1 John 5:13

[4. The Conclusion (1Jn_5:13-21).

(1) FRESH STATEMENT OF THE PURPOSE OF WRITING, equivalent to that at the beginning of the Epistle, but differing from it (1Jn_5:13).

(2) WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT COME UP TO THE STANDARD ASSUMED THROUGHOUT THE EPISTLE (1Jn_5:14-17).

(3) SOME PRACTICAL POINTS RECAPITULATED (1Jn_5:18-20).

(a) God’s sons do not sin (1Jn_5:18);

(b) Personal assurance that we are God’s sons (1Jn_5:19);

(c) Personal assurance that Christ is come, of the gift of the spiritual sense, and of abiding in the God of Truth through His Son (1Jn_5:20).

(4) LAST WARNING (1Jn_5:21).]

St. John, thinking perhaps of the close of his Gospel, where he states the same purpose (Joh_20:31), and reminded by 1Jn_5:11 of the supreme importance of having eternal life, and of the necessity of finding this in the Son, sums up the object of his Letter in these two ideas. He tells his friends again that he writes to them because they believe on the name of the Son of God, and explains his wish to be that, by the thoughts which he has put before them, they may feel certain that the eternal life which ought to be theirs is theirs already, and that their belief may not cease, but may be really vital. Thinking then of those who would be deceiving themselves if they pretended to any such hopeful assurance, he reminds the faithful of the power of prayer. Beginning with the general statement that confidence in God means that He hears us, he goes on to show that hearing must imply that our petitions are granted; and next, that it would be a petition quite in accordance with God’s will, and therefore likely to be heard, if a believer were to pray for a sinning brother. At the same time it must be recollected that there is such a state of wilful, hard-hearted rebellion that it is past praying for. Meantime they must remember again that as far as they were born of God they could not wilfully sin; that if they were what St. John thought them they had ample proofs that they were of God, and must not forget that the whole world was corrupted; and that there could not be any doubt that the Son of God was come, and had given them the spiritual sense necessary to discerning the true God. In that true God they were, through His Son. The God of whom the Son had spoken was that true God, and to know Him as such in His Son was eternal life. The last request was, that they should strictly guard themselves against any appearance or tendency whatsoever which might claim their sympathy or allegiance apart from God.

(1) FRESH STATEMENT OF PURPOSE (1Jn_5:13).

(13) Comp. Joh_20:31. The expression here is more positive than in the Gospel: there, “that ye might believe, and that believing ye might have life;” here, “that ye may know that ye have.” He wishes to produce in them a good hope. The specific object at the beginning of the Epistle was the communication of joy through fellowship with the Apostles the knowledge of possessing eternal life and the continuance of their faith would be precisely that joy.

(2) WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT COME UP TO THE STANDARD ASSUMED (1Jn_5:14-17).

(14) And this is the confidence.—The assurance intended in 1Jn_5:13 implies confidence, and confidence means the conviction that God is not deaf to our prayers. But these must not be contrary to His will. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that the Person referred to here is the Father.

(15) That we have the petitions.—The goodness of God as Light and Love is so fully established that if our petitions are according to His will it follows necessarily that He grants them.

(16) If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death.—Here are meant such stumblings as do not imply any distinct, wilful, deliberate severance from the faith of Christ. To divide sins, on the authority of this passage, into venial and mortal is to misunderstand the whole argument of the Epistle and to seduce the conscience. St. John only means that though prayer can do much for an erring brother, there is a wilfulness against which it would be powerless: for even prayer is not stronger than freewill. (Comp. 1Jn_2:1; Luk_22:31-32; Joh_17:9; Heb_7:25.)

And he shall give.—The interceding Christian is regarded as gaining life for the erring brother and handing it on to him.

There is a sin unto death.—The limit of intercession is now given: such conscious and determined sin as shows a loss of all hold on Christ. Such a state would be a sign of spiritual death. Hardened obstinacy would be invincible; and as it would not be according to the will of God that prayers, by the nature of the case in vain, should be offered to Him, St. John thinks that intercession ought to stop here. At the same time, he is careful not categorically to forbid it; he only says that in such cases he does not recommend intercessory prayer. (Comp. Mat_12:31-32; Mar_3:29; Heb_6:4; Heb_6:6; Heb_10:26-27.) “His brother” is here, of course, a nominal Christian.

(17) All unrighteousness is sin.—Here St. John reminds them that all Christians might, at one time or another, stand in need of intercessory prayer, even those who, on the whole, might be considered as “sinning not” (because their permanent will was against sin, and for holiness), because every declension from the perfect righteousness of God is error or sin. Nothing that was not hopelessly deliberate need be considered a sign of absolute spiritual death. (Comp. 1Jn_3:4.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. These things have I written unto you] ‘These things’ will cover the whole Epistle, and such is probably the meaning, as in 1Jn_1:4, where S. John states the purpose of his Epistle in words which are explained by what he says here: there is nothing there or here, as there is in 1Jn_2:26, to limit ‘these things’ to what immediately precedes. As in 1Jn_2:21; 1Jn_2:26, ‘I have written’ is literally, ‘I wrote’: it is the epistolary aorist, which may be represented in English either by the present or the perfect.

In the remainder of the verse the divergences of reading are very considerable, and authorities are much divided. The original text seems to be that represented by א1 B, which has been adopted in R. V. These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life,—unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. The awkwardness of the explanatory clause added at the end has led to various expedients for making the whole run more smoothly. Comp. the similarly added explanation in 1Jn_5:16;—‘them that sin not unto death.’

that ye may know that ye have eternal life] At the opening of the Epistle S. John said ‘These things we write that our joy may be fulfilled’ (1Jn_1:4). The context there shews what constitutes this joy. It is the consciousness of fellowship with God and His Son and His saints; in other words it is the conscious possession of eternal life (Joh_17:3). Thus the Introduction and Conclusion of the Epistle mutually explain one another. This verse should also be compared with its parallel in the Gospel (Joh_20:31), a passage which has probably influenced some of the various readings here. We see at once the similar yet not identical purposes of Gospel and Epistle. S. John writes his Gospel, ‘that ye may have life’; he writes his Epistle ‘that ye may know that ye have life.’ The one leads to the obtaining of the boon; the other to the joy of knowing that the boon has been obtained. The one is to produce faith; the other is to make clear the fruits of faith.

believe on the name] See on 1Jn_5:10 and on 1Jn_3:23.

13–17. Intercessory Love the Fruit of Faith and of the Possession of Life

13–17. Eternal life, faith, and brotherly love shewing boldness in intercession, are the leading ideas of this section. We have had most of these topics before, and the section is more or less of a recapitulation. But S. John “cannot even recapitulate without the introduction of new and most important thoughts” (F. W. Farrar); and the combination of the idea of boldness in prayer (1Jn_3:21-22) with that of love of the brethren leads to very fruitful results.

13–21. Conclusion and Summary

Some modern writers consider that 1Jn_5:13 constitutes the conclusion of the Epistle, the remainder (14–21) being a postscript or appendix, analogous to chap. 21. of the Gospel, and possibly by another hand. Some go so far as to conjecture that the same person added chap. 21 to the Gospel and the last nine verses to the Epistle after the Apostle’s death.

Not much can be urged in favour of these views. No MS. or version seems to exist in which these concluding verses are wanting. Tertullian quotes 1Jn_5:16-18 (De Pudicitia xix.) and 1Jn_5:21 (De Corona x.): Clement of Alexandria quotes 1Jn_5:16-17 (Strom, II. xv.); and both these writers in quoting mention S. John by name. This shews that at the end of the second century these verses were an integral part of the Epistle. Against such evidence as this, arbitrary statements that the division of sins into sins unto death and sins not unto death, the sternness of 1Jn_5:19, and the warning against idolatry, are unlike S. John, will not have much weight. The diction is S. John’s throughout, and some of the fundamental ideas of the Epistle reappear in these concluding verses. Moreover, the connexion with the first half of the chapter is so close, that there is no reason for supposing that, while unquestionably by S. John himself, yet it is, like chap. 21. of the Gospel, a subsequent addition to the original work. Indeed so close is the connexion with what precedes that some commentators consider only the last four verses, or even only the last verse, to be the proper Conclusion of the Epistle.

The Conclusion, as here arranged, falls into three parts. In the first, three main thoughts are retouched; faith in the Son of God, eternal life, and love of the brethren shewing itself in intercession (13–17). In the second, three great facts of which believers have certain knowledge are restated (1Jn_5:18-20). In the third, a farewell practical warning is given (1Jn_5:21).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn_5:13

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.

Helps to full assurance

I. To whom was this written? It is important to observe the direction of a letter; for I may be reading a communication meant for somebody else, and if it should contain good tidings, I may be deceiving myself by appropriating the news.

1. This Epistle, and this particular text in it, were written for all those who believe on the name of the Son of God.

2. To unbelievers this text is not written: it is for all who trust in Jesus; but it is for none beside. If you inquire why it is not addressed to unbelievers, I answer, simply because it would be preposterous to wish men to be assured of that which is not true.

3. We may gather from this address being made to all the people of God and to none beside, that there are some believers in the world, and true believers too, who do not know that they have eternal life. Again, a large number of Christs people who may be perfectly sound in the doctrinal view of the nature of this life do not know that they possess it at this present moment if they are believers. We want children of God who believe in Jesus to feel that the holy flame which kindles their lamp today is the same fire which will shine forth before the throne of God forever; they have begun already to exercise those holy emotions of delight and joy which will be their heaven: they already possess in measure those perceptions and faculties which will be theirs in glory. Yet again, there are some Christians who believe all this, and are perfectly right in theory, but yet they each one cry, I want to know that I have eternal life. I want a fuller assurance of salvation than I have already obtained. That is also our desire for you.

II. To what end John has written.

1. When he says, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, I think his first meaning is that you may know that everybody who believes in Jesus Christ has eternal life. You are not to form an opinion upon it, but to believe it, for the Lord hath said it.

2. I think that John in this passage meant, and we will consider him as meaning, something more--namely, he would have us know that we personally have eternal life by having us know that we do personally believe in Jesus. Rationally a living man should know that he is alive. No man should give sleep to his eyes or slumber to his eyelids while he has a doubt about his eternal state. It is possible, and it is very desirable; for when a man knows that he has eternal life, what a comfort it is to him! What gratitude it produces in his spirit! How it helps him to live above the world! And it is our duty to obtain full assurance. We should not have been commanded to give diligence to make our calling and election sure if it were not right for us to be sure.

III. What has John said in this epistle which conduces to our full assurance? How does he help us to know that we are believers, and consequently to know that we have eternal life?

1. You will find, first, that John mentions as an evidence truthful dealing with God, in faith and confession of sin. Naturally men walk in darkness or falsehood towards God; but when we have believed in Jesus we come to walk in the light of truth. Read in the first chapter of the Epistle from verse 6 to 9.

2. Next, John gives us obedience as a test of the child of God. Look to the second chapter, and begin to read at the third verse.

3. Follow me as I call attention, next, to the evidence of love in the heart. In the second chapter read at the ninth verse. Then go on to the fourteenth verse of the third chapter. This will greatly help you to decide your case. Do you hate anybody? Are you seeking revenge? Then you are not dwelling in the light; you are of Cain and not of Christ.

4. Next to that comes separation from the world. Read in the second chapter at the fifteenth verse. This is backed up by the first verse of the third chapter. Thus slander, abuse, and other forms of persecution may turn to your comfort by showing that you are of that sect which is everywhere spoken against.

5. Next to that, in the second chapter, we have the evidence of continuance in the faith. And the world passeth away, and the lust, etc.

6. The next evidence you will find in the third chapter, the third verse, namely, purification. Do you every day endeavour to keep clear of sin; and, when you have sinned, do you at night go with bitter repentance to God, and beg to be delivered from it?

7. Again, in the twenty-first verse of the third chapter, we meet with another blessed evidence, and that is a clear conscience.

8. Furthermore, we find an evidence in answer to prayer: And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

9. Adherence to the truth is another help to full assurance. Read the whole fourth chapter. If you bear witness to the truth, the truth bears witness to you. Blessed are those who are not removed from the hope of their calling.

10. One of the best evidences of true faith, and one of the best helps to full assurance, is a holy familiarity with God. Read in the fourth chapter the sixteenth verse. When you have no longer that slavish fear which makes you stand back, but that childlike confidence which draws you nearer and yet nearer unto God, then are you His child. He who can call God his exceeding joy is among the living in Zion.

IV. The appendix to Johns design. That ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. I think he means this--you are never to get into such a state that you say, I have eternal life, and therefore I need not trust simply in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Years ago I was born again, and so I can now live without the daily exercise of faith. No, says the apostle, I am writing this to believers, and I tell them that while they may have full assurance, it cannot be a substitute for habitual faith in the Lord Jesus. Every vessel, whether it be a great flagon or a little cup, must hang upon the one nail which is fastened in a sure place. If you get from Jesus, you wander into a land of darkness and of the shadow of death. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The blessing of full assurance

I. John wrote with a special purpose.

1. To begin with, John wrote that we might enjoy the full assurance of our salvation. Full assurance is not essential to salvation, but it is essential to satisfaction. May you get it--may you get it at once; at any rate, may you never be satisfied to live without it. You may have full assurance. You may have it without personal revelations; it is wrought in us by the word of God. He begins thus: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Can anything be more clear than this? The loving spirit of John leads him to say, Everyone that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. Do you love God? Do you love His only-begotten Son? You can answer those two questions surely. John goes on to give another evidence: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. You can tell whether you love the brethren, as such, for their Masters sake, and for the truths sake that is in them; and if you can truly say that you thus love them, then you may know that you have eternal life. Our apostle gives us this further evidence: This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous. Obedience is the grand test of love. By the fruit you can test the root and the sap. But note that this obedience must be cheerful and willing. His commandments are not grievous. I said to one who came to join the Church the other day, I suppose you are not perfect? and the reply was, No, sir, I wish I might be. I said, And suppose you were? Oh, then, she said, that would be heaven to me. So it would be to me. We delight in the law of God after the inward man. Oh, that we could perfectly obey in thought, and word, and deed! John then proceeds to mention three witnesses. Do you know anything about these three witnesses? Do you know the Spirit? Has the Spirit of God quickened you, changed you, illuminated you, sanctified you? Next, do you know the water, the purifying power of the death of Christ? Do you also know the blood? Do you know the power of the blood to take away sin? Then in the mouth of these three witnesses shall the fact of your having eternal life be fully established. One thing more I would notice. Read the ninth verse: the apostle puts our faith and assurance on the ground that we receive the witness of God. The inmost heart of Christian faith is that we take God at His Word; and we must accept that Word, not because of the probabilities of its statements, nor because of the confirmatory evidence of science and philosophy, but simply and alone because the Lord has spoken it.

2. Furthermore, John wrote that we might know our spiritual life to be eternal. We are said to be made partakers of the Divine nature. Immortality is of the essence of the life of God. If our life is Christs life, we shall not die until Christ dies. Let us rest in this.

3. Once more, John desired the increase and confirmation of their faith. That ye might believe on the name of the Son of God. Many a Christian man is narrow in the range of his faith from ignorance of the Lords mind. Like certain tribes of Israel, they have conquered a scanty territory as yet, though all the land is theirs from Dan to Beersheba. John would have us push out our fences, and increase the enclosure of our faith. Let us believe all that God has revealed, for every truth is precious and practically useful. It will be well for you if your faith also increases intensively. Oh that you may more fully believe what you do believe! We need deeper insight and firmer conviction. This is Johns desire for you, that you believe with all your heart, and soul, and strength. He would have you believe more constantly, so that you may say, My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise. He would have us trust courageously. Some can believe in a small way about small things. Oh, for a boundless trust in the infinite God! We need more of a venturesome faith; the faith to do and dare. We need also to have our faith increased in the sense of its becoming more practical. We want an everyday faith, not to look at, but to use. God give to you that you may believe on the name of the Son of God with a sound, common sense faith, which will be found wearable, and washable, and workable throughout life. We need to believe more joyfully. Oh, what a blessed thing it is when you reach the rest and joy of faith! If we would truly believe the promise of God, and rest in the Lords certain fulfilment of it, we might be as happy as the angels.

