返回Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter Five
1 John 5:1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the One who begot also loves the One begotten of Him.
1 John 5:2. That we love the children of God, we know from this: when we love God and keep His commandments.
And this is said in confirmation of the above. If we received from the Teacher the commandment to love one another, then, without a doubt, if we believe that our Teacher Jesus is the Christ, and He is the Christ in the sense that He is God and man together, we must also keep His commandments, as those of a Teacher and as those of God. And believing that He is God, we receive the name of His children, as it is also said in the Gospel: "to those who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12), that is, those who believed in Him also became His children. And if we have been born of Him, then, without a doubt, we must also render what is due to our Parent, that is, love the One who begot us. And if all of us who have believed have been born of Him, then we must love one another both as brothers and as those born of Him.
In confirmation of this the apostle also says that he who loves the one who begat also loves the one begotten of him. Then again he says that love for the brethren or children of God proves love for the One who begat. Above he was saying that he who loves God also loves his brother, but now he says that he who loves the children of God also loves God, and he sets forth love for one's brother as proof of love for God.
1 John 5:3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
1 John 5:4. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
The connection is as follows: love consists in our keeping His commandments, because everyone born of God overcomes the world. Since the apostle pointed to the keeping of the commandments as the full proof of love for God, and some thought that God's commandments were burdensome, he says: and His commandments are not burdensome. For what is burdensome in loving one's brother? What, for example, is burdensome about visiting a prisoner in jail? For the command is not to release him from jail, which would be difficult, but only to visit him. And regarding the sick, the command is not to free them from illness, but only to visit them. And regarding the hungry, the command is not to set before them a table of many dishes, or to give the naked clothing made of precious fabric, but to provide what is most urgently needed, which the hungry and the naked seek. Having said this, he points to another incentive for love. What is it? Victory. He says that by making yourselves children of God through love for your brother, you already have a reward for this good quality — victory over the world; for the one born of God overcomes the world. Then he explains what the victory consists of and through what it is accomplished; he calls both the one and the other faith, that is, faith in God, which, having been born of God, conquered and drove away every unbelief, and neither Jew, nor Greek, nor heretic is strong against it. And since faith conquers not alone, by itself, but together with the one who possesses it, he adds: and who is it that overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? And who is this Jesus? Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood.
1 John 5:5. Who overcomes the world, if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:6. This is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood and the Spirit, not by water only, but by water and blood.
In the words "everyone who is born of God," the apostle mentioned the adoption by God and the birth. And this is accomplished together through holy baptism. Therefore he says: This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, who regenerates and makes us sons of God. For this is also implied as a consequence in the words: "he who is born of God" overcomes the world. How "born"? By water and blood. For Jesus Christ who came regenerates by water and blood. And again he adds with repetition of the word: not by water only regenerating, but by water and blood. For he wishes first to demonstrate the glorification of Christ who adopts us, because first the man who is in Christ was adopted by God, and then Christ through His own adoption granted such dignity to us as well. And His sonship was declared three times: once at the baptism in the Jordan, when the Father testified from above that the one being baptized is the beloved Son. So Jesus came "by water," that is, He was declared the Son of God through the testimony of the Father at the baptism in water. "By blood," when, going to the cross, He said: "Glorify Me, You, O Father!" and when a voice came: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again," which those who heard it took for thunder (John 17:5, John 12:28, 29). "By the Spirit," when as God He rose from the dead; for to raise oneself is proper to God alone, and by the word Spirit is meant God, as can be seen in the saying: "God is a spirit" (John 4:24).
So, with the testimony of the three (baptism, the cross, and the resurrection) concerning the sonship of Jesus, the Lord's sonship is indisputable. And through His own sonship, as the firstfruits of the entire human race, He also granted us the right to be sons of God. And these three are in one Christ. For this is what the expression means: "and these three are one," that is, in relation to the testimony concerning Christ. It should be known that some of the fathers understood the word Spirit not as referring to the resurrection of Christ, but to the Father, when He cried out at the Jordan: "This is My beloved Son, in whom is My good pleasure" (Matt. 3:17), since God is Spirit, as we said above.
