those whose Christian faith is a matter of certainty and assurance.^[14]

As a seasoned essayist on the Apostle John’s writings, John Painter (1935), describes John’s explanation of why the one born of God does not sin as perplexing. The parallelism with 1 John 3:9 suggests that “the One born of God … keeps everyone born of God.” A minor textual variant shows that this was an early scribal solution to this problem. Grammatically, if we take both statements concerning the one born of God as references to the believer, then the one born of God keeps themselves.

Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that John would say that the one born of God keeps himself, even if John noted that the young men had conquered the Evil One and the one who believes has conquered a godless society.^[15] The power that gives victory is “our faith,” which is not just subjective belief but also the content of faith that Jesus is God’s Son.^[16] Nevertheless, this interpretation is attested as early as Origen (185-253 AD) and by Sinaiticus^[17] and the corrector of Alexandrinus^[18] and cannot be ruled out.^[19]

Ministry & Missions Overseer Muncia Walls (1937) says that here we have another verse presenting confusion about what the Apostle John means. Some feel that he is speaking of the person who has been born again and, as such, does not commit sin. Others, on the other hand, feel that John is referring to Jesus when he refers to the one who is born of God. But the phrase “he that is born of God keeps himself;” motivated Bible Scholars to propose at least five interpretations of this line. (1) Being born of God is what guards him. (2) The one born of God is Jesus, who guards him. (3) The one born by God (the Christian) guards himself. (4) The one born of God (the Christian) holds on to Him (God) as his guardian. (5) The one born of God (the Christian). God guards him (the Christian).

In deciding between these five interpretations, Walls feels that (1) and (4) are the weakest. The crucial point is whether the one born is the Christian (3, 5) or Jesus (2). He is inclined to favor (1) and (4) because he finds it hard to believe that if the Johannine writers thought that God had begotten Jesus, they would never elsewhere have used that language in the many passages on the subject.

As for the issue of whether the Christian guards himself or God guards him, my translation “is protected” leaves that undecided. It does not make much difference, for only the Christian’s status as a child of God enables him to protect himself. The idea that John is conveying in this verse is not that once you are born again, you will never sin again. But he is saying that those born again will not continue sinning. It is because the Lord now lives in his life through the Spirit to guard him against the temptations to sin. ^[20]

As an articulate spokesman for the Reformed Faith movement, James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) states that the Apostle John’s first affirmation is that the one who is born of God does not sin. At first glance, this statement seems contradictory to John’s repeated declaration in chapter one that anyone who says they do not sin or has never sinned is either seif-deceived or a liar, just as 1 John 3:4-10 seems contrary to those same statements.

But the conflict is only apparent, and our discussion of the earlier passage indicates how we should deal with this one. Here, as in 1 John 3:4-10, the verbs are in the present tense, meaning habitual or continuous action. So, the statement is not that the Christian cannot fall into sin; indeed, he can and does. But instead, while he may fall into sin, he cannot continue in it indefinitely. In other words, if the individual is genuinely born of God, the new birth will result in a new behavior. ^[21]

After scrutinizing the Apostle John’s subject theme, William Loader (1944) states that there seems to be a contradiction in the first reading between 5.16-17 and 18. In the former, the Apostle John has been instructing Christians on what to do when they see fellow Christian’s sinning. In verse eighteen, Christians do not sin: no child of God sins. John is picking up the assertion made already in verses seventeen to twenty. The comments on these verses discuss the matter in detail. In effect, John thinks in terms of systems of cause and effect. The child of God (literally: “the person born of God”) belongs within a system of relationships that has fruit, not sin but goodness and love. It begins and ends in love.^[22]

Great Commission practitioner David Jackman (1945) notes that verse eighteen and the following two verses begin with a shout of confidence, we know! They continue with a closing emphasis on some of the great assurances already expounded more fully elsewhere in the letter. Here is actual knowledge. It is the birthright of the humblest Christian by the Spirit through God’s Word, compared with the spurious theorizing of the false teachers based solely on their inflated egos and ingenious imaginations. True believers know these things from the beginning and from which they need never be shaken. ^[23]

After studying the context surrounding this verse, John W. (Jack) Carter (1947) believes that the word that John uses for sin in this verse refers to one immersed in a sinful lifestyle. Christians do not pursue wrongdoing; it is not their nature.  Those born of God do not seek out and practice sin as their basic lifestyle.  Because the Holy Spirit is working in them, their desire is not to sin, and though they stumble and fall, they continue to press toward the mark of the high calling of Jesus the Anointed One. This is the nature of grace: though we do not deserve it, the LORD has provided forgiveness for missing the mark.

