1 John 5

Notes

Ver. 1. Fix it in your minds, as the most important truth, that whoever cordially believes that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, and depends on him, as the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King of his church, for all salvation, is regenerated by the Spirit of God; and such as, from this principle of

faith, have a supreme love to God, esteem of, desire after, and delight in him, cannot but bear a good will to and delight in every Christian brother, as beloved of God and spiritually begotten after his image. 2. And then we love the children of God aright, on account of their relation and likeness to him, when our love proceeds from such a prevailing love to himself as inclines and engages us to endeavour after all holy obedience to his commandments. 3. Yea, such an impartial respect and delightful obedience to all God's commandments, without counting any of them a heavy burden, is alone the distinguished mark of an unfeigned and governing love to him. 4. For whosoever is truly regenerated by the Spirit of God, he himself, and all that new nature which is produced in him by faith in Christ and by virtue derived from him, will so withstand, overcome, and triumph over the terrors and allurements of the men and things of this world, as not to be disheartened by the one, nor drawn aside from his duty by the other. 5. But it is only by believing on Christ as the true Messiah and only begotten Son of God, and depending on him, by a lively and effectual faith, for justification, sanctification, and complete salvation, that any man, Jew or Gentile, can be so weaned from and mortified to the things of this world. 6. Now, the character of this Saviour of the world was well attested at his baptism and in his bloody death, and, after his resurrection, by the powerful influences of the Holy Ghost, in applying his salvation to multitudes, and in the miraculous gifts bestowed and cures effected for the confirmation of the gospel. 7. For there are three divine persons, the habitation of whose glory is in heaven, who thence bore and still bear testimony to the incarnate Saviour as the true Messiah—the Father, by repeated declarations from heaven, and by raising him from the dead; the Son, by repeated avowals of his divine and mediatorial character, and by authoritative instructions and unnumbered miracles wrought in his own name; and the Holy Ghost, in visibly descending on him at his baptism, and by coming forth from him, after his ascension, to spread his name, kingdom, and glory in the world.—And these three, though personally distinct, in a manner which infinitely transcends our most enlarged conceptions, are not only equal in power and glory, but essentially one thing, being, and substance; one God, in distinction from and opposition to the many pretended deities of the heathens and others. 8. Meanwhile, on earth, the miraculous gifts and saving graces of the Holy Spirit; the spotless purity of Christ's human nature, his holy doctrine, and ordinance of Christian baptism; his blood or righteousness represented in his supper, and applied to the consciences of believers—harmoniously attest him as the divine, complete, and only Saviour of sinners. 9. If, then, we readily depend, in the most important matters of life, upon the testimony of two or three credible men, how much more may we depend on the testimony of these three divine persons and things, that Christ is God's only begotten and eternal Son, and the only true Messiah. 10. Whosoever therefore, upon this divine evidence, cordially believes and trusts in this incarnate Son of God as his only and all-sufficient Saviour, has not only received into his heart the witness of God, but has in his soul an experimental and satisfying testimony of the suitableness, worth, and excellency of Christ; and of his ability, willingness, and authority to deliver him from all sin and misery, and bring him to all spiritual and eternal happiness; but whosoever rejects the testimony which God has given concerning his Son in the gospel, as altogether sufficient, and given to him in particular for salvation, flatly contradicts and gives the lie to the most high, holy, and faithful God. 11. Now, this is the sum of the testimony which God bears concerning his Son—that, in infinite love, he has made a full and free offer of grace and glory to us sinners of mankind in the everlasting gospel; and, according to his own everlasting and infinite love, has graciously and tenderly conferred upon us who believe in him a full right and title to, meetness for, and beginnings, earnests, and foretastes of eternal life—as all secured by, lodged in, communicated by, and to be enjoyed in a state of union and communion with Christ. 13. These divine testimonies concerning Christ I have set in so clear and strong a light before you who, under a sense of your helpless, guilty, and ruined state, have heartily received and rested on him as your only Saviour, that, by the Word of God, and witness of his Spirit with your spirit, ye may have a comfortable assurance that ye have not only the earnest and anticipating possession of eternal life, but have the whole of it in Christ your Head; and that ye may be excited and encouraged more and more steadfastly to believe in, and depend for your whole salvation upon, the merits and mediation of the only begotten Son of God. 14, 15. And we who truly believe in him are not only assured that God will bring us safe to everlasting happiness, but that he will graciously grant us whatever blessings we ask by faith in Christ's name, according to the declarations of his will given us in his Word. 16. Now if God so readily hear the prayers that are offered to him with faith in the name of Christ, we ought to pray for forgiveness of sins of every kind to our Christian brethren and fellows of mankind, in hopes of obtaining it—except only the sin against the Holy Ghost, which God has fixed as unpardonable, and infallibly connected with eternal damnation. 17, 18. Every disposition, thought, word, or deed, contrary to that equity prescribed by God's law, is sinful; but every sin is not that unpardonable transgression. Nay, whosoever is really regenerated by the Spirit of God, on account of the Spirit's continued indwelling and influence in his soul, and the immortal nature of that grace implanted in him, and through his own watchfulness against and hearty detestation of sin, has an effectual security against being ever seduced into that unpardonable sin. 19. Now, we certainly know that we have by regeneration been made partakers of a divine nature, as a powerful and abiding principle of holiness, and that all the rest of the world, who have never experienced this new birth, continue voluntarily under the power of sin and Satan. 20. And from all the undoubted proofs before insisted on, we certainly know that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, hath assumed our human nature, and come into our world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and that he hath not only given us an external revelation in his Word, but a saving knowledge of him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, by an internal operation of his Spirit. Yea, we are vitally united to him who is the true and faithful Witness as Mediator, and as the Son of God is the only living and true God, together with the Father and Spirit, and who, having all life in himself, is the Purchaser and Giver of spiritual and eternal life to us. 21. Let me therefore beseech you who have such relation to and fellowship with the true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to abstain from every appearance of fellowship with pagans in their idolatrous worship, or from giving anything too high a place in your hearts.