II. The purpose which John had in his mind we ought to follow up. If he wished us to know that we have eternal life, let us try to know it. The Word of God was written for this purpose; let us use it for its proper end. Our conscience tells us that we ought to seek full assurance of salvation. It cannot be right for us to be children of God, and not to know our own Father. Are you not bidden to make your calling and election sure? Are you not a thousand times over exhorted to rejoice in the Lord, and to give thanks continually? But how can you rejoice, if the dark suspicion haunts you, that perhaps, after all, you have not the life of God? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Christians title

Suppose I should come to you some day and call in question your ownership of your house, and demand that you give it up--a homestead bequeathed to you by your father. Why do you make such a demand upon me? you ask. Because, I reply, it is not your house; you have no right to it; at least you do not know that it is yours. Oh, yes, you reply, I am quite sure it is my house. How do you know? what is your reason for believing that it is your house? Why, because my father lived here before me. That is no good reason. Well, I have lived here undisturbed for five years myself. It does not hence follow that the house is yours. But I am very happy in it: I enjoy myself here. Well, but, my dear sir, that you may do and still have no right to it. At last, pushed to the wall, you take me with you down to the courthouse, and show me your fathers will, duly written, signed, sealed and recorded. This may serve to illustrate the point. A great many Christians are at a loss where and how to ground their title. It is not in the fact that you are a descendant of a saintly family, a child of believing parents: for as old Matthew Henry says: Grace does not run in the blood: nor is it that you have membership in the visible Church of Christ; nor is it to be found in delightful frames and feelings--in a word, not even a genuine Christian experience constitutes your title deed. Where then are we to lay the foundation of our hope? Why, just in the naked, bare Word of God (Joh_5:24). Straight to the record do we appeal for a final test as to our possession in God (1Jn_5:11-12). (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)

Eternal life

Eternal life is not in the Scriptures limited to God as an incommunicable attribute or essence, nor to the angels even as a possession shut up within the walls of heaven; but is spoken of as something that may be conveyed to and shared with men. Eternal life is the life of the spiritual nature, the life of sentiment and affection, of moral and religious principle. Indeed, in the New Testament, many phrases might equally well be translated either eternal or spiritual life; as, for example, No murderer hath eternal life, hath spiritual, holy, religious, divine life, abiding in him. Moreover, that eternal life is not simply enduring, or literally and only everlasting life, is plain, because we never speak of the devil and his angels as having eternal life, though it is supposed in our theology they have a life that endures through all the future, contemporaneously with that of Divinity and seraph. The bad surely do not live the eternal life, though they have before them the same unbounded prospect of existence with the good. Theirs is a state of eternal or spiritual death. Eternal life in God is the life of absolute goodness, purity, rectitude, and truth. Eternal life in man is the life of justice and love, of fidelity in all his relations. It is a right, holy, and becoming life. When we are elevated above selfish and trifling cares into noble thought and generous feeling, our life, so far from having the character of a life that simply endures or is to endure for a long succession of time, seems no longer concerned with time at all, but to have risen above it. Days and weeks are no longer the terms of our existence; but thoughts, emotions, dictates of conscience, impulses of kindness, and aspirations of worship--these make the eternal life, because we feel there is something really fixed and impregnable in them, which neither time can alter, nor age wrinkle, nor the revolutions of the world waste, nor the grave bury, but the eternity of God alone embrace and preserve. It is true, that in that life, as in the absolute and perfect Spirit of God, is involved also the quality of permanence. The pure, loving, righteous, and devoted heart feels its own imperishableness. Its immortality is secretly whispered to it in a great assurance. The Spirit bears witness with it to its incorruptible nature. Even here, rising above the earth, nor feeling its idle whirl, it shall vindicate its superiority to all that is material, as it drops the flesh, and takes the celestial body. But the heavenly and indissoluble life begins in this world. Jesus Christ had it here. For who thinks of Him as any more immortal after His resurrection and ascension than before? Jesus Christ, the only perfect possessor on earth, is accordingly the great and incomparable communicator of this eternal life. To Him, especially and above all, we are to go for it. Shall this spiritual or eternal life become at length universal throughout the intelligent and moral creation? The theme is perhaps too great for the comprehension of the human mind, nor is it even by the light of inspiration so cleared up that we can hope for an entire agreement respecting it among equally wise and good men. Better is it that we should, by all the motives and sanctions, hopes and fears, of the gospel, try to awaken the moral and spiritual nature in our own and in others hearts, than that we should exercise the fancy with predicting the fortunes to arise in the coming ages. (C. A. Bartol.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn 5:13. These things have I written unto you — The things contained in the former part of this chapter concerning the fruits of regenerating faith, and the water and the blood, and the witnesses in heaven and on earth, and especially concerning the things which they have witnessed, mentioned in the two last verses; to you that believe on the name of the Son of God — With a faith grounded on a saving knowledge of him, and productive of the fruits spoken of 1Jn 5:1-4; that ye may know — On the testimony of all the evangelists and apostles, and of Christ himself; that ye have eternal life — That ye are heirs of it, notwithstanding your past sins and present infirmities, and the imperfection of your knowledge and holiness, and the various defects of your love and obedience; and that you may believe — That is, may persevere in believing; on the name of the Son of God — May continue in the faith grounded and settled, and not be moved away from the hope of the gospel; knowing that the just man shall live by faith, but if he draw back, God’s soul will have no pleasure in him. See Joh 15:6, and Rom 11:22.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

1Jn_5:13-21 may be treated as a summary and conclusion. They divide into three parts:

1. Faith in the Son of God, eternal life, and love of the brethren showing itself in intercession, are recalled to mind.

2. Three great facts which believers know are restated.

3. A last practical warning is given. In the first part the new thought is, the association of boldness in prayer with the love of the brethren (1Jn_5:14-17).

1Jn_5:16. Sin not unto death … sin unto death.—The usual distinction between sins of frailty and sins of will. Sins of frailty are possible to the child of God; sins of will indicate that, for the time, the child-spirit is dead—he cannot sin wilfully who is born of God. St. John deals very carefully with the latter case. “Not concerning that do I say that he should make request.” Wilful sin in one claiming to have the Divine life does not come into the range of Christian prayer for the brethren, because such a case is not regarded as possible. St. John does not go so far as to say that it is not a subject for prayer at all.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Jn_5:13-17

The Rights of the New-begotten Sons.—1Jn_5:13 recalls to mind the explanation St. John gives of his purpose in writing his gospel. “But these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye may have life in His name.” Life is St. John’s great word, and by it he means that life as a son of God, in loving and obedient relations with the eternal Father, which is seen in Christ the Son, and becomes ours as by faith we are linked with that Son so as to receive His life. When we are thus made sons, we enter upon the possession of three rights or privileges, and we ought thankfully to use them.

I. The right to eternal life.—The right to live a higher kind of life than can be attained by other men,—a spiritual life, a human-divine life like that which the Lord Jesus lived; for His life on the earth is precisely described as the “eternal life.” That is not life in heaven: it is the Christ-life lived on earth. But the right to this life involves the right to everything that is needed for sustaining, developing, and perfecting the life. If God calls any one into being, His creative act implies a continuous providential act, for the well-being of the creature made. So St. Paul tells us that all things are at the command and use of the sons of God.

II. The right to expect answers to prayers (1Jn_5:14-15).—The prayers here thought of are those bearing relation to the believer’s own life, circumstance, and need. Answer to prayer, following on attention to prayer, is involved in Fatherhood and sonship. A father who neither hears, nor heeds, nor answers, his Children’s requests is no father at all. If God be our Father, He must heed and answer all who keep child-like souls.

III. The right to intercede for others (1Jn_5:16-17).—The very fact that there is a limit to Christian intercession asserts the right to intercede within the limits. And this is the right which belongs to the brotherhood. Brothers ought to be concerned with brothers’ welfare, and be ready with all sympathy and help in times of frailty and trouble.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

1Jn_5:13. Knowing that we have Life.—The arguments and persuasions of St. John were intended to bring a personal confidence and assurance to the believers. He wanted them to know that they had the eternal life.

I. Personal assurance is possible.—But too often it is assurance founded on mere feelings. St. John’s assurance is founded on facts and truths. Emotional assurance is of but little value: it seldom does more than soothe the soul to a sleep of self-satisfaction and indifference; and it has a strangely evil tendency to make men think themselves the special favourites of God, and to despise others. Assurance founded on facts and truths has a graciously bracing influence; it ennobles a man, makes him feel like a co-worker with God, and want to be an active co-worker. And it brings the man nearer to his fellows, because, taking form as assurance of sonship, it cannot fail to bring on the responsibility of brotherhood.

II. Personal assurance is to be sought.—It is not only a desirable attainment; it is a necessary one. Upon it the strength of the Christian life depends. But it is even more important to see that upon it the brightness and cheeriness of the Christian life depend. The uncertain man is depressed, and can put no joy into his work. No man should rest anywhere short of the “full assurance of faith.”

III. Personal assurance is gained through apprehension of higher truth.—Not in the most hopeful way through experience, because experience always has too much of the variableness of self in it. Assurance comes by soul-growth, through spiritual and mental apprehensions of the higher truth. And that can be fully apprehended when we recognise that the higher truth brings the fuller knowledge of God, and in the going out of ourselves to ever higher and worthier thoughts of God we gain our best confidences and satisfactions.

The Knowledge of Eternal Life.—This being the declared object of this epistle, we are not surprised to find the words “know” and “eternal life” conspicuous. The whole epistle is occupied with the signs of sonship. Light, love, and life are the grand words which interpret the epistle, and under which all these evidences of the new nature may be arranged. God is here directly declared to be light and to be love, and it is everywhere implied that He is also life. Hence His own children must partake of His light, and love, and life, because partakers of His nature.

I. Light is here used as the equivalent for higher knowledge, as darkness is for ignorance. The child of God walks in light. Light is a revealer. Hence he knows God, knows himself and his sin, and knows the truth. He that is in darkness knows not God, denies his sin, denies Jesus, and denies the truth, embraces a lie, etc. The signs of being in the light are mainly these three: recognition of sin, belief and confession of Jesus, and knowledge of God. Of many truths we may yet be in ignorance or doubt, but of these the true child of God must be assured.

II. Love, this is the synonym for a pure, unselfish affection and benevolence. Love is found in the world—natural affection, selfish affection, the love of sympathy and of complacency. But this love is not of this world; like the warmth of the sun, it is the outgoing of something that aims to bless others rather than benefit ourselves. “He that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.” This love is expansive, expulsive, and explosive. It enlarges the heart, it expels evil, and it demands expression and action. It expels the love of sin, the love of the world, and the hatred of man. It demands vent in benevolent action and in confession of Jesus as Lord.

III. Life. Here we touch another class of mysteries. The life-principle of God is in the believer, and is opposed to death. Hence there is:

1. A quickening power—obedience.

2. A sanctifying power—purification. He that is born of God doth not commit sin, and cannot sin—observe the force of the Greek present tense, continued action—doth not go on sinning. There is that in him which constrains him to do righteousness and put away iniquity. He has affinity with God. He purifies himself, even as Christ is pure. No sinner ought to be in ignorance of the way of salvation with the gospel of John before him. No saint should be in doubt about his saved state with the first epistle of John before him. To be saved one has only to believe on Jesus as the Saviour, to receive the gift of God’s love. The disciple has only to examine himself as to whether he is in the light, the love, the life of God. If he sees and confesses his sin; if he accepts Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God; if he finds a love of God and of the brethren which expels the love of sin, of the world, and of self; if he feels the life of God impelling him to obey the commands of God, to renounce sin, and to live for God,—all this is the work of God, and of Him alone.—Anon.

1Jn_5:14. The Condition of all Answers to Prayer.—The one condition is repeated again and again, as if St. John foresaw with what difficulty Christians through all the ages would realise it. All his effort was directed to persuading men to believe fully in the Sonship of Christ. He says that he wrote to them precisely as those who professed to believe on the name of the Son of God. He wrote to them in order that he might persuade them really to believe on the name of the Son of God. The life is in the Son. It is not “he that hath Christ hath life.” It is, “he that hath the Sort hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” And this is the ground of our confidence in prayer—we have the Son; and when a man has the Son, he has the sonship; and in the quiet, happy trust of his sonship, he is as sure that his heavenly Father hears and answers prayer, as any happy loving child is in an earthly father’s home. Does God answer prayer?’ That child, who is a child indeed, never asks the question, and never likes to have such questions asked. He says, with deepest feeling, “Don’t ask. He is my Father.” “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him? “But there is a particular matter in St. John’s mind. The one thing he is urging is the “love of the brethren,” which we must feel if we love the Father, and have in us the mind of the only begotten Son. If we love them, we shall want to do something for them; and then we shall be sure to intercede for them, to ask things of God in their behalf. And we may ask with confidence of answer, if we have the spirit of sons, because we shall only ask what is in harmony with God’s will, and only ask in a becoming spirit. The prayer of the brotherhood, the prayer of the family for one another, is evidently in St. John’s mind, as is clear from 1Jn_5:16-17. It is true that answer to prayers for ourselves rests on the same condition; but it comes freshly to us to find that our intercessions are conditioned on our maintaining our sonship.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

IV. THE CONCLUSION

1Jn_5:13-21

13These things have I written1 unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe2 on the name of the Son of God. 14And this is the confidence that we have in him3, that, if we ask any thing4 according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear5 us, whatsoever we ask6, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of7 him. 16If any man see his brother sin a sin8 which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it9. 17All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not10 unto death. 18We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten11 19of God keepeth himself, and that12 wicked one toucheth him not. And we know 20that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness13. And14 we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding15, that we may know16 him that is true17; and we are in him that is true17, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life18. 21Little children, keep yourselves19 from idols. Amen20.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The Conclusion. 1Jn_5:13. These things wrote I.—Ταῦτα ἔγραψα, like ταῦτα ἔγραψα 1Jn_2:26, might be referred to the verses immediately preceding, if the words annexed permitted such a construction:

That ye may know, that ye have eternal life, ye that believe in the name of the Son of God.—Quite similar to the closing verse of the Gospel, Joh_20:31. The purpose of the writing ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον corresponds with the χαρά at the beginning of the Epistle, which χαρά was to be filled by the testimony of the eye and ear-witnesses of the λόγος τῆς ζωῆς; hence ταῦτα ἔγραψα answers to ταῦτα γράφομεν 1Jn_1:4 (Bengel), the certainty of the possession of eternal life being the ground and strength of the joy, which John has, and to which he adverts. The words τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῡ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, annexed to ὑμῖν, primarily refer back to 1Jn_3:23. but find their last resting-place in the κοινωνία ἡ ἡμετέρα μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, 1Jn_1:3. Hence ταῦτα must be referred neither to 1Jn_5:8-12 (Huther), nor to 1Jn_5:1-12 (S. Schmid), but to the whole Epistle (Luther, Bengel, Lücke, Düsterdieck and al.), though the inducement to the choice of this expression lies in verses immediately preceding, and preparing the concluding portion of the Epistle, and there still follow several verses which constitute that concluding portion. Noteworthy is the difference between the closing verse of the Gospel, Joh_20:31, which adverts to the future believing and obtaining eternal life of the readers, while our passage asserts their present belief and possession of eternal life. [Alford sees here with Düsterdieck something like an anticipatory close of the Epistle. Huther maintains, that this verse still belongs to the second main part of the Epistle beginning with 1Jn_3:23, on the ground that ζωὴν αἰώνιον goes back to the verses immediately preceding, and that πιστεύειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, refers back to 3:28.—M.].

The confidence that prayer is heard. 1Jn_5:14-15.

