1 John 5
Disciples’ Literal New Testament
Everyone Born of God Believes Jesus Is His Son, Loves His People, Keeps His Commands
5 Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born[a] from God. And everyone loving the One[b] having fathered is loving also the one having been born[c] from Him. 2 By this we know that we are loving[d] the children of God: when we are loving God and doing His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God: that we be keeping His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Because The One Born of God Is Victorious Over The World By Faith In Jesus
4 Because everything having been born from God is being-victorious-over the world. And this is the victory having been-victorious-over the world: our faith!
Who Indeed Is Victorious If Not The One Believing Jesus Is The Son of God!
5 And who is the one being-victorious-over the world if not the one believing[e] that Jesus is the Son of God!
Because Jesus Christ Has The Three-Fold Witness of God
6 This One is the One having come by water and blood[f]: Jesus Christ (not in[g] the water only, but[h] in the water and in the blood). And the Spirit is the One testifying, because[i] the Spirit is the truth. 7 Because[j] the ones testifying are three[k]: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood. And the three are for the[l] one thing. 9 If we receive the testimony of humans, the testimony of God is greater!
Because God Himself Has Testified That He Has Given Us Eternal Life In His Son
Because[m] this is the testimony of God: that[n] He has testified about His Son! 10 The one believing in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony which God has testified about His Son. 11 And this is the testimony[o]: that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one having the Son has the life. The one not having the Son of God does not have the life.
I Wrote These Things That You May Know You Have Eternal Life
13 I wrote these[p] things to you, the ones believing in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.
And This We Know With Confidence:
14 And this is the confidence which we have before Him:
That God Hears Our Prayers
... that if we request anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us— whatever we request— we know that we have the requests which we have requested from Him.
But I Am Not Implying You Should Pray About a Sin Leading To Death
16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall request, and He will give him life— for the ones sinning a sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death[q]. I am not saying that he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
That God’s Children Are Not Sinning, And Are Protected From Satan
18 We know that everyone having been born[r] from God is not sinning[s]. But the One[t] having been fathered from God is keeping[u] him. And the evil one is not touching[v] him.
That We Are Born From God
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in[w] the evil one.
That We Know The True God And Have Eternal Life In Him
20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding in order that we might know the true[x] One. And we are in[y] the true One, in His Son Jesus Christ. This One[z] is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little-children, guard yourselves from idols!
Footnotes
- 1 John 5:1 Or, fathered.
- 1 John 5:1 the One having... Him. That is, the [God] having fathered [us] is loving also [the children] having been born from Him.
- 1 John 5:1 Or, fathered.
- 1 John 5:2 That is, with love flowing from an abiding relationship with God. In this section, John inseparably binds together love for God, love for His children, believing in His Son, and obeying His commandments. We cannot claim to have one apart from any of the others.
- 1 John 5:5 Or, having-faith, to show the relationship to ‘faith’ in v 4.
- 1 John 5:6 These two historical witnesses may refer to Christ’s baptism (where the Father testified) and death (where the resurrection gave the Father’s testimony); or, His birth (He came in real flesh) and His death (He died a real death); or, the blood and water that came from His side (Jn 19:34, giving testimony to His real humanity and death).
- 1 John 5:6 Or, in-connection-with, by, with.
- 1 John 5:6 John denies some false teaching of his day, the details of which are not certain. We know some denied that God died. They taught that the Spirit of God came on the human Jesus at His baptism and left in Gethsemane. Jesus was not God come in the flesh (4:2), and His death had no significance. Perhaps John is refuting some such teaching here.
- 1 John 5:6 The Spirit is presently adding His testimony to the two historical witnesses because it is His nature to testify to the truth.
- 1 John 5:7 The one believing Jesus is the Son of God is victorious (v 5) because Jesus has the threefold divine testimony to His identity, sufficient proof even in a human court.
- 1 John 5:7 three: the Spirit. Some manuscripts say ‘three in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one. And the ones giving testimony on earth are three: the Spirit’.
- 1 John 5:8 That is, they are in agreement.
- 1 John 5:9 The one believing is victorious because he is believing God’s own testimony.
- 1 John 5:9 God’s testimony is that He has testified.
- 1 John 5:11 The content of God’s testimony regarding His Son is now given.
- 1 John 5:13 That is, 4:7-5:12; or, 5:1-12; or, 5:5-12; or, the whole book.
- 1 John 5:16 If John means physical death, any sin leading to this level of discipline from God could be in view, as in Act 5:5; 1 Cor 11:30. If John means spiritual, eternal death, some think he means the knowing and deliberate rejection of Christ, as in 2:19, 22, and Heb 6:4-6; 10:26-29.
- 1 John 5:18 Or, fathered.
- 1 John 5:18 See 3:9.
- 1 John 5:18 the One having been fathered... him. Or, the one having been born from God is keeping himself [from sin].
- 1 John 5:18 Or, guarding, keeping watch over, preserving.
- 1 John 5:18 That is, to bring him harm.
- 1 John 5:19 That is, in the sphere of, in the domain of.
- 1 John 5:20 That is, the real, genuine God.
- 1 John 5:20 That is, in union with, in the domain of.
- 1 John 5:20 Grammatically, this could refer to Jesus Christ or the true One. Some think it would redundant to say the true One... is the true God, and so John says here what he says in Jn 1:1: Jesus is God. Others think John repeats himself for emphasis as he prepares for the command regarding idols.
Disciples' Literal New Testament: Serving Modern Disciples by More Fully Reflecting the Writing Style of the Ancient Disciples, Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing
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