I John 5:4-5
5:4 For everyone who is born of God overcomes the world;
and this is the victory that has overcome the world– our faith.
5 And who is the one who overcomes the world,
if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Introduction
Our text this morning continues our study of John’s first Epistle
Now remember, John has provided us with the two definitive marks by which we can distinguish with certainty that which is from God and that which is not. John says that any teaching which says the same thing about Jesus as God does is from God. In turn, that which loves God and the things that God loves is from God.
However, there is a problem: unless we understand what true love is and what God actually says about His Son, we will never be able to clearly identify the two marks of faith.
Therefore, in this portion of the epistle, John turns to define/describe the two marks of faith.
Now last week John described what true love is. John says that true love loves what God loves in the way that God commands/desires them to be treated.
In our text this morning John turns to describe what a true confession believes/says about Jesus.
Verse 5:4
Notice at once, John opens his discussion on true confession by showing us the assurance that this first mark provides: John says that everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. Importance: remember the false teachers who are troubling John’s flock claim to offer a way to escape the corrupt material world. For them material existence is evil while salvation is purely inward/spiritual FN#1. Therefore, John responds that it is only those born of God who overcome the world. In fact, John says that everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. That is, (despite our failures and setbacks) every single person who is redeemed by God is on a certain trajectory to victory. Not one is lost or relinquished. Instead, in every case, true salvation is utterly and irrevocably successful. Notice the point: John reminds his readers that false teachers have nothing to offer that salvation does not already fully provide. Not only that, for John, what needs to be overcome is not the material makeup of this world. Instead, for John the idea of “world” points to the comprehensive brokenness, sin, and separation from God that define all existence. Notice the result: when John says that we overcome the world he means that we have been reconciled to God and set free from the sin, death, and brokenness that bind the world. Not only that, we are delivered from the futility, doom, and judgement that define the world’s future. In fact, notice the Gospel in the verb tense: the verb “overcomes” is a comprehensive present tense verb. As such, it underscores the complete/utter nature of our victory. Thus, being born of God (salvation) means that we have overcome (the Cross has set our course); we are daily overcoming (as salvation unfolds in us); and we will one day fully and finally overcome. Simply put, verse 4 opens with the great security that undergirds the whole of the believer’s existence and his every experience. Think about it: victory is how you encounter the whole of life (whether you always realize it or not).
Next, notice John says this is the victory that has overcome the world. That is, immediately after showing us our victory, John points to the single basis/cause of that victory. Notice then where John points: says our faith is the victory that has overcome the world. Importance: notice at once the contrast: the world’s false teachers and religions to a T all prescribe a man-based, work achieved salvation. Thus, man through his self-derived performance and improvements accomplishes his own salvation/enlightenment. However, for John, man is the problem not the solution. Thus if man is going to be helped God alone must do it. As such, for John the single ground of our victory is Christ alone. Therefore, our single hope, confidence, and assurance is to believe, receive, and cling to Christ. Simply put, our faith in what Christ has done (not what we have done) is the solitary basis of our victory and new birth FN#2.
Verse 5
Notice at once the flow of our passage: if verse 4 showed us the believer’s victory as well as the basis of that victory (faith), then verse 5 turns to show us the content of that faith. That is, verse 5 turns to show us what saving faith (a faith that is truly from God) believes. Notice then, John says the one who overcomes the world is he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. In other words, the first mark of true faith reminds me that the one who is from God and born of God will say the same things about Jesus as God does. Notice then what God has said about His own Son and what true faith believes. Importance: first, our discussion here will set the table for understanding what John says next week in verses 6-8 FN#3. Second, the three-fold testimony about Jesus that John provides is the essential faith that grace and salvation engender in every believer. In other words, despite what the world or the muddled opinion of many churches say, John’s three-fold testimony about Jesus is what God says true faith believes. Notice then John’s testimony about Jesus in this section of his epistle (4:1-5:12)FN#4. That is, notice what God says about His Son and what true faith believes.
