Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:1-5
Sometimes, the Bible is difficult to understand because the language used in our translation, while correct, isn’t how we talk normally. Today, I will suggest a change of one word that, I believe, will help our understanding of what John is saying in our text. I want to exchange the word “for” for the word “because” in verses three and four.
John begins this section with a couple of statements of fact: 1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and 2. Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. These are not statements telling us we should do something, but statements of what is true, period.
To believe that Jesus is the Christ is not just intellectual assent. It is to lean our whole life and being on this being true. It is to trust that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Messiah and Saviour of the world. Everyone who does this is born of God. We often see this as my belief in Jesus causes me to be born again when, in fact, it is just the opposite. Being born again is what enables me to lay my life down on him and trust my eternal life in him. I had to be transformed to have that kind of trust. Look carefully at the language, “Everyone who believes…has been born of God.” “Has been” is past tense; it already happened and made the confession possible. The critical thing is God’s action in us. He transforms our hearts so we can believe and love.
The second statement of fact follows with “…everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” Those born of him are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are true to our new nature when we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and when we live according to our new nature, love is natural because God is love.
Verse two runs contrary to our Western individualistic, autonomous way of thinking. Our culture thinks we live autonomous lives disconnected from other people and from God. John tells us differently. What does loving God and obeying his commands have to do with me loving other people?
This is where the first substitution of “because” for “for” comes in. The answer to the above question is, “Because this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” The manifestation of our love for God is that we obey him, i.e., keep his commandments. This is not natural to human beings. It is only natural for the supernatural people who Christ has transformed in being regenerated or born again, something God does to and for us.
Then John says, “And his commandments are not burdensome.” Really? Yes, and John tells us why they are not burdensome. I guess I should first say that they are burdensome to someone who has not been born again. But John points out the second substitution of “because” for “for.” “Because everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” The pull of this world makes obedience to God “burdensome.” But another reality for those born of God is that we have overcome the world. Notice it says, “everyone.” This is really good news. All of us who have placed our faith in Jesus and his finished work overcome the world. We need to observe the tense of this word, “overcomes.” This is not a completed past action for each individual but an ongoing development. Overcoming is something we do daily. But the assurance is that we do do it; we do overcome the world.
The key to this overcoming is our faith. We must be clear that the object of our faith that overcomes is Jesus and his finished work. It is not faith in our faith but faith in our Great God. We are so prone to believing “if it is to be, it is up to me.” It is not up to me; it is up to my Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If anyone doubts at this stage of John’s argument, he gives a summary statement in verse five. “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” This takes us back to the opening statement in this section, in which being born of God is first and completely God’s action on us.
John clarifies that our victory in overcoming the world is really his victory. He causes us to be born again; he causes us to embody God’s love; he enables us to obey because of love and overcome the world through our faith, which is a gift from God. So, you see, this life is not burdensome but joyful.
