1Jo 5:4, 10 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world . The world, in its maxims, and precepts, and customs, does not rule him, but he is a freeman. The idea is, that there is a conflict between religion and the world, and that in the heart of every true Christian religion secures the victory, or triumphs. In , the Saviour says, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." . He obtained a complete triumph over him "who rules the darkness of the world," and laid the foundation for a victory by his people over all vice, error, and sin. John makes this affirmation of all who are born of God. " Whatsoever ," or, as the Greek is, "Everything which is begotten of God," (παντογεγενημενον;) meaning to affirm, undoubtedly, that in every instance where one is truly regenerated, there is this victory over the world. ; , . It is one of the settled maxims of religion, that every man who is a true Christian gains a victory over the world; and consequently a maxim as settled, that where the spirit of the world reigns supremely in the heart there is no true religion. But, if this be a true principle, how many professed Christians are there who are strangers to all claims of piety--for how many are there who are wholly governed by the spirit of this world! And this is the victory. This is the source or means of the victory which is thus achieved. Even our faith . Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, . He overcame the world, , and it is by that faith which makes us one with him, and that imbues us with his Spirit, that we are able to do it also. (*) "whatsoever" "whosoever" (d) "overcometh"

1 John 5:4

Verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. The world, in its maxims, and precepts, and customs, does not rule him, but he is a freeman. The idea is, that there is a conflict between religion and the world, and that in the heart of every true Christian religion secures the victory, or triumphs. In Jn 16:33, the Saviour says, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Jn 6:33. He obtained a complete triumph over him "who rules the darkness of the world," and laid the foundation for a victory by his people over all vice, error, and sin. John makes this affirmation of all who are born of God. "Whatsoever," or, as the Greek is, "Everything which is begotten of God," (παντογεγενημενον;) meaning to affirm, undoubtedly, that in every instance where one is truly regenerated, there is this victory over the world. Jas 4:4; 1Jn 2:15, 1Jn 2:16. It is one of the settled maxims of religion, that every man who is a true Christian gains a victory over the world; and consequently a maxim as settled, that where the spirit of the world reigns supremely in the heart there is no true religion. But, if this be a true principle, how many professed Christians are there who are strangers to all claims of piety--for how many are there who are wholly governed by the spirit of this world!

And this is the victory. This is the source or means of the victory which is thus achieved. Even our faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 1Jn 5:5. He overcame the world, Jn 16:33, and it is by that faith which makes us one with him, and that imbues us with his Spirit, that we are able to do it also.

(*) "whatsoever" "whosoever" (d) "overcometh" 1Cor 15:57

1 John 5:10

Verse 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. The evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. Rom 8:16. This cannot refer to any distinct and immediate revelation of that fact, that Jesus is the Christ, to the soul of the individual, and is not to be understood as independent of the external evidence of that truth, or as superseding the necessity of that evidence; but the "witness" here referred to is the fruit of all the evidence, external and internal, on the heart, producing this result; that is, there is the deepest conviction of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. There is the evidence derived from the fact that the soul has found peace by believing on him; from the fact that the troubles and anxieties of the mind on account of sin have been removed by faith in Christ; from the new views of God and heaven which have resulted from faith in the Lord Jesus; from the effect of this in disarming death of its terrors; and from the whole influence of the gospel on the intellect and the affections--on the heart and the life, These things constitute a mass of evidence for the truth of the Christian religion, whose force the believer cannot resist, and make the sincere Christian ready to sacrifice anything rather than his religion; ready to go to the stake rather than to renounce his Saviour. 1Pet 3:15. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar. 1Jn 1:10.

Because he believeth not the record, etc. The idea is, that in various ways--at his baptism, at his death, by the influences of the Holy Spirit, by the miracles of Jesus, etc.-- God had become a witness that the Lord Jesus was sent by him as a Saviour, and that to doubt or deny this partook of the same character as doubting or denying any other testimony; that is, it was practically charging him who bore the testimony with falsehood.

(a) "witness in himself" Rom 8:16