Consequently, through the LORD’s grace, those who have come to Him in faith find forgiveness for sin and are assured eternal salvation. By making this choice of faith, the believer has been given everlasting protection against the evil one who would otherwise seal the eternal fate of death. Though the evil one has considerable influence over the life of the believer through both our natural desires and through the wicked behavior of others, he cannot take away the salvation of the faithful. He has no power to touch the promise of God. He has no authority over the Holy Spirit.^[24]

A man who loves sharing God’s Word, Robert W. Yarbrough (1948) is convinced that the Apostle John draws heavily on truths he already stated. He begins by reassuring readers that his counsel may have been perplexing regarding sin and death in previous verses. If they are born of God, they do not sin – that is, they do not persist in the sorts of sin that John writes this epistle to criticize and correct. Deadly sins on their part are of no concern. Why? Their assurance is founded on the atoning work of the Anointed One. “The one born of God” comes to their aid.

By now, such a phrase is shorthand for the numerous ministries performed for believers by Jesus: coming to bring eternal life,^[25] cleansing from sin,^[26] interceding in the Father’s presence,^[27] dying a conciliatory death,^[28] confirming knowledge,^[29] destroying the devil’s works,^[30] teaching believers the meaning of love.^[31] In the first two clauses of verse eighteen, John emphasizes that faithful readers need not be anxious despite the dire warnings implicit in previous verses.^[32]

Skilled in Dead Sea Scroll interpretation and Final Covenant writings, Colin G. Kruse (1950) notes that the Apostle John restates something written earlier in the letter about anyone born of God does not continue to sin.^[33] His readers, unlike the secessionists, have been born of God, so they will not continue in sin. By using a present tense form of the verb “does not,” John portrays the sinning here (as in 1 John 3:9) as an ongoing process. In 3:9, the basis for the readers not continuing to sin was that they were born of God, and God’s “seed” remains in them. In verse eighteen, the basis of their not sinning is put differently: the one who was born of God keeps himself safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.^[34] In this epistle of John, most references to being born of God relate to believers.

However, in verse eighteen, “the one born of God” is best interpreted as a reference to Jesus. This appropriate interpretation is supported by the fact that in John’s Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as the one who keeps His disciples safe. In Jesus’ prayer, He speaks of having kept secure all those whom God had given Him^[35] (except Judas, who was doomed to destruction) and prays, not that God will take them out of a godless society, but that “He will “protect them from the evil one.”^{[36] [37]}

Believing that Christians can fall away from the faith, Ben Witherington III (1951) says that after the repetition of key phrases about confession: the unseen God, the child of God, and agápē, verses thirteen to seventeen round out the rest of the discourse, leading up to the speech, which begins in verse eighteen. In this section, the author’s use of a rhetorical device that “consists in dwelling on the same topic and yet seeming to say something ever new” is undoubtedly foremost in John’s mind as he continues to switch the subjects of love and true confessions.

In neither John’s Gospel nor his first epistle, such remarks indicate that a customary closing of his letter is in progress or about to happen. They are not even a familiar feature of expository. They are simple purpose statements that can occur in literary documents and at various junctures (though usually toward the end). In any case, the actual closing of this document will not commence until 1 John 5:18, when we have a relatively standard lecture displaying rhetorical or oratorical skills.^[38]

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[1] Smith, David: The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1 John, op. cit., pp. 198-199

[2] James 4:7

[3] Ward, Ronald A., The Epistles on John and Jude, op. cit., p. 59

[4] Cf. 1 John 5:16

[5] See Ibid. 3:6, 9; 5:18

[6] Ibid. 5:14-17

[7] Ibid. 5:18-20

[8] Cf. 1 John 2:29; 3:1-10; 4:7; 5:1-4

[9] Smalley, Stephen S., Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 51, 1,2,3 John, op. cit., pp. 301-302

[10] Cf. 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4

[11] See Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10

[12] Cf. 1 John 2:13-14; 3:12

[13] Hodges, Zane C., Biblical Knowledge Commentary, op. cit., loc. cit.