1Jn_5:14. And this is the confidence which we have towards Him.—Καὶ connects with what goes before, i.e., it connects παῤῥησία ἣν ἔχομεν with ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον. This confidence consists in this:—

That if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us.—It is consequently the confidence in God, which has the intercourse of prayer with Him; this confidence rests on the ζωὴ αἰώνιος, springs from it, points back to it, and reacts also on it, strengthening and confirming it. Cf. 1Jn_3:21-22.—Πρὸς αὐτὸν and to τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ must be referred to God the Father, because the idea of possessing the ζωὴ αἰώνιος involves the idea of the Divine Sonship, and the παῤῥησία is connected with both. While ἐὰν τι leaves the object of the prayer quite general and indefinite, κατὰ τὸ θέλημα limits it, so that it is a conditio æquissima, latissime patens (Bengel), as we may see from the fourth and seventh petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, in connection with the others. (Cf. Doctrinal and Ethical No. 1.)—Ἀκούει ἡμῶν denotes an attentive, sympathetic hearing, while ἡμᾶς would signify a mere hearing.—This is an undoubted fact:

1Jn_5:15. And if we know that He heareth us whatsoever we may ask.—Hence ἐὰν with the Indicative οἶδαμεν. Winer, p. 310, sq.—Ὅ ἐὰν αἰτώμεθα denotes the general character of the object of prayer. It follows that:

We know that we have the petitions which we have asked from Him.—” Ἔχομεν, emphatic, placed first. By the side of ἀκούει ἡμῶν, we must distinguish ̓́χομεν τἀ αἰτήματα (Lorinus: res petitæ), although the two belong together; God hearing our prayers and our having go hand-in-hand. The additional clause: ἃ ᾐτήκαμεν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ indicates that the having is the consequence of prayer preceding it, so that the having in point of time does not coincide with the prayer, as does the believer’s prayer with God’s hearing; but our having is secured; ἔχομεν is not=λαμβάνομεν (Lachmann and al.), nor must it be construed like a Future (Grotius: statim exaudit, at non statim dat).—Ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ, as in Mat_20:20, belongs to ᾐτήκαμεν, not to ἔχομεν; παρ’ αὐτοῦ, as in Act_3:2, (see Appar. Crit., No. 7,), could not, at any rate, denote prayers as deposits made with God, as Ebrard maintains.

Intercession for a brother sinning not unto death. 1Jn_5:16-17.

1Jn_5:16. If any one see his brother commit a sin, not unto death.—Here is supposed a specific case, in which the confident petition becomes an intercession for the purpose of keeping an erring brother,—after the example of Christ (1Jn_2:1; cf. Luk_22:31-32; Joh_17:9; Heb_7:25),—with his Saviour and salvation, in fellowship with the Redeemer and in the participation of eternal life. Additur casus omnium maximus; ut possis orare etiam pro altero in re gravissima (Bengel). Ἐάν τις ἴδῃ supposes an objective possibility; it is not said that some one does see, but it may be, the event will show it; consequently: If any one should see it. Winer, p. 306, sq. The reference is to an event which may be seen, to a fact susceptible of observation, as in 1Jn_3:17.—Τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, denotes a member of the Christian Church, and τις requires to be taken in the same sense. The reference is consequently to intimate converse, and to what happens and becomes manifest there. This the Apostle brings out emphatically in the participial form: ἁμαρτάτοντα ἁμαρτίαν: the sinning brother stands, as it were, before our eyes. Here we have μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, not as in 1Jn_5:17 : οὐ πρὸς θάνατον, because the reference is to the subjective judgment of the observer, not to an objectively valid principle, not to the establishment of a dogmatically real idea. Winer, p. 496.—Ἀδελφὸς is therefore not=proximus quicunque (Calov); non-christians are excluded (against Ebrard), although the reference may not be exactly to “a regenerate person” (Düsterdieck).

He shall ask and give him life.—The Future αἰτήσει denotes that the intercession may be confidently expected, since καὶ δώσει neither warrants us to construe the Future, in the decisive language of the legislation of the Old and New Testament (Mat_5:21; Mat_5:27, etc.,) as an Imperative, nor gives an occasion to assume a purely ethical possibility, as Luk_22:49 : κύριε, εἰ πατάξομεν; Rom_10:14 : πῶς οὖν ἐπικαλέσονται; shall we smite? how shall they, how can they call? See Winer, pp. 294, 295, 331. Hence it is not=licebit petere (S. Schmidt). The subject is the intercession, τις, not the Church (Neander), or the saints (Meyer). The same subject, αἰτῶν, belongs also to δώσει; it is neither=dabitur (variation of the Vulgate, approved by Bede and others), nor to be derived from the idea of prayer, αἰτούμενος, rogatus Deus (Beza, Bengel, Lücke, Winer, p. 553, and al.). [The Æthiopic version brings out the right meaning: rogans vivificabit; i.e. the asker shall be instrumental in bestowing life on the erring brother for whom he intercedes.—M.]. The grammatical requirements of our passage are fully borne out by the cycle of thoughts current in the New Testament (Act_3:6; Jam_5:15; Jam_5:20). John here simply contemplates the result as a fact, without adverting to the instrumentality, its ways and stages within the brother’s heart, which was the object of intercession; repentance and faith, moreover, are not excluded, and the interceding brother is not viewed as the Saviour, or the representative of the Redcemer. Neither may we think of an admonitio et correptio fraterna (Mat_18:15; S. Schmid), nor of the proper demeanour of the asker towards his erring brother, as the result of his intercessory prayer (Rickli). The final effect of intercession is ζωὴ (αἰώνιος), which is weakened and disturbed by every sin [Alford; This bestowal of life by intercessory prayer, is not to be minutely inquired into, whether it is to be accompanied with “correptio fraterna,”—whether it consists in the giving to the sinner a repentant heart (Grotius, al.), but taken, as put by the Apostle, in all its simplicity and breadth. Life, viz.: the restoration of that Divine life from which by any act of sin he was indeed in peril, and indeed in process of falling, but this sin was not an actual fall.—M.].

To them that sin not unto death.—The Plural τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι belongs to αὐτῷ, which generaliter positum est (Erasmus); the Plural takes the supposed case from the sphere of singularity; τις has collective force. See Winer, p. 553. It is forced and ungrammatical to refer αὐτῷ to him that asks, understanding θεὸς as the subject, and taking τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι as Dativ. commodi: “God will give him life for the persons sinning,” as Bornemann (Biblische Studien der Sächs. Geistlichen I. p. 71,) does.—Μὴ πρὸς θάνατον qualifies ἀμαρτάνειν ἁμαρτίαν, or ἁμαρτάνειν, and has consequently adverbial force. θάνατος, only, if taken in the sense of spiritual death, corresponds with the context, viz., with the παῤῥησία of prayer being heard on the ground of our possession of the ζωὴ αἰώνιος, for ζωή in the intercession on behalf of the erring brother, and the preposition πρὸς, as denoting the aim towards which something is directed (Winer, p. 423), require us to think of a sinning, which in the conviction of the person interceding, must not terminate in θάνατος, the emptying of all ζωὴ αἰώνιος, and accordingly must not absolutely annul fellowship with Christ, faith in Him. This is brought out more clearly in the next clause.

There is a sin unto death.—Thus the Apostle circumscribes the domain of sinning not unto death: it is not infinite. This is directed against any possible laxity in the judgment of the Church on the sins of believers. Πρὸς θάνατον has the same meaning here, as in the preceding clause. The reference is accordingly to a specific sin, to a simple act perceptible (ἴδῃ) in the brother, within the limits of Christian fellowship (τὸν ἀδελφον αὐτοῦ), not to a particular, outwardly marked category of sins, but to a sinning, and committing of sin, which renders it clear to the careful observer, that the fellowship of faith with Christ, the fountain of eternal life, has been cut off, that consequently the ethical life-form appears to be inwardly decayed and dying, that the moral status of that brother shows itself to be in a state of hopeless dissolution, so that it is of no avail to pray for such an one, and that therefore intercession is not proper. Hence it is wrong to transfer to this passage the Old Testament idea of חֵטְא לָמוּת, ἁμαρτία θανατηφόρος (Num_18:22), and to refer to capital crimes, e.g. idolatry, adultery, murder, incest, which are punishable with death under the secular or Mosaic law (Morus, al.), or to the sins ecclesiastically punishable with excommunication, as if intercession had to conform to the secular code of punishment; nor is the reference to sinning unto the end of man’s earthly existence (Bede and al.), in which connection de Lyra rightly observes: “Qui sit peccator non ad mortem, sciri non potest nisi per divinam revelationem;” πρὸς θάνατον cannot be rendered “usque ad mortem.” Nor is the reference to the physically sick, Jam_5:14 (Steinhofer); nor to definite, gross crimes, peccatum gravissimum, quod vix remittitur (Ambrose), moechia port baptismum commissa (Tertullian), peccatum invidentiæ (Bede). Nor is here any description of a condition, “Talis animæ status, in quo fides et amor et spes, in summa, vita nova exstincta est; si quis sciens volensque mortem amplectitur, non ex illecebris carnis, sed ex amore peccati, sub ratione peccati; repudium gratiæ proæreticum.” (Bengel). Augustine thought first of invidentiæ faces post agnitionem Dei, and added afterwards: si in hac perversitate finierit vitam, and then: fidem deserere usque ad mortem. Lastly the reference is neither to a purely inward act, like obduracy (Ebrard), apostasy (de Wette, Lücke), nor to sin, perceptible in the walk of men, like the anti-christian denial expressed in words (Düsterdieck), nor to the sin against the Holy Ghost (Calvin, Sander and al.). The reference is simply to sinning, from which it may be perceived either, that no inward absolute severance from the faith and denial of Christ may or can be assumed, or that the latter is either recognizable of highly probable. To the latter case apply the words:

Concerning that I do not say that he shall pray.—The simple negation is, that the the Apostle says (οὐ—λέγω), that prayer should be made for him who sins unto death. He only makes prominent the circumstance that he confines himself to saying that intercession should be made for the person not sinning unto death. Hence those commentators are right, who do not see here a prohibition (Socinus, Grotius, Neander, Lücke, Huther and al.). But it is certainly not said that we ought, or only are permitted, to pray for him (Neander). It is important to note the difference of the words employed by the Apostle, for whereas before he made use of the word αἰτήσει, he now uses ἐρωτήσῃ: ἐρωτᾷν is=rogare, and implies equality on the part of the asker with him from whom the favour is sought; Jesus designates His praying by that term (Joh_14:16; Joh_16:26; Joh_17:9; Joh_17:15; Joh_17:20); on the other hand αἰτεῖν is=petere, and implies inferiority (Düsterdieck), while Bengel regards αἰτεῖν as species humilior under the genus ἐρωτᾷν. This word ἐρωτᾷν denotes the confident petition of the child, praying inquiringly and expecting the gift. Hence, due regard being had to the force of the term employed, we may discover here the sanction of intercession for a brother sinning unto death, yet without any assurance of success or that the intercession will prevail. But since the Apostle advocates this very παῤῥησία and Deus non vult, ut pii frustra orent (Bengel), it is probably locutio morata et attica for a prohibition. Deu_3:26. This is also suggested by ἵva; in the present instance he does not wish to excite and promote the purpose of praying. (Cf. Doctrinal and Ethical No. 4).

1Jn_5:17. All unrighteousness is sin.—The subject πᾶσα ἀδικία reminds us of the predicate ἡ ἀνομία 1Jn_3:4. Ἀνομία is in contradiction with the objectively given law of God, ἀδικία is the contradiction and negation of the δικαιοσύνη and is concerned with the subjective disposition, though it be wrought from above and subject to the law. And this harmonizes with the fact that we are concerned with the moral status of the sinner in this sinning unto death, and sinning not unto death. John manifestly desires to guard against any ἀδικία being too lightly dealt with, being not considered as ἁμαρτία, though it be μὴ πρὸς τὸν θάνατον. The Roman Catholics, therefore, have no warrant for determining from the sin itself, whether it is peccatum mortale or veniale.

And there is a sin not unto death.—Καὶ simply connects the sequel; it is not=et quidem, and the sense: quodlibet nefas est peccatum non ad mortem (Bengel); Bengel’s clause: ‘sed ne quisquam id levius interpretetur, præmittit: est peccatum’ is only a moral reaction against the perversion of the Johannean thought: all unrighteousness is sin. The sequel, because of the intercession recommended, is added by way of emphasis. Οὐ πρὸς θάνατον implies the objectively real fact, the actual occurrence of such sin; it defines ἁμαρτία, not ἔστιν, as Luther supposes.

[There are one or two questions, in connection with this section, which require to be treated somewhat more fully. First, 1Jn_5:17, involves a prohibition, or what is equivalent to it. But this has been denied by many commentators. “Ora si velis, sed sub dubio impetrandi” (Corn, a Lapide); Neander supposes that the offering of prayer is permitted, though the obtaining of it will be difficult, and arbitrarily imagines the prayer in question to be the collective prayer of the Church, and that one who sins πρὸς θάνατον should not be included in the common prayer of the Church, lest he might be confirmed in his sin; Huther finds in οὐ λέγω not more than a denial of the Apostle that the case of one sinning unto death came within the purview of his command. Lyra qualifies the prohibition, though “non est orandum pro damnatis,” yet we may pray, “ut minus peccaret, et per consequens minus damnaretur in inferno.”—Calvin recognizes the prohibition, but limits it to extreme cases, adding: “Sed quia rarissime hoc accidit, et Deus, immensas gratiæ suæ divitias commendans, nos suo exemplo misericordes esse jubet: non temere in quemquam ferendum est mortis æternæ judicium, potius nos caritas ad bene sperandum fleetat. Quod si desperata quorundam impietas non secus nobis apparet, ac sic Dominus eam digito monstraret; non est quod certemus cum justo Dei judicio, vel clementiores eo esse appetamus.”—Alford sums up: “Certainly this seems, reserving the question as to the nature of the sin, the right view of the οὐ λέγω. By an express command in the other case, and then as express an exclusion of this case from that command, nothing short of an implied prohibition can be conveyed.”—

Secondly, the question: What is the sin unto death?—The canons of interpretation for its solution, and some of the principal divergences, chiefly from Düsterdieck, collected by Alford, are here produced.

“The First canon of interpretation of the ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον and οὐ πρὸς θάνατον is this: that the θάνατος and ζωή of the passage must correspond. The former cannot be bodily death, while the latter is eternal and spiritual life. This clears away at once all those commentators who understand the sin unto death to be one for which bodily death is the punishment, either by human law generally, as Morus and G. Lange, or by the Mosaic law (Schöttgen),—or by sickness inflicted by God, as Whitby and Benson; or of which there will be no end till the death of the sinner (thought possible by Bede, and adopted by Lyra). This last is evidently absurd, for how is a man to know, whether this will be so or not?

“The Second canon will be, that this sin unto death being thus a sin leading to eternal death, being no further explained to the readers here, must be presumed as meant to be understood by what the Evangelist has elsewhere laid down, concerning the possession of life and death. Now we have from him a definition immediately preceding this, in 1Jn_5:12, ὁ ἔχων τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει τὴν ζωήν ὁ μὴ ἔχων τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ζωὴν οὐκ ἔχει. And we may safely say that the words πρὸς θάνατον here are to be understood as meaning, “involving the loss of this life which men have only by the union with the Son of God.” And this meaning they must have, not by implication only, which would be the case, if any obstinate and determined sin were meant, which would be a sign of the fact of severance from the life which is in Christ (see 1Jn_3:14-15, where the inference is of this kind), but directly and essentially, i.e. in respect of that very sin which is pointed at by them. Now against this canon are all those interpretations, far too numerous to mention, which make any atrocious and obstinate sin to be that intended. It is obvious that our limits are thus confined to abnegation of Christ, not as inferred by its fruits otherwise shown, but as the act of sin itself. And so, with various shades of difference, as to the putting forth in detail, most of the best commentators, both ancient and modern: e.g., Aretius, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Piscator, Corn. a Lapide, Tirinus, Baumgarten-Crusius, Lücke, Huther, Düsterdieck.

“The Third canon will help us to decide, within the above limits, what especial sin is intended. And it is, that by the very analogy of the context, it must be not a state of sin, but an appreciable act of sin, seeing that which is opposed to it in the same kind, as being not unto death, is described by ἐὰν τις ἴδῃ ἁμαρτάνοντα. So that all interpretations which make it to be a state of apostacy, all such as, e.g., Bengel’s (see above), do not reach the matter of detail which is before the Apostle’s mind.

