1Jo 5:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | . John gives a new characteristic by which you can know whether someone is born of God: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Jesus, the humble Man on earth, is the Man of God’s pleasure. It is He in Whom God finds all His joy and in Whom God executes all His plans. Jesus is not a temporary manifestation, but the Son of God Who became Man and Who will always remain Man. At the same time He is no one else than the Son of the living God, the eternal Son of God ( ). What He is for the Father He is for everyone who is born of God. Wherever you find love for God as the one Who has begotten, that is, as the Giver of the new life, you also find love for everyone who is born of Him. If you should ask yourself who your brother is, then that is everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. That faith is proof that such a person has the same new life that you yourself also have. You and the other person have that new life of Him Who begets. You have the same Father. Your relationship to each believer runs via God, of Whom each believer is born. You cannot love the Father without also loving His children. It strikes God in His heart if you would say that you love Him but hate His children. Therefore the love for all God’s children is a general principle. That love is there because of the same Father Who is Father of all children of God. You may have heard someone say that all people are children of one Father. Of course that is a gross denial of the fact that all men are sinners and are separated from God because of their sins. Repentance and a new birth are necessary. Only if there is life from God, only if He has begotten someone, this person is brought in relation to God as his Father. . In this verse John turns it the other way around. In he says that you can know that a person loves God when he loves the children of God. In he says that you can know that a person loves the children of God when he loves God and keeps His commands. The common love toward the children of God gets a standard here. You may say that the common love toward all children of God is guided by the love toward God and that the love toward God in its turn is determined by being obedient to His Word. In practice this means that you cannot always go the same way of faith with each believer. I will clarify that with an example. John and William are sent on an errand by their father. Their father also tells them which way they should follow. On their way John says that he has a better and faster way and he proposes to follow that way. But William replies that father has said that they are to follow a certain way and he wants to obey that. He loves his father and trusts that his father has presented them the best way. His love toward his father and also his love toward his brother prevent him to accept the proposal of his brother which makes him remind his brother of what their father has said. The lesson is clear, I think. Our love toward one another is to be directed by our love toward the Father, a love that appears from obeying His commandments. . It is clear that obeying God’s commandments does not exist of keeping laws or rules, but it is a mind. It is asking for His will, His commandments. The commandments of the Father were determining for the Lord Jesus in His life on earth. By that He knew what He should say and speak ( ) and what He should do ( ). By that He also knew that He had to lay down His life and to take it again ( ). He submitted Himself to God and we are to do that too ( ). Then the thoughts of God about our brothers and sisters will also become our thoughts about them and therefore we will abide in the love of the Lord Jesus. John says as a summary that the love of God comes down to keeping His commandments. Directly to that he adds, as an encouragement, that His commandments are not burdensome. Keeping God’s commandments, meaning to keep them in your heart and to live by them, is doing what is pleasing to Him. Still, at times you may experience that it is not quite easy; on the contrary, sometimes it can be hard. How can John say that His commandments are not burdensome? If you for example think about brotherly love, it can be quite difficult and hard to practice. In what John says you have to consider again the way he presents the things. He speaks about the new life. Do you think that God’s commandments are burdensome for the new life, the Divine life? I don’t think so. It is the commandments that characterized the life of the Lord Jesus. The commandments and the new life belong together as a fish and water. When you command a fish to swim in water it is not a burdensome order for that animal. The fish will fulfil that command with the greatest pleasure. The saying: to feel like a fish in water, is not for no reason. Likewise, the commandments are carried out through the new life with the greatest joy. Here you see at the same time the enormous difference between these commandments and the commandments of the Old Testament. The law was a burdensome and even unbearable yoke to Israel ( ). The law was given to a people in the flesh, a sinful people, with the command for them to keep them and in that way they could earn life. The difference between law and faith is, that the law says: do this and live, while faith says: live and do this. The law has man as a starting point, but faith has God as a starting point. If you believe, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed ( ). You have received a nature that longs to obey. A commandment is not burdensome when it is in accordance to what you want. . After the relationship to God and that to the brethren, now comes the relationship to the world. The relationship to God and the brethren is determined by the new life. That is what causes the connection both between you and God and between you and the brethren. However, if you look at your relationship to the world you see nothing that connects to the new life. There is no common ground. The new life has its own sphere in which the world has absolutely no place. Because of your new life you have your own world, which is the world where the Lord Jesus and the Father are everything. Your relationship to the world is not only characterized by the absence of any touch point between the whole company you belong to and the world. That relationship is also characterized by the presence of a state of war. The world wants to exert its wicked influence on you. The great encouragement you are getting now, is that you may know that you belong to the company of victors. And what does that victory consist of? It consists of your faith. To be able to really lead this life of victory, it is important that your faith is also practically focused on Christ as the center of the world of the Father. Be occupied with Him, read about Him, remember Him, speak to Him. Be ceaselessly in the company of victors and listen to what they know of Him. The whole company of the family of God’s children is standing in the world as an overcoming power. The power of their victory is their faith, because faith teaches them to refrain from the hostile world and makes them to focus on the invisible world of the Father. The world is the company of men that has murdered the Lord Jesus; it is the domain of satan. You are living in the midst of that world. That means war. But you possess the life of victory from God with Whom you are by faith in a life connection. As long as you are in the world the war will continue, but you also have a continuous victory. The victory is a steadfast fact through your faith. The devil will never succeed to have any control of the new life that is lived in the power of faith. That is the victory. . The victory over the world by faith is the part of each “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God”. At the beginning of this chapter John said that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God ( ). In that way a person becomes a member of the family of God, which also causes him to come into conflict with the world. With a view to overcome the world, John speaks now about believing that Jesus is the Son of God. That emphasizes His Being truly Man on the one hand and on the other hand it emphasizes His eternal Godhead. In these both aspects of His Person, if I may say it this way, the whole mystery of His Person is indicated. He is both as Man and as God the Object of the faith of each child of God. He who does not believe in Him in this way, doesn’t partake of Him. For those who believe in Him in this way, victory is assured. Now read 1 John 5:1-5 again. Reflection: Why are the commandments of God not burdensome?