[14] Marshall, Ian Howard: The Epistles of John (The New International Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., p. 251

[15] See 1 John 2:13-14

[16] Ibid. 5:4-5

[17] Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in a godless society. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. Its heavily corrected text is of outstanding importance for the history of the Bible and the manuscript – the oldest substantial book to survive Antiquity – is of supreme importance for the history of the book.

[18] Copied in the 5th century, Codex Alexandrinus is one of the three early Greek manuscripts that preserve both the Old and the New Testaments together. Its name (‘Book from Alexandria’) derives from the city of Alexandria in Egypt, where it was preserved before the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria, Cyril Lucar (d. 1638) brought it to Constantinople in 1621

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

[20] Walls, Muncia: Epistles of John and Jude, op. cit., pp. 94-95

[21] Boice, James Montgomery: The Epistles of John, An Expository Commentary, op. cit., p. 145

[22] Loader, William: Epworth Commentary, The Johannine Epistles, op. cit., p. 78

[23] Jackman, David: The Message of John’s Epistles, op. cit., p. 167

[24] Carter, Dr. John W. (Jack). 1,2,3, John & Jude: (The Disciple’s Bible Commentary Book 48), op. cit., pp. 135-136

[25] 1 John 1:2

[26] Ibid. 1:7

[27] Ibid. 2:1

[28] Ibid. 2:2

[29] Ibid. 2:20

[30] Ibid. 3:8

[31] Ibid. 3:16

[32] Yarbrough, Robert W., 1-3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), op. cit., pp. 315-316

[33] Cf. 1 John 3:9

[34] 1 John 2:29; 3:9^2x; 4:7; 5:1, 18^x2

[35] John 17

[36] Ibid. 17:12-15

[37] Kruse, Colin G., The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary), op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition

[38] 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

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

By Dr. Robert R. Seyda

FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXXIII) 04/29/23

^5:18 We know that those who have been made God’s children do not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps them safe. The Evil One cannot hurt them.

Thus, a Christian’s characterizing, fulfilling, and conquering human nature is holy as God is holy to explain this case further. The doctrine is inserted again here, not only as a chief and concluding point in the Johannian faith, but to save his readers from inferring that because a spiritual brother or sister sins^[1] and needs intercession, they, therefore, are under a continuous tendency to sin, or their new and ultimate nature is otherwise than perfectly holy and utterly apart from Satan.

It is a notable illustration of the complemental and mutually balancing relation of parts of Scripture to be remembered by an interpreter, student, and teacher. But he that is born of God keeps himself pure. The Revised Version renders it “He who was born of God keeps him,” as the critical text requires. And as far as the structure of the sentence is concerned, the most natural reference of “him”’ is to God,^[2] and the thought is that the regenerate believer keeps God – that is, preserves them in vital union with themselves. The new birth contains God’s nature as partners with Him. Here is the true secret and reason for the “perseverance of the saints,”^[3] and the assertion of the fact is beyond arguing.^[4]

Noting the Apostle John’s doctrinal implications, John James Lias (1834-1923) says that the first point to be noticed here is the threefold repetition of “know” in this and the two following verses. It gives a special meaning to this conclusion of the Epistle. Three things are specially singled out as recognized by the Christian consciousness. (1) The knowledge that an inward power enables the Christian to preserve himself from sin.^[5] (2) The knowledge that this inward power results from our new birth from on high and our severance from a godless society.^[6] (3) The knowledge that this new birth inspires our understandings and keeps the vision of Him that is true before us.^[7]

Thus, the Apostle John summarizes three main aspects and points of his teaching which pervade more or less the various sections of his Epistle – our obligation and prerogative of holiness; our opposition to a godless society; our relation to the Person of the Anointed One.”^[8]

A tried and tested biblical scholar who believes in building up of the Christian life, Robert Cameron (1839-1904) states that from this point on, the Apostle John proceeds to speak of certain things we know. He uses this term four times in these closing verses. “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin;”^[9] “We know that we are children of God,”^[10] and “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true.”