Having said this, he confirms his words with a proof from the lesser. If we accept human testimony about something, should we not all the more justly accept the greater testimony, from God? For this testimony about the Son of God, that is Christ, is it not from God Himself? Thus, he who believes in the Son of God, that He is God, as the Son of God, has the testimony in himself, because the believer is himself also adopted through Jesus, who was adopted by God. But the unbeliever is guilty in two respects: in unbelief, making God a liar, and in depriving himself of adoption, and through this, of eternal life, which Christ also has in Himself, as it is said in the Gospel: "in Him was life" (John 1:4). Therefore, whoever has the Son in himself through baptism also has life, for all of us who were baptized into Christ "have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). But whoever does not have the Son of God through baptism does not have life either; he is dead. For receiving us, dead in transgressions, He raises us through holy baptism. In what way? Because whoever through immersion in baptism was buried together with Christ is dead to the world, that is, to worldly desires, and lives no longer for the world, but for Christ.
1 John 5:6. And the Spirit testifies of Him, because the Spirit is truth.
Blessed Theophylact omitted here the following (seventh) verse:
1 John 5:7. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are one.
The reason for this, of course, is that he had at hand a text of the New Testament in which this verse is absent. Meanwhile, this verse is found in many other manuscripts of the New Testament, was used by the holy fathers and church writers, is necessarily required by the structure of the apostolic discourse, in short, this verse is undoubtedly authentic. – Makar. Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. 1, pp. 235–241. St. Petersburg, 1850.
1 John 5:8. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are in agreement.
1 John 5:9. If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God, which God has testified concerning His Son.
1 John 5:10. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has witnessed concerning His Son.
1 John 5:11. This testimony consists in the fact that God has granted us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
1 John 5:12. He who has the Son of God has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
These three are in one, that is, in relation to the testimony concerning Christ they show that He was adopted by God the Father, and that which He Himself received, He also transmitted to those who are worthy, who believe in His name.
1 John 5:13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you, believing in the Son of God, have eternal life.
1 John 5:14. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1 John 5:15. And when we know that He hears us in all things, whatever we ask, we know also that we receive what we have requested from Him.
Here a kind of conclusion is drawn. I have written this to you, he says, as heirs of eternal life. For to those who do not live according to the hope of eternal life, this could not have been written, because to give what is holy to dogs and to cast pearls before swine is not praiseworthy (Matt. 7:6). Recalling what has been said, he repeats, first, that one must believe without doubt in the name of the Son of God, that is, in the worship of God handed down to us from Him, for this is what the name of the Son of God means, as we have said.
Then he says that the sign of this undoubted faith is none other than the boldness which we find before Him through blameless faith, as we also said above, and that in turn the sign of such boldness is the obtaining of everything we ask. But since not all receive everything they ask, and not all requests are heard, he adds: "according to His will," that is, whoever asks for something contrary to the will of the Teacher will not be heard either. In this case he speaks similarly to holy James: "you ask, and do not receive," he says, "because you ask amiss" (James 4:3). Turning this sign into a most clear indication, he says: and if we know that He hears us in everything, whatever we may ask, then we also know that we receive from Him everything we ask of Him. He speaks as if to say: if we ask of God what is in accordance with His will, then He hears us; and if He hears us in our requests, then we know that we bring requests in agreement with His will, and what we ask we already have in ourselves. Such things are the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, which He Himself also commanded us to seek in the Gospel (Matt. 6:33).
1 John 5:16. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, let him ask, and God will give him life, that is, to him who sins a sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I am not saying that he should pray about that.
1 John 5:17. All unrighteousness is sin; but there is a sin not unto death.
Having said that God fulfills our requests that are in accordance with His will, the apostle now clearly expresses his desire concerning what we should ask for according to God's will. And since he spoke much, almost throughout the entire epistle, about love for one's brother and about the fact that God desires that we maintain love for our brother without hypocrisy, he now names as one of His desires, and the very best one, that when someone sees his brother sinning a sin that is not mortal, let him ask, and He will give him. What will He give? Eternal life. To whom? To those sinning not unto death. In general, he divides sin thus: all unrighteousness is sin, and one sin is unto death, another is not unto death. But concerning the sin unto death he says: let him not ask, that is, let him not pray, for he will not be heard, because he asks not for what is good. He means the one who shows no sign of repentance. For the sin unto death is precisely that in which no repentance is offered. Judas was afflicted with this sin, and was subjected to eternal death. Those who bear grudges also sin unto death, for Solomon says: "the ways of those who remember evil lead to death" (Prov. 12:28). For those who remember evil and do not cease their anger against their neighbor do not turn to repentance, but sin unforgivably.