‏ 1 John 5:1-3

Love and Overcoming Faith

1Jn 5:1. John gives a new characteristic by which you can know whether someone is born of God: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Jesus, the humble Man on earth, is the Man of God’s pleasure. It is He in Whom God finds all His joy and in Whom God executes all His plans. Jesus is not a temporary manifestation, but the Son of God Who became Man and Who will always remain Man. At the same time He is no one else than the Son of the living God, the eternal Son of God (Mt 16:16). What He is for the Father He is for everyone who is born of God.

Wherever you find love for God as the one Who has begotten, that is, as the Giver of the new life, you also find love for everyone who is born of Him. If you should ask yourself who your brother is, then that is everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. That faith is proof that such a person has the same new life that you yourself also have. You and the other person have that new life of Him Who begets. You have the same Father. Your relationship to each believer runs via God, of Whom each believer is born. You cannot love the Father without also loving His children. It strikes God in His heart if you would say that you love Him but hate His children.

Therefore the love for all God’s children is a general principle. That love is there because of the same Father Who is Father of all children of God. You may have heard someone say that all people are children of one Father. Of course that is a gross denial of the fact that all men are sinners and are separated from God because of their sins. Repentance and a new birth are necessary. Only if there is life from God, only if He has begotten someone, this person is brought in relation to God as his Father.

1Jn 5:2. In this verse John turns it the other way around. In 1Jn 5:1 he says that you can know that a person loves God when he loves the children of God. In 1Jn 5:2 he says that you can know that a person loves the children of God when he loves God and keeps His commands. The common love toward the children of God gets a standard here. You may say that the common love toward all children of God is guided by the love toward God and that the love toward God in its turn is determined by being obedient to His Word. In practice this means that you cannot always go the same way of faith with each believer. I will clarify that with an example.

John and William are sent on an errand by their father. Their father also tells them which way they should follow. On their way John says that he has a better and faster way and he proposes to follow that way. But William replies that father has said that they are to follow a certain way and he wants to obey that. He loves his father and trusts that his father has presented them the best way. His love toward his father and also his love toward his brother prevent him to accept the proposal of his brother which makes him remind his brother of what their father has said.

The lesson is clear, I think. Our love toward one another is to be directed by our love toward the Father, a love that appears from obeying His commandments.