In other words, “He that is born of God” his mind and understanding enlightened by the “Word,” which was used in his new life, and by the Holy Spirit, who imparted the life through “the incorruptible seed” of the Word. Moreover, the new life has its instincts and tendencies, and “self-preservation is the first law of nature.” Through these new impulses, called the “new heart,” the one who has had a second birth is alive to his spiritual interests and keeps himself – “keeps an eye on himself” – with a view to the preservation and development of his new life derived from God.^[11]

Manifestly and distinctly, Erich Haupt (1941-1910) agrees with other commentators that verse seventeen marks the end of the Apostle John’s epistle. Thus, the remaining verses serve as a summation of what has been said up until now. It outlines what Christians receive for themselves, eternal life by faith, and what it confers on them for the benefit of other believers: the power to bring them into the kingdom of God by intercession.

The three verses that follow signify their connection with the thrice-repeated continuation of “know” at the beginning of the clauses. It also reviews the three constitutive elements from which the happy estate of Christians was constructed in the summary of the three previous verses.^[12]

With his Spirit-directed calculating mind, Alfred Plummer (1841-1926) says that “we know!” is a confident expression of the certainty of Christian faith at the beginning of each of these three verses and is the link that binds them together. We have had it twice before:^[13] perhaps in all cases, it is meant to mark the contrast between the fundamental knowledge of the believer, based upon Divine revelation in the Anointed One, and the false knowledge of the Gnostic, solely based upon human logic. The quadruple “we know” at the Epistle’s close confirms what the Apostle John said in his Gospel^[14] about being the author, not something added by the Ephesian elders. Verse eighteen is a return to his statement in verse nine.^[15]

Once more, the Apostle is not afraid of an apparent contradiction.^[16] He has just been saying that if a Christian sins, other believers will intercede for them, and now he says that the child of God does not sin. One statement refers to possible but exceptional facts: the other to the chronic state. A child of God may sin, but their normal condition is one of resistance to sin.

However, “He born of God keeps him” should read, “those born of God keep them through intercession.” The first change depends upon a question of interpretation, the second on one of reading, and neither can be determined with certainty. The latter is the easier question and throws light on the former. Nevertheless, “Him” seems to be rightly preferred by most editors. This “him” is the child of God spoken of in the first clause. But who is it that “keeps him?” Not the child of God himself, as many commentators explain, but God’s Son, the Only Begotten.^{[17] [18]}

With regal etiquette, Ernst von Dryander (1843-1922) suggests that the Apostle John does not require or imply by these words’ perfect sinlessness. He would not contradict himself and wrote in the first chapter of his Epistle: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” There can be no perfected saint on this earth. But what he means, of course, is that no child of God can willingly, purposely, insult and grieve its Father, whom it loves; it can find no pleasure in sin but must regard it as a hindrance to life, as a heavy, disagreeable burden, which causes weariness and unhappiness and suffering.

The child of God must know that anger, ambition, and lust are out of place in their heart and must be fought against and overcome; therefore, it must come to this that a child of God cannot sin a “sin deadly to eternal life;” and so the Apostle’s words apply to him when he writes: “He that is born of God keeps for Himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.” Believers guard themselves against sin as they lifeguard themselves against death; even when they suffer sin’s consequences, whichever cleaves to them, they do not deliberately sin. The wicked hungry lion^[19] finds in them no prey, for he has no power over them.^[20]