· First, God says and true faith believes that Jesus is God’s Messiah who has come in the flesh. That is, God’s Messiah is fully and truly human
4:2 every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
Importance: remember the false teachers in John’s day deny that a pure and wholly spiritual God would ever or could ever contact (much less embody) corrupt finite matter. Instead, for them (and for many after them) salvation is an escape from not a redemption of the material world.
· Second, God says and true faith believes that this man Jesus is the one true Messiah that God promised to send into the world as the only savior and redeemer of man
5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God
In other words, Jesus did not come just to teach. Instead, He came as the promised suffering servant anointed by God to die for our sins (by His wounds you were healed)
· And third, God says and true faith believes that the man Jesus is the incarnate eternal Son of God (He is fully God and fully human)
5:5 who is the one who overcomes the world, the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God FN#5
Simply put, if man is going to be saved God alone must do it. Jesus is God come to man as man that He might accomplish salvation for man.
Bottom line: after showing us the great security that belongs to every believer because of Christ, John turns to define/describe exactly what true faith believes. Thus, true faith (saving faith) believes that Jesus is fully God, fully human, and the only savior for man. Notice the result: verses 4-5 provide the grounds by which I can identify with certainty the spiritual origins/allegiance of anything I encounter. In turn, John reminds me that I am to use this mark of faith that I may pursue with my life (both inside and out) all that is from God, while avoiding all that is not.
Footnotes
1] Notice: the problem with the false teachers’ view is that it forgets that when God created, He made the whole of existence perfect/good (material and spiritual). In turn, it forgets that the whole of existence is fallen and in equal need of redemption (material and spiritual). Furthermore, throughout Scripture salvation is never an escape from this world or bodily life. Instead, it is always a redemption of the whole person (inside and out) and the whole of creation. God has come to reclaim and restore every aspect of what He created.
2] Please note: verse 4 is not suggesting that our faith is a sort of work by which we initiate our salvation. Remember, John has shown us that true faith is the result of God’s prior grace. In other words, God always takes the initiative. Grace always goes first (e.g. 4:10). At the same time, John has shown us that the grace that saves us truly changes us (e.g. 1:9). Therefore, the first sign of regeneration and new life is a new heart that turns to God in faith. In other words, our calling upon God is always a response to God first calling to us. That said, John’s focus here in verse 4 is neither the origin of faith nor its cause-effect relationship to grace (John has already covered these). Instead, John’s focus is the solitary object of our faith, which is Jesus.
3] Next week in verses 6-8 we will hear John tell us:
there are three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
There have been many attempts to explain what water, blood, and Spirit refer to. However, not one of them that I have seen, points back to the immediate context of the discussion that John is having with us and of which verses 6-8 are a part. When we do listen to what John has been saying in this very section, what we find is that John gives us three testimonies from God concerning His Son (4:2; 5:1; 5:5). Not only that, there is an exact one-to-one agreement between these three testimonies of God and the tree witnesses that we will see next week (water, blood, and Spirit.). They exactly correspond. More on all of this next week.
4] Remember, John’s style is circular/pedagogical in nature not linear. That is, John does not make a point and then move on. Instead, John shows us the same basic themes over and again throughout his epistle, each time approaching them from a different angle in order to show us a different aspect. Importance: the circular/pedagogical nature of John’s style alerts us that we are to allow John’s collective witness on this subject to inform us. As such, we are looking at the whole of God’s testimony about Jesus in the very section where John is dealing with this very matter. Notice then what God says about His Son.
5] John’s collective testimony about Jesus sets the table in order to help us better understand the meaning of Water, blood, and Spirit in verses 6-8. Notice then: (a) Jesus is born fully human (water); (b) he is sent as God’s Messiah to die for our sins (blood); and (c) He is the eternal Son of God who God promised throughout the Old Testament (Spirit’ witness)