“In enquiring what this is, we must be guided by the analogy of what St. John says elsewhere. Our state being that of life in Jesus Christ, there are those who have gone out from us, not being of us, 1Jn_2:19, who are called ἀντίχριστοι, who not only “have not” Christ, but are Christ’s enemies, denying the Father and the Son (1Jn_2:22), whom we are not even to receive into our houses nor to greet (2Jn_1:10-11). These seem to be the persons pointed at here, and this is the sin: viz. the denial that Jesus is the Christ, the incarnate Son of God. This alone of all sins bears upon it the stamp of severance from Him who is the Life itself. As the confession of Christ, with the mouth and in the heart, is salvation unto life (Rom_10:9), so the denial of Christ, with the mouth and in the heart, is sin unto death. This alone of all the proposed solutions seems to satisfy all the canons above laid down. For in it the life cast away and the death incurred strictly correspond: it strictly corresponds to what St. John has elsewhere said concerning life and death, and derives its explanation from those other passages, especially from the foregoing 1Jn_5:12 : and it is an appreciable act of sin, one against which the readers have been before repeatedly cautioned (1Jn_2:18 sqq.; 1Jn_4:1. sqq.; 1Jn_5:5; 1Jn_5:11-12). And further, it is in exact accordance with other passages of Scripture which seem to point at a sin similarly distinguished above others: Mat_12:31 sqq., and so far as the circumstances there dealt with allow common ground, with the more ethical passages, Heb_6:4 sqq., heb 10:25 sqq. In the former case, the Scribes and Pharisees were resisting the Holy Ghost (Act_7:51), who was manifesting God in the flesh in the person and work of Christ. For them the Lord Himself does not pray (Luk_23:34): they knew what they did: they went out from God’s people and were not of them: receiving and repudiating the testimony of the Holy Ghost to the Messiahship of Jesus.”—M.].

Assurance of redemption. 1Jn_5:18; 1Jn_5:20.

1Jn_5:18. We know that every one who is born (out) of God, sinneth not.—Each of these three concluding verses begins with οἴδαμεν; Bengel: anaphora. The Evangelist refers to εἰδῆτε 1Jn_5:13, and thus describes the proper consciousness of the Christian in his attitude to sin (1Jn_5:18), the world (1Jn_5:19), and the Redeemer (1Jn_5:20). Πᾶς γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ signifies every one who is, and abides, born of God; the power of regeneration, of the life given and received in regeneration, operates from the past into the present; as such οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει, as such sin is foreign to him, Rom_7:20; cf. 1Jn_3:9.—It is unnecessary to supply πρὸς θάνατον (Bede, Beza and al.), and arbitrary to understand an abiding in sin, or a falling from grace (Calvin), or the not frequent occurrence of the sin unto death and sin in general (de Wette).

But he that hath been born of God, keepeth himself, and the wicked one doth not touch him.—The opposite (ἀλλὰ), refers not only to the predicate, but, since the subject is particularly specified, to the whole clause, and the two clauses (οἴδαμεν ὅτι—and ὅ γεννηθεὶς κ. τ. λ.) are independently coördinated. The Aorist indicates the historical fact; that hath been born again (in opposition to Sander who discovers this in the Perfect, and Bengel, “præteritum grandius quiddam sonat, quam aoristus; non modo qui magnum in regeneratione gradum assecutus, sed quilibet, qui regenitus est, servat se.”) Τηρεῖ αὑτὸν indicates moral effort and self-exertion; οὐ φύσει εἰς ἀναμαρτησίαν προβαίνει (Oecumenius); sin occurs, approaches, but he sustains the conflict, guarding himself in his peculiar nature and the Divine gift of eternal life, which hinders, spoils and drives away sin. Thus sin destroys man himself; it is in virtue of his self-guarding that the σπέρμα τοῦ θεοῦ abides in him (1Jn_3:9); we must neither supply ἁγνόν (1Ti_5:22), nor ἄσπιλον (Jam_1:27. Carpzov, Lücke, al.), nor take τηρεῖσθαι in the sense of being on one’s guard (Ebrard). Cf. 1Jn_3:3. [Alford justly objects to this and similar expositions, and retaining the reading αὑτόν A. B. Vulg. Jer., renders “it keepeth him,” viz. the Divine birth, adding, “it is this, and not the fact of his own watchfulness, which preserves him from the touch of the wicked one, as in 1Jn_3:9, where the same is imported by ὅτι τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει, καὶ οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται. The rationalistic commentators insist on τηρεῖ ἑσυτόν, as showing, as Socinus, “aliquid præstare eum atque efficere, qui per Christum regeneratus fuerit;” and the orthodox commentators have but a lame apology to offer. Düsterdieck compares ἁγνίζει ἑαυτόν, 1Jn_3:3. But the reference there is wholly different—viz. to a gradual and earnest striving after an ideal model; whereas here the πηρεῖσθαι must be, by the very nature of the case, so far complete that the wicked one cannot approach: and whose self-guarding can ensure this even for a day? Cf. Joh_17:15, ἵνα τηρήσῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ, which is decisive.”—M.]. The clause annexed by καὶ notes the difficult but successful conflict. The enemy, ὁ πονηρὸς, 1Jn_3:12, is Satan, οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ, though he would fain do it, hostile attacks, Satanic assaults, temptations are not wanting (1Pe_5:8); but the point of complication between Satan and the regenerate is not reached, the wrestling is wanting; the regenerate keeps Satan at a distance, wards him off; Bengel: malignus appropinquat, ut musca ad lychnum, sed non nocet, ne tangit quidem. “In the πανοπλία he is guarded against all the μεθοδεῖαι τοῦ διαβόλου Eph_6:11 sqq.” (Huther). Luther and Calvin also refer to the armour of God, so that, as in Joh_17:11-12; Joh_17:15; Rev_3:10, God is the Preserver [Calvin: “Utut malignus renatum ad peccatum solicitet, tela tamen illius irrita cadunt, quoniam renatus scuto fidei munitus ea repellit et diabolo per fidem resistit.”—M.]. But here the Apostle contemplates only the result, and not the way to it. Additions such as letaliter (Calvin), finaliter (E. Schmid), are unnecessary. But ὁ πονηρὸς οὐχ ἅπτεπαι αὐτοῦ depends of course on the careful τηρεῖν ἑαυτὸν (Düsterdieck, Huther). [Alford: “As the Prince of this world had nothing in our blessed Lord, even so on His faithful ones who live by His life, the Tempter has no point d’ appui, by virtue of that their γέννησις by which they are as He is.”—M.].

1Jn_5:19. We know that we are (out) of God.—The second οἴδαμεν repeats by way of introduction and in pregnant abbreviation (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐσμέν), and with application to himself and his church, the believer’s consciousness of his Divine sonship. There is no occasion whatever to understand here the peculiar revelation vouchsafed to the Apostles, or to explain εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ=a Deo pendere illique adhærere (Socinus). The principal sentence is the independent clause, annexed like 1Jn_5:18; 1Jn_5:20, by καὶ, viz.:

And the whole world lieth in the wicked one.—For the world is the territory and domain of Satan, on which account, and because ὁ πονηρὸς occurs in 1Jn_5:18, and we have here an antithesis to ὁ θεὸς, τῷ πονηρῷ is masculine, and not neuter (Lyra, Socinus, Grotius, who however allows an allusion to Satan, Spener, Rickli and al.). Ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται denotes like ἐν τῇ συγκλήτῳ κεῖται (Polyb. VI. 14, 6), both the competency of Satan and dependence on him as the controlling power; in (ἐν) him lies the world, [it is circumscribed by him and in his power—M.]; κεῖται denotes the passiveness of the state, of the situation; he ἅπτεται τοῦ κόσμου continually in the most powerful and destructive manner The ethical medium of sin is not expressed here, only the result is indicated. Referring here, with Spener and Steinhofer, to Isa_46:3, and explaining it in analogy with regeneration, as if the world were lying in the wicked one like a child in its mother’s womb, is false per se and not warranted by that passage wrongly rendered by Luther.—Ὁ κόσμος ὅλος refers to all the unregenerate; God’s children do not belong to the world, though ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, yet are they not ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου (Joh_17:11; Joh_17:16), not ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου (1Jn_3:8). Bengel well observes: “Totus mundus, isque universus, eruditos, honestos, aliosve complectens omnes, exceptis duntaxat, qui Deo se et Christo vindicarunt, non modo non tangitur, sed plane jacet (remains lying), per idololatriam, cæcitatem, fraudem, vim, lasciviam, impietatem, malitiam omnem, in malo, expers et vitæ ex Deo et διανοίας (1Co_5:10; 1Co_11:32). Brevi hac summa vividissime denotatur horribilis status mundi. Commentarii loco est ipse mundus et mundanorum hominum actiones, sermones, contractus, lites, sodalitia.” Hence our passage does not contradict 1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:14. God aims at the redemption of the whole world through Christ and He is enough for the whole world; but Satan also, as the antagonist of God, aims at the whole world. The world is to be taken as the territory which embraces all, not as the sum-total produced by the adding together of all individuals. [Alford: “Had not Christ become a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, were He not the Saviour of the whole world, none could ever come out of the world and believe on Him; but as it is, they who believe on Him, come out and are separated from the world; so that our proposition here remains strictly true: the κόσμος is the negation of faith in Him, and as such lies in the wicked one, His adversary.”—M.].

1Jn_5:20. But we know, that the Son of God is come.—The third οἴδαμεν whose object: ὄτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἥκει, i.e., has come; he conditions the εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ which continues in εἶναι ἐν τῷ θεῷ; had He not come, we should still lie like ὁ κόσμος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ. Hence it is=ἐφανερώθη 1Jn_3:8 and not adest (Bengel referring to Mar_8:3).—[“δὲ closes off and sums up all: cf. 1Th_5:23; 2Th_3:16; Heb_13:22 al. This not being seen, it has been altered to καί, as there appeared to be no contrast with the preceding.” Alford.—M.].

And hath given us a sense that we know the true One.—The subject of δέδωκεν is ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, not as Bengel Deus, as the Sender, ordaining the coming of Jesus. For Jesus is also the Mediator of the truth and of knowledge [i.e., He bestows to us the truth and this knowledge—M.], (Düsterdieck). Διάνοια is the faculty or sense of knowing, not insight or knowledge (Lücke, de Wette), nor the activity of thinking out all the points in contrast with a faith void of thought (Paulus), 2Pe_3:1; Eph_4:18; Eph_1:18 (ὀφθαλμοὶ τῆς καρδίας or τῆς διανοίας), or mind (Mat_22:37; Luk_1:51; Eph_2:3; Col_1:21; 1Pe_1:13; Heb_8:10; Heb_10:16), sensus cognoscendi (Lyra), sensus et gustus rerum divinarum (a Lapide), the spiritual sense (1Co_2:12; 1Co_2:14), whose aim (ἵνα), but not whose substance is γινώσκειν τὸν ἀληθινόν. Cf. 1Jn_2:3-4; Joh_17:3. The object of this cognition is evidently God, qui re vera Deus est, ut eum ab idolis omnibus discernat (Calvin), in contrast with every Deus fictitius. Bengel refers to the Son without any warrant for doing so.

And we are in the true One, in His Son Jesus Christ.—Another independent proposition annexed by καὶ, as in 1Jn_5:19. Ἐσμὲν ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ, designates, as before, God, which is also evident from the pronoun in ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ. This is the extreme antithesis of κεῖται ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ, the climax of εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ. The words ἐν τῷ υἱῳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ fully denotes the Mediator, the ground and stay both of the knowledge and of the position of the believing child of God, and it denotes this by ἐν, not by διά, in, not per, in order to mark the permanent character of this life-fellowship; inserimur in Christum et unum efficimur cum Deo. Cf. 1Jn_2:3-6; 1Jn_3:2. It is therefore no opposition, as seems to be assumed by the Vulgate (which connects by et simus with the clause beginning with ἵνα), Lyra, Erasmus and al.

This is the true God and eternal life.—Οὖτος like ἐκεῖνος, does not refer, as it were, in a merely mechanical manner, to the literally or locally nearest or more remote noun, but also to the noun, psychologically nearer or more remote. Winer, p. 175. Thus in 1Jn_5:16, ἐκείνη did not refer to the grammatically and locally distant ἁμαρτία μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, but to the immediately preceding ἁμαρτία πρὸς τὸν θάνατον. So here the mediating Son is not in point of sense the nearest, but ὁ ἀληθινός. Under the influence of the christological conflicts it may have been natural, with reference to the Arian heresy which was joined by the more modern antitrinitarians, to refer οὖτος to the Son; but the discipline of grammar and language requires us to refer it to the Father (this has been done by most commentators, also by Hofmann, Schriftbeweis I. 146, down to Sander, Ebrard, Besser, Stier [ad Joh_17:3. Vol. 5, p. 392] of our time), though the arrangement, the reference taken locally, might induce us to think of Christ, yet this is not the case, if the internal structure of the thought,—in which God the Father is the chief, and the Son simply the Mediator,—is attentively considered. But what does οὖτος refer to? To ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ. That would make: οὖτος (ὁ ἀληθινός)=ὁ ἀληθινός θεός, but that would be weak and shallow. But if we take οὖτος, δεικτικῶς, of Christ, it is a terse and strong conclusion of the Epistle, and a powerful motive for the concluding exhortation.—The words: καὶ ζωὴ αἰώνιος belong to οὖτος. Grammatically it is not singular (Winer, p. 144), still less in point of thought: for God is essentially ζωή, and so is Christ (Joh_14:6), even ζωὴ αἰώνιος. In like manner He is called φῶς (1Jn_1:5), ἀλάπη (1Jn_4:8; 1Jn_4:16), πνεῦμα (Joh_4:24). Bengel, on vita æterna, has the subtle note: “initium epistolæ et fines conveniunt.” It is therefore wrong to contend, that οὖτος ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς καὶ ζωὴ αἰώνιος ought to be referred to the Son, as if His Divinity rested on this passage, and at the same time to overlook, that ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ denotes primarily God the Father, nor is it right to overlook here the tautology (this One, the true One, is the true God), and to apprehend an identification of the Father and the Son, which would be un-johannean, if the clause were referred to the Son. Now John distinguishes between the Father and the Son, but not between God and not-God. In the Son from the Father we have the Father, eternal life, and all that which is the Father’s, and only in Him; hence this turn to the Son and the warning against all idols; the Son is the living Image, the Christian is in no point idolatrous! [Alford: “The grounds on which the application to Christ is rested are mainly the following: 1. that οὖτος, most naturally refers to the last mentioned substantive: 2. that ζωὴ αἰώνιος, as a predicate, more naturally belongs to the Son than to the Father: 3. that the sentence, if understood of God the Father, would be aimless, and tautological. But to these it has been well and decisively answered by Lücke and Düsterdieck: 1. that οὖτος more than once in St. John belongs not to the nearest substantive, but to the principal one in the foregoing sentence, e.g., in 1Jn_2:22 and in 2Jn_1:7 : and that the subject of the whole here has been the Father, who is the ὁ ἀληθινός of the last verse, and the Son is referred back to Him as ὁ υἱὸς αὐ̇τοῦ, thereby keeping Him, as the primary subject, before the mind; 2. that as little can ζωὴ αἰώνιος be an actual predicate of Christ, as of the Father. He is indeed ἡ ζωή 1Jn_1:2, but not ἡ ζωὴ αἰώνιος. Such an expression, used predicatively, leads us to look for some expression of our Lord’s, or for some meaning which does not appear on the surface to guide us. And such an expression leading to such a meaning we have in Joh_17:3, αὔτη δὲ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή, ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σὲ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεόν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῡν Χριστόν. He is eternal life in Himself, as being the fount and origin of it: He is it to us, seeing that to know Him is to possess it. I own I cannot see, after this saying of our Lord with σε τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεόν, how any one can imagine that the same Apostle can have had in these words any other reference than that which is given in those; 3. this charge is altogether inaccurate. As referred to the Father, there is in it no tautology and no aimlessness. It seems to identify the ὁ ἀληθινός mentioned before, in a solemn manner, and leads on to the concluding warning against false gods. As in another place the Apostle intensifies the non-possession of the Son by including in it the alienation from the Father also, so here at the close of all, the ἀληθινὸς θεός, the fount of ζωὴ αἰώνιος, is put before us as the ultimate aim and end, to be approached ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ, but Himself the One Father both of Him and of us who live through Him.”—M.].