After scrutinizing the Apostle John’s urging to live in God’s Light of understanding, Aaron M. Hills (1848-1931) says that the argument drawn by some from verse eighteen may lead to the belief that there is no need for a second work of grace to keep us from sinning; that those born of God don’t sin, and this itself is pure and holy living. We reply that we have never asserted that we need sanctification to keep us from sinning; regeneration alone can do that. The work of sanctification goes deeper and takes the “prone to wander” and “want to sin” tendency out of us. Regeneration saves us from the guilt and power of sin, but sanctification delivers us from the inclination to sin.^[21]

As a prolific writer on the Final Covenant Epistles, George G. Findlay (1849-1919) also sees verse eighteen as the seal of the Apostle John set upon the work of his life, now drawing to a close; it is, in effect, a seal placed upon the entire fabric of the Apostolic doctrine and testimony by this last survivor of the Twelve and the nearest to the heart of Jesus. Extracting the essential part of the confession, the three short sentences introduced by the thrice-repeated We know, we have John’s creed briefly, in three articles:

“We know that whosoever is begotten of God doth not sin.

We know that we are of God.

We know that God’s Son has come.”

In other words, “I believe in holiness,” “I believe in regeneration,” and “I believe in the mission of God’s Son.” Here we find the triple mark of our Christian profession, the standard of the Apostolic faith, and life within the Church – in recognition of our sinless calling, our Divine birth, and the revelation of the true God in Jesus the Anointed One His Son. These are great things for any man to affirm. Nevertheless, it is a grand confession that we make who endorse the Apostle John’s manifesto; it requires a noble style of living to sustain the declaration and prove oneself worthy of the high calling it presumes.^[22]

With his stately speaking style, William M. Sinclair (1850-1917) says that there is no reason to add to any “deadly to eternal life” sin. So likewise, in the solemn close of his letter, the Apostle John firmly insists that the ideal Christian mindset has no place for willful sin. Stumbles may happen, even needing friends’ prayers, but not intentional lawlessness. Instead, he that is born of God keeps him: God’s Son preserves him so that the evil one cannot steal them out of His hand.^[23]

The last mention of the devil was in verse ten. Satan and his demons may attack but have no influence so long as the Christian abides in the Anointed One.^[24] Next, after the critical point that righteousness is the characteristic of the new birth comes the necessity that a Christian should make up their mind that they have been, or are being, born again and are different from a godless society.^{[25] [26]}

Beyond any doubt, remarks Alonzo R. Cocke (1858-1901), the Apostle John taught that divine life is hostile to all sin. Some might think too lightly of sin, so John recalls that the Anointed One stands in opposition to all sin and that one who possesses divine life, because being born of God, separates themselves from sin. How clear the duty to guard against all sin whatever, without looking at “gradational differences,” and, too, how clear the fact that those who have committed sins deadly to eternal life have not been born of God.”^[27] To insist that a born-again believer can commit the unpardonable sin is like saying that any child born of one skin color can now change the color of their skin.

Esteemed ministry veteran James B. Morgan (1859-1942) makes the point that some sacred writers discovered extreme jealousy for the holiness of believers. For example, the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to the Anointed One.”^[28] To the Ephesians, Paul writes, “the Anointed One loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”^[29]

In the same spirit, the words of verse eighteen are uttered by the Apostle John. He had spoken of the sins of believers in the preceding verse. Assuming they would fall victim to sin, he teaches the duty of intercessory prayer on their behalf. “If any man sees his brother sin a sin which is not deadly to eternal life, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not deadly to eternal life.”^[30]

John seems to have fear that such admissions might be abused by some as if they represented sin to be inevitable, and therefore, we need not be too concerned about its commission. Hence, he guards his doctrine by immediately adding, “All unrighteousness is sin.”^[31] And he proceeds to show what a complete and effectual provision had been made for holiness, saying, in the language of the text, “Whosoever is born of God does not sin; but those born of God keep themselves, so the wicked one cannot touch them.”^{[32] [33]}

In reviewing what the Apostle John says in this verse, Archibald T. Robertson (1863-1934) notes that we find “We know” here in verse eighteen as in other parts of this epistle.^[34] We also find “You know” in other locations.^[35] It includes that those born of God do not keep on sinning.^[36] Also, Satan is not just any evil man.^[37] “touching him” means laying hold of or grasping rather than a superficial touch.^[38] Here the idea is to touch to harm. The devil cannot snatch any believer from the Anointed One.^{[39] [40]}

With characteristic fundamental spiritual thinking, Alan England Brooke (1863-1939) mentions that knowledge mentioned here by the Apostle John is intuitive^[41] and comes from the nature of God and the life He has given us. The perfect tense expresses the lasting results of “being born of God.” Some who heard what John said may have excluded the possibility of sin. But following his custom, John states the truth without any modifications necessary to individual cases in experience.