1 John 5:18. We know that everyone born of God does not sin; but he who is born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.
1 John 5:19. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in wickedness.
1 John 5:20. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us light and understanding, that we may know the true God and that we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Having taught us which sin is unto death and which is not unto death, he then indicates who can sin unto death, and says: one adopted by God can never be afflicted by sin, whether unto death or not unto death. For having once surrendered himself to Christ, who dwells in him through adoption, he remains untouchable by sin. However, lest anyone think that his nature is transformed and becomes already beyond the reach of sin, he adds: "keeps himself," that is, if he does not keep and guard himself from the evil one, then without doubt he will sin. Thus, he attains sinlessness not by nature, but by the great gift of God. God, having adopted us, deemed us worthy of such grace that we, preserving and observing the gift given to us from Him, are able even not to sin. Otherwise, since the world (by "world" he means those who have not placed themselves in the position of sons in relation to God through righteous deeds) lies in evil, nothing would have prevented us from joining the perishing, because the imagination of man's heart is diligently inclined to evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21), as God showed at the flood. But since the Son of God came and gave us understanding to know Him, the true God, and to abide in Him, His true Son, Jesus Christ, through this great gift we have come to know that He is the true God and eternal life, and having known this, we remain untested by the evil one and his temptations.
1 John 5:21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Since the apostle wrote this epistle to mature believers, some asked why he commands them to keep themselves from idols. We answer: the apostle wrote this to the entire Church, which was not entirely filled with chosen people, but among them some were also of wrong disposition. To such people he gives this commandment, fearing for their weakness.
End of the catholic epistle of the Apostle John. Written from Ephesus.
1 John 5:1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the One who begot also loves the One begotten of Him.
1 John 5:2. That we love the children of God, we know from this: when we love God and keep His commandments.
And this is said in confirmation of the above. If we received from the Teacher the commandment to love one another, then, without a doubt, if we believe that our Teacher Jesus is the Christ, and He is the Christ in the sense that He is God and man together, we must also keep His commandments, as those of a Teacher and as those of God. And believing that He is God, we receive the name of His children, as it is also said in the Gospel: "to those who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12), that is, those who believed in Him also became His children. And if we have been born of Him, then, without a doubt, we must also render what is due to our Parent, that is, love the One who begot us. And if all of us who have believed have been born of Him, then we must love one another both as brothers and as those born of Him.
In confirmation of this the apostle also says that he who loves the one who begat also loves the one begotten of him. Then again he says that love for the brethren or children of God proves love for the One who begat. Above he was saying that he who loves God also loves his brother, but now he says that he who loves the children of God also loves God, and he sets forth love for one's brother as proof of love for God.
1 John 5:3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
1 John 5:4. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
The connection is as follows: love consists in our keeping His commandments, because everyone born of God overcomes the world. Since the apostle pointed to the keeping of the commandments as the full proof of love for God, and some thought that God's commandments were burdensome, he says: and His commandments are not burdensome. For what is burdensome in loving one's brother? What, for example, is burdensome about visiting a prisoner in jail? For the command is not to release him from jail, which would be difficult, but only to visit him. And regarding the sick, the command is not to free them from illness, but only to visit them. And regarding the hungry, the command is not to set before them a table of many dishes, or to give the naked clothing made of precious fabric, but to provide what is most urgently needed, which the hungry and the naked seek. Having said this, he points to another incentive for love. What is it? Victory. He says that by making yourselves children of God through love for your brother, you already have a reward for this good quality — victory over the world; for the one born of God overcomes the world. Then he explains what the victory consists of and through what it is accomplished; he calls both the one and the other faith, that is, faith in God, which, having been born of God, conquered and drove away every unbelief, and neither Jew, nor Greek, nor heretic is strong against it. And since faith conquers not alone, by itself, but together with the one who possesses it, he adds: and who is it that overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? And who is this Jesus? Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood.