Ver. 1. Whosoever believeth truly and with all his heart, Ro. 10. 10. C.

Ver. 3. That 'His commandments are not grievous,' the most striking proof will be found in, apparently, the most 'grievous' example—the death of martyrs; which, though scenes of sadness to surviving friends, have often been scenes of joy and triumph to the victims of superstition and cruelty. C.

Ver. 4. Even our faith, which spiritually seeing things that, to the senses are unseen, overcomes the temptations of the visible by the hopes of the invisible. C.

Ver. 6. Christ 'came,' as the Son of God, 'by water,' being so proclaimed at the time of his baptism, Mat. 3. 16; next he came 'by blood,' at the time of his resurrection, when he returned to his disciples, and was declared to be the Son of God with power,' Ro. 1. 4. 'Water and blood' also concurred at his death to testify to his humanity, which was one of the chief points, because of the errors of the Docetæ, John was required to prove. See ch. 4. 2, 3. C.

Ver. 10. 'He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness (namely, the witness referred to in ver. 9, and fully stated in ver. 11) in himself.' He believes in Christ, and the very fact of his doing so is an internal witness that God 'has given him eternal life, and that life is in his Son.' The full testimony in the consciousness of the believer may be thus stated:—The Spirit by whom we are born again to eternal life, and who is purifying our minds, elevating our thoughts, and giving us love to God and man; the conviction of the perfect adaptation of the Saviour's atoning work to the wants of our souls, and the confidence resulting therefrom; the peace now reigning in our hearts as the consequent of pardon. These are the inward witnesses at once to the divine mission of Christ, and to the life which God has given us in him. P.

Ver. 12. He that hath the Son—(1) Hath him in his faith, by believing the doctrine concerning him, and confidently trusts in him for salvation, 2 Jn. 9. (2) Hath him in his love, whereby he leaves all things for his sake—honours, serves, and follows him. C.

Ver. 13. And that ye may (should) believe, &c. Which rendering is agreeable to the Greek, removes the tautology, renders that last clause of the verse intelligible and agreeable to the tenor of the epistle, which was to prove, on the force of divine evidence, that men 'should believe on the name of the Son of God.' C.

Ver. 16. His brother. A Christian brother—a true child of God; else were he no Christian brother.—Not unto death. A sin not to end in natural death.—And he shall give him. That is, not to him that prays, but to him that has sinned 'not unto death.'—There is a sin unto death. This statement has been grievously misrepresented by marginal references to Mat. 12. 31, 32; Mar. 3. 29; Lu. 12. 10; He. 6. 4, 6; 10. 26—whereas to these scriptures it bears no reference whatsoever. The true reference is to 1 Co. 11. 30, where bodily sickness and sleep (the Christian's death) are directly ascribed to the merciful judgment of God correcting his people for an unworthy approach to the Lord's table. C.

Reflections.—There can be no real Christianity without being begotten and born of God by his implantation of a supernatural and vital principle of grace in our heart. But no inward principle of grace can be manifested without actings of faith on Christ, of love to God and his people, and of weanedness of heart from the pleasures, riches, and honours of this world. But the more fully and firmly we, through the gospel, believe on Christ as our divinely-sent and well-qualified and furnished Saviour, the more complete will be our weanedness from and victory over the world.—What infallible testimonies concerning Christ are revealed unto us to encourage and found our faith in him! Nothing, then, can be more highly reasonable than to rest in him, assured of our eternal life in and through him as the free gift of God. And it is highly criminal and ruinous to our own souls, by discrediting his gospel declarations and promises, to give the lie to Jehovah's solemn attestations. It is a sure ground of hope in our pleading for every necessary blessing, that Christ has purchased and intercedes for it, and God has promised, for his sake, to bestow it. But dreadful, as well as unpardonable, is the crime of desperate and wilful rejection of Christ and the gospel; and great need have Christians to guard against every approach to it, and to make sure their regeneration by God's Spirit, as an effectual preservative against it. Thrice happy are they who conscientiously improve their assured knowledge, faith, and hope, in carefully keeping their heart and life for God alone, in opposition to every idolatrous rival.