4 For whatsoever - This expression implies the most unlimited
universality. Is born of God overcometh the world - Conquers whatever it
can lay in the way, either to allure or fright the children of God from
keeping his commandments. And this is the victory - The grand means of
overcoming. Even our faith - Seeing all things are possible to him that
believeth.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world - That is superior to all worldly
care, desire, fear? Every believer, and none else. The seventh verse 1Jo
5:7 (usually so reckoned) is a brief recapitulation of all which has been
before advanced concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It is cited,
in conjunction with the sixth and eighth, 1Jo 5:6,8 by Tertullian, Cyprian,
and an uninterrupted train of Fathers. And, indeed, what the sun is in
the world, what the heart is in a man, what the needle is in the mariner's
compass, this verse is in the epistle. By this the sixth, eighth, and ninth
verses 1Jo 5:6,8,9 are indissolubly connected; as will be evident, beyond
all contradiction, when they are accurately considered.
6 This is he - St. John here shows the immovable foundation of that
faith that Jesus is the Son of God; not only the testimony of man, but
the firm, indubitable testimony of God. Who came - Jesus is he of whom
it was promised that he should come; and who accordingly, is come. And
this the Spirit, and the water, and the blood testify. Even Jesus - Who,
coming by water and blood, is by this very thing demonstrated to be the
Christ. Not by the water only - Wherein he was baptized. But by the water
and the blood - Which he shed when he had finished the work his Father
had given him to do. He not only undertook at his baptism "to fulfil all
righteousness," but on the cross accomplished what he had undertaken; in
token whereof, when all was finished, blood and water came out of his side.
And it is the Spirit who likewise testifieth - Of Jesus Christ, namely,
by Moses and all the prophets, by John the Baptist, by all the apostles,
and in all the writings of the New Testament. And against his testimony
there can be no exception, because the Spirit is truth - The very God of
truth.
7 What Bengelius has advanced, both concerning the transposition of
these two verses, and the authority of the controverted verse, partly in
his "Gnomon," and partly in his "Apparatus Criticus," will abundantly satisfy
any impartial person. For there are three that testify - Literally, testifying,
or bearing witness. The participle is put for the noun witnesses, to intimate
that the act of testifying, and the effect of it, are continually present.
Properly, persons only can testify; and that three are described testifying
on earth, as if they were persons, is elegantly subservient to the three
persons testifying in heaven. The Spirit - In the word, confirmed by miracles.
The water - Of baptism, wherein we are dedicated to the Son, (with the
Father and Spirit,) typifying his spotless purity, and the inward purifying
of our nature. And the blood - Represented in the Lord's supper, and applied
to the consciences of believer. And these three harmoniously agree in one
- In bearing the same testimony, - that Jesus Christ is the divine, the
complete, the only Saviour of the world.
8 And there are three that testify in heaven - The testimony of the
Spirit, the water, and the blood, is by an eminent gradation corroborated
by three, who give a still greater testimony. The Father - Who clearly
testified of the Son, both at his baptism and at his transfiguration. The
Word - Who testified of himself on many occasions, while he was on earth;
and again, with still greater solemnity, after his ascension into heaven,
Rev 1:5; Rev 19:13. And the Spirit - Whose testimony was added chiefly
after his glorification, 1Jo 2:27;Joh 15:26;Ac 5:32;Ro 8:16. And these
three are one - Even as those two, the Father and the Son, are one, John
10:30. Nothing can separate the Spirit from the Father and the Son. If
he were not one with the Father and the Son, the apostle ought to have
said, The Father and the Word, who are one, and the Spirit, are two. But
this is contrary to the whole tenor of revelation. It remains that these
three are one. They are one in essence, in knowledge, in will, and in their
testimony.
It is observable, the three in the one verse are opposed, not conjointly,
but severally, to the three in the other: as if he had said, Not only the
Spirit testifies, but also the Father, John 5:37; not only the water, but
also the Word, John 3:11,John 10:41; not only the blood, but also the Holy
Ghost, John 15:26, &c. It must now appear, to every reasonable man,
how absolutely necessary the eighth verse is 1Jo 5:8. St. John could not
think of the testimony of the Spirit, and water, and blood, and subjoin,
"The testimony of God is greater," without thinking also of the testimony
of the Son and Holy Ghost; yea, and mentioning it in so solemn an enumeration.
Nor can any possible reason be devised, why, without three testifying in
heaven, he should enumerate three, and no more, who testify on earth. The
testimony of all is given on earth, not in heaven; but they who testify
are part on earth, part in heaven. The witnesses who are on earth testify
chiefly concerning his abode on earth, though not excluding his state of
exaltation: the witnesses who are in heaven testify chiefly concerning
his glory at God's right hand, though not excluding his state of humiliation.
The seventh verse, therefore, with the sixth, 1Jo 5:7,6 contains a recapitulation
of the whole economy of Christ, from his baptism to pentecost; the eighth,
1Jo 5:8 the sum of the divine economy, from the time of his exaltation.
Hence it farther appears, that this position of the seventh 1Jo 5:7,8 and
eighth verses, which places those who testify on earth before those who
testify in heaven, is abundantly preferable to the other, and affords a
gradation admirably suited to the subject.
9 If we receive the testimony of men - As we do continually, and must
do in a thousand instances. The testimony of God is greater - Of higher
authority, and much more worthy to be received; namely, this very testimony
which God the Father, together with the Word and the Spirit, hath testified
of the Son, as the Saviour of the world.
10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the testimony - The dear
evidence of this, in himself: he that believeth not God, in this, hath
made him a liar; because he supposes that to be false which God has expressly
testified.
11 And this is the sum of that testimony, that God hath given us a title
to, and the real beginning of, eternal life; and that this is purchased
by, and treasured up in, his Son, who has all the springs and the fullness
of it in himself, to communicate to his body, the church, first in grace
and then in glory.
12 It plainly follows, he that hath the Son - Living and reigning in
him by faith. Hath this life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not
this life - Hath no part or lot therein. In the former clause, the apostle
says simply, the Son; because believers know him: in the latter, the Son
of God; that unbelievers may know how great a blessing they fall short
of.