1 John 5:5. Who overcomes the world, if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:6. This is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood and the Spirit, not by water only, but by water and blood.
In the words "everyone who is born of God," the apostle mentioned the adoption by God and the birth. And this is accomplished together through holy baptism. Therefore he says: This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, who regenerates and makes us sons of God. For this is also implied as a consequence in the words: "he who is born of God" overcomes the world. How "born"? By water and blood. For Jesus Christ who came regenerates by water and blood. And again he adds with repetition of the word: not by water only regenerating, but by water and blood. For he wishes first to demonstrate the glorification of Christ who adopts us, because first the man who is in Christ was adopted by God, and then Christ through His own adoption granted such dignity to us as well. And His sonship was declared three times: once at the baptism in the Jordan, when the Father testified from above that the one being baptized is the beloved Son. So Jesus came "by water," that is, He was declared the Son of God through the testimony of the Father at the baptism in water. "By blood," when, going to the cross, He said: "Glorify Me, You, O Father!" and when a voice came: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again," which those who heard it took for thunder (John 17:5, John 12:28, 29). "By the Spirit," when as God He rose from the dead; for to raise oneself is proper to God alone, and by the word Spirit is meant God, as can be seen in the saying: "God is a spirit" (John 4:24).
So, with the testimony of the three (baptism, the cross, and the resurrection) concerning the sonship of Jesus, the Lord's sonship is indisputable. And through His own sonship, as the firstfruits of the entire human race, He also granted us the right to be sons of God. And these three are in one Christ. For this is what the expression means: "and these three are one," that is, in relation to the testimony concerning Christ. It should be known that some of the fathers understood the word Spirit not as referring to the resurrection of Christ, but to the Father, when He cried out at the Jordan: "This is My beloved Son, in whom is My good pleasure" (Matt. 3:17), since God is Spirit, as we said above.
Having said this, he confirms his words with a proof from the lesser. If we accept human testimony about something, should we not all the more justly accept the greater testimony, from God? For this testimony about the Son of God, that is Christ, is it not from God Himself? Thus, he who believes in the Son of God, that He is God, as the Son of God, has the testimony in himself, because the believer is himself also adopted through Jesus, who was adopted by God. But the unbeliever is guilty in two respects: in unbelief, making God a liar, and in depriving himself of adoption, and through this, of eternal life, which Christ also has in Himself, as it is said in the Gospel: "in Him was life" (John 1:4). Therefore, whoever has the Son in himself through baptism also has life, for all of us who were baptized into Christ "have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). But whoever does not have the Son of God through baptism does not have life either; he is dead. For receiving us, dead in transgressions, He raises us through holy baptism. In what way? Because whoever through immersion in baptism was buried together with Christ is dead to the world, that is, to worldly desires, and lives no longer for the world, but for Christ.
1 John 5:6. And the Spirit testifies of Him, because the Spirit is truth.
Blessed Theophylact omitted here the following (seventh) verse:
1 John 5:7. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these Three are one.
The reason for this, of course, is that he had at hand a text of the New Testament in which this verse is absent. Meanwhile, this verse is found in many other manuscripts of the New Testament, was used by the holy fathers and church writers, is necessarily required by the structure of the apostolic discourse, in short, this verse is undoubtedly authentic. – Makar. Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. 1, pp. 235–241. St. Petersburg, 1850.
1 John 5:8. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are in agreement.
1 John 5:9. If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God, which God has testified concerning His Son.
1 John 5:10. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has witnessed concerning His Son.
1 John 5:11. This testimony consists in the fact that God has granted us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
1 John 5:12. He who has the Son of God has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
These three are in one, that is, in relation to the testimony concerning Christ they show that He was adopted by God the Father, and that which He Himself received, He also transmitted to those who are worthy, who believe in His name.
1 John 5:13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you, believing in the Son of God, have eternal life.
1 John 5:14. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1 John 5:15. And when we know that He hears us in all things, whatever we ask, we know also that we receive what we have requested from Him.
