The book of First John

A Verse by Verse Study
Text 1st John 5:1 - 5

A. Introduction

     1. This chapter will deal with the primary subject of life. The book of 1st John is divided into basically three subjects: 1. God is light, 2. God is love, and 3. God is life.  

          a. God is light and if we are going to have fellowship with Him we must walk in that light. Light is holiness therefore we cannot think of ourselves as non-perfect or un-holy and use that as an excuse to walk out side of the light.  1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”

          b. God is love and therefore it is impossible to say we are born of God and hate a brother or sister in Christ. If God is love and the Holy Spirit is in our spirit or inner man and He controls the actions of our inner man then love will come from our hearts therefore hate is and impossibility with believers. 1 John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”

          c. This is only possible because “because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1st John 4:4b

     2. This last chapter deals with life and the source of that life. It will totally define the cause and effect of life, and it will show us that life is the gift of God in totality and has nothing to do with man. From the death of Christ on the cross to the actual deliverance of a new born babe in Christ is entirely the work of God.

 

B. V.1 “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.”

     1. The first thing we want to notice in this verse is three words, born, begat, and begotten these three words come from the very same Greek word and therefore mean the very same thing.

          a. All three words comes from the Greek word “gennaō” pronounced “ghen-nah'-o” and it means “is delivered of,”

          b. This truly means to give birth too. We know this because the very same Greek word is used in John 16:21 “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.” The words “she is delivered of” comes from this Greek word.

          c. We know that the baby did not deliver it self nor did someone else give birth to the child, it was the mother that gave birth to it, therefore the same image is in the believers new birth, God gave birth to the child. 

     2. In the original text this scripture should read “everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been delivered of God and everyone loving the One that the delivers us also loves the (ones) that has been delivered of Him.”

     3. While we see in many passages salvation being a simple task, and it is, however it takes a deliver in order to be real because on our own we can not and will not simply believe.

 

C. V. 3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”

     1. John Gill said of this, “Keeping of the commandments of God is an evidence of love to God; this shows that love is not in word and tongue, in profession only, but in deed and in truth; and that such persons have a sense of the love of God upon their souls, under the influence of which they act; and such shall have, and may expect to have, greater manifestations of the love of God unto them:”

          a. Everything with God is in deed and not word only. God shows us His love in Deed and we should show God our love in deed.

          b. As James said faith without deeds is dead faith. How would we like the Lord to only speak about salvation and not perform the act of saving.

     2. John goes on in V. 3 “his commandments are not grievous.”

          a. The word grievous means heavy.

          b. We should because God has loved us and saved us be delighted to labor for the Lord and not consider it a burden but rather a delight.

          c. Burdens means we have no delight in doing them.

 

D. V. 4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

      1. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:”

          a. That is the world hatred, the worlds religion, the enticements of it.

          b. If we do not overcome it is because we allowed ourselves to be tied up into it.

          c. Lets remember what John has told us earlier 1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

          d. John Gill says “the god of the world, Satan; the lusts which are in the world; false prophets gone forth into the world; and the wicked men of the world, who by temptations, snares, evil doctrines, threatenings, promises, and ill examples, would avert regenerate ones from observing the commands of God; but such are more than conquerors over all these, through Christ that has loved them:”      

     2. John goes on in verse 4 to tell us how we over come it “and this is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith.”

          a. Our faith in Christ, it we have true faith in Christ then how can we love a world that hates Him and a world system that wants to destroy Him.

          b. “this is the victory” the death of Christ defeats Satan and the world. John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

     3. V. 5 “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”