The preceding section, as well as the early part of the Epistle, shows that John recognized the fact of sin in Christians. If the reading “himself” is adopted, the meaning must be that those who have experienced the new birth keep themselves from evil by virtue of the power which the new birth places within their reach. In the first clause of the verse, the permanent consequences of the initial transformation are emphasized; here, the stress is laid on the act itself. The fact of the new birth enables them to keep themselves free from the attacks of the evil one.^[42]

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[1] See 1 John 5:16

[2] The Revised English Bible has: “he is kept safe by God’s Son.”

[3] Perseverance of the saints (also called preservation of the saints) is a Christian teaching that asserts that once a person is truly “born of God” or “regenerated” by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they will continue doing good works and believing in God until the end of their life.

[4] Sawtelle, Henry A., Commentary on the Epistles of John, op. cit., pp. 62-63

[5] See 1 John 2:1, 4, 5; 3:3-10, 23,24; 5:2, 3

[6] See Ibid. 1:6; 2-9-11, 15-17; 3:14, 15; 4:1-6; 5:10

[7] See ibid. 1:3, 7; 2:20, 23; 3:1, 2, 9; 4:6-16; 5:1-4, 10-12

[8] Lias, John James: The First Epistle of St. John with Exposition, op. cit., pp. 413-417

[9] 1 John 5:18

[10] Ibid. 5:19

[11] Cameron, Robert: The First Epistle of John, or, God Revealed in Light, Life, and Love, op. cit., p. 247

[12] Haupt, Erich: The First Epistle of St. John: Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, Vol. LXIV, op. cit., pp. 337-338

[13] 1 John 3:2, 14; cf. 2:20, 21; 3:4, 15

[14] John 21:24

[15]

[16] 1 John 2:15

[17] 1 John 3:9, 5:1, 4; John 3:6, 8

[18] Plummer, Alfred: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, N. T., Vol. IV, pp. 169-170

[19] 1 Peter 5:8-9

[20] Dryander, Ernst von: A Commentary on the First Epistle of St. John in the Form of Addresses, op. cit., p. 245

[21] Hills, A. M., The Old Man, Ch. 19, p. 118

[22] Findlay, George G., Fellowship in the Life Eternal: An Exposition of the Epistles of St. John, op. cit., p. 415

[23] John 10:28

[24] Cf. 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11; Revelation 3:10

[25] 1 John 1:6; 2:3, 5, 29; 3:9, 14, 19, 24; 4:7, 13, 15; 5:1, 10

[26] Sinclair, William M., New Testament Commentary for English Readers, Charles J. Ellicott, op, cit., Vol. 3, p. 493

[27] Cocke, Alonzo R: Studies in the Epistles of John; or, The Manifested Life, op. cit., pp. 135-136

[28] 1 Corinthians 11:2

[29] Ephesians 5:26

[30] 1 John 5:16

[31] Ibid. 5:17

[32] Ibid. 3:9

[33] Morgan, James B., An Exposition of the First Epistle of John, op. cit., Lecture L, pp. 498-499

[34] 1 John 3:2, 14; 5:15, 19, 20

[35] Ibid. 2:20; 3:5, 15

[36] Ibid. 3:4-10

[37] Matthew 6:13

[38] Colossians 2:21

[39] John 6:38ff

[40] Robertson, Archibald T., Word Pictures n the New Testament, op. cit., p, 1971

[41] Cf. 1 John 3:9

[42] Brooke, Alan E., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Johannine Epistles, op. cit., pp. 148-150