Final request. 1Jn_5:21 : Little children, keep yourselves from idols.—Τεκνία indicates the affectionate warmth and depth of the Apostle. The exhortation φυλάξετε ἑαυτούς reminds them of great danger, against which they must be courageously on the alert; they themselves are exposed to great corruption. Bengel: “Elegantia activi verbi cum pronomine reciproco plus dicit, quam: custodimini. Custodite vos ipsos, me absente,—neque solum ab eorum cultu, sed etiam ab omni eorum communione et communionis specie.” Ἀπο τῶν εἰδώλων denotes, that believers must withdraw from the idols, surrounding and in immediate proximity to them, in order to be guarded against them. The εἴδωλα are figures of imaginary deities, and as contrasted with the true God, who is Eternal Life, denote the manufacture of the creature; the decisive point, or the thing decided here is not whether they are made with hands for the grossest forms of heathenism, or in imagination and thought for its more subtle forms; the real point is that they are self-made, untrue, unliving, and strictly speaking, nothing. 1Th_1:9; 1Co_10:19; 1Co_12:2. Düsterdieck, therefore, is wrong in following here an Etymologicum ineditum in Biel, sub voce (τὸ μὲν εἴδωλον οὐδεμίαν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει, τὸ δὲ ὁμοίωμα τινῶν ἐστιν ἔνδαλμα), and making εἴδωλον tritons or centaurs, and ὁμοίωμα, constellations, men and beasts; the Diana of the Ephesians, forsooth, was also an εἴδωλον. Cf. Rom_1:23; Rom_1:25.—We are fully warranted to refer here, with Tertullian, Oecumenius, Düsterdieck and others, to idols proper, but equally warranted to refer also (with Bede, Rickli, Sander and others) to the self-made representations and ideas of the false teachers and their dupes, which, like the truth, they require to be received and submitted to. We may even see, with Ebrard, a reference to images of God or gods or saints in reality, or in imagination, for whom heathenish worship is required. The εἴδωλα are so dangerous because they are the objects of εἰδωλολατρεία. As this applied then to the church-frontier in contact with heathenism, so it applies at this time to the Mariolatry in the Church of Christ, and to the worship of genius, to Schiller-worship, etc., in His Church. [The literal and figurative reference in this closing charge, seems to be required by the context, and, in fact, by the whole tenor of the Epistle; the reference being both to literal idols, and to spiritual idolatry.—M.].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The assurance that our prayers will be heard rests upon the life-fellowship with God the Father through faith in Christ, and forbids its being circumscribed, as to the substance of our prayers, within limits narrower than those given by the Lord Himself (Mat_6:9-13), but neither pursues any other course than that indicated in Mat_6:33, sq., viz., it expresses in the way of ethical effort what life really stands in need of. So St. Paul in Rom_8:14-17. Absolutely exaudible21 is the prayer for the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts (Luk_11:13), relatively exaudible are our prayers for temporal gifts quantum non est impedimento ad salutem (Mat_26:39).

2. Intercession is very potent (1Jn_5:16); it is a work of love, an act of kindness.

3. Every sin is, properly speaking, unto death, which is the wages of sin; there is no sin, which is not per se unto death, unto condemnation. In this respect, the maxim of the Stoics and Jovianus holds good, that omnia peccata paria, no matter how different they may be; and there is only one way towards the forgiveness and cancelling of sin, viz., Christ and His high-priestly work, and the fellowship of faith with the Sinless One. Consequently it is not the species or greatness of sin, per se, which constitutes it a sin unto death, but rather the effect of sin on the sinner’s relation to the Redeemer, or the nature of the disturbance of this relation, as evidenced by sin. The sin which indicates a permanent falling away from Christ, is sin unto death. The Romish distinction of peccatum mortale and peccatum veniale and the restriction of the former to seven, is wrong; for there is always the danger that the sin assumed to be peccatum veniale, and received in excuse of it, may turn into peccatum mortale, and that that which from a lower standpoint appears as peccatum, veniale, is afterwards in its further progress peccatum mortale.

4. Intercession for those who sin unto death is improper, because such intercession is inexaudible, because such sin cannot be forgiven. Cf. Riehm, Lehrbegriff des Hebräerbriefs, II., pp. 763–775. The words ἀδύνατον—πάλιν ἀνακαινίζειν εἰς μετάνοι—αν (Heb_6:4-6), as well as οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ οὔτε ἐν τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνι οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι (Mat_12:32) distinctly indicate the reason why the Apostle neither requires, nor advises us to make intercession for those sinning unto death. Cf. Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, II., p. 340, sqq. Intercession for suicides must, at all events, be judged from this stand-point.—[Jeremy Taylor: “Every Christian is in some degree in the state of grace, so long as he is invited to repentance, and so long as he is capable of the prayers of the Church. This we learn from those words of St. John: ‘All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death,’ that is, some sorts of sin are so incident to the condition of men, and their state of imperfection, that the man who hath committed them is still within the method of pardon, and hath not forfeited his title to the promises and covenant of repentance; but ‘there is a sin unto death;’ that is, some men proceed beyond the measures and economy of the Gospel, and the usual methods and probabilities of repentance, by obstinacy, and preserving a sin, by a wilful, spiteful resisting, or despising the offers of grace and the means of pardon; for such a man St. John does not encourage us to pray; if he be such a person as St. John described, our prayers will do him no good; but because no man can tell the last minute or period of pardon, nor just when a man is gone beyond the limit, and because the limit itself can be enlarged, and God’s mercies stay for some longer than for others, therefore St. John left us under the indefinite restraint and caution; which was derogatory enough to represent that sad state of things in which the refractory and impenitent have immerged themselves, and yet so indefinite and cautious, that we may not be too forward in applying it to particulars, nor in prescribing measures to the Divine mercy, nor in passing final sentences upon our brother, before we have heard our Judge Himself speak. ‘Sinning a sin not unto death’, is an expression fully signifying that there are some sins which though they be committed and displeased God, and must be repented of, and need many and mighty prayers for their pardon, yet the man is in the state of grace and pardon, that is, he is within the covenant of mercy; he may be admitted, if he will return to his duty: so that being in a state of grace is having a title to God’s loving-kindness, a not being rejected of God, but a being beloved of Him to certain purposes of mercy, and that hath these measures and degrees.”—M.].

5. The regenerate, as such, according to the spirit, does not sin, though the flesh ever and anon causes him to fall.

6. The sins of the regenerate are not unto death, because forgiveness and atonement are sought and found in Christ.

7. None but believing Christians, born of God, are not subject to the world-power of Satan; those who are subject to it, are least sensible of it; the Christian, who has become free, perceives and feels it in its hostility to him and his resistance to it.

8. Vital piety finds rest only in God, from whom it comes.

9. Although the absolute and immoveably fixed assurance (certitudo) of salvation, such as the Methodists and Baptists suppose to possess, is neither possible nor biblically established, yet we may attain unto a sure confidence (fiducia), and maintain it in opposition to the Romish decrees, which not only reject the impossibility of final apostasy, but also deny this confidence of the Christian (Conc. Trid. Sess. 6:9, 15, sq.).

10. The Reformed are fully justified in their rejection of altars, images and similar instrumenta superstitionum with respect to the abuses of the Roman Catholics, and even down to the present time with their extreme Mariolatry, but they err in confounding the abuse of the several objects with the objects themselves and in changing the one into the other, in lodging complaints against the natural sphere of art instead of pressing it into the higher service [of religion—.]. The liberty of the Lutheran Church cannot be over-estimated.—Images of God will always remain hazardous, not only in the Zwinglian or Puritan sense.—

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Care for thy friends, that they may be and remain assured of the possession of eternal life, despite the temptations and troubles on earth.—Thou hast confidence in the purity of mind of some loved man, how much more shouldest thou confide in the true God?—If distrust is disgraceful and fraught with much unhappiness in our intercourse with men, how much more disgraceful and productive of unhappiness is distrust of the glorious God?—Seeing the light of the world in regeneration is no warrant that this Sun will always smile in His brightest light, unclouded and without stormy days, on the firmament of the soul; but we know, without the gift of prophecy, as the children of God, as Christians, that it is day.—Pray for everything, but be urgent unto intercession for thy erring brother. Prefer to speak of an erring brother to God than to other men.—Dismal is the high-mindedness which fancies that it can never fail with God, but equally dismal is the pusillanimity, which afraid that all is to no purpose, conducts to despair.—As a Christian be not a minor, but volunteer also to act as guardian.—Sin violates not only the Divine command before us, and the Majesty of God above us, but also the Image of God in us!—Every sin may become a sin unto death, as long as it remains unforgiven.—Every sin checks and disturbs the eternal life in thee; the greatest danger, however, is not the commission of, but consenting unto sin, and this is the more dangerous, as your sensibility has become more acute and your will more resolute under the growth of sanctification.—Beware of genius-worship!—

Luther:—Thou must learn to cry and not sit down by thyself, or lie on a bench, with drooping head, or shaking it, and lacerate or consume thyself with thy anxious thoughts, caring and fretting how to get free, and regarding nothing except thy own misery and ill-fortune, and wretchedness. But come, idler that thou art, fall down on thy knees, lift up thy hands and eyes to heaven, sing a psalm or say the Lord’s prayer, and lay thy trouble before God, and with streaming eyes pour forth thy supplications and make known thy wants.—Prayer, the opening of our grief, the lifting up of our hands, are the sacrifices which are most acceptable to God.—He Himself desires thee to acquaint Him with thy distress, instead of burdening and oppressing, of torturing and lacerating thyself with it, and thus multiplying one calamity into ten or a hundred. He wants thee to be too weak to carry and overcome such a load, that thou mayest learn to grow strong in Him, and that He may be glorified in thee through His strength. Behold the opposite course makes people who are called Christians, but nothing else than vain babblers and praters, who see much of faith and the Spirit, but know not what it is, or what they see.

Starke:—Holy Scripture is our Epistle of God to us, in which He reveals to us His gracious will, as it were, in His own handwriting, and His purpose to give us eternal life.—Faith is never too strong, it may and must grow stronger. Where is confidence of faith, there is joyfulness. The more faith gets filled with the riches of God, the more jubilant is its rejoicing in the abundance of its satisfaction: it is heaven on earth!—The prayer of the lip must be joined to the desire of the heart.—Wouldest thou pray so that thy prayers shall be heard, thou must be full of faith, holy, and a child of God, otherwise thou art abominable.—Prayer is not only a Christian duty, but a glorious benefit. Simplicity is not ignorance. The former befits the Christian, but not the latter. Christians must know. Ignorant Christians are unchristian.—Learned but ungodly men are unlearned; the regenerate are truly learned, as those who through the knowledge of Christ have been made apt for the kingdom of heaven and eternal salvation.—Subtle idolatry is not better than gross idolatry.

Bengel:—The lamentable state of the world is most aptly described in the brief summary: “The whole world lieth in the wicked one,” and the world itself, the doings and workings of the children of the world, their sayings, their dealings, their society, etc., are the best exposition of this passage. It is not so much matter of surprise that they are so wicked, as that they are not more wicked.—

Heubner:—A sin is not excusable, because it is not yet a sin unto death. A pardonable sin may become a sin unto death; therefore we should abhor every sin.—The wicked one will not touch him: 1. The power of Satan is not irresistible; 2. The Christian, while he continues in a state of regeneration, is proof against all the assaults of Satan.—Fine threads are often more dangerous than coarse chains.—Faith in the Son of God. I. A holy, blissful, assured faith: a. as to its substance: in the Image of God, in the Saviour of love; b. as to its ground: in the testimony of God; c. as to its effects: eternal life. II. It is a faith possible unto all: a. provided they diligently read and lay to heart what is written, in order to attain unto faith; b. provided they pray God with child-like trust, to give unto them the true faith.—

Besser:—A singular saying! They believe, and he writes that they may believe. What need is there of an exhortation to believe, if we believe already? (Luther). It is not possible to have to-day’s life through yesterday’s faith. Here no stand-still is allowed; he that believes, let him go on believing.—After every prayer of a child of God, the Father hears the expressed or unexpressed petition: Thy will be done.—I have read of a pious Christian who was in the habit of keeping a record of his daily prayers and intercessions that he invariably concluded his daily record with the passage 1Jn_5:15.—Sin is to the children of God like a robber, against whom they defend themselves all their life long. As a sentry stands before a king’s palace, so there stands a sentry with shield and sword before the habitation of God in the heart of His children.—The Epistle of St. John itself is such a preservative.

[Ezekiel Hopkins:—God’s will, in bestowing a desired mercy upon us, is best known by the promises that He hath made to us. Which promises are of two kinds: some refer to temporal blessings, and others refer to grace and glory.

1. Grace and glory are promised absolutely. It is that, which we are commanded, all of us, to seek after: and, therefore, here we cannot mistake, while we beg these; for there is no doubt while we pray for grace and glory, but that we do it according to the will of God. Here, we may be earnest and importunate, that God would sanctify and save our souls: and, while we ask this, and make this the matter of our requests, we are under an impossibility of asking amiss; yea, and the more violent we are, and the more resolute to take no denial at the hands of God, the more pleasing is this holy force, since it shows a perfect conformity and concurrence in our wills to His will, who hath told us, It is His will, “even,” our “sanctification:” 1Th_4:3. This was one part of that violence which our Saviour saith the kingdom of heaven suffered in the days of John the Baptist. It is an invasion that is acceptable to God, when we storm heaven by prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears: when we plant against it unutterable sighs and groans, this is such a battery, that those eternal ramparts cannot hold out long against it.

2. Though we may pray thus absolutely and with a holy boldness, for grace and glory, saying to God as Jacob to the angel that wrestled with him, I will not let thee go, until thou hast blessed me with spiritual blessings, in heavenly things, in Jesus Christ: yet, secondly, for the degrees of grace and for the comforts of the Holy Ghost, we must pray conditionally: if the Lord will. For these things are not absolutely necessary, neither are they absolutely promised to us by God. Neither any degree of grace, nor any consolation of the Spirit is absolutely promised to us. But, however, our prayers ought to be so much the more fervent and importunate for these things, than for outward, temporal things; by how much more these are of far greater concern than the other.

3. To pray for outward and worldly blessings is not contrary to the will of God, for He hath promised to bestow them.—But then, as His promise is conditional, if it is consistent with our good: so, truly, must our prayers be conditional, that God would give them to us, if it is consistent with His will and with our good. Whatsoever we thus ask, we do it according to the will of God; and we are sure of speeding in our request, either by obtaining our desires, or by being blessed with a denial. For, alas, we are blind and ignorant creatures, and cannot look into the designs and drift of Providence, and see how God hath laid in order good and evil in His own purpose: oftentimes, we mistake evil for good, because of the present appearance of good that it hath; yea, so short-sighted are we, that we can look no farther than outward and present appearance. But God, who sees the whole series and connection of his own counsels, knows, many times, that those things, which we account and desire as good, are really evil: and therefore it is our wisdom, to resign all our desires to His disposal, and to say, “Lord, though such temporal enjoyments may seem good and desirable to me at present, yet Thou art infinitely wise, and Thou knowest what the consequence and issue of them will be: I beg them, if they may stand with Thy will; and if Thou seest they will be as really good to me, as I suppose them now to be. If they be not so, I beg the favour of a denial.” This is the right frame, in which a Christian’s heart should be when he comes to beg temporal mercies of God; and, whilst he thus asks any worldly comforts, he cannot ask amiss. It was an excellent saying of the Satirist, “We ask those things of God which please our present humors and desires: but God gives those things which are best and fittest for us: for we are dearer to Him,” saith the heathen, “than we are to ourselves.” “And,” says another, very well, “It is mercy in God, not to hear us, when we ask things that are evil:” and when He refuseth us in such requests, it is that He might not circumvent us in our own prayers; for, indeed, whilst we ask rashly and intemperately, whatever we foolishly set our hearts upon, God need take no other course to plague and punish us, than by hearing and answering us.”—M.].