Here a kind of conclusion is drawn. I have written this to you, he says, as heirs of eternal life. For to those who do not live according to the hope of eternal life, this could not have been written, because to give what is holy to dogs and to cast pearls before swine is not praiseworthy (Matt. 7:6). Recalling what has been said, he repeats, first, that one must believe without doubt in the name of the Son of God, that is, in the worship of God handed down to us from Him, for this is what the name of the Son of God means, as we have said.
Then he says that the sign of this undoubted faith is none other than the boldness which we find before Him through blameless faith, as we also said above, and that in turn the sign of such boldness is the obtaining of everything we ask. But since not all receive everything they ask, and not all requests are heard, he adds: "according to His will," that is, whoever asks for something contrary to the will of the Teacher will not be heard either. In this case he speaks similarly to holy James: "you ask, and do not receive," he says, "because you ask amiss" (James 4:3). Turning this sign into a most clear indication, he says: and if we know that He hears us in everything, whatever we may ask, then we also know that we receive from Him everything we ask of Him. He speaks as if to say: if we ask of God what is in accordance with His will, then He hears us; and if He hears us in our requests, then we know that we bring requests in agreement with His will, and what we ask we already have in ourselves. Such things are the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, which He Himself also commanded us to seek in the Gospel (Matt. 6:33).
1 John 5:16. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, let him ask, and God will give him life, that is, to him who sins a sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I am not saying that he should pray about that.
1 John 5:17. All unrighteousness is sin; but there is a sin not unto death.
Having said that God fulfills our requests that are in accordance with His will, the apostle now clearly expresses his desire concerning what we should ask for according to God's will. And since he spoke much, almost throughout the entire epistle, about love for one's brother and about the fact that God desires that we maintain love for our brother without hypocrisy, he now names as one of His desires, and the very best one, that when someone sees his brother sinning a sin that is not mortal, let him ask, and He will give him. What will He give? Eternal life. To whom? To those sinning not unto death. In general, he divides sin thus: all unrighteousness is sin, and one sin is unto death, another is not unto death. But concerning the sin unto death he says: let him not ask, that is, let him not pray, for he will not be heard, because he asks not for what is good. He means the one who shows no sign of repentance. For the sin unto death is precisely that in which no repentance is offered. Judas was afflicted with this sin, and was subjected to eternal death. Those who bear grudges also sin unto death, for Solomon says: "the ways of those who remember evil lead to death" (Prov. 12:28). For those who remember evil and do not cease their anger against their neighbor do not turn to repentance, but sin unforgivably.
1 John 5:18. We know that everyone born of God does not sin; but he who is born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.
1 John 5:19. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in wickedness.
1 John 5:20. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us light and understanding, that we may know the true God and that we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Having taught us which sin is unto death and which is not unto death, he then indicates who can sin unto death, and says: one adopted by God can never be afflicted by sin, whether unto death or not unto death. For having once surrendered himself to Christ, who dwells in him through adoption, he remains untouchable by sin. However, lest anyone think that his nature is transformed and becomes already beyond the reach of sin, he adds: "keeps himself," that is, if he does not keep and guard himself from the evil one, then without doubt he will sin. Thus, he attains sinlessness not by nature, but by the great gift of God. God, having adopted us, deemed us worthy of such grace that we, preserving and observing the gift given to us from Him, are able even not to sin. Otherwise, since the world (by "world" he means those who have not placed themselves in the position of sons in relation to God through righteous deeds) lies in evil, nothing would have prevented us from joining the perishing, because the imagination of man's heart is diligently inclined to evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21), as God showed at the flood. But since the Son of God came and gave us understanding to know Him, the true God, and to abide in Him, His true Son, Jesus Christ, through this great gift we have come to know that He is the true God and eternal life, and having known this, we remain untested by the evil one and his temptations.
1 John 5:21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Since the apostle wrote this epistle to mature believers, some asked why he commands them to keep themselves from idols. We answer: the apostle wrote this to the entire Church, which was not entirely filled with chosen people, but among them some were also of wrong disposition. To such people he gives this commandment, fearing for their weakness.
End of the catholic epistle of the Apostle John. Written from Ephesus.