1Jn 5:3. It is clear that obeying God’s commandments does not exist of keeping laws or rules, but it is a mind. It is asking for His will, His commandments. The commandments of the Father were determining for the Lord Jesus in His life on earth. By that He knew what He should say and speak (Jn 12:49) and what He should do (Jn 14:31). By that He also knew that He had to lay down His life and to take it again (Jn 10:18). He submitted Himself to God and we are to do that too (Jn 15:10). Then the thoughts of God about our brothers and sisters will also become our thoughts about them and therefore we will abide in the love of the Lord Jesus.

John says as a summary that the love of God comes down to keeping His commandments. Directly to that he adds, as an encouragement, that His commandments are not burdensome. Keeping God’s commandments, meaning to keep them in your heart and to live by them, is doing what is pleasing to Him. Still, at times you may experience that it is not quite easy; on the contrary, sometimes it can be hard. How can John say that His commandments are not burdensome? If you for example think about brotherly love, it can be quite difficult and hard to practice.

In what John says you have to consider again the way he presents the things. He speaks about the new life. Do you think that God’s commandments are burdensome for the new life, the Divine life? I don’t think so. It is the commandments that characterized the life of the Lord Jesus. The commandments and the new life belong together as a fish and water. When you command a fish to swim in water it is not a burdensome order for that animal. The fish will fulfil that command with the greatest pleasure. The saying: to feel like a fish in water, is not for no reason. Likewise, the commandments are carried out through the new life with the greatest joy.

Here you see at the same time the enormous difference between these commandments and the commandments of the Old Testament. The law was a burdensome and even unbearable yoke to Israel (Acts 15:10). The law was given to a people in the flesh, a sinful people, with the command for them to keep them and in that way they could earn life. The difference between law and faith is, that the law says: do this and live, while faith says: live and do this. The law has man as a starting point, but faith has God as a starting point. If you believe, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed (Rom 6:17). You have received a nature that longs to obey. A commandment is not burdensome when it is in accordance to what you want.

1Jn 5:4. After the relationship to God and that to the brethren, now comes the relationship to the world. The relationship to God and the brethren is determined by the new life. That is what causes the connection both between you and God and between you and the brethren. However, if you look at your relationship to the world you see nothing that connects to the new life. There is no common ground. The new life has its own sphere in which the world has absolutely no place. Because of your new life you have your own world, which is the world where the Lord Jesus and the Father are everything.

Your relationship to the world is not only characterized by the absence of any touch point between the whole company you belong to and the world. That relationship is also characterized by the presence of a state of war. The world wants to exert its wicked influence on you. The great encouragement you are getting now, is that you may know that you belong to the company of victors. And what does that victory consist of? It consists of your faith. To be able to really lead this life of victory, it is important that your faith is also practically focused on Christ as the center of the world of the Father. Be occupied with Him, read about Him, remember Him, speak to Him. Be ceaselessly in the company of victors and listen to what they know of Him.

The whole company of the family of God’s children is standing in the world as an overcoming power. The power of their victory is their faith, because faith teaches them to refrain from the hostile world and makes them to focus on the invisible world of the Father. The world is the company of men that has murdered the Lord Jesus; it is the domain of satan. You are living in the midst of that world. That means war. But you possess the life of victory from God with Whom you are by faith in a life connection. As long as you are in the world the war will continue, but you also have a continuous victory. The victory is a steadfast fact through your faith. The devil will never succeed to have any control of the new life that is lived in the power of faith. That is the victory.

1Jn 5:5. The victory over the world by faith is the part of each “who believes that Jesus is the Son of God”. At the beginning of this chapter John said that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God (1Jn 5:1). In that way a person becomes a member of the family of God, which also causes him to come into conflict with the world. With a view to overcome the world, John speaks now about believing that Jesus is the Son of God. That emphasizes His Being truly Man on the one hand and on the other hand it emphasizes His eternal Godhead. In these both aspects of His Person, if I may say it this way, the whole mystery of His Person is indicated. He is both as Man and as God the Object of the faith of each child of God.

He who does not believe in Him in this way, doesn’t partake of Him. For those who believe in Him in this way, victory is assured.

Now read 1 John 5:1-5 again.

Reflection: Why are the commandments of God not burdensome?