[Bp. Hall: 1Jn_5:16 :—“If any man see his brother fall into and continue in such a sin as may be capable of forgiveness, let him earnestly sue unto God for pardon of that offender: and God, who is great and infinite in mercy, shall graciously incline His ear unto his prayers, and give remission and life to such an one. There is indeed a sin unto death, for which there is no forgiveness with God, because there is no capacity of repentance for it in the committer of it; I mean the Sin against the Holy Ghost; when a man having received the knowledge of the Gospel by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and professed the belief thereof, shall in a devilish malice wilfully blaspheme and persecute that known truth.”—M,].

[Jortin:—“What makes sin exceedingly sinful and most provoking, is a determined insolence and an obstinate impenitency, a guilt without remorse, and without relenting, without shame and without fear. This is what appears most odious and offensive in the sight of God, as also in the sight of man; and to this incorrigible temper, and abandoned behaviour, indignation and wrath are denounced by Him, who will by no means acquit those that are guilty in this way. “There is a sin unto death,” saith St. John, “and there is a sin not unto death.” The sin unto death, of which the Apostle speaks, was in some manner peculiar to those times. It was an apostasy from Christianity, and these apostates were persons who had seen the miraculous proofs of its truth, and had themselves been partakers of some extraordinary gifts. When such persons renounced Christ, and fell away from the Church, it was plain that nothing more could be done to amend and reclaim them. And even now it is possible, that sinners may offend so long and so heinously as at last to provoke God, either to take them out of the world by a secret judgment, and so it is a sin unto temporal death; or to give them up to their own hard hearts, and so it becomes a sin unto spiritual death. But let an observation be added, which may be necessary to quiet melancholy and desponding minds; and it is this: If any one be afraid that he is in such a condition, this very fear shows that in all probability he is not in such a condition; because it is usual for such sinners to have no consideration, no shame, no remorse, and no fear at all.”—M.].

[Ezekiel Hopkins:—“Beware therefore, then, that you do not entertain any slight thought of sin: nor think, with the Papists, that there are some sorts of sins, that do not deserve death; which they call venial sins, in opposition to other more gross and heinous sins, which they allow to be mortal. Believe it, the least prick at the heart is deadly; and so is the least sin to the soul. And, indeed, it is a contradiction, to call any sin venial in their sense, who hold it is not worthy of damnation, for the wages of sin is death; if it be not, how is it venial?”—M.].

[Rieger: on 1Jn_5:21 :—“Those who were called to the light of God, readily knew that an idol is nothing in the world, and that idolatry and idol-worship are abominable. But there were at that time temptations which did not render superfluous this concluding admonition. They might be invited to idol-sacrifices and thus be drawn into a sort of communion with idols, Rev_2:20; 2Co_6:16. Sometimes, in order to escape bitter persecution, Christians might venture to go too far. Yes, notwithstanding idols have at this present time sunk into still greater contempt, there yet arises always something which injuriously affects the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, or the worship of God in spirit and in truth, which tries to find out some other way to God than by Christ, and to seek acceptance with God in another service than in His Son. It becomes therefore every one who is of the truth to sigh, O God, keep me in the mind, which Thou hast given me of Thy Son, and in which thou hast strengthened me by this testimony of St. John! Amen.”—M].

[Sermons and Sermon Themes.

1Jn_5:13. If we must aim at assurance, what should they do who are not able to discern their own spiritual condition? Thomas Doolittle. Morn. Exerc. I. 252.

1Jn_5:16. Lightfoot, John. A sin unto death. Sermons; Works, 6, 331.

Chalmers, T. The nature of the sin unto death. Sermon: Works, 9, 225.

1Jn_5:16-17. Benson, G. Concerning a sin unto death, and a sin not unto death. A Paraphrase, etc. 2, 647.—M.].

Footnotes:

[1]1Jn_5:13. [German: “These things wrote I.”—M.]

[2] 1Jn_5:13.τοῖςπιστεύουσιν B. Cod. Sin.; οἱπιστεύοντες A.; this reading is preferable on account of the witnesses and because it is difficilior.—Text. Rec. inserts after ὑμῖν, “τοῖςπιστεύουσινεἰςτὸὄνοματοῦυἱοῦτοῦθεοῦ” and continues after αἰώνιον, “ἵναπιστεύητεεἰςτὸὄνομα κ. τ. λ;” but this reading is not sufficiently authenticated, and probably not without dependence on Joh_20:31. [The Codd. A. B. Sin. al. Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, Aethiopic, Armenian, Cassiod., Bede, al. are all against the reading of Rec.—But the reading οἱπιστεύοντες, though found in A, and many Versions, is not clearly established; it seems to have been the basis of the reading of Text. Rec.—Αἰώνιον before ἔχετε Sin. G. K. al. Theoph., Oecum.; after ἔχετε A. B. al. Vulg. Syr. Rec. Cassiod., Bede.—The most probable reading is: ὑμῖν, ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. Huther, Alford.—M.]

[German: “These things wrote I unto you, that ye may know, that ye have eternal life, ye that believe in the name of the Son of God.”—M.]

[3]1Jn_5:14. [German: “towards Him.”—M.]

[4]1Jn_5:14. ὅτι ἐὰν τι B. Sin.; ὅτιἄν A. [German: “If we ask something.”—M.]

[5]1Jn_5:15. καὶ ἐὰν οἴδαμεν, ὅτι ἀκούει ἡμῶν, omitted in A. and Sin., but added by a later hand. [German: “And if we know, that He heareth us.”—M.]

[6]1Jn_5:15. ὃ ἐὰν Sin. B. G. al.; ὅ ἂν A. K. al. The Codd. are undecided here, and in the beginning after καὶ, between ἐὰν and ἄν [German: “whatsoever we may ask.”—M.]

[7]1Jn_5:15. ἀπ’αὐτοῦ B. Sin.; παρ’ αὐτοῦ A. G. K. [German: “which we have asked from Him;” Lillie, Alford.—M.]

[8]1Jn_5:16. [German: “If any man see his brother commit a sin not unto death;” Alford, Lillie: “sinning a sin.”—M.]

[9]1Jn_5:16. [German: “Concerning that I do not say, that he shall pray.” Similarly Alford, Lillie, al.—M.]

[10]Verse l7. οὐπρὸς θάνατον is well authenticated; Vulg. Aeth. omit οὐ; μὴ is too feebly sustained.

[11]Verse l7. [German: “Born of God” as in the beginning of the verse; the variation is unnecessary.—M.]

[12]Verse l7. [German: “And the wicked one.”—M.]

[13]1Jn_5:19. [German: “And the whole world lieth in the wicked one.” So Alford, Lillie, following Syriac, Vulg. And many others.—M.]

[14] 1Jn_5:20. οἴδαμενδὲ B. K. Sin.—A. al.καὶοἴδαμεν.—G. al. omit δὲ and καὶ, as in the beginning of 1Jn_5:18.

[German: “But we know,” so Lillie; Alford “Moreover, etc.”—M.]

[15]1Jn_5:20. German: “a sense.”—M.]

[16]1Jn_5:20. γινώσκομεν A. B.* G. Sin.;γινώσκωμεν, B.** K. al.

[17]1Jn_5:20. After τὸνἀληθινόν A., several minusc., versions, al. insert θεόν; Sin. had originally τὸ, but corrected into τὸν. [German: “The true One,” so Lillie. Alford, following many translators.—M.]

[18]1Jn_5:20. ζωὴαἰώνιος, without the Article, is well authenticated; some minusc., add it. John nowhere makes use of ὴζωὴαἰώνιος, but ζωὴαἰώνιος, or ἡαἰώνιοςζωὴ, or ἡζωὴἡαἰώνιος.

[19]1Jn_5:21. ἐαυτοὺς is better authenticated than ἑαυτά.

[20]1Jn_5:21. ἀμὴν G. K. al.; [it is omitted in A. B. Sin. al.—M.]—The subscription: ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ A., Sin. and al.

[21][I coin this word, which signifies “that which may be heard or granted,” for want of a better term.—M.].

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn 5:13. Ταῦτα, these things) which are contained in this Epistle. The verb, I write, used in the exordium, ch. 1Jn 1:4, now in the conclusion becomes the preterite, I have written.—τοῖς[24] τιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God) The sum of verses 5–10.—ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον, that ye may know that ye may have eternal eternal life) This is derived from 1Jn 5:11.—καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε, and that ye may believe) namely, under the nearer hope of life. This is derived from 1Jn 5:12. We ought altogether to be in the faith.

[24] This order of the words rests on the decision of the larger Ed.: the different order which occurs in the Germ. Vers. follows the decision of Ed. 2.—E. B.

The words after ὑμῖν, viz. τοῖς πιστεύουσιν down to τοῦ Θεοῦ, are omitted by AB Vulg. Memph. Theb. and both Syr. Versions. Rec. Text adds them after ὑμῖν, without any of the oldest authorities. Lower down Rec. Text has καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε, with more recent authorities. But A Vulg. and almost all other Versions have οἱ πιστεύοντες. B has τοῖς πιστεύουσι.—E.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn_5:13. Many commentators (Lorinus, Spener, Bengel, Rickli, Baumgarten-Crusius, Lücke, Sander, Düsterdieck, Braune) make the conclusion of the Epistle begin with this verse (a sort of concluding section, Ebrard), referring ταῦτα to the whole Epistle. This, however, is incorrect. That this verse also belongs to the last leading section beginning at 1Jn_3:23, is shown not only by the idea ζωὴν αἰώνιον, which refers to what immediately precedes, but also by the idea πιστεύειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, which refers back to 1Jn_3:23; besides, it is to be observed that the following sentences, 1Jn_5:14-15, correspond to the thought with which the preceding leading section ended; comp. 1Jn_3:21-22. Accordingly, ταῦτα is not to be referred to the whole Epistle, but to the last section, 1Jn_5:6-12 (Brückner), which reaches its climax in the thought: ὁ ἔχων τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει τὴν ζωήν; comp. 1Jn_2:1; 1Jn_2:21; 1Jn_2:26. In the words: ἵνα εἰδῆτε, ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον, John states the object for which he wrote that which is contained in the foregoing. The certainty of the life which is bestowed on him is so much the more necessary to the Christians mind, as this is sometimes hidden from him in the struggles of lifethe life is there, but at times like a hidden treasure. That the possession of this life, however, is conditioned by faith, the apostle brings out especially by an additional clause, which indeed runs differently in the different codices (see the critical remarks), but in its different forms expresses essentially the same thought; according to the probable reading, it is connected with ὑμῖν; according to A, however, with ἔχετε. The second clause in the Rec: καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, indicates as the second object the adherence to faith; with the phrase: πιστεύειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, comp. chap. 1Jn_3:23.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Jn 5:13-21 . The Epistle is finished, and the Apostle now speaks his closing words. “These things I wrote to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even to you that believe in the name of the Son of God. And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we request anything according to His will, He hearkenetn to us. And if we know that He hearkeneth to us whatever we request, we know that we have the requests which we have made from Him. If any one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall make request, and he will give to him life, even to them that are sinning not unto death. There is a sin unto death; not concerning that do I say that he should ask. Every sort of unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death. We know that every one that hath been begotten of God doth not keep sinning, but the Begotten of God observeth him, and the Evil One doth not lay hold on him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the Evil One. And we know that the Son of God hath come, and hath given us understanding that we may get to know the True One; and we are in the True One, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God and Life Eternal. Little children, guard yourselves from the idols.”

1Jn 5:13 . The purpose for which St. John wrote his Gospel was that we might believe in the Incarnation, and so have Eternal Life (Joh 20:31 ); the purpose of the Epistle is not merely that we may have Eternal Life by believing but that we may know that we have it . The Gospel exhibits the Son of God, the Epistle commends Him. It is a supplement to the Gospel, a personal application and appeal. ἔγραψα , “I wrote,” looking back on the accomplished risk. εἰδῆτε , “know,” not γινώσκητε , “get to know”. Full and present assurance.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13–21. CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

Some modern writers consider that 1Jn 5:13 constitutes the conclusion of the Epistle, the remainder (14–21) being a postscript or appendix, analogous to chap. 21 of the Gospel, and possibly by another hand. Some go so far as to conjecture that the same person added chap. 21 to the Gospel and the last nine verses to the Epistle after the Apostle’s death.

Not much can be urged in favour of these views. No MS. or version seems to exist in which these concluding verses are wanting. Tertullian quotes 1Jn 5:16-18 (De Pudicitia xix.) and 1Jn 5:21 (De Corona x.): Clement of Alexandria quotes 1Jn 5:16-17 (Strom. II. xv.); and both these writers in quoting mention S. John by name. This shews that at the end of the second century these verses were an integral part of the Epistle. Against such evidence as this, arbitrary statements that the division of sins into sins unto death and sins not unto death, the sternness of 1Jn 5:19, and the warning against idolatry, are unlike S. John, will not have much weight. The diction is S. John’s throughout, and some of the fundamental ideas of the Epistle reappear in these concluding verses. Moreover, the connexion with the first half of the chapter is so close, that there is no reason for supposing that, while unquestionably by S. John himself, yet it is, like chap. 21 of the Gospel, a subsequent addition to the original work. Indeed so close is the connexion with what precedes that some commentators consider only the last four verses, or even only the last verse, to be the proper conclusion of the Epistle.

The Conclusion, as here arranged, falls into three parts. In the first, three main thoughts are retouched; faith in the Son of God, eternal life, and love of the brethren shewing itself in intercession (13–17). In the second, three great facts of which believers have certain knowledge are restated (18–20). In the third, a farewell practical warning is given (1Jn 5:21).

13–17. INTERCESSORY LOVE THE FRUIT OF FAITH AND OF THE POSSESSION OF LIFE

13–17. Eternal life, faith, and brotherly love shewing boldness in intercession, are the leading ideas of this section. We have had most of these topics before, and the section is more or less of a recapitulation. But S. John “cannot even recapitulate without the introduction of new and most important thoughts” (F. W. Farrar); and the combination of the idea of boldness in prayer (1Jn 3:21-22) with that of love of the brethren leads to very fruitful results.

13. After ὑμῖν omit τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ with [794][795][796], Vulgate, Memphitic, Thebaic, and Syriac against [797][798]. For καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε ([799][800]) read τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ([801][802], Syriac): but οἱ πιστεύοντες ([803]3[804], Vulgate, Memphitic, Thebaic) is strongly supported.

[794] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.

[795] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.

[796] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

[797] 9th century. All three Epistles.

[798] 9th century. All three Epistles.

[799] 9th century. All three Epistles.

[800] 9th century. All three Epistles.

[801] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.

[802] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

[803] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.

[804] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.

13. ταῦτα ἔγραψα. ‘These things’ will cover the whole Epistle, and such is probably the meaning, as in 1Jn 1:4, where S. John states the purpose of his Epistle in words which are explained by what he says here: there is nothing there or here, as there is in 1Jn 2:26, to limit ‘these things’ to what immediately precedes. As in 1Jn 2:21; 1Jn 2:26, ἔγραψα is the epistolary aorist, which may be represented in English either by the present or the perfect.

In the remainder of the verse the divergences of reading are very considerable, and authorities are much divided. The original text seems to be that represented by [850]1[851], which has been adopted in R.V. These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life,—unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. The awkwardness of the explanatory clause added at the end has led to various expedients for making the whole run more smoothly. Comp. the similarly added explanation in 1Jn 5:16; τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον.

[850] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.

[851] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζ. ἔχ. αἰ. At the opening of the Epistle S. John said ‘These things we write that our joy may be fulfilled’ (1Jn 1:4). The context there shews what constitutes this joy. It is the consciousness of fellowship with God and His Son and His saints; in other words it is the conscious possession of eternal life (Joh 17:3). Thus the Introduction and Conclusion of the Epistle mutually explain one another. This verse should also be compared with its parallel in the Gospel (Joh 20:31), a passage which has probably influenced some of the various readings here. We see at once the similar yet not identical purposes of Gospel and Epistle. S. John writes his Gospel, ‘that ye may have life’; he writes his Epistle ‘that ye may know that ye have life’. The one leads to the obtaining of the boon; the other to the joy of knowing that the boon has been obtained. The one is to produce faith; the other is to make clear the fruits of faith. For πιστ. εἰς τὸ ὄνομα see on 1Jn 5:10 and on 1Jn 3:23.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The conclusion of the Epistle wherein he showeth first of all, that even they which already believe, do stand in deed of this doctrine, to the end that they may grow more and more in faith, that is to say, to the end that they may be daily more and more certified of their salvation in Christ through faith.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The oldest manuscripts and versions read, "These things have I written unto you [omitting 'that believe on the name of the Son of God'] that ye may know that ye have eternal life (compare Jo1 5:11), THOSE (of you I mean) WHO believe (not as English Version reads, 'and that ye may believe') on the name of the Son of God." English Version, in the latter clause, will mean, "that ye may continue to believe," &c. (compare Jo1 5:12).

These things--This Epistle. He, towards the close of his Gospel (Joh 20:30-31), wrote similarly, stating his purpose in having written. In Jo1 1:4 he states the object of his writing this Epistle to be, "that your joy may be full." To "know that we have eternal life" is the sure way to "joy in God."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. That ye may know that ye have eternal life] I write to show your privileges-to lead you into this holy of holies-to show what believing on the Son of God is, by the glorious effects it produces: it is not a blind reliance for, but an actual enjoyment of, salvation; Christ living, working, and reigning in the heart.

And that ye may believe] That is, continue to believe: for Christ dwells in the heart only by FAITH, and faith lives only by LOVE, and love continues only by OBEDIENCE; he who BELIEVES loves, and he who LOVES obeys. He who obeys loves; he who loves believes; he who believes has the witness in himself: he who has this witness has Christ in his heart, the hope of glory; and he who believes, loves, and obeys, has Christ in his heart, and is a man of prayer.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13 These things have I written unto you As there ought to be a daily progress in faith, so he says that he wrote to those who had already believed, so that they might believe more firmly and with greater certainty, and thus enjoy a fuller confidence as to eternal life. Then the use of doctrine is, not only to initiate the ignorant in the knowledge of Christ, but also to confirm those more and more who have been already taught. It therefore becomes us assiduously to attend to the duty of learning, that our faith may increase through the whole course of our life. For there are still in us many remnants of unbelief, and so weak is our faith that what we believe is not yet really believed except there be a fuller confirmation.

But we ought to observe the way in which faith is confirmed, even by having the office and power of Christ explained to us. For the Apostle says that he wrote these things, that is, that eternal life is to be sought nowhere else but in Christ, in order that they who were believers already might believe, that is, make progress in believing. It is therefore the duty of a godly teacher, in order to confirm disciples in the faith, to extol as much as possible the grace of Christ, so that being satisfied with that, we may seek nothing else.

As the Papists obscure this truth in various ways, and extenuate it, they shew sufficiently by this one thing that they care for nothing less than for the right doctrine of faith; yea, on this account, their schools ought to be more shunned than all the Scyllas and Charybdises in the world; for hardly any one can enter them without a sure shipwreck to his faith.

The Apostle teaches further in this passage, that Christ is the peculiar object of faith, and that to the faith which we have in his name is annexed the hope of salvation. For in this case the end of believing is, that we become the children and the heirs of God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

These things have I written unto you,.... Which are contained in the epistle in general, and particularly what is written in the context, concerning the victory of the world, being ascribed to him who believes that Christ is the Son of God; and concerning the six witnesses of his sonship, and the record bore by God, that the gift of eternal life is in him: and which are especially written to them,

that believe on the name of the Son of God; who not only believed that Christ is the Son of God, which this six fold testimony would confirm them in, but also believed in his name for righteousness, life, and salvation; in which name there is all this, and in no other; and who also professed their faith in him, and were baptized in his name, and continued believing in him, and holding fast their profession of him. The end of writing these things to them was,

that ye may know that ye have eternal life; that there is such a thing as eternal life; that this is in Christ; that believers have it in him, and the beginning of it in themselves; and that they have a right unto it, and meetness for it, and shall certainly enjoy it; the knowledge of which is had by faith, under the testimony of the Spirit of God, and particularly what is above written concerning eternal life, being a free grace gift of God; and this being in Christ, and the assurance of it, that such who have him, or believe in him, have that which might serve to communicate, cultivate, and increase such knowledge:

and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God; which they had done already, and still did; the sense is, the above things were written to them concerning the Son of God, that they might be encouraged to continue believing in him, as such; to hold fast the faith of him and go on believing in him to the end; and that their faith in him might be increased; for faith is imperfect and is capable of increasing, and growing exceedingly: and nothing more tends unto, or is a more proper means of it, than the sacred writings, the reading and hearing them explained, and especially that part of them which respects the person, office, and grace of Christ. The Alexandrian copy, and one of Beza's manuscripts, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, read, "these things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, who believe in the name of the Son of God".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Ver. 13. That ye may know that ye have eternal life] sc. In the pledges and firstfruits of it, in the true graces of the Spirit, whereof there are many marks and evidences laid down in this Epistle, that we might be at a certainty; not a certainty of hope only (as Papists foolishly distinguish), but of faith too; even a full assurance.

That ye may believe] That ye may be confirmed, continued, and increased in it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These things have I written unto you - The things in this Epistle respecting the testimony borne to the Lord Jesus.

That believe on the name of the Son of God - To believe on his name, is to believe on himself - the word “name” often being used to denote the person. See the notes at Mat 28:19.

That ye may know that ye have eternal life - That you may see the evidence that eternal life has been provided, and that you may be able, by self-examination, to determine whether you possess it. Compare the notes at Joh 20:31.

And that ye may believe ... - That you may continue to believe, or may persevere in believing. He was assured that they actually did believe on him then; but he was desirous of so setting before them the nature of religion, that they would continue to exercise faith in him. It is often one of the most important duties of ministers of the gospel, to present to real Christians such views of the nature, the claims, the evidences, and the hopes of religion, as shall be adapted to secure their perseverance in the faith. In the human heart, even when converted, there is such a proneness to unbelief; the religious affections so easily become cold; there are so many cares pertaining to the world that are suited to distract the mind; there are so many allurements of sin to draw the affections away from the Saviour; that there is need of being constantly reminded of the nature of religion, in order that the heart may not be wholly estranged from the Saviour. No small part of preaching, therefore, must consist of the re-statement of arguments with which the mind has been before fully convinced; of motives whose force has been once felt and acknowledged; and of the grounds of hope and peace and joy which have already, on former occasions, diffused comfort through the soul. It is not less important to keep the soul, than it is to “convert” it; to save it from coldness, and deadness, and formality, than it was to impart to it the elements of spiritual life at first. It may be as important to trim a vine, if one would have grapes, as it is to set it out; to keep a garden from being overrun with weeds in the summer, as it was to plant it in the spring.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

That, discerning their own faith, they might be in no doubt concerning their title to eternal life, and might be thereby encouraged to persevere in the same faith.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Have I written—I wrote, the epistolary Greek tense. A retrospective glance over the whole epistle, implying an approaching close.

Believe… know—To awaken your belief, and show you how the believe may solidify into a know.

Have eternal life—Already deposited within you, to be unfolded and perpetuated in the eternal future. Note on Joh_4:14.

Believe—And the know becomes again a permanent and realizing believe. The intuitive assurance itself is a ground to believe in the reality of the thing so known.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 13-21. 4. CONCLUSION OF EPISTLE; without, however, any marked break between this section and the last On the contrary, the prominent thought of eternal life through faith in the Son of God is continued for final development. This topic is the main idea alike of the Gospel (Joh_20:31) and of the Epistle, with this difference in theGospel the purpose is that we may have eternal life; in the Epistle, that we may know that we have eternal life.

These things I have written to you sums up the Epistle as a whole. At the outset the apostle said, "These things we write, that our joy yours as well as mine may be fulfilled;" and now, as he draws to a close, he says the same thing in other words. Their joy is the knowledge that they have eternal life through belief in the Son of God. There is considerable variety of reading in this verse, but that of the T.R., represented by the Authorized Version, is a manifest simplification. That represented by the Revised Version is probably right. The awkwardness of the last clause produced various alterations with a view to greater smoothness. The verse, both as regards construction and meaning, should be carefully comparedein Joh_1:12. In both we have the epexegetic addition at the end. In both we have St. John"s favourite pisteu eijv, expressing the very strongest belief; motion to and repose upon the object of belief. In both we have the remarkable expression, "believe on his Name. This is no mere periphrasis for "believe on him." Names in Jewish history were so often significant, being sometimes given by God himself, that they served not merely to distinguish one man from another, but to indicate his character. So also with the Divine Name: it suggests the Divine attributes. "To believe on the Name of the Son of God" is to give entire adhesion to him as having the qualities of the Divine Son.

On believers knowing that they have eternal life.

Connecting link: The statements which have just been made point out very clearly who have the eternal life and who have it not. But it is quite possible that such statements may exist, may be before a man"s eye, may have been read over again and again, and yet they may have been left unapplied to himself by him who reads them. But it is not enough to know what the eternal life is, and what are the marks of its existence. It is all-important for the individual himself to possess the life, and to indicate it by its appropriate signs. And it is also important though it cannot be said to be equally so that, if a man has this life, he should know that he has it. Hence the apostle declares that the object of his writing thus has been that those who believe on the Name of the Son of God should know, clearly and decisively, that they have life, and that the life they have is an eternal one. TopicOn believers knowing that they have eternal life.

I TO EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES IN CHRIST THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE BELONGS. This is the repeated and clear declaration of the Word of God (Joh_5:24 Joh_6:47 Joh_3:36; verse 12; Rom_6:23; Joh_1:12 compared with. Rom_8:17, Rom_8:38, Rom_8:39) (For remarks on the meaning and contents of eternal life, see homily on 1Jn_2:25)

II IT IS POSSIBLE FOR A TRUE BELIEVER TO BE UNAWARE OF HIS WEALTH. He may have the life eternal and not know it. So, at any rate, the Apostle John declares, by implication, in this verse. We gather this:

1. From such Scriptures as the one before us.

2. From observation. Have we not known many of the most devoutbelievers in Christ "go mourning all their days" through the lack of the full assurance of faith and hope?

3. From experience. There are times, even with those who usually live inthe sunshine of God"s love, when their joys seem clouded over. It may be asked What are the causes of this uncertainty? They are various. Probably no two cases are exactly alike; but, among others, we suggest

(1) lack of intelligence;

(2) mistaken self-probing, which often causes men to miss that which they are seeking for;

(3) ill health, when the nervous system is out of order;

(4) decline in communion with God;

(5) natural excess of caution. But whatever the cause may be

III SUCH IGNORANCE OF OUR REAL POSITION IS MOST UNDESIRABLE.

1. It seriously hinders spiritual joy. Who can glory in the hope of heavenwhen he cannot tell whether he is an heir of its bliss?

2. It dishonours God; for it casts reflection on the completeness of his provision for his children"s peace, when believers seem as if they never knew whether they were children of God or no.

3. It cripples their advocacy of the cause of God. How unattractive theinvitation to believe in Christ will seem when it comes from one who is moaning and groaning, instead of singing the songs of Zion!

4. It will seriously interfere with their progress. Men cannot walk fast iftheir legs are like lead rather than like cork.

IV THE TEACHING OF GOD"S WORD IS INTENDED AND ADAPTED TO REMOVE THAT IGNORANCE.

1. There are four things clearly unfolded concerning the life eternal.

(1) That it is the gift of God.

(2) That it belongs to those who are Christ"s.

(3) That the life is a present possession. (cf Eph_2:6)

(4) That there are distinctive signs and marks of the life. (cf 1Jn_3:14 1Jn_2:29; verse 1) even faith, righteousness, love; where these are, the man is born of Godand has the eternal life.

2. By the careful and candid application to his own case of these four linesof teaching, a man may come to a distinct and decisive conclusion as to his possession of eternal life. For, be it ever remembered, this eternal life is not to be regarded as something which is to commence in the next state of being, but as something already possessed, to be tested and verified now, as a blessed possession over which death will have no power.

INFERENCES.

1. It is no virtue to be the subject of "doubts and fears.

2. If we are uncertain, or if we remain in uncertainty as to our having thisgreatest of all boons, it is time that we

(1) restudied the Word of God to see the condition on which eternal life is granted, and then re-examined ourselves to see if we have fulfilled that condition; and

(2) that we restudied the Word of God to see what are the invariable marks of that life, and then re-examined ourselves to see if we bear those marks.

3. Our religious life has not blossomed into its full beauty until we areperfectly at home in the love of God in Christ, and move as freely and step as firmly there as children in their Father"s house that the question "whether we are children," or "whether we are at home," never comes up at all. A loving confidence never to be disturbed this, oh! this is "knowing that we have the eternal life.

Vers. 13-17.

Assurance.

I THE AIM OF THE EPISTLE CONNECTED WITH ASSURANCE. "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God." At the beginning of the Epistle, the apostle"s aim was stated to be Divine fellowship and completed joy. In looking back, he feels that he has kept his end in view. In the restatement of his aim, he goes the length of completed joy. Beyond the quickening of their spiritual life, he has aimed at their having the joy of knowing that they had the life eternal actually begun in them. He has given them certain marks (usually introduced by "herein") by which to make clear to them their Divine birth, or possession of the Divine life as believers on the Name of the Son of God. When we have the right elements in our life, and can make a correct diagnosis of them, we have comfort. We are indebted to the apostle yet for the help he has given us, in this Epistle, to the right reading of cur life.

II ASSURANCE IN RELATION TO PRAYER.

1. Confidence of being heard. "And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us." Knowing that we have the Divine life, we are reasonably bold toward God, as children are bold toward their parents. Our boldness comes out especially in our asking. We are full of wants, and so we need to be constantly asking. We ask in the confidence of being heard. If we ask anything, he heareth us which has only this limitation, that we ask according to God"s will (not properly a limitation; for God"s will is our highest good). If we are to ask according to God"s will, then the meaning of that is that we are to have our desires in a proper state to have them educated up to God"s will. We are to have them chastened by proper submission to God"s appointments; and we are to have them thoroughly enlightened, so that we desire with God, and up to the largeness of the blessing that he holds out to us. As Jesus was praying in a certain place, after he ceased, the disciples, filled with a sense of their own deficiencies, said, "Lord, teach us to pray." It is not the language of our prayers that we need to have improved, so much as our simple responsiveness to the Divine will.

2. Certainty of having our petitions. "And if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him." We have actually presented our petitions in confidence of being heard: how do we stand? We know that we are richer than we were before. Hannah rose to accord with the Divine will, and, knowing that she had her petition, it happened to the "woman of a sorrowful spirit" that "her countenance was no more sad." The Master was in perfect accord with the Divine will; and he had his every petition. "And I knew that thou hearest me always". (Joh_11:42) In so far as we resemble him, in confidently expressing the Divine will, shall we know ourselves to be richer for our prayers.

III ASSURANCE IN SPECIAL RELATION TO INTERCESSION.

1. Promise. "If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for them that sin not unto death." This is asking suggested by the brotherly love which the apostle has been inculcating. Have we any ground of confidence to go upon in asking for a brother? We have here very distinct ground pointed to, even in the case of a brother who is seen sinning a sin. It is not a sin by which he is wholly deprived of life, but a sin by which his life is regarded as in part suspended. He is seen by one who is united to him by the tie of Christian brotherhood, who does not regard him with unconcern, who is moved by the sight to ask for him restoration of life. The promise is that the asker will be the instrument of giving life to those within the brotherhood of whom it can be said that they sin not unto death.

2. Limitation of the promise. "There is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request." This must be taken in close connection with the context. The reference is simply to the brotherhood. Are we warranted in all cases to pray for an erring brother, in the expectation that we shall be the means, under God, of giving him life? The promise does not go that length. A (hitherto) recognized member of the brotherhood may unbrother himself, may cut himself off from fellowship with God, by denying (let us say) the force of the Incarnation. In such a case, the apostle does not say that we are to make request (familiarly) for him as for a brother. The virtue that there is in brotherhood and in brotherly intercession is there lost; and he is really to be dealt with as one unbrothered. That is not to say that we are not to pray for him at all; for we are to pray for all men.

3. Large scope of the promise. "All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." "Sin" is a wide word; it includes all violation of right. Every unbrotherly expression that we use is an offence against God. There is thus abundant room for the exercise of intercession. There is sinning through many degrees without sinning mortally. Let us, then, realize what is in our power. A brother, to our knowledge, sins even seriously. He does not sin, in our judgment, so as to put the Incarnate One decisively away from him; but he sins so as seriously to interrupt fellowship with God, which is his life. As belonging to the same privileged circle, we have a part to perform. We have to intercede with God on his behalf. We have to intercede confidently; for the promise of our giving him life is clearly applicable. In answer to our intercession there wilt be a wakening of him up out of the slumber that has been upon him, so that he enjoys renewed fellowship with God. R.F.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These things have I written - In the introduction, chap. i, 4, he said, I write: now, in the close, I have written. That ye may know - With a fuller and stronger assurance, that ye have eternal life.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A Concluding Summary.

The trust of the Christians:

v. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

v. 14. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us;

v. 15. and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

The letter is finished, and the apostle now speaks his closing words, summarizing the principal points which he made in the body of the epistle: These things I wrote you in order that you might know that you have eternal life, since you believe in the name of the Son of God. The apostle is referring to everything that he wrote in this letter. His entire discussion had the aim and object of confirming the readers who have centered their faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as their Savior, in the knowledge that they thereby were the possessors of eternal life. Faith has nothing in common with doubt and uncertainty, it is not a matter of personal opinion and feeling; it is glorious, certain knowledge based upon the Word of the Gospel. We know that we have eternal life through faith because the Scripture tells us so.

And this faith has another effect in us: And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. The prayers of the believers, the real prayers, are always heard, they never return unanswered. This cheerful assurance, this frank boldness, we hold. We enter into the very presence of the Lord with the calm certainty that our petitions will be heard as we make them in faith, in firm reliance upon the sonship which was given to us in Christ. It is self-evident that we, as children of God, will ask only such things as are in accordance with the will of our heavenly Father. In other words, we leave the answering of our prayers in His hands, knowing that His wisdom and mercy always find a way to give us what is best for us, regardless of the form in which we clothe our petitions. Note that His promise is not to grant all that we ask, but to hearken to our prayers: He answers in His own way.

This assurance should influence our entire attitude toward God: And if we know that He hearkens to whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we asked of Him. God always listens to the prayers of His children, reading their content even better than they intend it. We are sure of obtaining our requests, that which we are in need of, probably not always as our petition was worded, but always as it was best for us, and as we should have offered our prayer had we been wiser. Prayer is not a dictation to God to do thus and so, but a statement of our needs as we see them. And it is our heavenly Father who gives us more than our short-sightedness permitted us to know. If we have reached this point in our Christian knowledge, then our relation toward our heavenly Father will be unclouded by any lack of trust in Him.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle entering now upon the conclusion of his excellent epistle, acquaints them with his design and end in the writing of it, namely,

1. That they might know they had eternal life, that is, both a right and title to eternal life, and might also attain to the knowledge and assurance of it.

Learn thence, That believers may in this life, without the help of extraordinary revelation, attain to a knowledge and well-grounded assurance of life eternal. These things have I written unto you that believe, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.

There is a threefold knowledge;

notional, which is barely the work of the understanding; experimental, which is seated in the heart, and visible in the life; fiducial, when a person is ascertained and assured of what he knows:

Thus here, these things I write, that ye may know that ye know, that is , be assured that ye know; a Christian may believe, and yet not be assured that he does believe; many have a vital act which have not fiducial act of faith; many have a faith of adherence that want a faith of evidence: Faith and assurance in a saint, differ as much as reason and learning in a man; every man has reason, but every man that has reason has not learning, which is the improvement of reason; thus every good man has faith, but every one that has faith has not assurance, which is the special fruit of faith.

This therefore was the first design and end of St. John’s writing, that they might know they did believe; the second follows,

that those that did believe, might believe on the name of the Son of God; the meaning is, that they might more firmly believe, be more rooted, grounded, settled, and confirmed in the faith, so as to remain unshaken by all the storms of persecution that might fall upon them; this seems to be the sense of the apostle when he exhorts believers to believe.

These things write I unto you that believe, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. The strongest believers may be exhorted to strengthen their faith, and to persevere in the faith, which they are strengthened and established in.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 14

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

13. The great end of all Scripture is that all human beings may have eternal life, which is only in the Son of God, the Second Adam, who represents the entire human race in redemption, just as Adam the first represented all in condemnation. When the countless millions of Adam’s race shall assemble before the great white throne all will be in Adam the first or Adam the Second, the latter all acquitted with full approval, and the former all turned away into hopeless doom.

15. Here we have another grand and glorious confirmation of prevailing prayer. It is the transcendent privilege of God’s saints to be so cleansed by the blood and led by the Spirit as actually to come in touch with God so as to prevail in prayer, like Elijah.

16... “There is a sin unto death: I do not say you may ask concerning it.”

17. “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.” Here we find John’s second definition of sin, “unrighteousness,” which means inbred sin, his first definition, “transgression,” meaning actual sin. 1Jn 2:4. Now what is this sin for which we are not to pray for pardon, since there is no pardon possible in the case? This question is abundantly answered in the general trend of the epistle. The great solvent fact of Gospel truth presented in this letter is the Christhood, out of which salvation is utterly impossible, since God out of Christ is a consuming fire. Consequently this unpardonable sin is the following after those Antichrists, or false prophets, so conspicuously exposed and scathingly anathematized in this letter. When people reject the Christhood, it is useless to pray for them, because they can not be saved in their present attitude. If you can prevail on them to forsake their un-Christly heresies, then they are open to conviction, subjects of prevailing prayer and candidates for salvation. This same great, though sad, truth is brought out by Christ (Mat 12:31-32) in the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, denominated the unpardonable sin. Since the Holy Ghost is the Successor and Revelator of the risen and glorified Christ, it is utterly impossible for any one to receive the benefit of the Christhood without the office of the Holy Spirit in illumination, conviction, regeneration, sanctification and glorification. Hence, the unpardonable sin is following Antichrist and blaspheming the Holy Ghost.

18. “... The wicked one toucheth Him not.” All committing of sin is under the direct administration of the devil. He must get his hand on you before he can work you. This verse certifies that no regenerated person commits sin, since Satan is not permitted so much as to touch the soul that is born of God. That soul must voluntarily go over to him before he can muster him into service.

19. “We know that we are of God and the world lieth in the wicked one.” Since all the world is in the devil, and under his control, worldly churches are simply Satan’s greased planks over which to slide people into hell. All of God’s people belong to the divine Ecclesia (Church), i.e., the called out, consisting of those who, responsive to the call of the Holy Ghost, have left the devil and the world and separated themselves unto God. While regeneration takes us out of the world, sanctification takes the world out of us.

20. Oh, what burning emphasis John constantly pours forth descriptive and expository of the Christhood.

21. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” After people are well sanctified and established in holiness, there is very little probability of their deflection into idolatry. Young converts need constant vigilance and admonition lest they be led away on some line of worldliness, all of which is idolatry.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. These things have I written. He writes that they may understand how they may know that they have eternal life. Tests have been given. For example, see 5:1, 2; 4:13, etc. That ye may believe. Put the fullest trust in the name of Christ.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

This begins the end of John's letter. He tells his readers the last purpose for his letter and gives them some final teachings.

these things

"this letter"

to you who believe in the name of the Son of God

Here "name" is a metonym for the Son of God. AT: "to you who trust in the Son of God" (See: Metonymy)

Son of God

This is an important title for Jesus that describes his relationship to God. (See: Translating Son and Father)

life

Here "life" stands for the right to live forever by God's grace and love. See how you translated this in 1 John 1:1-2. (See: Abstract Nouns)

this is the confidence we have before him, that

The abstract noun "confidence" can be stated as "confident." AT: "we are confident in God's presence because we know that" (See: Abstract Nouns)

if we ask anything according to his will

"if we ask for the things that God desires"

we know that we have whatever we have asked of him

"we know that we will receive that for which we have asked God"

translationWords

written

eternity

believe

Son of God

confidence

will of God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

13.] This verse seems, as Joh 20:30 f., like an anticipatory close of the Epistle: and its terms appear to correspond to those used in ch. 1:4. This view, which is maintained by Düsterd., is far more probable than that it should refer only to what has occurred since ver. 6, as ch. 2:26 to ver. 18 ff. there (so De Wette): or only to vv. 11, 12, as Huther. Still less likely is it that the concluding portion of the Epistle begins with this verse, as Bengel, Baumg.-Crus., Lücke, Sander, and Tischendorf in his editions. These things wrote I to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life, (to you) that believe in the name of the Son of God (as to the reading, I believe the text, which is found in 1 only, to be the “fons lectionum.” The unusual position of the dative seeming hard, it was altered to the nominative as in A al., or transposed with its accompanying words, to follow ὑμῖν. Then the final clause, not having been struck out, was adapted to the preceding ἵνα εἴδητε, or to Joh 20:31, from whence came the reading (see Tischdf.) πιστεύσητε. The two readings come, in the sense, to much the same. If the rec. be followed, then the πιστεύητε must be interpreted “continue to believe”).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13-17. I have written thus about belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and the witness of the Spirit, and the witness of God, which consists in the life which He gave to men through Jesus Christ, in order that you might feel assurance as to the possession of true life, you who believe in Jesus who is the Son of God. Such confidence is realized in prayer, in knowing by experience that, whenever we ask anything of God according to His will, He hears our prayer. And if we are thus conscious that God has heard, we already possess, in anticipation, the thing we asked for. The Almighty Sovereign has said, “Let it be,” there is no further doubt about the matter, even though actual possession may be delayed for long years. This is more clearly seen in intercession for the brethren. If any man see his fellow-Christian sinning, so long as his sinning is not such as leads inevitably to final separation from Christ and the life which God gives in Him, he will naturally intercede for him, and will gain life for him, even if it be long delayed, in the case of all whose sin is not unto death. There is sin which must lead, if persisted in, to final exclusion from life. I do not say that this comes within the sphere of Christian intercession. But in any case there is full scope for intercession. For all unrighteousness is sin, and there is such a thing as sin which does not necessarily lead to final exclusion from life.

ταῦτα ἔγραψα] Cf. 2:26, where the reference is clearly to the preceding section about the False Teachers. Cf. also 2:14, which the triple ἔγραψα probably refers to that part of the Epistle which had already been written. The present verse does not really present an exact parallel to the conclusion of the Gospel (Joh 20:31) which immediately precedes the appendix (ch. 21.). Even if the reference is to the whole Gospel and not to the σημεῖα recorded in ch. 20., that reference is determined by the preceding words (ἃ οὐκ ἔστιν γεγραμμένα ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ). Here it would seem most natural to refer the words to the preceding section of the Epistle (5:1-12), in which the writer has put forward his view of Faith in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, as the necessary condition of the realization of that spiritual life which God has given to men through Jesus Christ, and which again is the real witness of God to the nature and character of His Son. The following explanation of ὑμῖν as those who believe in the name of the Son of God, makes the reference to the whole of this section almost certain.

ὑμῖν κ.τ.λ.] For the separation of the explanatory clause (τοῖς πιστεύουσιν κ.τ.λ.), cf. ver. 16, δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν, τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, where the change in number creates a still greater strangeness of expression, and Joh 1:12, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξούσιαν τέκνα θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ.

This separation of τοῖς πιστεύουσιν κ.τ.λ. from ὑμῖν has led to several attempts to improve the text: (1) The clause τοῖς πιστεύουσιν … θεοῦ has been added immediately after ὑμῖν in the Receptus. (2) This clause has been retained in its proper place; but for τοῖς πιστεύουσιν has been substituted (a) the nominative, οἱ πιστεύοντες, or (b) a second final clause, καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε. The nominative (2a) is found with and without the insertion of a clause, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, etc., immediately after ὑμῖν. Thus, on the assumption that the reading of B (ὑμῖν ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον τοῖς πιστεύουσιν κ.τ.λ.) is original, the genesis of the other variants can be easily explained. The parallels quoted above show that it presents a text completely in harmony with the writer’s style.

ἵνα εἰδῆτε] Cf. 2:1, ἵνα μὴ ἁμάρτητε, and 3:24, ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν. There are many signs in the Epistle of the writer’s consciousness that his readers’ loss of their first enthusiasm and zeal for the Christian faith had led to their feeling uncertain about their position. They lacked “assurance.”

εἰδῆτε] The knowledge which they need must be intuitive. If they realize who and what the Christ is, and the relation in which they stand to Him, they will at once “perceive and know” that they are in possession of life.

πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα] Cf. ver. 10 and Joh 2:23. The phrase must imply devotion to a person possessed of the qualities which his name denotes. It is unlikely that πιστεύειν is used with the two constructions (c. dat., εἰς c. acc.) in the same passage in exactly the same sense. Here the full force of the construction with εἰς is needed to bring out the sense. The knowledge follows as a matter of course where the self-surrender is complete.

ταυτα] pr. και Ic 258 (56) | εγραψα] post υμιν H δ6 (Ψ) | υμιν א A B h. 5. 6. 13uid 29. 66**. 81. 142. 162 vg. sah. cop. syr. arm. aeth. Cassiod.] + τοις πιστευουσιν εις το ονομα του υιου του θεου K L P al. pler. cat. Thphyl. Oec.: + τοις πιστευουσιν 126 | εχετε A B al. sat. mu. cat. vg. syrp Cassiod.] habemus arm-codd.: post αιωνιον א K L P al. plus50 Thphyl. Oec. | τοις πιστευουσιν א B syr.] οι πιστευοντες אc A 5. 6. 13 29, 66**. 81. 142. 162. vg. cop. aeth.: και ινα πιστευητε K L P h. al. pler. cat. arm. Thphyl. Oec. (πιστευσητε h. 37. 57: om. και 57 arm-codd.).

13. aeternam habetis habetis aeternam

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Have I written [εγραψα] . Lit., I wrote. John speaks as looking back over his Epistle and recalling the aim with which he wrote. See on 2 13. May know [ειδητε] . Not perceive [γινωσκειν] , but know with settled and absolute knowledge. See on Joh 2:24.

Ye have eternal life [ζωην εχετε αιωνιον] . The Greek order is peculiar, "ye may know that life ye have eternal." The adjective eternal is added as an after - thought. So Westcott : "that ye have life - yes, eternal life."

Unto you that believe. In the A. V., these words follow have I written. The Rev. follows the Greek order. The words, like eternal, above, are added as an after - thought, defining the character of the persons addressed. On the name [εις το ονομα] . See on Joh 2:23; Joh 1:12.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Ταῦτα ἔγραψα] These things have I written (I wrote)... In reviewing his Epistle St John indicates the fulfilment of his purpose (i. 3, 4). The consciousness of eternal life brings divine fellowship and completed joy. Comp. John xx. 30 f.

For the use of ἔγραψα (contrast γέγραφα John xix. 22) see c ii. 12 —14 note. The Apostle looks back upon his work, and records the aim

‘which he set before himself.

ἵνα εἰδῆτε] ut eciatis V., that ye may know with a knowledge final and certain. Compare ii. 29 note; lil. 14 note. The eternal life may be present and yet not realised in its inherent power. The fruits may not be referred to their source; and again they may be delayed. But there is a knowledge of life which is independent of external signs; and this St John seeks to quicken. |

The order ζωὴν ἔχ. αἰών. is.not found

ov. 5, 10, 12, 20; iii. 8 note; iv. 15. The title is the pledge of the certainty of the possession of life.

2. The confidence of spiritual action (14—17).

The consciousness of a divine life brings to the believer perfect boldness in prayer, that is, in converse with God (14, 15); and this boldness finds characteristic expression in intercession for the brethren (16, 17).

1% And this ts the boldness which we have towards Him, that, of we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. %And vf we know that He heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked from Him.

6 Tf any one see his brother sinning @ sin not unto death, he shall ask, and He (he) will give him life, even to them that sin not unto death. There is sin unto death: I do not say that he should pray for that: ‘all unrighteousness 18 sin, and there is sin not unto death. ;

Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), The Epistle to the Hebrews (1889) and The Epistles of St John (1883) — public domain (pre-1929). Text recovered from Internet Archive / Google Books OCR scans. Westcott’s Gospel of John commentary is not included (its OCR lost the chapter running-heads required for reliable verse-keying). Some Greek quoted in the Hebrews volume is imperfectly rendered by the OCR.